Last Updated on September 30, 2024

Why wait until January to make a change? In this episode of Journey To The Sunnyside 10 Minute Monday, Our host Mike Hardenbrook dives into the differences between Sober and Sober(ish) October and how each approach could set you up for success before the holidays hit. Tune in to discover how a small shift in your October plans could have a big impact.

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Full Transcript

Mike: [00:00:00] Welcome to Journey to the Sunnyside, a podcast where we have thoughtful conversations to explore the science of habits, uncover the secrets to mindful living, and of course, inspire your own mindful drinking journey. This podcast is brought to you by Sunnyside, the number one alcohol moderation platform.

And if you could benefit from drinking a bit less, head on over to sunnyside. co to get a free 15 day trial. I’m your host, Mike Hardenbrook, published author, neuroscience enthusiast, and habit change expert.

Okay. And welcome to another one of these 10 minute Mondays. Today, I’m going to cover five reasons why you should try our Soberish October challenge and the difference between the traditional Sober October challenge. And so the first thing before we get into those five is I want to say the timing is perfect right now.

Why wait until new year’s to get started to changing your habits? [00:01:00] And part of the reason is, is that this challenge really sets you up for the long term. And so why not get started now, head into the holidays with good, achievable habits and set yourself up for the new year to be even further along than where you are right now.

And so let’s get into the five reasons. So Silverish October has flexibility built into the program. Basically you get to choose the goal. Silverish You don’t have to go fully sober. It’s not an all or nothing. This is a one size fits all for every single person. It’s one through 31 days and you don’t drink.

No, you actually get to choose the goal. So whether or not you want to reduce your intake or drink fewer days and how many of those look like. You get to choose. And one of the great things about this flexibility is that it allows you to plan for special occasions, maybe social events and any sort of milestones that maybe you want to have a drink with that.

And [00:02:00] this flexibility is something that’s going to set us up for planning heading into the holidays as well. So it’s really great to set your own goals and have flexibility. Number two is small goals are sustainable. So if you jump right into Sober October, depending on your current intake, this could be extreme.

However, if you have the sober challenge and you pick what you think is an achievable goal, then this is going to set you up for more long term habits. And science actually backs this up. So behavioral psychology will show that small wins releases dopamine, which then reinforces the behavior as a positive one.

So if you’re not just pulling back to this extreme, but you’re getting small wins along the way, and it doesn’t feel like tons of effort and much more manageable and something that you’re not going to quit at, then you’re going to get these sustainable wins that set you up for the long term. And [00:03:00] then number three, the difference between sober October and sober ish October is that we’re going to avoid that all or nothing mentality.

And if you go with the entire month of October or let’s say January, it’s very restrictive to go from whatever level you are to absolutely zero. And I think all of us have probably done this, whether it’s with alcohol or something else on January 1st. I’m giving up X, Y, Z, and you might make it for the first week or a couple of weeks, and then maybe you give in and you sort of abandon this commitment, this challenge or whatever you want to call it, because it’s so restrictive.

With Soberish October, as in point one, like I mentioned, has flexibility. So even if we have these quote unquote failures or slip ups, it allows us to keep moving. We can still make it up within our plan. And this is going to avoid extreme restriction. You know, there’s a lot of programs out there, especially in the diet world, [00:04:00] where we see people make big progress.

They take these before and after photos, but then maybe 30 days later, you know, they’re sort of where they were or even worse. So we know that this restriction doesn’t really work for the long term. Whereas this is something that you can enjoy. And something that’s achievable and like we said, behavioral science kind of backs up that these small incremental wins adds up to long term success.

Number four is celebrate the wins. And this allows us to celebrate small victories. And because it’s not so restrictive, it doesn’t feel so hard. So we get the positive reinforcement of making change without all the restrictive parts that make it so difficult and maybe can put us in a negative place. So we get the wins without as much effort.

And this is going to really boost our morale, our motivation to keep going and to think. Hey, maybe long term I can actually do this. And by acknowledging our efforts, this [00:05:00] just makes it more enjoyable and rewarding. And as I said, it’s not just so hard as if we were just going to go an all or nothing route.

And then number five, we have, it’s a gateway to long term change. As I said with the yo yo that the restrictive approach isn’t something that we can really sustain. But if you’re getting these small wins that don’t seem so difficult, you might start to think, actually, this is something that I can integrate into my life long term.

Or maybe if it feels a little restrictive, you can say after the challenge, you know what, I actually can reduce where I was before the challenge, but I’m going to add a little bit more because I feel like long term it’s more sustainable. And when we have this flexible approach that is more moderate, it feels less intimidating.

We can do more of the challenges outside of October, and we can even challenge ourself further if we felt like what we chose for October was doable. And you think you can actually progress even [00:06:00] further and take a little bit away, then it doesn’t feel like this giant restrictive challenge. So to recap the five reasons why you should try Soberish October.

You have flexible goals, it’s sustainability, we’re avoiding the all or nothing, it’s easy to celebrate the wins, and there are long term benefits to not being so restrictive with the traditional Sober October. So if you want to join the Sunnyside Soberish October, we’d love to have you join. I’m going to put the link in this below so that you can find it and hope to see you in there.

And remember, it’s not about perfection, it’s about taking small steps that are attainable. Towards long term success. So cheers to your mindful drinking journey. Thanks for listening to journey to the sunny side. And if you enjoyed this episode, the best way you can show your support is by going on whatever platform you’re listening on and giving us an honest review.

This is going to help others find us. [00:07:00] And to be honest, it would mean the world to me. So if you can do that for me, I’d appreciate it. And thanks again for listening. This podcast is brought to you by Sunnyside, the number one alcohol moderation platform, having helped hundreds of thousands of people cut out more than 13 million drinks since 2020.

And in fact, an independent study showed that Sunnyside reduced alcohol consumption by an average of 30 percent in 90 days. And as one of our members shared, Sunnyside helps me stay mindful of my drinking habits. It’s not super restrictive, so if I’m craving a glass of wine with dinner, I just track it and I move on with my week.

If you could benefit from drinking a bit less and being more mindful of when and how much you drink, head on over to sunny side. co to get a free 15 day trial. You’ll get access to everything that we offer, including tracking and planning tools, coaching from our experts, a vibrant community of people just like you.

And the motivation and [00:08:00] advice to stay on track with your health goals, all with no pressure to quit. That’s sunny side. co.