We recently connected with Heather Lowe and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Heather thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Heather Lowe is the founder of Ditched the Drink, a social impact company that empowers women to drink less or none at all. She is the dynamic host of The Peripeteia Podcast- A Talk Show for Women.

Heather has made it her mission to help high-achieving professional women move away from alcohol and towards self-discovery in pursuit of creating the life of their (childhood) dreams by teaching them to to insource, not outsource, their bliss. 🌸

Heather is an IAPRC Certified Professional Life and Recovery Coach (voted #1 Best Overall Recovery Coach Certification Program by Life Coach Magazine), a Certified Facilitator of Addiction Awareness, and a SHE RECOVERS® Coach, which means abiding by the SHE RECOVERS® Intentions & Guiding Principles. Heather is an advisor for the International Center of Addiction Recovery Education (ICARE).

Driven by her education as a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW), a Professional of Human Resources (PHR), a Certified Law of Attraction Coach, and a Yale graduate in the Science of Well-Being. She provides resources, content, knowledge, coaching, and education to individuals and organizations seeking to be more alcohol-free.

The Coach Foundation has identified Heather as one of the premier in the industry with the Top Sober Coach Award. Heather was nominated as The Most Influential Person, Favorite Support Community, and Favorite Podcast by AFTER Alcohol-Free Magazine readers survey.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

MY STORY BEGINS

My drinking had always been an accepted and a “normal” part of my life. My relationship with alcohol started to change when I was faced with heartbreaking grief, working mom overwhelm, my own people pleasing, over functioning and perfectionist tendencies.

Suddenly in midlife, alcohol was no longer social and became a private medicine that I administered every night, on the couch alone. My tolerance increased, and I continually broke promises to my family and myself by drinking more than I had planned.

I woke up every day in a shame-filled panic.

In an effort to try to help myself, I talked to a therapist and was prescribed an anti anxiety medication. The meds combined with drinking, resulted in me becoming a walking blackout, on more than one embarrassing occasion.

My drinking was getting out of control, and I couldn’t stop it.

This would have been a good time to quit, but now my brain had started to depend on alcohol. I could not feel good without it. The drink became both the cure and the poison. The drink took over me. The drink did not make me feel good, but it did temporarily satisfy my craving. I was desperate for some relief from being myself. I was self-medicating to avoid my overwhelming feelings of sadness, grief, fear, and pain.

After the initial relief of a sip of wine, drinking left me feeling guilty, depressed, ashamed, and self-loathing.

Every.
Single.
Day.

HOW I DITCHED THE DRINK
#1 I explored sober challenges and on/off drinking over a period of 3 years
#2 I set my wine glass down (half full!) for the first time ever on 20th, 2018
#3 Removing alcohol has healed my relationships with my family and with myself
#4 I like myself better alcohol-free
#5 My depression and anxiety decreased greatly after ditching the drink
#6 I realized alcohol was standing in the way of everything I really wanted for my life
#7 My health, confidence, and joy have grown significantly
#8 I have 1000% more fun without alcohol
#9 I am thrilled to be living an awakened sober life

PRESENTLY
Heather is a gifted writer, and her work has been published in the New York Post, Thrive Global, Monument-Tempest, The Fix, Mashable, Corporate Wellness Magazine, Employee Benefit News, Wine Enthusiast, and more.

She’s also a dynamic and engaging speaker and has presented on many stages, including Sober in the City—Palm Springs, Tampa, Seattle, and Scottsdale; the Dupage Recovery Symposium; the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Recovery in the Workplace; Club Soda’s Mindful Drinking Panel; the She Recovers Annual Conference; and Drink Less Fest.

She’s the host of the Award-Winning Peripetia Podcast—A Talk Show for Women.

She has been featured on many podcasts, including Recovery Happy Hour, The Champagne Problems Podcast, Redesigning Wellness, Alcohol Tipping Point, Energetically You, Sun and Moon Sober Living, Hello Someday, Sober Motivation, Decidedly Dry, and more.

She loves empowering women to say no to alcohol and yes to a juicy, bold, and awakened life! She does this through digital courses, private coaching support, a membership community + app, speaking, facilitating, writing, and her social media platforms.

Heather lives in Chicago’s western suburbs as a proud girl mom to two teenage daughters, her husband of almost 25 years, and their adorable black and white Cocker Spaniel. Heather is a voracious reader, a new-ish hiker, a seasoned yogi and an enthusiastic dancer.💃🏻

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I was sober for about a year; I had just made my “coming out sober” post on my personal social media, and I was between jobs. I was interviewing for jobs for which I was qualified, which was selling HR solutions. I was dragging myself through the interview process and afraid I was about to get an offer. Getting sober had taught me to listen to myself, and I knew I couldn’t go back to the same old job that made me miserable when I was drinking. I was often a top salesperson and usually the only female on all male sales teams, and just because I could do the job didn’t mean that I wanted the job. I wanted to help professional women, like me, get free from alcohol the way I did. With a holistic healing method from the comfort of their homes. I started building Ditched the Drink as a passion project, but almost immediately it became clear this was my life’s work. I was terrified of losing my six-figure income to start something from scratch, but. The calling was so clear I had to move forward no matter what that meant. Thankfully, I was at a position in my life where I could do this. My kids were old enough and independent enough that I could invest the time it took to build and grow a business. My husband has a steady job providing income and benefits. Sobriety built my confidence and belief in myself; I knew I would give it everything, so I was willing to bet on myself for the first time ever. With my degree in social work, it felt like a return to myself. Even with all the fears and unknowns, it was an exhale to be able to do something I really wanted to, instead of something I felt like I was supposed to, or had to do.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I was so used to following directions as an employee. I did not always agree with management, but it was my job to carry out their directives, and I did it well, even when it conflicted with my own. It was hard to work for people that had different work ethics. As the only woman on many sales and leadership teams, I felt misunderstood. When I became my own boss, it took a minute to realize I got to lead the company and make decisions the way I wanted to. This often was based on intuition. I got to work, schedule, partner, and collaborate how I wanted. I was the one making the rules. I had to grow into this role. It was liberating and empowering.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ditchedthedrink.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ditchedthedrink/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ditchedthedrink/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ditched-the-drink