Michelle's Yoga/Sober Journey in Red Deer, Alberta

Meet Michelle, an MLPC teacher and certified Sober Curious Yoga Teacher! Michelle is a certified RYT 200 with the Yoga Alliance of Canada. Since her 200 YTT, she has became certified in YIN YOGA, Yoga Nidra, Yoga for Kids & Teens, and most recently Sober Curious Yoga. Michelle is committed to creating a safe atmosphere where students of every level can mindfully challenge themselves, accept their edge and celebrate their unique abilities. She bring humor and compassion to all of her classes as well weaving symbolism and insight of the yogic traditions throughout.

In this episode of Sober Yoga Girl, I interview Michelle about her yoga journey and her sober journey.

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Join me and Michelle for yoga classes through the MLPC at www.themindfullifepractice.com. Follow me on Instagram @alexmcrobs and check out my offerings in yoga, meditation and coaching at http://themindfullifepractice.com/live-schedule.

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TRANSCRIPT

Intro: Welcome to the Sober Yoga Girl podcast with Alex McRobs, international yoga teacher and sober coach. I broke up with booze for good in 2019 and now I'm here to help others do the same. You're not alone and a sober life can be fun and fulfilling. Let me show you how.

Alex: All right. All right, so welcome back to another episode of “Sober Yoga Girl”. I am super excited to have Michelle with me here today. And Michelle is one of our Mindful Life Practice yoga teachers who is in all the way in Red Deer, Alberta. So pretty much like the other side of the world. I think it must be really early morning for you right now. Right. Is it like 6:00 a.m.?

Michelle: Yeah, it is. It's just after 6:00 A.M. right now.

Alex: Oh, my goodness. Well, thank you so much for getting up early to do this interview. It's so nice to have you here.

Michelle: Yeah. Thanks for having me.

Alex: So Michelle and I met when Michelle joined the Sober Curious Yoga teacher training earlier this year. And now she's teaching for The Mindful Life Practice, which is amazing. So we're going to start off and learn a little bit about Michelle's yoga journey and then a little bit about her sober journey. So let's start off first-- with just kind of tell me a bit about yourself. You know, who you are and where you're from.

Michelle: Yeah, and so, like you said, my name is Michelle and I live in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. I'm originally from British Columbia, which is just one province to the West. But we moved here when I was in junior high and I stayed in Alberta. Lots of my family members have gone back to B.C., well, back and forth, but I really enjoy it here. We kind of have like a pretty settled life here, even though I would love to live on a beach somewhere, especially during--as it starts to get colder. One day. But yeah. So I work Monday to Friday as an accounting manager for an oil and gas service company and then teaching yoga in the evenings. I'm also a Chakradance facilitator and I'm an artist as well. So I make wire sculptures and use gemstones in different types of art. So yeah.

Alex: Wow. I didn't know that you made sculptures. That’s beautiful.

Michelle: Yeah, they're usually trees. Like wired trees. Yeah.

Alex: Oh, that's so cool. That’s so unique.

Michelle: Yeah.

Alex: So tell me a bit about your yoga practice. How did you start practicing yoga?

Michelle: It's actually a really crazy story about starting to practice yoga. When I was pregnant with my daughter in 2000 and so 20 years ago, I had always been very into cardio strength training. So I did really like hard physical workouts for at least two hours a day. And then I had some complications with my pregnancy. So I wasn't really allowed to participate in activities that I had previously. And my mom actually went and bought me like a Shiva Rea prenatal yoga DVD. And so she brought that home and I started doing it and I really liked it. It was just a different way to build strength, is what I thought of it. Right. So and it was really effective. I really liked it. I really enjoyed it. But then after I had my daughter, I kind of got back into like a little bit more physical activities. And I did yoga off and on for quite a few years, but really, I think got back to a physical yoga practice in probably 2014 when I again had injuries from-- I used to play roller derby and it's a very physical, very rough sport. And so I hurt myself a lot and again, couldn't really participate in a lot of exercise. So my doctor suggested I start practicing yoga again and I was like, oh, okay. So I started just going to a couple of classes a week and I never practiced yoga in a studio before, so because it was very few and far between here. So it was very interesting to take that from like a home VHS recorded practice to going into a yoga studio and practicing. It was obviously very different, but I really fell in love with it again.

