Since September 6th, I’ve been sans substances except psilocybin microdoses a couple of times in the last week. Why September 6th? This date marks exactly six months until my 50th birthday, and I’ve long planned to ring in a new decade with a clear head and clean body. The big test was last week when I visited NYC in advance of heading to Philadelphia for Parents Weekend.
I may have been dry, but my adventures in the city packed a punch. I happily settled into an experience free of state change once I accepted that 1) paying $20 for an NA drink is about novelty, 2) fun naturally ends by midnight, and 3) my desire for more may have shifted to…sleep.
With Mission Impossible successfully behind me, I’ve lined up various ways to make this period rich (read: distract me!). First up is Sober October, which I’d never heard of until Martha Wright contacted me, totally by coincidence, a couple of weeks ago.
Alcohol free since 2019, Martha began supporting others seeking life without alcohol as a coach nearly five years ago. She and I first spoke at the beginning of this year, and a short time later, we recorded the podcast episode featured in this post.
In our initial call, we bonded over the fact that we were professionals working in wine (her) and weed (me), who began to question the impact our respective substances were having on the quality of our lives. as were our kids.
We also connected on feeling the need for alternatives to Alcoholics Anonymous, although for different reasons. For me, it’s twofold.
Firstly, AA’s zero-tolerance policy toward psychedelics to assist in getting and/or staying sober feels like a denial of differentiated needs. What works for some may not work for all. As an example, SSRIs do not help 30% of the people who try them. The data on AA’s “success rate” is not dependable due to the anonymous nature of participants and how to account for relapsing, which is common for this population.
The second reason is the hypocrisy that is central to AA’s origin and its founder, Bill W., who completed over 100 LSD trips on his path to alcohol abstinence. When I found this out and squared it with the organization’s policy on psychedelics, plus the fact that Bill’s psychedelic use is not readily disclosed…I don’t know. It’s hard to chastise an organization that’s restored so much vitality to people’s lives and families, so I’ll stop there.
What I see is an opportunity to explore interventions rooted in still-evolving 21st-century psychedelic science— an expanded toolbox that may also include working the steps. Although I may seem dismissive of AA, the peer-led support model is a proven and effective formula that has inspired SetSet’s community.
Back to Martha…
Martha didn’t include psilocybin microdosing in her alcohol abstinence program—Clear Power, but her recent outreach to me expressed a change of heart and an invitation to explore this together, which we plan to do in the New Year for Dry January, naturally.
Yesterday was the kick-off meeting with Martha’s October cohort. The youngest in the group by a decade, I am the only person who is focused on cannabis, having reset my relationship with alcohol over fifteen years ago. While our initial call was brief, it was heavy. Many women had their last drink last night, making today the first time they haven’t had a daily drink for anywhere from a year to over two decades.
While I’m personally working with Martha for Sober October, my professional wheels are turning because I’ve long wanted to offer a psychedelic-friendly Dry January group program. I’ll report back in the weeks ahead and keep you posted on the details. For now, if you’re interested in making the most of your substance-free start to the year—and beginning February with improved skin and sleep, please add your name to this wait list.
Finally, tomorrow is the season opener for SetSet’s Psychedelic Salon at Town Hall Seattle. With 270 confirmed ticketholders, “Psilocybin & Menopause” is SOLD OUT. I’ll be in conversation with Mycelopause co-authors Dr. Patricia Singh, psychotherapist and psychedelic integration specialist, and Kelly McGinty, nurse practitioner specializing in hormonal and integrative wellness. Town Hall has set aside a few tickets for those who purchase a Series Subscription at a discounted rate to all six Salons this season, through May 2026.
Thank you to everyone reading this post who plans to join us tomorrow. I AM SO EXCITED!!! Also, we’re gathering at 6:30pm for a full hour before the Salon to play SetSet’s Psychedelic Cards. Definitely join us!
Take Care, April
🔵 About This Podcast Episode
What if your relationship with alcohol doesn’t require a dramatic rock-bottom moment to change? In this episode of SetSet, I sit down with sobriety coach Martha Wright, who went from building a life around wine—professionally and personally—to questioning its role in her daily rituals. Just as I did with cannabis. Together, Martha and I explore what it means to be a “gray area drinker,” how midlife hormonal shifts impact our cravings and consumption, and how reframing our beliefs about alcohol can free us from it—without shame or labels. This conversation is rich in neuroscience, compassion, and personal insight, offering a fresh and empowering approach to alcohol use.
