You By Design with Louise Barnett

BRAIN ON FIRE 🔥

Looking back, I can’t really pinpoint the moment my drinking left the realm of “normal.” I thought I was living life to my greatest potential.

I was raising a child as a single mum while my career grew and flew me weekly to places like Aruba, Chicago, San Francisco, Vegas and London. Every morning, religiously, at 5am I worked out on my Peloton, I was always on the latest fad diet, and my page certainly depicted the life of perfection….

Each evening I told myself, “just one glass” and each morning, like clockwork, I woke at 3am in a sweaty panic of regret, heart pounding out of my chest and my mind racing with horror and shame. The further I got from myself, the further I became from loving myself. 20 years I spent unravelling my own happiness. 20 years I spent living life like I didn’t matter. I hated the conversations in my head and I hated every ounce of my being.

So, I stopped…I broke my cycle. I stopped the noise, the chatter, the mental anguish. I started a morning routine, meditating, journaling and showered myself with self-love and affirmations. Before I knew it, not only had I found freedom and liberation from alcohol, I found true love for myself.

The truth is, it wasn't easy, I slipped up A LOT, I needed massive amounts of help and support, but eventually.....

Everything fell into place.

If you feel trapped in a vicious cycle, let me tell you from experience, you are never trapped!

You can wake up tomorrow and make the choice to enhance your life with new habits and, most importantly, love the person staring back at you in the mirror.

It’s not easy, you have to put in the work, but I PROMISE YOU, it’s worth it!

I am here to support you, I am on your team, you are worth it and you are loved!

❤️

BRAIN ON FIRE 🔥

Looking back, I can’t really pinpoint the moment my drinking left the realm of “normal.” I thought I was living life to my greatest potential.

I was raising a child as a single mum while my career grew and flew me weekly to places like Aruba, Chicago, San Francisco, Vegas and London. Every morning, religiously, at 5am I worked out on my Peloton, I was always on the latest fad diet, and my page certainly depicted the life of perfection….

Each evening I told myself, “just one glass” and each morning, like clockwork, I woke at 3am in a sweaty panic of regret, heart pounding out of my chest and my mind racing with horror and shame. The further I got from myself, the further I became from loving myself. 20 years I spent unravelling my own happiness. 20 years I spent living life like I didn’t matter. I hated the conversations in my head and I hated every ounce of my being.

So, I stopped…I broke my cycle. I stopped the noise, the chatter, the mental anguish. I started a morning routine, meditating, journaling and showered myself with self-love and affirmations. Before I knew it, not only had I found freedom and liberation from alcohol, I found true love for myself.

The truth is, it wasn't easy, I slipped up A LOT, I needed massive amounts of help and support, but eventually.....

Everything fell into place.

If you feel trapped in a vicious cycle, let me tell you from experience, you are never trapped!

You can wake up tomorrow and make the choice to enhance your life with new habits and, most importantly, love the person staring back at you in the mirror.

It’s not easy, you have to put in the work, but I PROMISE YOU, it’s worth it!

I am here to support you, I am on your team, you are worth it and you are loved!

🎙Together S.O.B.E.R. Podcast Presents: Brain on Fire, Season 2 airing January 22nd 2024! For those of you who don't know me, I am your host Louise Barnett, Former Fortune 100 Global Sales Director turned Jay Shetty Certified Life Coach.

My Brain is on Fire.🔥 I live with Bipolar 1, found sobriety only a few years ago, and since then have simply been trying to figure out this whole thing called life.

Join me soon for storytelling & candid conversations in a safe space, while together we try to find effortless sobriety and mental peace.

👉 Catch up on Season 1 of The Together S.O.B.E.R. Podcast on Apple & Spotify or wherever you like to listen 🙏💚

✨ Christmas morning I snuck out early to grab a few moments of solitude before the chaos of the day ensued. I was at my in-laws, near Malibu, and ventured off into a place I'd never been before.

