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Why You Need To Give Up Alcohol Now with Jo-Anne Bowyer

For most of us, the quickest and easiest way to boost our energy is to stop drinking alcohol. But it's often not that easy.

Australians like a drink. So do the British. Whether it's going out to the pub after work or going to the neighbours' for a barbie, there's inevitably alcohol involved.

“We’re having a BBQ, BYO food & drinks.” “Let’s meet down the pub after the match on Saturday.”

Alcohol is an integral part of our culture. Think about it: one of the classic pictures of destress, relax and unwind is a woman in a bubble bath, surrounded by candles, with a glass of wine in her hand. Drinking alcohol is encouraged to help you relax in a social situation, unwind after a hard day, celebrate, toast to the bride and groom, and any number of other things.

What we never see in the media, or think about much, other than to laugh about, are the downsides of alcohol: the headaches, tiredness, lack of sleep, impact it has on our bodies, the impact on our mood, our ability to cope with everyday life.

The problem is, quite apart from the social pressures/expectations to drink alcohol, what can you drink when you go out?

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Personally, I head for the sparkly water and stick a slice of lemon in it because most non-alcoholic cocktails are sickly sweet and taste absolutely nothing like the drinks they’re supposed to replace.

When Jo-Anne Bowyer and Lauren Lakin took stock of their lives, they realised that they were way too dependant on alcohol to “relax” and “wind down” and made the decision to stop drinking alcohol. But they quickly realised that there was nothing drinkable to replace their beloved cocktails, so they set about creating their own, the fabulously irreverent Smug AF Cocktails.

"I think we are brainwashed really about alcohol. It's glamourised in the media and movies and everyone's drinking in them. They never show you throwing up in the toilet or drunk texting your ex, they never show you the dumb sh*t you end up doing because you were out of it."

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About Today’s Guest: Jo-Anne Bowyer

Certified Resilience Coach & Business Coach, Co-Founder of Smug AF Cocktails

Mother, Wife, Friend, Daughter. Entrepreneur. Advocate for Living Life to the FULL!

Jo-Anne Bowyer is co-Founder of Smug AF Cocktails, a beverage company on a mission to create a more inclusive drinking culture.

For the last twenty years, Jo has coached individuals and businesses, always looking for pathways to sustainable high performance. An accredited Resilience Coach, the impact of alcohol on human potential became increasingly obvious, not just in the lives of her clients but also personally.

Speak Up Process

On December 30, 2020, Jo-Anne quit alcohol for good. That moment was the culmination of about seven years of thinking about it, avoiding it, long periods of abstinence, learning about the toxic effects of alcohol and finally making the empowered choice to leave it behind for ever.

Smug AF the brand doesn’t demonise alcohol though, far from it. We try to bring fun and light entertainment to the sober movement, educating people and sharing insight and tips from other ordinary folk about how to recognise that alcohol may have a bigger part in your life than it should and if so, what can be done to start unravelling your identity, and ideas about fun, from the booze.

Connect with Jo and Smug AF:

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Margaritas without calling your ex? – Feelin’ Smug AF!

If you love Margaritas, you'll love Smug more because you'll wake up fresh-faced, not sh*t faced. Get a hit of lime citrus, a subtle tequila flavour (alcohol-free of course), balanced with smooth sweetness, a little salty finish, and even the warming sensation you expect from the real deal.
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