Alex: Wow. And so, is there-- you said there's like few yoga studios in Red Deer. Is there more now or like what's the yoga community like there?

Michelle: Yeah, there's quite a few yoga studios here now, and it's interesting how they all just kind of propped up right. Like people became more interested in yoga, became more of like a workout to people here. So there is like probably in this area about eight different yoga studios.

Alex: Wow.

Michelle: Yeah. And it's all within, I would say the last like five years for sure. Most of them have opened. We always had a few, but yeah, it's-- there's quite a few and there's a lot of little small communities around us as well. So they all have yoga studio.

Alex: Wow.

Michelle: So it's great that so many people are practicing yoga.

Alex: Yeah, it's amazing. And how big is Red Deer? I realize I don't even have a context for it. Like what city is it in comparison to?

Michelle: So we've got about last time, I heard I think it was about 170-180,000 people here. And when I first moved here, there was only like 65,000. So it's grown like a lot in the last like ten years. But yeah, it's right in between Calgary and Edmonton. And Calgary and Edmonton have grown so much over the last ten years too. I couldn't even estimate how big they are. But it's a fair sized city. Yeah. But it doesn't have a real hustle and bustle of a larger city like Toronto or Calgary or Edmonton like. It's still a little bit quieter here.

Alex: Okay. Yeah. I've never been to Alberta, actually. I-- you know, I realized a couple of years back when I was in Canada, I was like, you know, I've seen a lot of the world, but I haven't really seen my own country. And so I did do an East Canada road trip. But that alone took me a week. And we were driving 13 hours a day and we didn't even make it to the furthest East of Canada. I don't-- I think I'd stopped a P.E.I. and it was a full week of like ten hour, 13-hour driving days.

Michelle: Yeah.

Alex: And so I have not really-- I've flown to B.C. and I had a relative in Yukon. So I was in Yukon once when I was really young, but I haven't seen any of the inside, like Saskatoon, Alberta. What else is in there? Manitoba.

Michelle: Yeah. Manitoba too. Yeah.

Alex: So I'll have to get out there when I'm in Canada. I have to do a trip.

Michelle: Yeah, absolutely. Well our country is so vast though, like you said. I mean taking a trip across Canada, you've got to plan weeks, right.

Alex: It’s a mission.

Michelle: It is, yeah.

Alex: Okay, so tell me, what kind of benefits did you experience from your yoga practice?

Michelle: Well, you know, like I said, I had originally just started practicing yoga just for the physical benefits of it, just to get that movement. So, of course, that's obviously a huge benefit of yoga. But then like learning how to use my body in different ways. Right. So it wasn't always about the hard and fast workouts or lifting heavy weights or, you know, like basically damaging our bodies. It was learning how to develop those healthy physical movements in a way that, was a little bit kinder to myself. Right. So that was really an interesting aspect of it when I started to grasp that idea that, you know, like, we don't have to be. What's the good word that I could use? You don't have to be so hard on our physical bodies or like so violent with ourselves. Right. So when that started to change for me, that's when the mental benefits and mental and emotional benefits of yoga really came in. And just, you know, willing to be present with yourself. You know, like when you make that connection of the breath and your physical body and the movement, it's like something changes about it. And so, yeah, it was like-- really just that brain and that sense of calm. And I always call it like, well, I used to always call it being like yoga stoned after a class where you're being like--right and so you’re going to feel your body do that. But then also, like mentally, you know, your mind was just like, okay, now I feel so much better. So really, I've always been a very high strung, a busy person. So it was hard for me to get into that idea of just settling in and being quiet and being with my physical body.