One sharp left turn off the main road and I found myself at the base of what looked like a promising climb. Somewhat uncharacteristic, I proceeded without caution or fear and started to jog. I immediately noticed there wasn't a single footprint in sight.... cobwebs spun the night before, threads delicately spread across the trail, caught the morning dew and danced unscathed in the morning dawn. ⛅️

⚡️I continued through the uncharted forest, gaining confidence in my stride, endorphins engulfing my mind. After an invigorating steady run, I stopped to take a breath, pause and look around. I gasped, it was break-taking. I had never been here before, not in reality but certainly not in my mind. I was above the fog. Everything was clear. Everything was beautiful. Everything was exactly how it was supposed to be.

As I enter my 3rd year of sobriety, I rise above the fog and take my first step. I am at the precipice of finally understanding who I am, for the first time…ever. No more masks, just me. Bold and Beautiful. Brain on Fire 🔥

✅ Please Vote! Your Response will Mean the World! 🙏💚

WHO RUNS YOUR DAY???

☀️55% of people check their email within an hour of waking up

☀️17% of Americans check their email immediately upon waking up.

☀️1 in 3 of millennials check their email as soon as they wake up.

While it may feel like squeezing in a few extra emails every morning gets you a head start to the day, the only thing checking first thing is get you a head start on your anxiety.

You are literally setting yourself up to feel overwhelmed, unhappy, and ultimately underperform.

A morning routine is a GAME CHANGER. Do whatever works for Y.O.U. just make it intentional and make it all about YOU!

By checking emails first thing you are allowing your emails to run the day, to call the shots, to be the boss….nope…not in my house… I RUN THE F’ing DAY!

Xoxo

L

I made a new friend today. We had an incredible conversation and at some point as I shared what I do as a coach and who I serve, she asked me with excitement, “Isn’t it National Sober Day?!?!?”

I paused….shocked….I didn’t know how to respond because I actually didn’t have a clue. My life’s work is serving and helping individuals find lasting and effortless sobriety and here I am on our national holiday of sobriety and somehow it completely slipped me by!

But here’s my take on it. The way we find lasting and effortless sobriety is by eventually making alcohol the smallest part of our lives, not the biggest. Through that discovery we’re able to turn off the noise, put aside what defined us for years and uncover our strengths, our passions, our true purpose and finally start living a life of fulfillment.

Happy National Sober Day, cheers to turning down the volume on something that has been screaming at us for way too long.

Credit goes to for helping me to find mine. 🫶🏼

💫 Living in my passion and purpose with a life of fulfillment used to be a pipe dream. I now know it’s a well deserved reality, not just for me, but for anyone.

🥳🎂HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY TOGETHER S.O.B.E.R.!!!

I created this Free Facebook community 1 year ago to create space and a safe container for those who are struggling, have struggled, or love someone who has struggled with Substance Abuse and Mental Health Challenges.

Today we are 3,600+ strong, all on different paths and journeys and uplifting each other along the way.

Here are the values we live by:
☑️Support with empathy and compassion
☑️Observe without judgment or bias
☑️Believe we can do hard things together
☑️Embrace ourselves and each other where we are
☑️Respect all stories, paths and experience

❤This community could not operate without each and every one of its members and I am endlessly grateful for the gifts, which I never thought possible, that I continue to receive every day from this group. We challenge each other, we ask the hard questions, we support one another and lift each other up.

🙏Thank you to this community.

❤We are Together S.O.B.E.R.

xoxo,

L

PS. Looking for a family? All are welcome. Find us in Facebook Groups at Together S.O.B.E.R.

🎙️Together S.O.B.E.R. Podcast Episode 75. Todd's Story: No Race to Sobriety

Todd, a renowned attorney in Omaha NE, who loves to read, write and travel was a classic gray area drinker who looked like he had it all together on the outside. But, he was tormented by his relationship with alcohol. He didn’t like how he couldn’t control it no matter how hard he tried, he didn’t like how he felt after drinking too much and he didn’t like how much alcohol consumed his every thought.

Todd Eventually reached a tipping point where from a systematic point of view, simply put, the negatives outweighed the positives. After trying 48 different moderation hacks, Todd realized there was only one thing left to do: give it up for good.

👉🏼Listen on Apple & Spotify at Louisebarnett.com

Her Mind Is A Beautiful Thing 🧠💫🦄