🔵 Key Takeaways
Gray area drinking impacts 80% of alcohol consumers—many of whom don’t identify as addicts but still want change.
Willpower isn’t enough—rewiring the brain’s dopamine reward system is key to sustainable change.
Cultural myths about “normal drinking” prevent many women from questioning their habits.
Midlife hormonal shifts (like menopause) significantly impact alcohol tolerance and desire.
A “luscious sabbatical” from alcohol can reawaken sensory pleasure, curiosity, and joy.
🔵 Timestamps
[00:00] Martha shares her personal and professional journey in the wine industry
[02:00] The hidden addictive patterns of moderate drinking
[04:00] Her turning point: when boundaries no longer worked
[07:00] Reflecting on alcohol’s role in parenting and family dynamics
[10:00] Midlife awakening: transformation over regret
[14:00] The continuum of drinking and how life events accelerate use
[17:00] Menopause and the dopamine deficit that drives overconsumption
[20:00] Neuroscience behind alcohol’s addictive appeal
[23:00] The importance of dismantling core beliefs around alcohol
[27:00] Martha’s transition from wine business to sober coaching
[30:00] The rise of non-alcoholic drinks and creating new rituals
[36:00] Redefining the line between problem drinking and misalignment
[39:00] The science and beauty of gray area drinking
[44:00] How sensory pleasure supports sobriety and brain health
[46:00] Martha’s offerings and where to find her work
🔵 Featured Guest
Martha Wright: Clear Power Coaching | clearpowercoaching.com
Martha is a certified sobriety and mindful drinking coach who helps women redefine their relationship with alcohol through neuroscience-based tools and luscious alternatives.
🔵 Additional Resources
🎙️SetSet Podcast: Ep. 16 “Cali Sober Lifestyle Explained (Part 1)”
🎙️SetSet Podcast: Ep. 17 “Cali Sober Lifestyle Explained (Part 2): Psilocybin Microdosing Dosage Tips”
Substack: “Women & THC Beverage Insights 2024”
Have you ever questioned your drinking, even if it wasn’t “a problem”? What beliefs or stories are hardest to let go of? 👇 Let’s talk about it in the comments.
🔵 Transcript
April Pride, host: [00:00:00] Hey, this is April, and this show set, set discusses psychedelics and altered states of consciousness. Generally, it’s intended for audiences 21 and over, also a. I am not a medical expert. If you are looking to engage with psychedelic substances, please consult your position before doing so.
Hello and welcome to Sober October. This is your host April Pride. Yes, you heard me correctly. The month of October is also known as sober October, which I did not know until I was contacted a couple weeks ago by today’s guest, Martha Wright. She and I connected at the beginning of the year, and shortly thereafter, we recorded this podcast episode that is all about her journey from being a winemaker and importer.
To being a [00:01:00] sober coach who lives alcohol free. She and I connected because I was a cannabis professional and have reset my relationship with the plant to be much more intentional. Much less frequent. I should mention that I am sober this October and working with Martha and a small cohort woman about 10 years older than me, focused on alcohol.
I continue to evaluate my relationship with cannabis. I’m very grateful to Martha for the opportunity to be included in in this group. Keep in mind as you’re listening that Martha and I are coming together for dry January. She is gonna bring her methodology and combine it with microdosing to start your year off without substances and certainly with the best skin and sleep that you could imagine.
Remember to rate and review us wherever you listen to podcasts because it really does help more people find the show. If you’re not following us on substack, you [00:02:00] should be. You can find me@aprilpride.substack.com. We would love to have you along for this journey. Enjoy today’s episode and happy sober October.
Martha, thank you so much for joining us today. If you could share a little bit about your background personally, I think the personal and the professional definitely overlap on this topic, so I’d love to hear about your experience.
Martha Wright, Clear Power: Yes, they really do overlap, for sure. We’re gonna be talking about alcohol, my professional life in the wine industry and how alcohol got.
Tangled up in everything. I was born and raised in New Orleans, very much party culture, very hospitality centered. I then went on to work for food network chefs, and later got into the wine business with [00:03:00] my husband. All of this felt centered around. Hospitality and bringing groups of people together.
That’s what I felt I was doing, bringing people together over wine. And I was the person that helped create community, whether that was in a school setting at church or in the neighborhood, the community center. My husband and I just loved many aspects of the wine industry, the travel, the producers in France whose wines we were importing.
