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I began my journal practice in 2013 when I was going through perimenopause to track my perimenopause symptoms and to feel better. This $5.00 Walmart journal led me to quit drinking through letters and questions that I asked myself like, Why are you drinking so much? 

Before this journal, I had kept a diary when I was younger, which I loved to do. I had a beautiful diary with the lock and key that I guarded with my life, so my sister wouldn't see what I wrote the crushes I had.

My Walmart journal said Please Don't Take My Sunshine Away and I remember seeing it and thinking this is perfect! I was pretty down during perimenopause, and I had recently lost my mom to cancer, so I knew that the journal would be a way for me to express my thoughts and feelings. 

I realized that when I started journaling, I stared at the blank page, and I didn't know what to write, so I wrote what I ate for the day, my cycles and lack thereof, my moods, and my...

When you face the challenge of giving up alcohol and staying sober long-term, it can feel beyond overwhelming. 

There are books, podcasts, sober social media accounts, and groups, programs, and more. Not to mention AA and the traditional programs that have been around for decades. 

This time we are living in is a blessing, but it can also derail you.

In this article, I break down the top three essentials to staying sober over 40.

The blessing comes from more folks speaking up and out about their alcohol abuse and how they decided to get sober. Chances are you came across this post because of a quick Google search. 

The interwebs were not as prevalent when I quit drinking in 2013. I didn't know about sober blogs and podcasts. I did, however, read one book that changed how I felt a bit about my choice to get sober, Drinking a Love Story, by Caroline Knapp. 

That one book gave me the insight to realize that I wasn't alone in my 30-year...

I quit drinking at forty-five; my son was twelve. One of the biggest regrets I hold onto today is the fact that I drank around him for so long. Every holiday, every birthday, every social situation revolved around drinking way too much. 

My son, Spencer is going to be eighteen next month and leaving for College in the Fall. I'm vacillating between the gratitude that I have for my sobriety and the sadness I feel because of all of the time that I wasted in his younger years.

 It is a bittersweet time. 

I gave birth the day before Mother's Day in 2001. Up until this day, I had seven months of sobriety and thought long and hard about giving it up for good. After all, I had drunk since I was fourteen, that was a long time. Ha! 

Quitting didn't happen in 2001; it took twelve more years of consuming way too much alcohol as a mom before I decided to give sobriety a chance.

 On Mother's Day in 2001, I came home, and the champagne started flowing.  I...

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In episode 117 of the To 50 and Beyond podcast - I talk about the physical, psychological, and social effects that stem from a long period of alcohol consumption and answer a question for a listener. 

 Do you think alcohol makes you age faster? I feel like my face is changing daily - I workout, eat well, take vitamins, and use expensive skincare - is it the alcohol?! 

Brace yourself for the answer...

Yes, I do!

In my personal experience, when I was forty-five, I felt and looked older. Not that getting older is a bad thing. I praise women in the middle of life and beyond, and I also know that I how you feel is subjective. 

For me, alcohol made my body feel inflamed which made me ignore exercise because I was already sore and stiff. And, the hangover munchies kept me from eating food that helped me look and feel my best. 

I feel my best when I'm taking care of...