Alex: Right.

Michelle: Allowing it to be what it was.

Alex: Yeah. You know, it's funny that you say yoga stoned because I used to say that, too. And I think you're the first person I've ever heard who also uses that phrase. Yeah. So I know exactly what you mean. I would get it after hot yoga, you come out and always in a daze. Do you practice hot yoga?

Michelle: I have practice hot yoga off and on over the years and I definitely don't like mind hot yoga but for myself. I-- it's a little bit to-- like aggressive for me, like the yoga stuff yoga studios here.They’re--that's not the kind of yoga I want to practice.

Alex: Right.

Michelle: Right. Yeah. So, I mean, lots of people love it, and that's great.

Alex: And you know what? I was in love with it for years, and I felt like I didn't get the same benefits being in a regular room. And the funny thing is, then I came to the Middle East and they don't have hot yoga here because it's so hot, like it doesn't sell very well. And so I was forced to practice yoga in a regular room. And I found that it was-- I just had an attachment to the heat. And I think it was probably climate related thing. Canada was so cold that I was like, you know, I like to be in the heat because I like to be warm and now I'm okay now that I'm somewhere hot.

Michelle: Yeah, totally.

Alex: But okay, that was a bit of a tangent. Back to you. What does yoga mean to you if you were to define it?

Michelle: What does yoga mean to me. When I saw that question on the list, I was like, there's so many different things right. I really think yoga for me is about like acceptance. That's what it. What I think of when I think about yoga. So not just like on your mat during your physical practice, but, you know, just really living. This might be a little bit too much for people that haven’t taken yoga teacher training, but incorporating the eight limbs of yoga into your life by taking it off the mat. And whenever somebody says the word yoga to me, I automatically think of peace, right. Like inner peace for myself. So that's really to me, what yoga is.

Alex: It’s beautiful. So beautiful, I'm getting shivers. So tell me about the journey to become a yoga teacher. What made you want to teach yoga?

Michelle: It was really when my yoga practice changed for me. Like I said, when you make that connection, it was just something that I became so passionate about, like seeing the benefits of it for myself. But then other students in classes with me, because we would have people of all different levels coming to classes in all different forms of bodies and injuries. And the teacher like just working to make it accessible for everyone. And I had a really great teacher when I first started practicing in a studio. So he really like made everyone comfortable and made sure that everyone could do whatever it was that we were doing, right. So I started to really just like the idea of that we can all do this, right. We can all do this, it's beneficial for everyone, and then as soon as you see that in people where they make the connection that it's more than just a physical practice, like the first couple of times I saw it, I got, like, so excited. I'd be like, oh, you're one of us now. So I really like that. And so I decided to learn a little bit more about yoga, really just for myself, you know, to take that yoga off the mat and into my life as well. And so I signed up for a yoga teacher training that--yeah, I just wanted to share it with everyone, with as many people as I could.

Alex: Yes. Amazing. And I know what you mean by like when you find someone who just-- I said to my yoga teacher trainers recently, it's like I finally found my people because it's like you guys want to talk about, like satya and ahimsa as much as me.

Michelle: Yeah. Absolutely.

Alex: It's really beautiful when people see beyond the Asana’s like beyond the physical.

Michelle: Yeah. And, you know, I teach some community classes here for like the different counties in this area. And there's a lot of different like religious organizations here and mostly like Christian based. And some of them over the years have had a really like, I don't know, distorted view of what yoga is. Right. And so when I would start teaching the county, the people that would hire me would say, like, okay, like, don't you talk about yoga philosophy and don't bring spiritual things into the class, like they're just here for movement and that kind of stuff. But I always found that as the time went on in these series of classes, they would start asking questions about like, what does this mean? Or can you tell us a little bit about like what the idea of novel state because they’d all heard it. But in those classes, I wasn't supposed to say it. Right. So they would start asking questions like that. So I find, like, you just open yourself up to it and let it come. And that's when you find the people, right? Yeah, it's really great.