Our brand felt very educationally focused. Teaching people about the villages differences in these wines and the stories behind them. The problem is that alcohol is extremely addictive. It’s habit forming. You know, people move along in what we think of as normal drinking then really becomes. [00:04:00] Such a habit and such a neural groove that we very easily find ourselves in a place where we feel deprived or something’s missing in life if we’re not having it.
There is so much about this that is fascinating. I’ll talk about my very bizarre trajectory in this, but what really is rarely talked about is just at what. Low levels or what we thought was low level or moderate, alcohol can create dependency. That’s not something that has been our cultural story.
Thought of alcohol as a binary. You are either a normal drinker or you have a problem. I realized I was feeling symptoms that. Were no longer acceptable in terms of my health, how I felt, my energy waking up in the middle of the night in a worry spiral, feeling [00:05:00] like I was on a hamster wheel, wanting to reign this back in, but feeling lost in how to accomplish that.
My own ideas of creating boundaries just weren’t working.
April Pride, host: When was this? Where were you in life? Did you have small children at home? When you say rain, you were having thoughts about your alcohol consumption?
Martha Wright, Clear Power: It was 2019 when I took a break from alcohol with a program plan, tools and tactics. I had tried that before.
The crazy part of my trajectory is that I went from being full on devoted to, had my identity all wrapped up in being in the wine business. To getting a certification and becoming trained to help other people rewind this habit. I got certified as a sobriety mindful drinking coach. When I [00:06:00] began that certification, we were still in the wine industry and making plans to exit.
It’s a pretty unusual S story and about face. But I can tell you now that it’s certainly not uncommon people in the wine industry, I’ll keep saying the wine industry, but I do mean all alcohol. I just happen to have been in the wine industry. People reach out to me and say, me too. I have been paying attention to what you’re doing.
I feel the same way. In that sense, it’s not that unusual. It was 2019 and. What is pretty common is that it takes people about six to eight years of thinking about it and making attempts that maybe don’t work at all or work for a little bit. But without the tools and tactics and knowledge of this approach, it feels like the rules [00:07:00] or boundaries we’re putting up just aren’t working.
April Pride, host: Yeah.
Martha Wright, Clear Power: Yeah.
April Pride, host: I’m really grateful that you shared
Martha Wright, Clear Power: and so what to
April Pride, host: move through the world differently than you once did.
Martha Wright, Clear Power: That’s right. It’s a common story to hear someone say that this is the date they stopped or began in earnest with real knowledge and tools and tactics they had been. Thinking about it and concerned about it for years before that.
One of the things I have is a record of this for a number of years. My husband, daughter and I would spend an evening before New Year’s Eve and talk about the year that we’d just been through, talk about the coming year. M share some things about what we wanted to let go of or bring into the new year, like resolutions.
And for a few years, my [00:08:00] teenage daughter, so I think she would’ve been 14, 15, 16, she was our scribes. She would take notes, and I have one of these lists. Mommy wants to get control of alcohol. Right there in black and white.
April Pride, host: So the first thing that I thought when you said it takes six to eight years, I’m always thinking about my own cannabis consumption and I have a senior in high school, although I only started having my own stash within the last eight or nine years before the pandemic, I really upped my consumption.
It is under control ‘cause I don’t keep it in my house. The regret that comes with that being a part of my children’s childhood in a way that if I didn’t want it in my life, how did they feel about having it in their life that come with that? It’s trusting.
Martha Wright, Clear Power: Yeah. That what is interesting, and I really do believe this, is [00:09:00] that it is natural and normal for us to feel those regrets.
I wish I. Found this information and freedom. Earlier when I talked to my daughter, who was 18, by the time I found a program and methodology that clicked for me and made sense, a neuroscience based approach, she really got to witness the whole process, what I was thinking, what I was sharing, and then watching my transformation.
Brighter, my face looked brighter. My eyes, my skin looked better. My outlook was improving, my confidence, my feeling of bad assery, that I had done something hard and I was really enjoying it, that I was finding a group or tribe or experience that was. Feeling very powerful and exciting. She even saw [00:10:00] me travel, get on live TV and start a new business.
She said something very interesting. Early on I expressed something about regret and she said, I didn’t see it that way. She has memories of me saying, gosh, isn’t that funny? Do you know this about alcohol? I didn’t know how to reign the habit in, but I was questioning, I guess a great thing is that I was questioning out loud, and I’ve come to see it this way.
I really do believe this. There’s a Glennon Doyle quote that I don’t have exactly right, but our kids do not need us to save them. They need to watch us save ourselves. You can use the word fix or whatever it is, but same thing. Our kids don’t need us to fix them. I really do take a lot of strength from that, and it does a lot.
