Walking the Talk with Lindsay Sutherland Boal, She Walks Canada Season 3 Ep 25

We walk the talk with guest Lindsay Sutherland Boal founder of She Walks Canada and The Uncovery App. An incredibly insightful conversation where we explored how women are showing up in all areas of life, the definition of problematic drinking, the pitfalls of trying to moderate,  and so much more. Determined to create solutions she struggled to find, in 2021 a year after giving up alcohol, Lindsay launched She Walks Canada. She Walks Canada is an online platform that offers connection and coaching to likeminded women on a path to alcohol free living. After overachieving her goal of women walking the globe together, Lindsay pondered what's next? Taking her mission to the next level she developed The Uncovery App. Just released in the spring, this is the first women centric empowerment app through the lens of alcohol free living.
We're so excited about the quest Lindsay's on to help woman discover the bright side of life. We can't wait to see what's to come next!

Follow Lindsay on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/shewalkscanada
or https://www.instagram.com/theuncoveryapp/
Find a walk in your city or become a walk ambassador :
www.shewalkscanada.com
To unlock a limited lifetime subscription offer to the Uncovery App visit:
www.theuncoveryapp.com

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Connect with your podcasters. We'd love to hear from you!
Tracey: https://www.instagram.com/tnd1274/
Kelly: https://www.instagram.com/pamperedkel/
Lindsey: https://www.instagram.com/hariklindsey/

**Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this episode are not professional or medical opinions. If you are struggling with an addiction please contact a medical professional for help.

Music provided by Premium Beats: https://www.premiumbeat.com
Song: Rise and Thrive
Artist: Young Presidents

Resources:
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Transcript

Kelly: 0:02

Welcome to the LAF life podcast, a lifestyle podcast based on living alcohol free and a booze soaked world. My name is Kelly Evans and together with my friends, Tracey Djordjevic, and Lindsey Harik. We share uncensored. Unscripted real conversations about what our lives have been like since we ditched alcohol and how we got here by sharing our individual stories. We'll show you that there isn't just one way to do this, no matter where you are on your journey from sober, curious to years in recovery and everyone in between, you are welcome here, no judgment and a ton of support.

Tracey: 0:41

Hello, everyone, welcome back to the LAF life podcast. This is season 3 we have an amazing guest with us tonight. We are beyond excited to have Lindsay Sutherland Boal founder of She Walks Canada, and a fellow Canadian, which we absolutely love as well.

Lindsay: 0:58

Yay!

Tracey: 0:59

Yes, welcome

Lindsay: 1:01

Lindsay! Hi!

Tracey: 1:03

Yeah, we're so excited to have you. We have been following your content for some time, and we might even be super fans.

Lindsay: 1:13

Thank you. Thank you.

Tracey: 1:14

Actually, we just really love that you're on this mission with us and how you're truly empowering women that are questioning the relationship with alcohol. And I was saying to the girls, actually, before you came on with us, that to me, you're a perfect example. Whenever I watch your content of what this really looks like, because you're very well put together. You're well spoken. You're intelligent. You're successful. You're beautiful. And that's really the type of person that this is affecting these days, not what we have in our mind of that guy on the corner, with the paper bag. It's really affecting women like us out there, and you are showing women that this is what it looks like, that it's not that stigma that has been around for years, we're the ones getting really impacted and influenced by all the media these days.

Lindsay: 2:04

Yes. I'm so glad that you brought that up and what a great way to start. And it's so funny the amount of people who say, you don't look like an alcoholic, it's all the time. There's so many parts to that one sentence, right? It's number one, can we just do away with the word alcoholic? It's not, it's, thank you. It's not even a clinical term, but it's a term that we are so used to hearing. We believe it is truth. We have got to undo the narrative and the conditioning we have around that word because it is not a clinical term, it is a term of opinion that was really created, what, 85 years ago in a program that is very effective and that's great, no shade about that. But that doesn't mean that terminology needs to stick with us now. This whole thing that we're talking about, this overcoming over drinking and this drinking problem that as you say, so many women that are in this gray area, problematic drinking, we are showing up in our lives in so many compelling ways as career women, as mothers, as caring for our elderly parents, as caring for other children, as being the super aunt, all of these different ways that we show up in our lives. But the one way we're not showing up. Is in capacity for ourselves and how we deal with that is by drinking every night. And so this is not a cohort of women who do not know how to show up. So let's have a discussion about that. And how do we get to these women that are capable, educated, smart, compelling, successful women. Speak their language and overcome this together.

