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Knowing what to do usually isn’t the problem. Most people already know what would help them feel better, whether that’s drinking less, sleeping more, taking better care of themselves, or managing stress. And yet, they don’t. In this episode, I’m joined again by Arlina Allen to talk about why knowledge alone rarely leads to change and what’s actually getting in the way. We explore why habit strategies often fall apart, how anxiety and emotional avoidance drive behavior, and why resistance isn’t a lack of willpower but a protective response. If you’ve ever felt frustrated with yourself for not following through, or wondered why alcohol, distraction, or old patterns still feel necessary even when you don’t want them to, this conversation will give you a new lens. Let’s get into it. CONNECT WITH SUNNYSIDE: Listen to Journey to the Sunnyside Podcast: https://bit.ly/4bxCqT3Subscribe to Sunnyside’s YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3zuoID4Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinsunnyside/Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/joinsunnyside/Twitter:  https://x.com/joinsunnysideTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joinsunnysideABOUT SUNNYSIDE: Sunnyside is the #1 alcohol health app that helps you drink less without any shame, guilt, or pressure to quit. Optimize your alcohol habits to achieve benefits like sleeping better, losing weight, feeling more energy, and saving money. We know that an all-or-nothing approach doesn’t work for everyone, so we focus on helping you set your own goals, celebrate small wins, and build a lasting system of accountability. As a result, 96.7% of our members see a big drop in their drinking after 90 days. We now offer Sunnyside Med, a new program that provides access to compounded naltrexone, a medication that can reduce alcohol cravings at the brain level, offering a more clinical pathway for people who need it. Sunnyside Med is a complete, holistic approach to help you drink less or quit, including coaching, community, habit change, education, and more to help you create longterm change while the medication does its work. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended as medical advice, and the views of the guests may not represent the views of Sunnyside. If you’re concerned about your health or alcohol use, please consider seeking advice from a doctor.

Today’s episode is about flexibility. And more specifically, what happens when the one-size-fits-all approach to alcohol stops working. My guest today is Arlina Allen. Arlina has been sober for over 30 years. She’s the author of The 12-Step Guide for Skeptics, host of the One Day at a Time Recovery Podcast, and she’s spent decades working with high-functioning professionals who want to change their relationship with alcohol without blowing up their lives. What makes this conversation different is that Arlina didn’t start out open-minded about flexibility. For most of her recovery, she believed abstinence was the only real answer. But over time, through her work with clients, her podcast, and her own willingness to question what she thought she knew, her perspective evolved. In this episode, we talk about what actually helped her quit drinking, what the 12 steps still get right even if you don’t resonate with the whole program, and how to think about moderation, medication, and experimentation without shame or labels. If you’ve ever thought, “I don’t want to drink like this anymore, but I’m not ready to say I’m done forever,” this episode is for you. Let’s get into it. CONNECT WITH SUNNYSIDE: Listen to Journey to the Sunnyside Podcast: https://bit.ly/4bxCqT3Subscribe to Sunnyside’s YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3zuoID4Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinsunnyside/Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/joinsunnyside/Twitter:  https://x.com/joinsunnysideTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joinsunnysideABOUT SUNNYSIDE: Sunnyside is the #1 alcohol health app that helps you drink less without any shame, guilt, or pressure to quit. Optimize your alcohol habits to achieve benefits like sleeping better, losing weight, feeling more energy, and saving money. We know that an all-or-nothing approach doesn’t work for everyone, so we focus on helping you set your own goals, celebrate small wins, and build a lasting system of accountability. As a result, 96.7% of our members see a big drop in their drinking after 90 days. We now offer Sunnyside Med, a new program that provides access to compounded naltrexone, a medication that can reduce alcohol cravings at the brain level, offering a more clinical pathway for people who need it. Sunnyside Med is a complete, holistic approach to help you drink less or quit, including coaching, community, habit change, education, and more to help you create longterm change while the medication does its work. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended as medical advice, and the views of the guests may not represent the views of Sunnyside. If you’re concerned about your health or alcohol use, please consider seeking advice from a doctor.