Alex: So tell me, what do you-- how do you work with yoga students today? I know you teach for us at The Mindful Life Practice. Do you teach in-person classes. Are they open in Red Deer?

Michelle: Yeah, we actually just reopened a couple of weeks ago. And the students that I teach at, we have kind of like a limited schedule right now just because it's summer. And people here, like we only have three months. So a lot of people just get outside. But people are still really looking forward to yoga because we are closed so much for Covid. So we just opened back up to our in studio classes. But they’re limited numbers. But we're also still doing all the classes on Zoom, too. So we've given our students the option to either come to the studio or join us on Zoom. So yeah.

Alex: That’s so great.

Michelle: It's really great actually, when you think about how Covid has opened that up for people a little bit more.Right.

Alex: I think it's amazing because there's so many people that could not previously reach yoga. You know, like if they have responsibilities at home, the commute.

Michelle: Yeah.

Alex: Maybe it was like too intimidating to enter a studio. And then for me, it's like I always want to do classes with my teacher who's in L.A., so literally on the other side of the world. And for the first time, I can do them with him. And it's amazing. And so I just think the world has made us think innovatively and it's connected so many people together, like brought us together. So it's really cool.

Michelle: Yeah, it's great. And so many people that would have never tried yoga. Like, I find it amazing now. How many people are doing Zoom classes. So it's like I love it. Yeah. I'm tired of seeing myself on video.

Alex: So what advice would you give for someone who is curious about starting a yoga practice?

Michelle: I would definitely say, whether you're going to start at home or you're going to start going to a studio, just really starting out without any expectations of what it's going to be like for you, right. Like what your abilities are going to be. And most teachers now really teach really accessible yoga. So there's always lots of different options. But I would say definitely don't start with a Power Flow class, maybe look for more of a beginner type class. And really, I mean, it just-- just do it. Just take that first step to do it. And you don't need anything to do it. Right. You can throw a blanket or a towel on the floor if you need to, like just do it. I know it can be so scary and so intimidating, but the benefits that you'll get from it are just absolutely like there's nothing compares to me. There's nothing that compares to it.

Alex: Yeah true. I completely agree. All right, let's shift now and let's talk a little bit about your sober journey. So Michelle joined us with the Sober Curious Yoga teacher training. So we met in the spring. And I was wondering if you could give me a bit of context into-- what was your relationship with alcohol like before joining that program?

Michelle: Yeah, I would say, you know, I started drinking at a pretty young age around here. It was something that just everybody did like in high school, in junior high. We would all go hang out at parties and stuff. And that's when everybody here really started drinking. And it was almost like, you know, like one of those rite of passages and everyone did it. And we just drank socially for a number of years. But alcohol's really involved in almost every aspect of our lives here. Like every social gathering and every family event. It doesn't matter if it was a funeral or a wedding or like graduations, even going out for dinner, barbecues, everything revolved around drinking. And it was something that, like most of us don't even think about. Right. It's just part of our lives. But I found like once Covid happened and I wasn't working, I was at home all the time. It just became like really excessive for me where it wasn't a social thing because I wasn't going out. So I was just like sitting at home drinking by myself, really, just because I had nothing else to do. Right. And during Covid there was no rules. So it was okay, you know, we made everything acceptable. So, yeah, it's at that point, it really changed from a social thing for me to like, this is how I'm going to get through the day.

Alex: Yeah. And so when-- what was it that made you wanted to stop?

Michelle: I mean, I think when you start drinking excessively, you'll always find ways to make excuses for it again, to make it accessible or to make it acceptable. But then, I mean, we all know better. But when I started to really feel physical effects from it, like I couldn't get up in the morning and I was so tired all the time and like, I looked really bad, you know what I mean? Like looking at myself in a mirror and be like, oh, my God, like what has happened? Yeah, it was-- I don't know. And you know, not remembering things. That really bothered me even though I was just at home or if it was just me and my husband or me and my mom or, you know, we weren't out doing things that we would regret the next morning. But still like those missing pieces. I was really struggling with that.

