Welcome to THE TRUE NORTH COLLECTIVE℠ PODCAST: SEASON 3! With co-hosts Rachel Bellotti (she/her) and Jenell Riesner (she/her), this is a gathering of un-sugar-coated conversations celebrating the untold stories of everyday people fearlessly finding and living their true north. 

In our own search to discover and live from our TRUE NORTH, we continue to meet many interesting, courageous people from all walks of life, doing all sorts of amazing things to live life in their own unique way. Stories from all over the world. Stories with heart. Stories with grit. Stories with plot twists. Stories going untold - until now. This season, we celebrate these untold stories of everyday people who are fearlessly living their true north and inspiring each of us to do the same.

Today, we talk to Clare Geiger (she/her) + Jesse Gitter (she/her), two awesome ladies from our Ragnar Trail team, about going alcohol-free for 90 days. We expected some highs and lows, but we didn’t anticipate how sobering and revolutionary a 90-day dry challenge would be in helping us to regain a sense of empowerment and ownership of our lives, to stop judging other people, to take new risks and step out of our social comfort zones, and to invite permission in finding our own authentic experience of life again. It’s an episode of deep, honest reflection about where we choose to hide from life and when we choose to take life back into our own hands.

*note: this episode includes explicit language appropriate for those ages 16+

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

• Disney Monopoly
• John Lennon - Mother
• Steam Theory Brewery
• Molly Seidel Marathoner
• The Healthy Deviant
• Music from: https://www.jukedeck.com/

3 KEY TAKEAWAYS:

1. There is no right or wrong time to do anything. You can always change your mind, restructure your belief system, start something, stop something. When it feels right, go for it. There might seem to be “better” or “more opportune” times to do the things we want, but we truly always have permission all the time to do any of it whenever we want in the way we want. 
2. Notice how you are using alcohol (or something else) as an easy scapegoat or crutch for real-life stuff that needs to be addressed - lifestyle choices, poor habits, lack of emotional + energy management, mindset, etc. Then address those things head-on, get the support you need to work on the things you uncovered and be gentle with yourself instead of continuing to ignore what your system is trying to tell you and teach you. 
3. The power of reflecting on the choices you make in life can help you to truly remember what is important before you sprint forward to the next thing. It is so easy to distract oneself with the next goal or to do and forget what your experience was, what you want to remember, what you want to take from it, what you want to learn and grow from the choices/experiences you have to become the you that you want to be.

TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES:

• [0:30] Are you a sore loser or a gracious winner?
• [4:30] Primal screaming
• [8:30] Jenell’s life changes
• [13:00] Introducing SNOOZE ON BOOZE - a 60-90 day dry program that we challenged ourselves, our Ragnar team, and our TNC community to join in on. This is the recap of our Ragnar Team’s reflections.
• [15:00] How do you approach 60-90 days of no-drinking?
• [24:00] How will having a drink improve this situation?
• [28:00]  Who am I when I don’t drink? What does it look like to be me when I am not drinking in social situations?
• [35:00] Judgement 
• [37:00] How people responded to the choice to not drink 
• [46:00] What is your relationship to your external environment?
• [50:00] Importance of a support group or community
• [54:00] What is a huddle?
• [55:00] You can restructure your belief system whenever you want
• [57:00] Alcohol isn’t the only thing that equals fun 
• [58:00] Any experience can be an empowered experience vs a should or have to experience
• [1:01:00] Operating proactively vs reactively 
• [1:04:00] How did 90-days of sober living support you in living your TRUE NORTH?