It often looks like other people can drink without thinking about it. One drink. No drama. No second-guessing. In this episode, we look at why that comparison is so convincing—and why it usually breaks down on closer inspection. From the way alcohol shifts attention to the information you never actually see when watching others drink, this conversation explores how comparison quietly turns every decision into something you’re evaluating. Not to tell you how to drink, but to help you stop measuring yourself against an incomplete picture. CONNECT WITH SUNNYSIDE: Listen to Journey to the Sunnyside Podcast: https://bit.ly/4bxCqT3Subscribe to Sunnyside’s YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3zuoID4Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinsunnyside/Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/joinsunnyside/Twitter:  https://x.com/joinsunnysideTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joinsunnysideABOUT SUNNYSIDE: Sunnyside is the #1 alcohol health app that helps you drink less without any shame, guilt, or pressure to quit. Optimize your alcohol habits to achieve benefits like sleeping better, losing weight, feeling more energy, and saving money. We know that an all-or-nothing approach doesn’t work for everyone, so we focus on helping you set your own goals, celebrate small wins, and build a lasting system of accountability. As a result, 96.7% of our members see a big drop in their drinking after 90 days. We now offer Sunnyside Med, a new program that provides access to compounded naltrexone, a medication that can reduce alcohol cravings at the brain level, offering a more clinical pathway for people who need it. Sunnyside Med is a complete, holistic approach to help you drink less or quit, including coaching, community, habit change, education, and more to help you create longterm change while the medication does its work. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended as medical advice, and the views of the guests may not represent the views of Sunnyside. If you’re concerned about your health or alcohol use, please consider seeking advice from a doctor.

In this episode, I sit down with Billy Grady, co-founder and CEO of Kava Haven, one of the fastest-growing alcohol alternatives in the country. We break down what kava actually is, how it’s been used for thousands of years, and why more people are turning to it as a way to relax, socialize, and mark the end of the day without alcohol. Billy shares how a personal health experiment turned into a brand now carried in over 1,000 retailers and bars nationwide, clears up common misconceptions around liver health and addiction, and explains what kava really feels like compared to alcohol or cannabis. If you’re curious about drinking less but still want something that helps you unwind, this conversation gives you a clear, grounded look at whether kava might fit into your life. CONNECT WITH SUNNYSIDE: Listen to Journey to the Sunnyside Podcast: https://bit.ly/4bxCqT3Subscribe to Sunnyside’s YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3zuoID4Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinsunnyside/Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/joinsunnyside/Twitter:  https://x.com/joinsunnysideTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joinsunnysideABOUT SUNNYSIDE: Sunnyside is the #1 alcohol health app that helps you drink less without any shame, guilt, or pressure to quit. Optimize your alcohol habits to achieve benefits like sleeping better, losing weight, feeling more energy, and saving money. We know that an all-or-nothing approach doesn’t work for everyone, so we focus on helping you set your own goals, celebrate small wins, and build a lasting system of accountability. As a result, 96.7% of our members see a big drop in their drinking after 90 days. We now offer Sunnyside Med, a new program that provides access to compounded naltrexone, a medication that can reduce alcohol cravings at the brain level, offering a more clinical pathway for people who need it. Sunnyside Med is a complete, holistic approach to help you drink less or quit, including coaching, community, habit change, education, and more to help you create longterm change while the medication does its work. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended as medical advice, and the views of the guests may not represent the views of Sunnyside. If you’re concerned about your health or alcohol use, please consider seeking advice from a doctor.

I’ve talked to a lot of people who cut back on drinking, hit their goals, and still feel like something’s off. In this episode, I share why moderation can start to feel like something you manage instead of a real shift in how you live. I walk through what alcohol is often doing beneath the surface, why removing it isn’t always enough on its own, and how building what’s missing can make drinking naturally feel less necessary. CONNECT WITH SUNNYSIDE: Listen to Journey to the Sunnyside Podcast: https://bit.ly/4bxCqT3Subscribe to Sunnyside’s YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3zuoID4Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinsunnyside/Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/joinsunnyside/Twitter:  https://x.com/joinsunnysideTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joinsunnysideABOUT SUNNYSIDE: Sunnyside is the #1 alcohol health app that helps you drink less without any shame, guilt, or pressure to quit. Optimize your alcohol habits to achieve benefits like sleeping better, losing weight, feeling more energy, and saving money. We know that an all-or-nothing approach doesn’t work for everyone, so we focus on helping you set your own goals, celebrate small wins, and build a lasting system of accountability. As a result, 96.7% of our members see a big drop in their drinking after 90 days. We now offer Sunnyside Med, a new program that provides access to compounded naltrexone, a medication that can reduce alcohol cravings at the brain level, offering a more clinical pathway for people who need it. Sunnyside Med is a complete, holistic approach to help you drink less or quit, including coaching, community, habit change, education, and more to help you create longterm change while the medication does its work. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended as medical advice, and the views of the guests may not represent the views of Sunnyside. If you’re concerned about your health or alcohol use, please consider seeking advice from a doctor.