Tracey: 3:40

Absolutely. We were just saying in our last episode how having a drinking problem is a form of self abandonment. And how do we talk people through not doing that,

Lindsay: 3:51

yes. And it was so funny. I had a conversation with a client today about exactly this. Part of the challenge that we face. is what becomes our superpower once we learn to live alcohol free, is that when we're drinking every night, we disconnect from ourselves, as you've just said, but in that disconnection, we also lose our language and we lose the ability to be able to say in complete sentences that effectively reflect how we feel. We lose that ability to be able to describe and talk about our experience. So as we're navigating through that. When we're talking about it, we have no idea about what it means to abandon ourselves. That's not language that somebody who is in the early stage or necessarily sober curious even understand. And when I was first launching She Walks Canada, geez, there were so many opportunities for growth in that. I had to learn that I had to shift the language and the narrative because while what I was saying was accurate, it wasn't a language that this 80% group of women that I was trying to connect with would understand

Tracey: 4:54

Right, so tell our listeners, cause I know they'd love to know, and we'd like to learn a little more about the background of your story. What was your relationship with alcohol before you realized maybe it wasn't a healthy one or going down the path that you had hoped?

Lindsay: 5:11

Well, from the very early stages, I had a great childhood. It's not like I had some, traumatic situation happen. I didn't. And much like what you already talked about as well but we're not a caricature. People who fit into this mold, we are not the caricature of the dude on the street with the paper bag. That's just not who we are. And while certainly some of us did have traumatic experiences happen in our lives, full stop, Not every one of us did. Not every one of us has a rock bottom. I say we don't need to hit rock bottom, rock enough will do. We don't need to hit the benchmark. For me, my drinking started really problematically when I was in university. And, I was away from home. I was, doing my own thing. I was in charge of my own life, my own schedule, my own studies. And I loved what I was studying I could be social and fit in because I didn't really fit in when I was in high school. I was just never that girl. I'm platyphonian. It's not really a hot thing to do, right? So I was a total bank geek, like legit, and it wasn't pretty, right? So when I got to university, I found my people. I studied because I was studying the performing arts. So I felt like there was a part of a community there and that's just what we did, on the weekends. I spent a long time, I was in university for 12 years. So I had a lot of time to nurture that extracurricular activity, and what ended up happening for me is that when I went into my career as an opera singer I certainly experienced. Pretty good successes there. And I never screwed up my singing career, but I screwed up the parties in between. So I ended up losing. My opera career because of my drinking and so my yeah so my drinking started in the 20s and I knew it was problematic. I remember the day I lost my operatic career. It was April 1st, 2013 And I didn't stop drinking Until January 24th, 2020. Wow. So what was interesting about that, which as I mentioned before, what becomes a shortcoming in our drinking days becomes a huge asset to us. Once we learn how to harness that. I had to become a career chameleon in order to make a living. So I lost my operatic career and I came back to Canada and I thought, okay, now what I'm gonna do? So I went into television and film. And so I started doing that for a bit, and then ended up working in China. And then, I had to career chameleon in order to stay employable.

Tracey: 7:36

So when you are talking about problematic drinking, Lindsay when you were in university, it's really common to binge drink in university. That's the norm, which is sad. And that is something that we'd also like to see change. It not be that right of passage almost, right? But problematic drinking, was it primarily on the weekends to start? And did you notice right away that you had a problem with you couldn't just have one type of thing, we all say that we knew we weren't the type of drinkers that could just have one or two really ever.

Lindsay: 8:11

So I don't think that was me because actually I worked at a winery It was 2000s, early 2000s. I worked at a winery and I didn't drink. Oh, okay. But then I remember in my second marriage, I said to my then husband that, And this was probably around 2008, I can't remember, but it was around 2008. That's when I said to myself out loud, said to my brain out loud for the first time that I can't stop at one. I can't stop when I say I want to stop. And I remember telling him that, and I remember his response maybe you should get some help for that. And my help was to go to the liquor store and get another bottle. And I never talked to him about it again.

Lindsey: 8:49

Totally relate to that. I feel like I never was able to have just one drink and more often than not, I always drank more than I intended to drink.

Lindsay: 9:00

Oh yeah. And that's one of the markers of problematic drinking.

Lindsey: 9:03

And

Lindsay: 9:03

I'm so glad that you brought that up because problematic drinking isn't just somebody who drinks every night. Exactly. Isn't just somebody who binge drinks. It isn't just somebody who has a drink every night. Problematic drinking presents in so many different ways in so many different people. And the bottom line it comes down to is, first of all, are you able to do what you say you're going to do?

Lindsey: 9:27

Bingo.

Lindsay: 9:27

Are you able to do what you say you're going to do? Is your drinking negatively impacting your life in any way? Is your drinking impacting the people around you in any way? And if any of those questions are somewhat borderline, this is a conversation you need to be having.