It does wonders to [00:11:00] banish those thoughts of regret when I can think, is it possible. The greatest gift we could give our kids is to let them watch us approach life with a growth mindset. We don’t like how something is feeling or how we are showing up in the world that it’s not permanent, that we can do something about it.
I definitely encourage anyone. It really could be the single most beautiful gift you could give your kids is to let them watch you and model that.
April Pride, host: Watch you be human.
Martha Wright, Clear Power: Yes, exactly. We are allowed to make mistakes to watch us be human. Love that. Yeah.
April Pride, host: Yeah, what you said. I’ve had to channel after a divorce.
I’m doing the worst thing possible to my children. I lived through this. It wasn’t a bad divorce. My parents are awesome. They’re gonna see their dad and I transform in ways that. [00:12:00] Are gonna be very positive and they’re gonna see that you, you can make different decisions. I really appreciate you saying that because sometimes I’ve been accused as being an external processor and giving too much information, but I’m also like, I don’t know, I don’t think that what’s coming outta my mouth isn’t going to like be helpful for you at some point in your life to reflect on.
Yeah. Yes.
Martha Wright, Clear Power: And you had asked what stage was I in and children’s age and, and so. We raised our daughter in the wine industry, she was completely immersed in it. Sure. ‘cause she was an only child at home. It was very much take your daughters to work day all the time. She was surrounded by it and we believed that this is, it’s sophisticated when you’re around it like this, you don’t abuse it.
The kind of European approach. Now with five solid years of coaching, hundreds of individuals and in very big groups, I’m more aware than ever of these myths. [00:13:00] It is certainly a myth that just by being around it, you somehow normalize things and make it so that it’s not gonna be abused. That’s just crazy.
It’s not true. While we were immersed in this lifestyle. I really wasn’t drinking wine every night when she was very young. My drinking ticked up right about that age when our kids are becoming more independent. They don’t need you for bath time or getting dressed once she hit late middle school, high school, and they’re actually gone for maybe 12 hours of the day.
They still need you, but you don’t know when. So it’s random. You’re on duty, but there are no clear times. You might be in demand at a moment’s notice. And so I think there was a shift in role and a confusion. Pockets of boredom. I can’t go out and do something. I don’t have huge amount of time to go and do something for me.
I’m [00:14:00] still tied to this identity as a mom. Around that time my mother died. Typical for all of us that we have these life events. Our culture is believed in this binary of you’re either a regular drinker or you’re a problem drinker. And the truth is that it’s a continuum. And most people who drink regularly or somewhere on that continuum, life events can bump us along, and that’s typical even without life events.
Alcohol. The body’s response to it is to develop tolerance. So no matter what, we’re gonna bump along this continuum anyway, but you add in some things, whether it’s divorce, miscarriage, the loss of a parent, caring for an aging parent, or a chronic pain, many clients, alcohol consumption. Really accelerated with [00:15:00] a condition they developed.
We’ll throw in menopause. This is a fascinating topic because it is no coincidence that so many of my clients are women in their fifties or sixties as hormones drop off a cliff. Our neurotransmitters completely shift our dopamine functioning tanks. Our cortisol and anxiety are very commonly increased in this period.
It makes perfect sense that many of us see our alcohol consumption tick up in that time.
April Pride, host: One of the reasons I wanted to have a conversation with you is I’m in my late forties. I’ll be 49 next week.
Martha Wright, Clear Power: Happy
April Pride, host: birthday. Oh, I love birthdays. Um, I read that last year for the first year since it’s been [00:16:00] recorded, women are more likely to die of alcohol for related mortality then really, I mean, it’s shocking.
Just last night, I’m researching hemp-derived THC beverages. Someone said that the consumer looks just like the craft beer consumer. So last night I’m researching craft beer. Women consume more craft beer than men. I would never have guessed that. In the consumer for hemp-derived, THC is also a woman. I wanna say that women are looking to drink less, but all the statistics I’m seeing is that women are drinking more.
I think we want to, we’re looking for non-alcoholic or lower alcoholic options, but the numbers speak to the fact that women are drinking more. What I hear from everyone else is people are drinking less, and I’m like. [00:17:00] Not women. We have to stop saying that because it’s really minimizing All the women I know that wanna drink less wine every night, just, I really wanna smoke less weed.
We all are going about it in different ways to some success. No success, whatever. Most of us are struggling alone trying to get on top of this thing that shouldn’t be that big of a deal. You and I originally had a conversation about what’s going on with hormones impacting our need to fill with dopamine, more estrogen help.