Many people feel exhausted but unable to truly rest. Sleep feels shallow, stress lingers, and the body stays on edge even when life looks “fine” on the outside. In this episode, functional wellness practitioner Zoa Conner, PhD brings a systems-based lens to what’s happening underneath that wired-but-tired state. Drawing on her background in physics, she explains how depletion, nervous system dysregulation, and environmental stress quietly shape how we feel long before we try to change our behavior. We talk about how mineral balance and liver support affect energy and resilience, why cravings can be signals rather than failures, and how changes in environment or travel can either restore regulation or amplify stress. This conversation isn’t about fixing yourself or following a rigid protocol. It’s about understanding what the body is asking for and learning how support, not force, often creates the relief people are looking for. CONNECT WITH SUNNYSIDE: Listen to Journey to the Sunnyside Podcast: https://bit.ly/4bxCqT3Subscribe to Sunnyside’s YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3zuoID4Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinsunnyside/Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/joinsunnyside/Twitter:  https://x.com/joinsunnysideTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joinsunnysideABOUT SUNNYSIDE: Sunnyside is the #1 alcohol health app that helps you drink less without any shame, guilt, or pressure to quit. Optimize your alcohol habits to achieve benefits like sleeping better, losing weight, feeling more energy, and saving money. We know that an all-or-nothing approach doesn’t work for everyone, so we focus on helping you set your own goals, celebrate small wins, and build a lasting system of accountability. As a result, 96.7% of our members see a big drop in their drinking after 90 days. We now offer Sunnyside Med, a new program that provides access to compounded naltrexone, a medication that can reduce alcohol cravings at the brain level, offering a more clinical pathway for people who need it. Sunnyside Med is a complete, holistic approach to help you drink less or quit, including coaching, community, habit change, education, and more to help you create longterm change while the medication does its work. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended as medical advice, and the views of the guests may not represent the views of Sunnyside. If you’re concerned about your health or alcohol use, please consider seeking advice from a doctor.

We’re a few weeks into January — past the excitement of starting, but still early enough to choose again. In this episode, I share how I’m structuring a personal experiment this year, not as a rule or resolution, but as a way to support what I want more of: energy, clarity, consistency, and presence. Using examples straight from my journal, I walk through a simple framework you can use at any point in the year: Clarifying your “why” by categoryTurning it into purpose statementsChoosing a meaningful container without forever languageWhether you’re right on track or already feeling off course, this episode isn’t about restriction or perfection. It’s about paying attention to what supports you, and what quietly takes from you, and choosing from there. CONNECT WITH SUNNYSIDE: Listen to Journey to the Sunnyside Podcast: https://bit.ly/4bxCqT3Subscribe to Sunnyside’s YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3zuoID4Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinsunnyside/Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/joinsunnyside/Twitter:  https://x.com/joinsunnysideTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joinsunnysideABOUT SUNNYSIDE: Sunnyside is the #1 alcohol health app that helps you drink less without any shame, guilt, or pressure to quit. Optimize your alcohol habits to achieve benefits like sleeping better, losing weight, feeling more energy, and saving money. We know that an all-or-nothing approach doesn’t work for everyone, so we focus on helping you set your own goals, celebrate small wins, and build a lasting system of accountability. As a result, 96.7% of our members see a big drop in their drinking after 90 days. We now offer Sunnyside Med, a new program that provides access to compounded naltrexone, a medication that can reduce alcohol cravings at the brain level, offering a more clinical pathway for people who need it. Sunnyside Med is a complete, holistic approach to help you drink less or quit, including coaching, community, habit change, education, and more to help you create longterm change while the medication does its work. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended as medical advice, and the views of the guests may not represent the views of Sunnyside. If you’re concerned about your health or alcohol use, please consider seeking advice from a doctor.