Alex: Because you wake up and for myself, it was like anxiety of like not being able to remember everything that happened. And what did I say? What did he say? Like, is this person upset with me? Like, you just-- it's stressful.

Michelle: Yeah. Like I'd be scared to check my text messages in the morning, I hope I didn't share that or anything like that. Yeah.

Alex: Totally.

Michelle: Yeah. And, you know, I'm like I never would have imagined that, like in my mid 40’s, that this would be something that I would be struggling with. Right. Or like have that was like, oh my God, what did I say. Who could have ever imagined that's what they're going to be.Right.

Alex: Right. But it's like with everyone like no one starts drinking, ever planning to, like, drink every night or to have an issue with it. And it just-- it's the nature of alcohol. It just creeps up on you. And you don't realize, like until you've stepped away from it and you look back, you don't see how that progress has happened over time.

Michelle: Yeah. And it can be like a really slow evolution, like after all of those years of just social drinking. And then all of a sudden. Right. Everything just-- it's just right now or maybe it's something that you do fall into fully and completely right away. Right. I think it's one of those things that's different for all of us battling.

Alex:I have a question for you. When I look back on my yoga teaching period when my drinking was heaviest? It felt a bit like I wasn't being an authentic yoga teacher. And I really notice a difference when I quit drinking. And I just thought of it every now. And I was wondering, do you relate to that at all? Did you feel that?

Michelle: Absolutely, yeah. And, you know, like I've always been like I consider myself like not the best yoga-- only because, like, even during my yoga teacher training, there would be a lot of the yogis who are very strict yogic lifestyles and they're vegetarians and they don't put anything that into their bodies. And I would be like, oh, smoking cigarettes and drinking wine after my yoga teacher training, you know, so like a very-- I'm eating meat. Right. A very different take on what they all thought was acceptable as a yoga teacher. So to me, I always felt like you are not any more of a yoga or yogi than I am just because we make those different choices. Right. But then once I really started teaching, I felt like, while we're practicing this, what I now consider to be like more of a spiritual practice and that connecting to the body like you can't connect with your body if you're filling it with alcohol, you're numbing yourself. You're not feeling it. And so then when I would get up and teach a class, I wasn't feeling it either way. It's like, it's totally-- it's like a disconnect.

Alex: Yeah. Absolutely.

Michelle: Yeah.

Alex: I totally relate to that.

Michelle: Yeah. And I really did feel like, you know, before I found the Sober Curious Yoga training that I wasn't being authentic. Like, I mean, we're not. I would never say, like, you need to stop drinking to anyone, I would never say that to anyone, but like, if I'm up here and trying to get you to have a healthy lifestyle while I'm doing this at home. Yeah. It just you're right that inauthenticity. People feel it and maybe see it. Right.

Alex: Yeah. And you know what happened for me in my last year of drinking alcohol? the attendance in my classes was like one person or no one was there. So interesting. And it was like--I feel like I didn't sense at the time and I switched to a different studio and so things were different, but by the time I got into my sobriety, I just feel like I had more of an energy of probably what you describe as being just like peace, you know, and so that was what was coming out of me, whether I was, like, conscious of it or not. It's just a different sense of peace with myself.

Michelle: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I totally agree.

Alex: And so tell me about what was your experience like doing this Sober Curious Yoga teacher training?