Lindsey: 9:47

I think you have to face that truth because I know for me, I was holding on to wine and I was a weekend drinker, a binge drinker on the weekend. And I would say, I'm only going to have two glasses of wine tonight. Nevermind. I drank the whole bottle every time and often opened a second one. But I was holding onto it, trying to look for other avenues. Like it's not the wine that's the problem, right? There's got to be something else here. But I was making excuses to justify keeping it in my life because I couldn't picture not drinking wine. I was like, what is my life going to be like? And does that mean then that I'm an alcoholic? Oh, my God. I don't even want to say that word out loud. That was so scary to me. But that just hits like when you say, are you able to do what you say you're going to do? So if I say to myself, I'm only going to have two glasses of wine and I have six and that was happening a lot. You have to face that. It's enough with the excuses. You've got to really think I'm not the person that I want to be. I'm not true to my word. I'm breaking promises to myself. It's, affecting the relationships around me. I'm cranky and irritable at work. My performance at work isn't doing well. Society, normalizes alcohol so much that, We think we're the problem and we're not. Alcohol is an addictive substance. Alcohol is poison, it's doing what it's supposed to do when you consume it. But I don't think necessarily that it's us that's the problem. It's alcohol that's the problem.

Lindsay: 11:17

It is, but we have to be the solution. Yes. Yes. Yeah, like it's that is that old adage, we can't control what other people do, but we can control how we respond. It seems like it's just in the last, I don't know, to me, it seems as though it's been in the last two years that there's been so much in the news about no amount of alcohol is safe. Alcohol is actually a poison. Alcohol contributes to 13 varieties of, life diminishing illnesses it like. All the things. And then with the CCSA coming up with their new guidelines saying, let's attempt not to do too much, all, and they're, trying to promote moderation and things like that. And why moderate? Yeah. Why? And so this is what gets me is. A lot of women say, can you help me to moderate? And so the thing is, first of all, if people are saying, can you help me to moderate, that is a marker that you have a problematic relationship, just to call it what it is. And so my response to that is, okay, so why do you want to moderate? And they say because exactly what you just said, Lindsay, okay I want to drink too, but I ended up drinking six. So how do I learn to moderate? And I said, okay, so is your drinking having a negative impact on your life? So we have that conversation. And then they say, yes. And do the exact same things that you say, let's say I'm not performing at work. I'm irritable. I'm all the things. And so I said, okay, so is it possible that in some way alcohol is blowing up your life a little bit? And they said, okay yeah that's true. That's true. Okay. So how many nights a week? Are you doing that? What percentage of the time are you not able to do what you say you're going to do? Oh, I don't know. 80%. Okay, so let me get this straight. So you want to help me to teach you not to blow up your life 80 percent of the time. Why don't we just teach you to not blow up your life 100 percent of the time?

Lindsey: 12:54

Oh, I love that. You're worth that, right? Yes. I think, too, it's almost like a self love, self confidence struggle we're self sabotaging ourselves and we keep doing it over and over and over again.

Lindsay: 13:07

See, this is the thing, though. The woman who is drinking, or the woman, who is sober curious, or the woman who is in the very early stages of not drinking, she has no idea that this is self sabotage. She has no idea. What she knows is that alcohol is her relief, and she needs to give her relief up.

Lindsey: 13:25

That is scary.

Kelly: 13:26

Terrifying.

Lindsay: 13:27

It's terrifying. Who wants to say, okay I'm going to, for my health, give up any relief that I have that is providing me an escape from the enormity of the ways that I need to show up every day. What woman is going to sign up for that? That is why we collectively have to change. And advocate for change around the narrative of what it means to live alcohol free. And that's why yes, I'm sober, but I don't talk about it in that context because sobriety as I'm sure, I'm not telling you guys anything that you don't know, but sober, the term sober for so many women has such a negative context. And for those of us who got to the other side, we understand that we see that we don't feel that. That's just not been our experience. But to me, like when I was first doing this thing, I was like I do not identify as requiring recovery. I do not identify with needing to go to a treatment program. all of the things when in fact, what actually, now that time has passed and reflection and clarity and all those beautiful things, I see that. And I knew this about myself a little bit at the time that I absolutely in some way needed to be rehabilitated in some way. There was something about how my brain was thinking about alcohol. The narrative that I had set up that I needed to have it in order to have a social life, a professional life a motherhood for goodness sakes, to do anything, as a woman, it required alcohol. There is a serious undoing that is now our responsibility to change.

Tracey: 15:04

I just wanted to speak to the moderation for a second and also to what's going on in your mind because if I was to be honest, I could say to myself and even stop at say one glass of wine or two glasses of wine, but my brain always still wanted more.