Marci Hopkins, host of Wake Up with Marci and author of the upcoming book Wake Up, You’re Not Broken, joins me again to talk about what actually happens after you make a big change. We unpack the first 30 days — including that first-month “I feel amazing” phase — and why things can feel harder once it fades. We talk about identity, spirituality, community, and how to move forward without shame when progress isn’t linear. This episode is about rediscovering yourself, not fixing something that was broken.--CONNECT WITH SUNNYSIDE: Listen to Journey to the Sunnyside Podcast: https://bit.ly/4bxCqT3Subscribe to Sunnyside’s YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3zuoID4Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinsunnyside/Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/joinsunnyside/Twitter:  https://x.com/joinsunnysideTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joinsunnysideABOUT SUNNYSIDE: Sunnyside is the #1 alcohol health app that helps you drink less without any shame, guilt, or pressure to quit. Optimize your alcohol habits to achieve benefits like sleeping better, losing weight, feeling more energy, and saving money. We know that an all-or-nothing approach doesn’t work for everyone, so we focus on helping you set your own goals, celebrate small wins, and build a lasting system of accountability. As a result, 96.7% of our members see a big drop in their drinking after 90 days. We now offer Sunnyside Med, a new program that provides access to compounded naltrexone, a medication that can reduce alcohol cravings at the brain level, offering a more clinical pathway for people who need it. Sunnyside Med is a complete, holistic approach to help you drink less or quit, including coaching, community, habit change, education, and more to help you create longterm change while the medication does its work. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended as medical advice, and the views of the guests may not represent the views of Sunnyside. If you’re concerned about your health or alcohol use, please consider seeking advice from a doctor.

Marci Hopkins is the host of Wake Up with Marci, a speaker, and the author of Chaos to Clarity. But her work didn’t come from theory — it came from living through years of trauma, chaos, and using alcohol to cope. In part one, Marci shares what chaos actually looked like growing up, how drinking slowly became normalized, and the moment she realized that trying to “manage” alcohol wasn’t going to work for her. We talk about self-awareness, nervous system survival, and why real change starts when you stop pretending something is working when it isn’t.--CONNECT WITH SUNNYSIDE: Listen to Journey to the Sunnyside Podcast: https://bit.ly/4bxCqT3Subscribe to Sunnyside’s YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3zuoID4Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinsunnyside/Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/joinsunnyside/Twitter:  https://x.com/joinsunnysideTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joinsunnysideABOUT SUNNYSIDE: Sunnyside is the #1 alcohol health app that helps you drink less without any shame, guilt, or pressure to quit. Optimize your alcohol habits to achieve benefits like sleeping better, losing weight, feeling more energy, and saving money. We know that an all-or-nothing approach doesn’t work for everyone, so we focus on helping you set your own goals, celebrate small wins, and build a lasting system of accountability. As a result, 96.7% of our members see a big drop in their drinking after 90 days. We now offer Sunnyside Med, a new program that provides access to compounded naltrexone, a medication that can reduce alcohol cravings at the brain level, offering a more clinical pathway for people who need it. Sunnyside Med is a complete, holistic approach to help you drink less or quit, including coaching, community, habit change, education, and more to help you create longterm change while the medication does its work. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended as medical advice, and the views of the guests may not represent the views of Sunnyside. If you’re concerned about your health or alcohol use, please consider seeking advice from a doctor.

You’d think a hangover would be enough to stop drinking. For most people, it’s not. In this episode, we look at why delayed consequences don’t change behavior, how the brain prioritizes immediate relief, and what cravings are really responding to. Once you understand the timing problem at the center of drinking habits, a lot of things start to make sense. CONNECT WITH SUNNYSIDE: Listen to Journey to the Sunnyside Podcast: https://bit.ly/4bxCqT3Subscribe to Sunnyside’s YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3zuoID4Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinsunnyside/Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/joinsunnyside/Twitter:  https://x.com/joinsunnysideTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joinsunnysideABOUT SUNNYSIDE: Sunnyside is the #1 alcohol health app that helps you drink less without any shame, guilt, or pressure to quit. Optimize your alcohol habits to achieve benefits like sleeping better, losing weight, feeling more energy, and saving money. We know that an all-or-nothing approach doesn’t work for everyone, so we focus on helping you set your own goals, celebrate small wins, and build a lasting system of accountability. As a result, 96.7% of our members see a big drop in their drinking after 90 days. We now offer Sunnyside Med, a new program that provides access to compounded naltrexone, a medication that can reduce alcohol cravings at the brain level, offering a more clinical pathway for people who need it. Sunnyside Med is a complete, holistic approach to help you drink less or quit, including coaching, community, habit change, education, and more to help you create longterm change while the medication does its work. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended as medical advice, and the views of the guests may not represent the views of Sunnyside. If you’re concerned about your health or alcohol use, please consider seeking advice from a doctor.