And I’m starting to realize, like when it comes to cannabis, you are now battling something that is about the chemistry and your body and not your willpower. So you’re gonna maybe need to bring in some reinforcements.
Martha Wright, Clear Power: Yes. I love that you just used the word willpower. One of the things I love about the work that I do is that it [00:18:00] changes the game for my clients when they approach me typical, to have a story in our heads about what this means.
Even the conversation is changing and that is great. The more we normalize that it is. Great to question the role that alcohol or any substance is having in our lives. We are getting more comfortable being willing to say no. That’s okay to challenge that. However, old habits die hard. We’ve got a long cold history of making this a story about shame, embarrassment.
I’m a high achiever. I should. Not be having this much difficulty. If I have difficulty saying no to the drink or staying within the boundaries that I’ve set, or the rules where I’m [00:19:00] only drink on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then I’m unable to do that. Most of us are making that mean something. That means I have a problem.
I am a problem drinker. I have an addictive personality. What I get to do is help lay that stigma and we get right into understanding the role that dopamine plays. In our brain’s reward center, why and how is alcohol addictive in the first place? When we can really understand that and see it as, oh, that’s a healthy brain that responds to alcohol that way, that’s not a deficiency.
The human brain is wired to crave and to get hooked on things for a very good reason. We can imagine early [00:20:00] humans resources were scarce. Going out to find food outside the cave was very dangerous and scary. There needed to be a mechanism to motivate that human to get out and learn. While we think of dopamine as the pleasure chemical, it’s actually about motivation and learning.
It’s what gives the organism the motivation to seek dopamine’s about seeking motivation. So go seek, and then once you find it, to imprint everything about this scene, this setting. Where’s the sun in the sky? What’s the temperature? How am I gonna find this rare resource again? Dopamine is about learning.
Our brain learns to make all these associations. Dopamine tells the organism. This is essential for survive. For early humans, it was essential for [00:21:00] survival. It was the nutritious berry or finding shelter, finding a mate. The problem is none of our resources in our modern world are scarce. They’re too abundant.
The human brain wasn’t designed to encounter alcohol that would artificially stimulate it so much. Give this huge dopamine response, and what that’s telling the brain is do this again. This is essential for survival. Being able to share that with someone and help take off the first layer of shame or embarrassment or understanding your healthy, normal human brain is working, got hooked on something it was designed to get hooked on.
I love that you used that word willpower. No amount of willpower would be able a match for this. This is something that is going to require learning how habits are formed in the first place. And tailored tactics and techniques to [00:22:00] rewind that habit, and most importantly, really get at our core beliefs about the benefit that we believe the substance has.
One of the reasons we get scared about our habit is because when we try to reign it in and don’t have the tools. It doesn’t work. My little roles, my boundaries, it just didn’t work. Then we tell ourselves, it just reinforces that we’re hooked on something. But what we really need to do is get at what are my core beliefs about the benefits of alcohol, and then very systematically challenge and poke holes in those beliefs for alcohol.
Those could be beliefs like. Alcohol helps me let my hair down. Alcohol is how I decompress from the day and transition to night. Alcohol is how I [00:23:00] celebrate, or it is my escape valve. It helps with my chronic pain. Whatever the core beliefs are, when we can successfully poke holes in those beliefs and let the brain see.
We really have evidence to the contrary, wow, it is really not relaxing if I’m waking up in the middle of the night in a worry spiral. And what is a superpower is that when we no longer hold those beliefs, when we don’t have to hang on to these outdated beliefs, when we are free of those beliefs and we have seen what is true for us, then there is no desire.
Humans only do something for a benefit. So if I no longer believe that alcohol makes me spicier or more fun at a party,
April Pride, host: or is helping
Martha Wright, Clear Power: me, was helping me [00:24:00] connect, that’s a perfect, it’s such a good one. So many of us were trained. To believe. It’s no wonder this is a place and a approach that is so filled with grace and compassion because we’re gonna honor, of course, we believe these things.
We were fed this from the time we’re very small in my household in New Orleans. We laughed for Santa Claus at Christmas. A plate of cookies and a scotch and soda. Talk about associating alcohol with love and family and, and ritual and ritual. Ritual is such a great word. When we poke holes in those beliefs and really go through them systematically, it’s very normal.
Someone might lay the first several beliefs and there might be. A residual one, that’s the one we’re gonna keep working on, [00:25:00] and then we’re gonna really get to it when we no longer believe in a benefit. There’s no desire. Yeah. That changes things because then there is no willpower required. It’s not about my willpower or whether I have an addictive personality or not.