Lindsey: 15:21

Exactly.

Tracey: 15:22

So in my mind, it always wanted more. Even if I could restrain myself. In speaking to moderation, and I wanted to make that point in case anybody else out there feels that, or thinks that they have some sort of control because they have restrain. Those things are different. And not only that, but. That in itself now reflecting obviously was a red flag if I keep thinking about it, regardless of whether I can stop myself from doing it. It's a problem. But who wants to struggle with that internal struggle all the time when we're talking about people wanting to moderate and I know Kelly can speak to this too, because she has often how hard and draining it is on you. To attempt moderation.

Kelly: 16:08

That's what broke me in the end. That's what broke me was the exhaustion from trying to moderate and the cycle of making promises to myself that I could not keep disappointing myself, waking up with that self loathing. It was the attempt to moderate for so long because of all the things you guys were just saying. Like I could not imagine life mothering coming down after it. a busy work day. I couldn't imagine my life without it. So anybody who's trying to moderate, it was so much easier to just say no more.

Lindsey: 16:43

And moderation I think makes it still okay. We're still providing the excuse to keep it. If you think about what alcohol is it's poison. We don't justify drinking Javex and saying, I get really sick, but Barf everywhere, but you know what It's me I have to learn to just have one. Like what?

Kelly: 17:03

And it's hard. Yeah. But I like what Lindsay was saying about how but you mean to tell me you got to take away the one thing that's giving me relief from this insane life that I'm living? Women are just, they're trying to do everything.

Lindsay: 17:17

It's so funny. I had this conversation and I appreciate this is slightly different, but in many ways it's exactly the same. So hear me out on this. Cause I know this might hit some buttons. It's like having an affair.

Lindsey: 17:28

Ooh. Explain that.

Lindsay: 17:30

Okay. So we have now heard that no amount of alcohol is safe. So let's just parallel that to going outside of your marriage and having sex with another man is probably not a safe thing for your marriage. We say but if I do that's my escape. And that's the only escape I get from the challenges of being married with kids and a mortgage and jobs and debt and I can just escape, every Tuesday night. Or I can escape, with, a little getaway every once in a while and that feeds me until the next time. How is that acceptable?

Lindsey: 18:03

It isn't.

Lindsay: 18:04

It's not. Having an affair is not going to fix your marriage. Having a bottle of wine is not going to fix your life.

Lindsey: 18:11

It doesn't. And it often prolongs the difficulty. You still have to face it. I would argue you have to look at your actual life. You have to look at the thing that you're trying to escape from. And if you don't know what that is, that's where you got to do that work.

Lindsay: 18:24

So the problem is, if there's a problem in your marriage, fix your marriage. Or get out of it.

Lindsey: 18:29

Exactly.

Lindsay: 18:30

Whatever is required, do that. But having an affair is not going to fix the marriage. It's not going to fix the mortgage. It's not going to fix the parenting. It's not going to fix that.

Kelly: 18:40

Then where did this, the relief come from? If I was listening to this when I was still drinking, then I'd be like, so then what do you want me to do?

Lindsay: 18:47

Okay. So back to the conversation about drinking.

Kelly: 18:48

Yeah.

Lindsay: 18:49

Okay. So people ask me this all the time. What do I do? I want to stop drinking. I know this is a problem. What do I do? And this is what I say. Number one, talk to your GP, call her up and say, doc, Brenda, whatever her name is, say I'm drinking too much and I'm going to stop. Is there anything I need to know? That's the conversation. You don't need to say I am drinking two bottles of wine and I'm an alcoholic and my life is going to the shitter. You don't have to say that. You just have to say. I'm drinking too much. Is there anything I need to know? And the reason why that's important is because there's just a whole boatload that your doctor knows about your medical history that you do not. For example, there is some research that suggests that people who have a problematic relationship with alcohol before they get pregnant are more likely to have postpartum depression and anxiety. So I have read that. Let's fact check that, but I've heard that several times. And so if you were to go to your doctor and say, Hey, this is what I want to do and this actually happened to a client of mine. What the doctor said is, Oh, Hey, we know that depression has happened to you in the past. Come back and see me after a month and let's just check where you're at. That is the conversation. So there's just a whole bunch of things, for example, that your doctor can help you navigate. And there's also all kinds of other things that your doctor may know about your medical history that you don't. Because we do not know how our bodies are going to respond to not having alcohol in them. It has nothing to do. With having to confess all your sins. That's not it. It's what do you not know about that? Your doctor might that might be able to help you things to look out for or they might say, okay So just what are you drinking? Do you need detox? What's going on? Like that conversation may happen, too So the number one thing is talk to your doctor. It's not a big deal Just tell them and PS your doctors probably had this conversation eight times this week already Okay. Exactly. Number one. Number two, you get into a community. I am obviously pretty fond of women's communities for women, find a community of like minded people, whatever that is for you and start talking. We know that the nemesis of shame, which we feel when we have a problematic relationship with anything is connection. So start talking and it's best if they're strangers.