Claudia Christian is an actress, author, and leading advocate for evidence-based approaches to alcohol use disorder. She’s best known for her roles on Babylon 5, NYPD Blue, and 24, as well as for her widely viewed TEDx talk on alcohol recovery, which has been watched by millions of people worldwide. In this conversation, Claudia shares why being told to “just quit drinking” never worked for her, despite years of trying. We talk about cravings, relapse cycles, and why willpower alone often isn’t enough to change drinking habits. Claudia explains how naltrexone helped quiet the mental and physical noise around alcohol, and what most people misunderstand about medication, side effects, and consistency.We also go beyond the biology. Claudia reflects on trauma, learned coping patterns, and why the deeper work matters once cravings begin to fade. This episode is about expanding options, reducing harm, and offering a more realistic and compassionate way to change your relationship with alcohol. CONNECT WITH SUNNYSIDE: Listen to Journey to the Sunnyside Podcast: https://bit.ly/4bxCqT3Subscribe to Sunnyside’s YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3zuoID4Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinsunnyside/Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/joinsunnyside/Twitter:  https://x.com/joinsunnysideTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joinsunnysideABOUT SUNNYSIDE: Sunnyside is the #1 alcohol health app that helps you drink less without any shame, guilt, or pressure to quit. Optimize your alcohol habits to achieve benefits like sleeping better, losing weight, feeling more energy, and saving money. We know that an all-or-nothing approach doesn’t work for everyone, so we focus on helping you set your own goals, celebrate small wins, and build a lasting system of accountability. As a result, 96.7% of our members see a big drop in their drinking after 90 days. We now offer Sunnyside Med, a new program that provides access to compounded naltrexone, a medication that can reduce alcohol cravings at the brain level, offering a more clinical pathway for people who need it. Sunnyside Med is a complete, holistic approach to help you drink less or quit, including coaching, community, habit change, education, and more to help you create longterm change while the medication does its work. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended as medical advice, and the views of the guests may not represent the views of Sunnyside. If you’re concerned about your health or alcohol use, please consider seeking advice from a doctor.

We’re surrounded by advice on how to do better, be better, and optimize every part of life. But what if the constant effort to improve is part of what keeps us feeling tense? In this episode, I talk about my own habit of always learning, always doing, and what happened when I finally made space to stop fixing myself. We explore why easing pressure can lead to calmer choices, clearer thinking, and more sustainable change. --Listen to Journey to the Sunnyside Podcast: https://bit.ly/4bxCqT3Subscribe to Sunnyside’s YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3zuoID4 CONNECT WITH SUNNYSIDE:- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinsunnyside/- Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/joinsunnyside/- Twitter:  https://x.com/joinsunnyside- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joinsunnyside ABOUT SUNNYSIDE: Sunnyside is the #1 alcohol moderation app that helps you drink less without any shame, guilt, or pressure to quit. Optimize your alcohol habits to achieve benefits like sleeping better, losing weight, feeling more energy, and saving money. We know that an all-or-nothing approach doesn’t work for everyone, so we focus on helping you set your own goals, celebrate small wins, and build a lasting system of accountability. As a result, 96.7% of our members see a big drop in their drinking after 90 days. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended as medical advice, and the views of the guests may not represent the views of Sunnyside. If you’re concerned about your health or alcohol use, please consider seeking advice from a doctor.