The real way to get at this is to. Get at those beliefs.
April Pride, host: What’s the relationship to the Naked Mind? The book, the Naked Mind isn’t that
Martha Wright, Clear Power: my training came from Annie Grace and her methodology. Her book is This Naked Mind. This Naked Mind. She followed up with a book called The Alcohol Experiment. She had the alcohol experiment available online as a free tool and then put it into book form because so many people wanted a hard copy as well.
I struggled in those [00:26:00] years where I just thought, I don’t like how this feels. Alcohol feels different to me now. It’s impacting my body in a different way. I. Deprived. If I don’t have it. When school says it’s parents night, I’m very involved in school, but I know that it’s going through my head. That’s my wine time.
I think they should be serving wine at school that evening because wouldn’t that be fun? And that’s more social and parents would enjoy that. That’s the kind of thinking that I was involved in.
April Pride, host: I can donate wine. I have got a bunch
Martha Wright, Clear Power: of, I was constantly creating events, donating wine. It was your business.
April Pride, host: Yes. And you are sharing and celebrating. Yes. True.
Martha Wright, Clear Power: I love that you said that because there were great moments. There were fabulous adventures. All of that is so important. If we pretend that’s not true, we’re setting ourselves up. I love that you said that. This was the trick for me. Because I really wrestled where [00:27:00] asking myself the wrong question, I was constantly saying, but I don’t drink much more at all than other people in the wine industry.
I see lots of people who drink way more than I do. One day it really came through to me. Sometimes this clarity emerged that said Martha, that has nothing to do with anything. It really doesn’t matter how much other people are drinking. The only thing that you need to ask is how do you feel? Maybe it just my body what, and I’ve my, I’ve changed, my body’s processing it different, and I love that you said that, but some of these things were fun.
So in that way. I don’t have to regret anything about our wine business or this very beautiful business that we built up with a great community. Community. It was an opportunity for me, and this is where I got [00:28:00] so much from Annie Gray. She’s a. Tremendous mentor and a gift to the world. She has impacted so many people with this approach.
In taking everything that I learned from her and developing my own programs, I added to that was through the lens of the wine business. My work with food network chefs coming from New Orleans. A adding into this a sense of, to really emphasize a continued and doubling down on our sensory experience. Mm, making this path luscious.
And this came about because, again, because of the background and what I, my fears about giving up alcohols, we all have these kinds of sentences. Mine sounded like I am scared that life without alcohol will have no sparkle. Life without wine will [00:29:00] be gray. And it was my opportunity to look and say, what is it that I love about the wine industry?
Annie said this to me. She used the expression, your way in is your way out. It struck me that my way in was about the people, the stories, the passion. All of this ability to learn and dig in to this heritage, whatever that was, the flavors, the art of the table, gathering people. And so April, what I did was, I was a very early adopter of the beverages that were five, five and a half, six years ago.
They were few and far between. Many of them were not so [00:30:00] great. They left a lot to be desired, but there was hope. I really dove in and it was quickly apparent that. The proprietors. These entrepreneurs were dynamic, talented, and interesting, interesting, fun. And because it was so early in, they were open to, yeah,
April Pride, host: totally
Martha Wright, Clear Power: hopping on a zoom call and learning from each other.
I would host a group that was doing an alcohol experiment, and I would do it in this wine tasting space that we used to use for our winery events. Yeah, and each session, that’s pretty brave, a different array of the NA beverages. I was able to see the impact on others that embracing some of these non-alcoholic beverages provided that sensory experience.
The ability to go into a tasting room and interact with the. [00:31:00] Bartender or the
April Pride, host: or the maker
Martha Wright, Clear Power: creator and learn your story. They got inspired and it became clear that isn’t boring. Their story here. There are people here. I have no complaints about the wine industry. It was good to us, but I found a whole new level of cooperation.
I do feel like the wineries are. Cooperative and the Oregon wine industry has always had that. There is a next level of cooperation amongst these beverages, these producers, and I found it really stimulating and invigorating, a polar opposite of what I thought this would mean, stepping away from alcohol.
April Pride, host: I love it. Your way in is your way out. I did not see this coming dive into the people and the experience. Cool. Yeah. I am curious where you think that increased cooperation, if that [00:32:00] come, do most of the people who have created NA beverages have a personal story? Either they struggled with substances, alcohol, or someone they loved.