Lindsey: 20:56

I love that.

Lindsay: 20:57

Yeah. Because then I was not going to tell anybody that I knew that had a drinking problem. But I would tell. A lot of shame and embarrassment, right? Yeah, for sure. But I had no problem telling 20 strangers, cause they're all like, Oh yeah, that's me. We can just say all that stuff. Get into a community of people. And the third thing, I'm a sucker for this too, move your body. Get out and walk. Those are the three things. Talk to your doctor, find a community, and start talking with a bunch of strangers, and start walking.

Kelly: 21:22

That's really good. Lindsay, what was the thing that pushed you when you finally made the decision to stop drinking?

Lindsay: 21:29

Okay, so I think a lot of us have this where, the last six months was really quite shady. So my last six months were really quite shady in a sense that my drinking had really turned. And what I noticed in my personality when I was drinking is that I was more aggressive. And there was one day where I was just an absolute five star jerk. You can swear. Asshole to my husband.

Lindsey: 21:53

I love the permission. Just say it.

Lindsay: 21:55

Thank you. Thank you. To my husband. It was so bad that I didn't know if that was going to be the end of our marriage. And that was August 9th, 2019. And my response to that was the negotiation of I have to stop drinking or this is going to end my marriage. I better go to the liquor store and buy two bottles of wine and drink them both the next day. And so it wasn't until January 23rd, I had tickets to go and see the Phantom of the Opera. And I had some friends that were in the show and I bought the tickets for me and this friend to go. And then, but of course, drunk jerk, Lindsay, I didn't bother to say, Hey friend, are you available to go that night? Are you free? No, I just went and bought the tickets. And when friends said to me, Lindsay, I can't go that night. I got pissed off. Cause that's what I did. But I never consulted with this person and said, are you free? I just assumed, and so when they said they weren't available to go, I went with another mom friend, which is a whole other story that I talked about on Instagram, but I was able with this other mom friend and I was two bottles in before we even went for dinner before the show. And so by the time I got to the show and drinks, I don't remember, I don't remember any of it. Yeah. Yeah. But when I got up the next day, It was 6 a. m. and I had the 3 a. m. shame game fully intact. I went down to the kitchen in my robe hungover, right? And just feeling terrible, hating myself, because I hated myself every morning. And I went down to the kitchen. in my loathing. And I called out all the things in my kitchen that I hated. I hate that tea cup. I hate that tea towel. I hate that coffee machine. And I had been up for five minutes, but I was saying all the things that I hated. And I was surprised that's what I was saying. So a moment passed and then I realized that all of those things that I hated in my kitchen, I had put there. And then a moment passed. And then I realized that if I could put them all there, I could un put them there and I never drank again. Oh my god. Wow. Just the toxicity, the negativity, everything that you were spewing out, realizing that you were the one that placed those items there in your environment. And then the realization that you're the one also that's in control, and it's a simple removal, right? Change your environment. And I think when we stop drinking alcohol, we do this. With our lives, right? We might have to change friends. We might have to unfollow people or accounts on social media. We might need to follow different accounts like yours. We need to surround ourself and make our environments like little safe havens where we feel at peace and our energy is calm. It's a lot of change, but that's man, just that realization that it's actually you And a step further, we are the solution. We're not only in control, we're the solution.

Lindsey: 24:47

That's accountability too. Listen, no one likes to hear that sometimes. And I think we make a lot of excuses to keep toxic behaviors and habits in our lives. But you need to wake up. This is a you versus you and you've got to do something you have to stop the blame game. My dad did this and I went through that and I get it there's trauma, people go through things, but I think at the end of the day we've got to take accountability and we have to action things and we have to figure out and find solutions.

Lindsay: 25:17

Yeah, I call it radical accountability. We have to be radically accountable. And I don't know one person, and my hand is so high in the air here, both of those. I blamed the universe for me not being served a life on a gold platter, and I had no idea I was doing it. So this is why we have got to learn to speak the language of women who are currently in it. Because if I were to say, because I have, and I've failed, and I had to learn what my The problem was, is that I had said to people who were, this is before She Walks Can at the time, is that you have to stop blaming the people around you or something like that. So first of all, I needed to get the pronouns right. By me even saying you, they're backed up. They're in a corner. They're not listening. And so I had to find a way to not talk about it from that perspective. I had to go into an interview, a national interview, get this and not say these words, sober, alcohol alcoholic, Recovery. And there was some other one. And I needed to talk about this subject matter without any of those words. And then I thought, how the hell am I going to do this? But what a gift that was.