If you’re starting Dry January or Dry(ish) January today, this episode is about support, not pressure. We talk about how to approach the month with kindness instead of correction, what to expect in those first couple of weeks, why an off night doesn’t undo progress, and how to set yourself up with tools that actually help once January is underway. We walk through practical support like the Dry(ish) January Challenge with Sunnyside, medical and physical support options, urge surfing, and motivating resources that make this feel doable in real life. This episode builds on Monday’s conversation about planning ahead, but it stands on its own as a grounded way to start the year feeling clear, steady, and supported. My Top 5 Resources for Dry (or Dryish) January 1. Dry(ish) January Challenge with Sunnyside Join the free challenge, choose your goal, track your drinks, and earn rewards.https://get.sunnyside.co/january 2. Sunnyside Med Medical support designed to help when cravings feel bigger than intentions. https://www.joinsunnysidemed.com/ 3. Cloud9 – Daily Restore (Sunnyside Edition) Physical support for sleep, nervous system recovery, and liver health during alcohol reduction. https://trycloud9.com/products/daily-restore-sunnyside 4. Urge Surfing (Behavioral Psychology Tool) Clinical overview: 👉 https://ssihi.uci.edu/news-and-media/blog/urge-surfing-in-the-new-year-resolving-to-ride-the-waves-of-change/ 5. SoberishMom on Instagram Motivating, real-life support that makes Dry(ish) Jan👉 https://www.instagram.com/soberishmom/ --Listen to Journey to the Sunnyside Podcast: https://bit.ly/4bxCqT3Subscribe to Sunnyside’s YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3zuoID4 CONNECT WITH SUNNYSIDE:- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinsunnyside/- Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/joinsunnyside/- Twitter:  https://x.com/joinsunnyside- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joinsunnyside ABOUT SUNNYSIDE: Sunnyside is the #1 alcohol moderation app that helps you drink less without any shame, guilt, or pressure to quit. Optimize your alcohol habits to achieve benefits like sleeping better, losing weight, feeling more energy, and saving money. We know that an all-or-nothing approach doesn’t work for everyone, so we focus on helping you set your own goals, celebrate small wins, and build a lasting system of accountability. As a result, 96.7% of our members see a big drop in their drinking after 90 days. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended as medical advice, and the views of the guests may not represent the views of Sunnyside. If you’re concerned about your health or alcohol use, please consider seeking advice from a doctor.

January 1 is symbolic, not magical. In this episode, we walk through nine decisions to make before January starts if you want change to actually stick. We cover why waiting for the calendar flip often backfires, how the “get it out of your system” mindset keeps patterns in place, and why planning for stress, fatigue, and social pressure matters more than motivation. Whether you’re considering Dry January, Dryish January, or just drinking differently in the new year, this episode shows how starting earlier can turn January into a real starting point instead of another reset. --Listen to Journey to the Sunnyside Podcast: https://bit.ly/4bxCqT3Subscribe to Sunnyside’s YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3zuoID4 CONNECT WITH SUNNYSIDE:- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinsunnyside/- Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/joinsunnyside/- Twitter:  https://x.com/joinsunnyside- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joinsunnyside ABOUT SUNNYSIDE: Sunnyside is the #1 alcohol moderation app that helps you drink less without any shame, guilt, or pressure to quit. Optimize your alcohol habits to achieve benefits like sleeping better, losing weight, feeling more energy, and saving money. We know that an all-or-nothing approach doesn’t work for everyone, so we focus on helping you set your own goals, celebrate small wins, and build a lasting system of accountability. As a result, 96.7% of our members see a big drop in their drinking after 90 days. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended as medical advice, and the views of the guests may not represent the views of Sunnyside. If you’re concerned about your health or alcohol use, please consider seeking advice from a doctor.

Dry January doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. In this episode, Katie Nessel from Soberish Mom and I talk through what Dry(ish) January really looks like in real life, why flexibility works better than white-knuckling, and where people tend to get stuck when they try to force change. We unpack the difference between Dry and Dry(ish), why slip-ups don’t undo progress, and how the Sunnyside challenge supports planning, awareness, and community without pressure. We close with how to think about success in January and how to carry that momentum forward instead of rebounding in February. --Listen to Journey to the Sunnyside Podcast: https://bit.ly/4bxCqT3Subscribe to Sunnyside’s YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3zuoID4 CONNECT WITH SUNNYSIDE:- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinsunnyside/- Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/joinsunnyside/- Twitter:  https://x.com/joinsunnyside- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joinsunnyside ABOUT SUNNYSIDE: Sunnyside is the #1 alcohol moderation app that helps you drink less without any shame, guilt, or pressure to quit. Optimize your alcohol habits to achieve benefits like sleeping better, losing weight, feeling more energy, and saving money. We know that an all-or-nothing approach doesn’t work for everyone, so we focus on helping you set your own goals, celebrate small wins, and build a lasting system of accountability. As a result, 96.7% of our members see a big drop in their drinking after 90 days. Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended as medical advice, and the views of the guests may not represent the views of Sunnyside. If you’re concerned about your health or alcohol use, please consider seeking advice from a doctor.