It did, and this was born out of that, uh, it’s like having come through the fire versus wanting to dance in the fire. I dunno.
Martha Wright, Clear Power: That’s a great question. My experience is that it is mixed. There are a few brands that have, as part of their origin story and their brand ID history of an alcohol use disorder, theirs, or a very close family member.
Those are beautiful stories and very compelling. And then there were other creators that it really was a lifestyle decision where they noticed that. Alcohol was getting in the way of their goals as an entrepreneur or fitness goals, or just didn’t feel in integrity with who they wanted to be. I would say that [00:33:00] some of that intense willingness to collaborate, these are people creating a whole new category that feels really rare.
They’re not just taking a category and innovating within it. You’re creating something that didn’t exist. Before it takes a certain type of person willing to take that leap of faith and they know that they are helping create the market for the product they envisioned. I think they tend to be bold people who have a strong vision and mission.
April Pride, host: Yeah, vibrant. I really want, I wanna go back to. The fact that you made a distinction between people with alcohol use disorder and people who felt like alcohol was not in integrity with Yes. Their, what their goals were is going back to earlier in the conversation. Does that mean you have [00:34:00] to have alcohol use disorder?
If you’re unable to stop, even though you can recognize it’s not an integrity, I’m just curious,
Martha Wright, Clear Power: what, where do we draw the line?
April Pride, host: Where do we draw the line? What you’re saying is, okay, I wanna go out and be with my friend. I’m gonna say yes to the glass of wine, but one glass of wine gets me up at two o’clock in the morning.
Why am I still saying yes to that glass of wine when I don’t even need to have it the next night? So someone that is. Coming at it from that place, like I still wanna be able to socialize and interact with people, but I just need to not do it with alcohol. But otherwise, that could be one story. It doesn’t mean that it wasn’t in integrity.
I’m having three beers every night. Their whole life isn’t around alcohol. They just see that it’s this one piece that is pivotal within other aspects of their life, and they’re like, I don’t know. I feel like if I just change that thing, I’m gonna be happier. Yeah,
Martha Wright, Clear Power: absolutely. I think you’re bringing up a great point.
What is really interesting when we understand this [00:35:00] continuum is to realize something that has not been acknowledged in our culture before. Now there’s a huge group of us. In the middle, if we take drinkers, whether it’s very infrequent to very heavy, we’re all on the continuum, estimated that it’s really only 10% of that population that would be chemically addicted.
Maybe about 10% are truly in a take it or leave it place where they drink a few times a year at most. Somebody’s wedding, whatever. But that is very rare. Practically unicorn. It means that 80% of us are in the middle and that 80% is what we refer to as gray area drinkers. I work with gray area drinkers. My clients identify, and this is not, what’s so [00:36:00] interesting is there’s not a medical definition, and that’s why this is, it’s amazing the way we have regarded alcohol and given alcohol such a pass.
There’s no test. You could take the way, you could take a simple blood test to determine if you have diabetes or any number of things. For our purposes, we’ll say that a gray area drinker is someone that. Can take a break. Doesn’t mean they want to, it doesn’t mean they’re not miserable or feel deprived, but they are able to take a break.
That might be that they’re, they’re just not gonna drink this weekend, or they are put on antibiotic and they’re told not to drink for seven days. They’re able to do it, maybe do a dry January, but that’s not to say they’re not counting down the days and be excited for February one. That would be the definition of a gray area drinker as opposed to someone that is chemically addicted and would need some [00:37:00] medical supervision to be sure that they can be safe in weaning or cutting down their alcohol within that 80% in the middle.
There is a ton of variation in terms of how. Dramatic or severe or how far along on that continuum we are. But I really love being able to let people know and share that where we are on that continuum doesn’t say anything about us as a person or our integrity, our morals, our kind of who we are. There are life things that have nothing to do with our willpower and our decisions that can just happen.
Whether it could come down to some kind of genetic difference in how our dopamine response works or our natural cortisol set [00:38:00] point. I have a family member that had a true phobia. Throwing up. Well, that would be an example of someone that maybe is gonna stay on this lighter end of an alcohol use disorder.
If you have an absolute phobia of getting sick, that’s gonna be a little speed bump a guardrail for you, but it has nothing to do with your morals who you are. So we can really let go of that. There’s all kinds of little things that can add up to have some kind of impact of where we’ll find ourselves on that.
Did that answer your question about it? The differences that we school? Yeah. I just,
April Pride, host: I, I, I just will always find it remarkable that somebody whose life isn’t really falling apart, um, or feels like alcohol isn’t an integrity with what they want, but they have one beer a week, is questioning their consumption and going into the non-alcoholic space as an entrepreneur.