Lindsey: 26:34

Wow. Yeah. I was going to say, it's almost like we don't need to hit rock bottom. We just need to get so sick and tired of ourselves.

Lindsay: 26:43

But even that. Because I call her Rachel. When we were building She Walks Canada, we were trying to figure out who are we talking to. And we called our avatar, Rachel just to figure out who this woman is. Who is she? Okay, so she's Rachel. And she's, oh God, we screwed this up so much. We're starting from nothing, right? So this was Rachel. Rachel. And we believe that the She Walks Canada target Audience was between 35 and 47, and she was a working, so a professional woman who's working, doing something. She was a mother. She might be divorced. She might be married. Who knows? But she is tapped out. She's working, she's caring for people, maybe her parents too. She's trying to do all their extracurricular activities. And even if she isn't a mom, she's still trying to build a business or do the side hustle or do whatever the heck it is she's doing. And when we launched She Walks Canada, our tagline was She Walks Canada to support women in recovery from alcohol use disorder, total failure because Rachel didn't think she had a disorder and she didn't think she needed recovery. So we completely missed our target audience. So then we changed it again to, she walks Canada, the movement to engage in and power, or sorry something to. Live alcohol reduced or alcohol free lives. And that lasted about two weeks. And Julie Kirschke, one of my coaches, she got on a call with me and she said, Lindsay, I'm not buying it. I said, what are you talking about? She said, nobody on your team moderates. Because nobody on your team believes we should. So why are you saying alcohol reduced? So that lasted two weeks. I'm like we need people in our lives to hold up a mirror, right? And so then that went by and then it became empowering sober, sober, curious women changing their relationship with alcohol. But what we learned is that Rachel is between the ages of 30 and 85. Wow. She is a university student. She is in a gap year. She is an aunt. She is trying to start a business. She's trying to get pregnant and can't. She's trying to be a part of the mummy wine culture, but isn't a mom yet because her fertility treatments aren't working. She's a young mother. She is a geriatric mother. So over 40, having kids for the first time, she's a step mom. She's a single mom. She is a grandmother and she's an empty nester. That is the group of women that have this problem out of drinking.

Lindsey: 29:12

Wow. You mentioned something called She Walks Canada. Can you tell our listeners what that is?

Lindsay: 29:21

Yeah. She Walks Canada is a movement that I created as a reflection of what worked for me in my journey. When I I was getting sober, if I could use that word. If I was learning to figure out how to not drink a bottle of wine every night I felt very alone because I couldn't talk to anybody. And I did find some women who were navigating alcohol free living, but it was in a bit of a different sphere. So they were talking about all kinds of problematic behaviors. And I found that extremely triggering. I needed to talk about booze or getting over booze. What helped me get and stay sober was finding other women that were strangers to me that I could talk to and starting to walk every day. I couldn't find that anywhere. So that is what I've built. So She Walks Canada was launched on my second soberversary, January 24th, 2022. And we launched. With the idea that we would be around for six months and our goal was to walk but get this We launched that was the day we had to launch because it was on my soberversary, but this was, check this context Doug Ford, who was the Premier of Ontario, had just announced to the public that, sorry parents, but your children won't be returning back to school because of COVID in January, so you're back to homeschooling. Sorry about the bad news. A week later, there was the truck convoy that went across Canada. And a week later, Russia invades Ukraine. A week later, she walks Canada launches. What woman in her right mind would choose that time to stop drinking? I said to my executive director, I said, oh my god. He says what do you want to do? And I said, we have to launch. We have to launch. They may not be ready, but over time, they'll be ready to listen. And so we said, okay, we're going to, it was COVID, nobody could get together. I'm like, oh, this is interesting. Everybody from wherever you are in Canada, log your kilometers onto our website and collectively we'll try to walk the distance of Canada as a complete unknown person in the recovery space. So what happened in the first seven months is we walked across Canada three times.

Tracey: 31:30

Wow.