Michelle: It was-- I think it was really cool, actually, and because I had been looking for a couple of months of like ways, tools to help me stop drinking. And I knew it wasn't something that I would be able to do by myself, but I wasn't really comfortable with the idea of like going to AA and stuff like that, because I've done quite a bit of research about it and actually read like every book about it. And I just wasn't like an environment that I felt comfortable in. And so one day the Sober Curious Yoga teacher training thing just popped up on my computer when I was searching for something. And right away I signed up for it and really like I just did it like for myself, right. As a way to like, how can I incorporate yoga into this journey of sobriety? So, yeah, I thought it was--I was really scared I'm not going to lie, like our first class. I was quite scared because I have no idea what to expect and more with people from all over the world. Right. But it was really great. It was really great to know that it wasn't just me, first of all, that other people have gone through this or going through this and then just the-- just the community that we created in that little group, like it was so great on our weekly check ins and, you know, like learning about each other and learning different tools from each other was really amazing. It was really great.

Alex: I miss that group to get together. And how long on a your sobriety are you now?

Michelle: Oh, like, I just started right when we started the training, right, though, and even in May, the first month, I still drank like on the weekends sometimes. Right. I was trying to, like, work myself into this. I had a really hard time with the idea of I never going to drink again. I couldn't wrap my head around that. And so, like, you know, eventually, of course, got better, right?

Alex: Yeah.

Michelle: It eventually does. But it was a big change and not really like a huge change in my lifestyle because I'm still doing all the things I did before. It was just like, how am I going to adapt in the situation now without alcohol? Right. So, I mean, it hasn't been a long time and I just said before I wasn’t. Yeah.

Alex: Yeah, that's amazing.

Michelle: I wasn’t comfortable teaching the sober chair or the Sober Curious Yoga school, because I am not that comfortable with it with my own sobriety. Yeah. So, yeah.

Alex: That's amazing, though. That's amazing. And really, it is the early days that are the hardest. Like once you get. I was actually chatting with Matt this morning about this and you're saying, you know, once you have like 100 days under your belt, it just gets easier, but it's just getting up to it. And so you're doing amazing. You should be proud of the couple of months. It's huge. It's huge.

Michelle: Yes. So and, you know, it's funny because that idea of like, I couldn't accept the fact that I would never drink again just because I've been such a big part of our lives for so long. And I have like these weddings coming up over the summer. And even like I posted in our group that I was going golfing for the first time this year and I've never gone golfing and not drank before in my life. And I was really, really worked up about it. But then I found out that in my group that I was golfing with, one of the other ladies was also alcohol free. So she was like, I'll bring drinks for us to drink instead of alcohol and whatever. And I really made a point of, like, telling people before, like, I'm not drinking. Right, because I went to an event once in this-- in June and then 15 minutes, the same person asked me if I wanted to drink four times. And I was like, no, I'm like, I'm not drinking right now. Like I told you, I'm not drinking. So really, it was that idea of it and okay, how am I going to make it through this event without drinking? or like, how am I going to make it through this week without drinking? I literally got to some point where I was like, how am I going to make it through this hour without drinking?

Alex: Yeah.

Michelle: Yeah, it's definitely a hard thing.

Alex: It's not easy. So what tools did you use, like in those moments when you were struggling? How did you manage through them?

Michelle: Well, really, I mean, it was just for me about being prepared, right? I think especially the first couple of times that you do something that you always did that involved alcohol. It's really intimidating. But so I would just be prepared. I always make sure that I-- and maybe not everyone's going to be comfortable doing this. But I told everyone beforehand, no matter what it was like, I'm not drinking right now, so I'll bring my own drinks or whatever. Right. I think really being able to-- maybe not even to say, like, oh, I have a problem with this, it's like I'm just taking a break from this for a while. Right. So not having to explain myself so much and not having to explain myself in the situation with a group of people. Right.

Alex: Yeah.

Michelle: Because that can be awkward and uncomfortable and maybe you don't want to share it with everybody that's there. So, yeah, just making sure that I was prepared for how I was going to handle it or how I was going to react when people started asking questions. And then also, like, really, instead of coming home and drinking after work today, what am I going to do instead? Right. Like I had to find something that I was going to do instead. So really, I started making more trees and stuff at night after work just because I needed that outlet of something to do. And that's, I think, important to find too whether it's yoga or some form of art or even going for a walk or I walk the dogs a lot more too, right when I was looking for other things to do. But yeah, it's-- I would find, like whenever it was getting really bad for me, I had to separate myself from the situation. Even if I was at home by myself. Right. And I would just go in the bathroom and just take some deep breaths or, you know, if I was driving and I was going past the liquor store, I always stop, stop and I just breathe the whole way past it. It's like I don't need to stop at the liquor store today.

