Around the time I made that scary and glorious leap to sobriety, I remember one night, my husband was doing his bicycle commute 14 miles home from Nike— along the Sunset Highway, past Hoyt Arboretum as he made his way over the hills in the pitch dark—and I imagined myself getting a call from the hospital that he’d been hit by a car. Who would I call for support, I wondered? I honestly didn’t know.

Vacation in Spain sober? Just watch me.

Getting sober over three years ago meant that I eliminated alcohol and weed from my life.

Those things were making me feel bad. But what happens if all you do is take away the thing that makes you feel bad? You feel “not-bad”.

I didn’t want to just feel “not-bad”. I wanted to feel better than that, to feel more of the pleasure of life.

Not that I wanted to feel a bubbly, juicy pleasure all of the time. Challenge, and hard things are also good. But I was pleasure deficient, as many people are.

My introduction to mindfulness was born out of desperation. Not because of alcohol, but because of kids. Not my kids; other people’s kids.

You’ve probably heard of Hygge, but have you heard of Lagom?

The key concepts that convinced me to turn a one year experiment with sobriety into a life choice, oddly enough, were introduced to me through a transformational personal finance course, based largely on the concepts from the book Your Money or Your Life, by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez.

One of those concepts is my personal definition of “enough”, or as the Swedish call it: Lagom.

The thing you give to the world is also the thing you need the most.-- Simon Sinek 

How many of us considered booze as part of our sleep routine? (raise hand)

When I quit drinking, I had a big fear around getting to sleep. How would I relax at night without alcohol?

Ironically, I’ve valued a good night’s sleep for years. That’s why I lived by the slogan “Start early, end early”. What that meant to me, was that I liked to get up early, so I could take care of my responsibilities, including exercise. Then I could start drinking early enough to have a few hours feeling buzzed (drunk) and still go to bed early. I was so proud of myself for figuring out how to manage my alcohol that way.

As I walked into the guest bedroom, I lit up with the glow of surprised delight. My friend had placed bouquets from her garden on the side tables, there was a fresh folded towel on the bed, along with a chocolate bar.

…Friday evening, though, was when the loudest, most unexpected message of all came through…

By Tuesday, my husband and I both noticed that we were feeling more calm and peaceful than usual. The change was so profound, it reminded me of the way my emotional state changed when I quit drinking.

So let's talk about that damn smart phone.

Where do you go to unwind, to unplug? If you are like most people, your first thought is getting AWAY. Away from your home, from the city, away from your normal life. But what if I told you that you could create the magic of being unplugged in your very own home? That the break you are craving is accessible to you right now?