Lindsay: 31:30

And we had our coaching calls going seven days a week and people were attending. Women were attending. Women were logging kilometers. And after about two weeks of this we realized that She Walks Canada was here to stay. And so after the walk ended, I'm like, okay, now what do we do? So we just went into the support phase. So since then we've had two phases, the walking. And then the 365, 365 days a year, we have the coaching. Our second year, when we did the walk, we were like where are we going to go from Canada? What's the bigger distance? And one of my teammates and I now had a team of 12 people that were volunteering for SheWalks. And they said, okay why don't we just, walk around the globe? I said, great, let's do it. So our distance, still virtual, was let's circumnavigate the globe, 40, 000 kilometers. Let's just do that. But let's do it in half the time. We wanted to do 100 days. Because that's a great benchmark for so many of us that are learning to navigate alcohol for a living. And so sure enough, we circumnavigated the globe in 94 days. Oh my gosh. Now we had helped over 3000 women in their journey. And I thought, okay, what's next? In August of last year I said, there's something that we're not doing that we're not hitting. And so I decided to change our social media strategy to all video content. And at that time we had 3000 followers. And this morning we have 13, 000. That is a huge growth. So this year when we're walking, we're like, what are we going to do now? And we knew that it was time to go to the streets. It was time to actually walk in person. And my goal for this 100 days in 2024 was to see 50 walks across Canada. That would just blow me out of the park. And what ended up happening is, we're not done yet, but we've got over 300 walks over 40 walk ambassadors across North America and over 1000 registrants to walk.

Lindsey: 33:09

And

Lindsay: 33:09

those are just the people that are walking, not the people that have tapped into our coaching, not the people that are tapping into our resources. So the movement has just gone to a different place, in three years. Yeah. That's amazing. So she walks Canada is coaching and walking. That's what we do. Yeah. For women.

Tracey: 33:26

I love, love, love that concept so much. Like the walking, brilliant idea. I love that idea of people walking, moving, getting fresh air, talking, connecting, the whole thing is just amazing. Unity. Yeah.

Lindsey: 33:43

Yes.

Lindsay: 33:44

And there's so many metaphors in it, right? What are you walking towards? What are you walking away from? What are you walking through? Who's walking with you?

Lindsey: 33:51

How can people find a walk that's going on in their area? SheWalksCanada. com to the QBDD Walks page, and it's listed across North America, and you can register there. And they're all free. Everything we offer is free. Oh, my god. Nice. And how do you become an ambassador, Lindsey, or somebody that maybe wants to host a walk?

Lindsay: 34:14

Yeah. We're actually looking for two things. It's funny. We're looking for two things right now. If you want to lead walks you have to be on the sober journey, whatever that is. If it doesn't matter if you're six months over, it doesn't matter if you're six years sober, as long as you're pursuing the sober lifestyle. And you can walk on Sundays at either 10 or 2 in your community. That's pretty much all that it requires. Then you have to apply to be a walk leader, but you can do that through the She Walks Canada page. And the other thing is that we're expanding our coaching collective. Cause we have a need for more. Certified life coaches to be a part of our coaching team.

Tracey: 34:42

Is that something you were certified in first, Lindsay, were you already a life coach prior to getting sober, or is that something that you explored after?

Lindsay: 34:52

It was something I explored after. I always resonated with Jay Shetty. I love his stuff. Oh yeah. Oh yes. Yeah, he's great. And so he's awesome. Yeah, he is. And so now I'm a Jay Shetty certified coach.

Tracey: 35:02

Wow,

Lindsey: 35:02

that's amazing. That's awesome. Yeah. That's really good.

Lindsay: 35:05

His team that does his launches is the team that is doing mine for the app.

Lindsey: 35:11

Oh my goodness. That's great. Yeah. I love this. I love the fitness and stuff. The body movement with being alcohol free, because we've talked about this on the podcast before, but it's often we're seeing yoga and wine events or gyms celebrating milestones with alcohol afterwards. So moving your body, walking in a space where everybody is alcohol free. That's just a beautiful thing.

Lindsay: 35:39

I think so too. Yeah.

Kelly: 35:39

What's the app?

Lindsay: 35:40

Thank you for asking. Oh, my God. So the app is it's going to be a pretty special place. It's called the uncovery app. And it is she walks Canada 2. 0. It's another platform that I'm building. What I'm coming to learn about myself is I build what I can't find. And with the app. It is a women's empowerment app through the lens of alcohol free living. What the uncovery app does that she walks doesn't do is it gives me the opportunity to do what I'm really good at, which is coaching and I can deliver way more. It's like my Instagram, but like on steroids, like it's a. A whole lot more information and I respond to a lot of the questions that we have that Google can't answer. So I discussed the relationship with alcohol. In the uncovery app. There's education. So there's masterclasses on core values and principles on boundaries radical accountability, things like that. But then there's this whole component about how do I get sober? How do I be sober curious? How do I be sober? How do I be alcohol free? And my philosophy is that getting sober is not the end result. That is not the ultimate destination. We get sober so that we can build a life that we don't need to numb out from. But we become alcohol free because we build a life we don't need to be sober from. So the whole app is about how do we get there? And what was interesting is I beta tested the masterclass and all that, and that was great. And I deliver that in small group coachings, which is really quite beautiful to go through the process with strangers, that are women that, blah, blah, blah. I beta tested the app to my friends who I know would tell me the truth. And some of them are problem drinkers and some of them have never had a problem with alcohol. And all of them said this resonates, all of this content resonates. So that got me thinking from a wellness perspective, from a woman's wellness perspective, I believe that alcohol free living is the ultimate level up a hundred percent hands down. And for those of us who get to the other side, we have the privilege and the responsibility to ask ourselves, What is next for us, because when we ask what is next, we are opening the door for the woman who is waiting to walk through it. So that's what I'm trying to build is yes, we got to get sober. Yes, we want to go to alcohol free living, but we have got to ask ourselves what is next.