Alex: Yeah, yeah. And it's like self talk. And breathing is a great example, like just kind of drawing in mindfulness and knowing that it will pass.

Michelle: Yeah, absolutely, and I think really, like when you're using that breath in that situation, first of all, like you automatically calm yourself down, but then you give your mind the space. Right. To say this is stopping here is just a habit. I don't need-- I actually don't need to stop here today, right?

Alex: Yeah.

Michelle: Rather than stopping yourself into it, just let yourself get out of it.

Alex: Yeah. And so what advice would you give to someone who wants to quit drinking?

Michelle: I really think the most important part of it is like finding support, because for all of us, it's not something that we're going to be able to do by ourselves. Right. Like especially if you aren't just drinking in social situations. If you're coming home and drinking and you're doing it by yourself, you need to be able to tell someone that. Right? And I remember talking to one of my friends when my husband was going to be away at work for the week. And I was actually quite scared because if he's not home, there's no one stopping me, stopping at the liquor store. So I said to her when I had seen her, I'm like, I might need to call you this week. And like, I don't know, you can come over. I can come over here, whatever, just so I don't go buy drinks. Right. So and she was like, yeah, of course. So you've got to find those people that you're comfortable sharing that with and whether that's family members or a community like Sober Curious Yoga. Right. Maybe AA is something that'll work for you. I don't know. But yeah, you definitely need to accept the fact that you probably aren't going to be able to do it alone and you're going to need somebody to help you.

Alex: Yeah. And that's such good advice because I tried to do it alone and I lasted like a week.

Michelle:Yeah.

Alex: It really, really there's strength in numbers as you described, just knowing that you're not the person, the only person having to struggle and that there's others out there like that just changes everything.

Michelle: Yeah, totally. And you know, I found that everybody that I've talked to about it has been really responsive. But then, like, I was always the drinker. Right. And I was a big drinker, like I would outdrink most grown men when we would go to these social events and stuff. So it wasn't like-- I never kept a secret. And when it started to become a problem, it wasn't something that I really kept a secret either. I mean, I wasn't proud of it, but I was like everyone knew that it was happening. And when I started telling them that I needed to stop drinking or they would see me with, like the alcohol free drinks and even alcohol free beer, I don't even like beer, but I would drink the alcohol free stuff just for that fear of missing out. I would drink it anyway, but they were all very receptive and very accepting of it and like, how can we help you? Right? So I was very fortunate that way.

Alex: Yeah, and that helps a lot. Like if you have a community around you that can support you and encourage you rather than-- I know I hear of a lot of people's friends who discourage them or put them down. That helps a lot.

Michelle: Yeah. Or like, why-- how are we going to have fun now? Like, that's their idea. You know, like, you can’t just have one? It's like, no, I can't just have one that's why I can’t.

Alex: Yeah, exactly. Well, Michelle, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to be on the show. It was really wonderful to have you. And I really appreciate your vulnerability with the sober journey. I think it's going to inspire and touch a lot of people that are exploring the journey for themselves. So thank you so much.

Michelle: Yeah. Thanks so much for having me out.

Alex: And it was really nice to get some time to actually sit down and chat with you because I've always only seen you in group settings, so this is really fun.

Michelle: Perfect.

Alex: All right. Take care, Michelle, and I'll see you soon.

Michelle: See you later. Bye.

Alex: Bye.

Outro: Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of Sober Yoga Girl with Alex McRobs. I am so grateful for every one of you. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss the next one and leave a review before you go. See you soon. Bye.