That’s fascinating to me. [00:39:00] Actually,
Martha Wright, Clear Power: in the last couple of months I’ve had. Two women reach out to me who are in their mid twenties, and I admire that so much. Yeah. At that age, there was no question what had been modeled for me as this is what adults do, this is how we celebrate and how you love. I admire that, you know, that generation is leading the charge in terms of questioning lots of things that we considered status quo.
And they are less willing to just adopt labels. They don’t want to have the label of, I’m a drinker, or I’m a tea toler, and they’re willing to find their own place in what works for them. I admire these young women who are saying, I don’t know that this is serving me, and I want to ask the question. Would I [00:40:00] perhaps feel better with less or none at all?
Back to Annie Grace. Her work was revolutionary because it’s all framed as an experiment. What’s important about that is when we are doing an experiment, there is no possibility of failure. You imagine scientists in a lab, no matter what happens, there’s data. And there’s no failure. That is why her approach was set up that way, and that’s the approach that I take as well.
If I’m gonna take the 30 day break from alcohol, I think the best thing possible is to look back on the month without alcohol. As a pleasure, as a delight, as something nourishing to me, a luscious sabbatical. We we’re lucky enough to work for a company that gave us a paid month off. Very few people would say they would spend that time burning the candle at both ends.
[00:41:00] What would you do in a paid month off? People might go do very playful things. They might be outdoors having some physical adventures. Filling yourself up and nourishing yourself. And back to that idea of sensory experience, I am guiding my clients to slather on the sensory experience in this break.
These can be things we purchase. It can be going to get a facial. It need not be. It can just be immersing ourselves in music, in nature, in taking time to journal, in just opening our eyes and going to a farmer’s market and seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling. We want to give the brain a bigger, better offer.
My instinct initially was nothing more. I just wanna make this fun. I’m worried that life without alcohol will be no fun. As I got into it and studied [00:42:00] more, it was backed up by science. When we are in our sensory experience, it is a form of mindfulness. We’re training to get back to what I can see, smell, taste here.
It forces us to be in the present moment, trains our brain. Then. To return more naturally to the present moment. And then it is also training our brain to look for more of those moments of delight, of joy, of awe, yeah. Of play. And when we’re in those states, totally. Our brain does. Release the dopamine that allows us to learn dopamine is that learning chemical.
We are more open to learning by St. Staying in that sensory experience in a place of playfulness, we prime the brain to be in a state where it can learn best. Hmm. [00:43:00]
April Pride, host: Yes. I wanna talk about psychedelics and microdosing and how that might be helping people, but. We’re gonna do that in another conversation.
Martha Wright, Clear Power: This is
April Pride, host: definitely a part one, a topic that’s personal to me, and a lot of people listening, thank you for sharing your personal story. I’d love for people to know how they can find you if they’re looking for a coach, if they’re looking for support in any way. I know you have groups that people can join, so yeah, how can they find.
Martha Wright, Clear Power: Thank you. Talk
April Pride, host: more about you and your work.
Martha Wright, Clear Power: Thank you April so much. I would love to come back any time because there is so much to say on this topic. What I love most is taking this whole approach where it’s about fascination. Fascination is a very animating emotion, and again, that makes us more primed to learn, but it keeps us out of.
Any kind of shame because it’s just our brains. If anyone wants to [00:44:00] reach out, they can find me. My website is clear power coaching.com. My website does have a number of just free resources, my recommended articles, podcasts, books. I also keep an updated list, a beverages. My husband and I spend half the year in France in Paris, where our daughter lives and.
That’s been fascinating to keep tabs on how the non-alcoholic beverage movement there. I’m always reporting on these findings and discoveries from my website. Anyone can sign up for my newsletter. I, I pour a lot of just resources and love about living a juicy alcohol free life. I’d love to have them along for the adventure.
April Pride, host: Amazing. Thank you. I appreciate your time.
Martha Wright, Clear Power: Thanks.
April Pride, host: Of course.
[00:45:00] Thank you for listening to this episode of SetSet. If you like what you’ve heard, please rate and review us. It really does help more people find the show, and the best way to follow along is on Substack. You can find me at aprilpride.substack.com. I think you’ll find what we offer to have a lot of value, and we’d love for you to become a member where you can access The Psychedelic Toolkit and over 200 hours of podcast episodes.
And this is April Pride, your host. Thank you for letting me help you get SetSet.
