This beautiful river in the Pacific Northwest has class III-V rapids. One of those rapids is a complicated one to navigate that brings kayakers from around the world. It’s called The Washing Machine, because if you get tossed from your boat or raft and get caught in it, it will spin you around and around. You can get stuck in it and drown. And the way out? The way out is to get out of a small fetal position and to instead stretch, elongate, reach out.

I’d spent two decades making and selling wine and along the way, wine began controlling me! I didn’t realize that my interrupted sleep and middle of the night guilt trip/worry sessions were due to alcohol. I didn’t realize that I wasn’t the only one who made middle of the night pleas to a higher being, and pledges to cut-back or quit only to have that resolve vanish into thin air by mid-morning, like some special kind of amnesia. I wanted to regain control and clarity, but was terrified of what giving up wine might mean. But life will not be fun, I told myself, and I LOVE extending hospitality and special bottles and bringing women together and creating community around wine themed events. And, I continued in protest, my husband and daughter assure me that I don’t have anything close to a drinking problem. In fact, I’m surrounded by people who drink as I do or far, far more. Then it must be ok. But, there was really only one person who could tell me if it was ok. And that was ME. And I had been trying to tell myself that it wasn’t ok with ME. I had been questioning it for years, and finally, one day, I listened. I listened to what I’d been trying to tell myself. I was ready to stretch, elongate, reach out. And that was the first step. The first scary, hairy, wonderful step. Maybe that’s where you are! Congratulations and welcome!!!

But how to do it? Like many profound life changes it isn’t easy, but it is simple! If it hadn’t been for Annie Grace’s miraculous, science-rich program The Alcohol Experiment, I would have stayed right there. Right there in The Washing Machine, turning around and around, stuck. When I tried to cut back on my own, without any help and without any resources or accountability, I wasn’t successful. It lasted a week at most before I convinced myself anew that I really didn’t have a problem. That left me feeling ashamed, conflicted and confused, all of which I hid from others, and drank more as a result. Maybe you’ve been there too?

It was Groundhog’s Day, over and over, until I understood the science behind alcohol’s impact on the brain, the function of the brain’s reward system and the role of dopamine. With the right tools and methodology I was able to completely eliminate the fixation so that alcohol became small and irrelevant, while my energy, peace and mood soared, and so much more. I’d be so honored to help you make alcohol small and find your “so much more.”