154. The view from here

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Hello, darling heart, and welcome to this episode of the drink less live better podcast. This is the podcast that helps you

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to see that drinking less doesn't need to be stressful, lonely, or boring. I'm your host, Sarah Williamson, and I decided

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to have a year alcohol free as a little life experiment and haven't looked back. I'm a best selling author, expert speaker,

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corporate workshop facilitator, and life coach. I'm here to support you with your alcohol free or drink less adventures. To

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keep up to date, be sure to follow me on Instagram at drink less, live better, and head to the website drink less, live better.com,

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where you will be able to sign up to the 5 day drink less experiment, find blog posts, and you can choose to join the email

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club where I share resources, wisdom, insights, and glimmers of hope and joy. I hope you enjoy this episode. Let's get straight

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to it. The view from here. We're going to talk about climbing a mountain today, and, first of all, we need to choose the mountain.

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Picture where you'd love to climb. Is it the Swiss Alps in the spring with the beautiful flowers surrounding you in the landscape?

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Is it the Himalayas in winter? Are you up for the challenge? Is it a smaller mountain or a bigger mountain? Is it a mountain

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in isolation or a beautiful range? You've got a choice now. It's either you and me climbing the mountain together, or you're

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on your own. I'm not offended if you choose to go alone. So, first of all, let's consider what we need for the climb. You

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know I'm going to say, don't focus on the summit alone, don't you? You know I'm going to say set your sights on a reasonable

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first climb point, but do feel free to focus on each and every step if you need to. We need to consider the equipment we're

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going to take. What do you need? What's essential? And what's nice to have? Let's keep those packs as streamlined and light

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as we possibly can do. Next, it's important to master the maps. Pick a route and stick, or if you deviate on purpose or by

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accident be okay with resetting. Who are you learning from? Who are you taking advice from? Or who are you following directly

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behind when you're on your way up your mountain path? Please tell me it is someone who is in front of you one way or another.

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I'm just checking. You know it would be crazy to take counsel from somebody sitting back in the classroom who'd never navigated

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out of their hometown, don't you? Speaking of which, did you know I actually have a Lowland Leader mountain training qualification?

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Fun fact, that's from a life I used to live. Anyway, we're not really climbing this mountain today. So we think about the

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climb, and we're aware that there's cloud cover. We know there might be avalanches and crevices, but we're prepared for all

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of that. And we come to a ledge, and it seems like a perfect resting place. This is where we're going to pause today. We're

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taking in the view from here, and the view is such an important part of the climb. Never overlook it. Things might have been

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hard, unexpected, emotionally draining, so stop for a bit, take a breath, look around. What do you see below? Is it a path

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hard won? Perhaps you can see where you've diverted, where you've had to retrace steps, and why you are now tired. In stopping,

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you have the chance to reflect on where you've come from. You get the chance to reconsider how you're going to proceed, and,

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of course, you get to rest. So rest well. You've chosen this ledge. Sit, rest, enjoy. I'm guessing you know this is all nothing

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at all to do with climbing a mountain. This ascent is nothing to do with walking up a steep hill. This is life. This is personal.

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This is professional. It's all of it. The next set of decisions will always be around, are you coming back down? Is there

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another range to to traverse or a new landscape that you want to conquer? You'll need to take in that view when you get there

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as well. Thank you for listening in today. Come back again next week. I'd massively appreciate it if you could subscribe,

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rate, and review the podcast. Well, do that if you love it. If you don't love it, please don't rate and review. Check out

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the show notes for a link to a hidden podcast episode that will help you with your 5 PM cravings and details about my one

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to one life coaching and sober coaching programmes. And PS, I believe in you.