Episode 339: Toppling Centuries of French Drinking Culture: Lorraine Vallery-Radot on Going Alcohol-Free in the Most Wine-Obsessed Country in the World

Eight years in, and I've been having some of the most honest conversations with my clients lately. The kind where you realize the things that held you back the longest were the things nobody ever just said plainly at the beginning. So that's what this episode is. Six truths I learned the hard way, some in year one, some embarrassingly recently, that I'm handing to you now so you don't have to go through them the same way I did. This one is for anyone building a coaching business, a wellness practice, an alcohol-free brand, or any kind of service-based business. The specifics will vary but the truths are universal.

Eight years ago, two women who had just gone alcohol-free pointed themselves at opposite walls of an apartment, clipped on lapel mics they could barely hear themselves through, and recorded the first episode of Euphoric the podcast. I couldn't have told you then what this show would become. 348 episodes later, I wanted to sit down and talk about what all of these conversations have actually taught me about transformation. Because when you've watched hundreds of women go from one version of themselves to another, patterns start to emerge, and they're not what most people expect. IN THIS EPISODE: The cringe origin story of episode one, and why I'm grateful it exists What I've noticed about the guests who create the biggest shifts in the people listening Why being alcohol-free might make you the most powerful force in the room, and what happens when you're surrounded by other women who are too The neurological window that opens when you go alcohol-free and why most people don't know it's closing What Carl Jung's concept of individuation has to do with why some people feel truly fulfilled by their work and others don't Why the most fulfilling work on the planet might be the same work, no matter what industry you're in An honest reflection on a year that has been both the hardest and most clarifying of my career What's changing at Euphoric, and what's coming next

Do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up? An actress? An astronaut? A teacher? As kids, we don't understand the career landscape. We build our first sense of "what I want to be when I grow up" out of a small handful of visible or memorable options, because that's all we've ever seen. But we do subconsciously understand archetypes. When a five-year-old says she wants to be an astronaut, it doesn't necessarily mean she wants to go to space. The real clue is underneath it: a love of adventure, discovery, being the one who goes first. The job title is a placeholder for a deeper desire we don't know how to express yet. Once I understood that, I went back through my own list of what I REALLY WANTED to be when I grew up to see how it measured up to what I do today. I was shocked. Your childhood dreams are not naive. They're clues.

My mind has been completely consumed with book writing lately, and I wanted to sit down and share something I keep seeing over and over again in my community: so many women who have gone alcohol-free, suddenly feel this surge of creativity and a pull toward writing. If that's you, this episode is for you. I'm sharing five telltale signs that you have a bestselling book inside of you, and they might not be what you expect. This isn't about whether you think you're a writer, whether you've written anything since college, or whether you have time. It's about something much more fundamental than any of that. Be sure to join me for a three-part workshop, The Story Only You Can Tell, happening September 16, 17, and 18, where I'll be sharing the path from "someday I'll write a book" to published author. It's only $1 to join.

I submitted my second book proposal to my agent yesterday, and I am on cloud nine. This book has been living in my head for years. But the truth is, I didn't make real traction on it until this summer, which also happened to be the hardest summer I've had in a long time. Huxley passed at the end of May. The ocean swells in Southern California were so dangerous I couldn't even get in the water, which is my favorite thing in the world. My house felt empty in a way it never had before. And so, I found myself in cafes facing the ocean, writing for days on end. Writing this book became the salvation I didn't know I needed. Why is it that so many of us who step away from alcohol feel pulled toward writing? 82% of Americans want to write a book. If you're one of them, this episode is for you. I'm also inviting you to a three-part workshop, The Story Only You Can Tell, happening September 16, 17, and 18, where I'm going to help you take your idea and lay the foundation for a bestseller. I'll be sharing all my know-how of becoming a published author.