Tracey: 38:07

I love that messaging for anybody knowing that's not. The end because that's when people can see is yeah, I just got to get there, but there's so much more past that. So I absolutely love that. That is the messaging and that's what you're trying to promote within there. And it's funny what you say about. People who are just regular everyday people that might not have an issue with the relationship with alcohol. Cause we get that with the podcast too. We have a lot of listeners that don't even have a problem with alcohol. They just enjoy listening because we talk about a lot of things that resonate with everybody just struggles in life and things to do to promote wellness and to have a better, healthier, balanced life. Yeah, I think that's amazing. And I can understand how that could happen with the app as well. Yeah, and I'm excited to see it.

Lindsay: 39:00

Thank you. I truly believe that 20 years down the road, my goal in my work is that I no longer have a job. That is my goal, is because we don't need to be having this conversation. That is my goal, that all of us collectively do such a good job, that we are successful in this narrative that alcohol should not. Be a part of our lives. And I talked to my daughter about this too. I want her and her friends. She's six. I want her and her friends to have a conversation with their friends saying, can you believe there was that podcast, where they all had to sit around and I believe that I do how they had to have friends where they had to talk about why they shouldn't be drinking. And they were all roads. Yeah.

Lindsey: 39:45

It's like how we're like, can you believe they used to smoke cigarettes

Kelly: 39:48

Yep I do. I believe that is what's going to happen.

Lindsay: 39:52

Yes. I think so too. Absolutely. We just have to do the work. Yes. We're doing it. Yes. We're doing it. And it is changing. It is changing a lot, especially like you said, the last two years. Yeah. It's wild.

Kelly: 40:06

A lot. Yeah.

Lindsay: 40:07

It's wild. And there's so many different even if people don't resonate with She Walks Canada or don't resonate with the Uncovery app, there are so many opportunities out there for people to dive into some group that does, and that is what is so important, again, about the work that we are collectively doing is that there's no shade. To any program that gets anybody to the other side of overdrinking. Like we're all doing the same work. We all want the same result. It doesn't matter if you do it with them or this or that. Just start. Just do it.

Kelly: 40:38

That's right. That's right.

Tracey: 40:40

We absolutely love what you're doing. And I want to say, Lindsay, that you have some amazing content on Instagram, where we follow you. We love what you're putting out there. You really articulate yourself. You really give and educate people. On this, so definitely follow Lindsay and we're going to have Lindsay tell you guys where to find her on every platform that she's on. So go ahead and let our listeners know where they can find you, Lindsay,

Lindsay: 41:09

On Instagram is the best place to go. So it's as she walks Canada dot com and at the uncovery app, but. Here's the thing. The Uncovery app is launching this summer. If you go to www. theuncoveryapp. com, you can get on the wait list and get first access to it and also lock in like a ridiculous cheap price. Yeah. It's 9. 99 for ever. It's crazy. Amazing. Yeah. Perfect.

Tracey: 41:34

Okay. Thank you so much for joining us. It's been an absolute pleasure meeting you and you definitely did not disappoint. You lived up to all our expectations. Yeah, this is amazing conversation and we're just so pleased to see other strong women in this space. Like I said on this mission, fighting the good fight for this and another fellow Canadian. It's yeah.

Lindsay: 42:01

And we're all going to get there. We are going to get to the other side of overdrinking it. We need to do it together and we'll get to the other side. Yeah. Thanks, Lindsay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Awesome.

Lindsey: 42:13

Everybody, that is a wrap on today's episode. Don't forget to follow our guest on Instagram at SheWalksCanada, and also don't forget to follow LAF Life Podcast you can find us online as well. We've got our website, www. laflifepodcast. com. We will see you back here next Tuesday with a brand new episode. So until then, you guys know what to do. Keep laughing.

Kelly: 42:44

Thank you for listening. Please give us a five star rating like and subscribe, share on social media and tell your friends. We love getting your feedback and ideas of what you'd like to hear on upcoming episodes of the LAF life podcast. If you yourself are living alcohol free and want to share your story here, please reach out.