📍EEA: Unlocking Your Full Potential with Dr. Sherry Price

RJ Redden [00:00:00]:

Hold on to your goggles. It's the epic engagement adventure, everyone. I'm, of course, your host RJ redden. Today we're talking with Dr. Sherry Price. And we are talking about a lot of things that I think I heard her message and I knew that I needed everyone else in my tribe to hear her message, too. It was immediate and you're going to know what I mean once you listen to her. Welcome to the show.

Sherry Price [00:00:33]:

I am delighted to be here, RJ. Thank you.

RJ Redden [00:00:37]:

Beautiful. So can you tell the people who you are, what you do, what you love most in the world? Give us everything.

Sherry Price [00:00:46]:

Wow, that's loaded. Question. So I'll start by saying I trained as a pharmacist and I loved helping people. That's what they've got me into. Pharmacy and through life became really good at what I did, moved up corporate, did all the fun things of success, started my own company, had lots of stress, had a child. And then all of a sudden this mommy wine culture comes around and I jump on board wholeheartedly. So I developed this over drinking habit and I wanted to cut back after years of over drinking. And let me just define that for people because I think when we think about over drinking or doing too much something, a lot of times our brain will go to the extreme. I wasn't getting out of bed. I wasn't going to work. It wasn't that extreme. It was a bottle of wine a night, roughly. I'm nice a little less, I'm nice a little more. And that just became kind of standard. That was more the norm than not the norm. And I know being in health care and taking care of people with liver disease and I knew that amount of alcohol wasn't good for me. Not only that, the next morning I didn't feel amazing, right? So it was kind of like I need extra coffee to get going. I'm not feeling really good. And so of course, you go to the internet to learn how to cut back because you don't want to talk about this with other people because it's so stigmatized. And in pharmacy, I can lose my license. And it was just too much on the line, my reputation. So I'm like, I want to take care of this. So did all the things that the online resources told me to do, alternate your drinks. I did dry January, sober October. I did juice cleanses. All the things that you tried to detox yourself or stay away from, but they never stuck. They worked short term, which was lovely. But then I'd be right back to the habit of having my wine at night to distress or to handle disappointment or just to enjoy myself or to relax. And then it got to a point where it's like, you know, this isn't going anywhere. And these resources that I keep trying, that I keep convincing myself that one day they'll work just really aren't working. So I just needed to embrace the reality of that and say, okay, I really do not want to be this kind of woman who shows up and drinks and really loves alcohol that much. But the other thing was I didn't want to be somebody who was put into the bucket of sober or never drink again or can't touch it. And so that message didn't really resonate with me. And so I just wanted to say, I tell my husband all the time, I just want to be a woman who could take it or leave it. Like, I want to go back to the days where I just didn't over desire it, where I didn't want it at the end of my stressful day and I could just imbibe here and there. It was more of a rare event rather than the daily occurrence that it was happening. And so I achieved that, thankfully. And now that's really a calling that I have to give to other women who really want to be able to. And if they want to abstain, I'm all for that too, but really meet people where they're at. And sometimes that just means drinking less and take it from there because sometimes you are afraid of what life would look like or will I still have fun? Or can I do it? I've failed so many times in the past, so we kind of give up on ourselves. And so doing big jumps like that may not be what everybody's ready for. And I really love embracing that concept that we have in harm reduction that we do with our seatbelts, that we do with other things in our life. It's just really meet somebody where they're at and do a little bit better.

RJ Redden [00:04:43]:

Yeah, well, and you've just said the coaching phrase of the century and here's how I know you're really good at it. Meet someone where they're at.

Sherry Price [00:04:53]:

Yes, there's a beautiful book where I learned this from. I mean, it's probably been out there for beyond this book, but this book came out in 2020, I believe, or was it 2021? I don't know. Time just goes by so fast now. It's called Undoing Drugs by Maya Salivitz, and she talks about her addiction and what she's doing now to help change how we view addiction, how we help people who are addicted. And it really, really touched my soul because we are all humans and we all want to be treated with dignity, and some people are ready to rip the Band Aid off and stop it all together, and some people aren't. And so if we can just embrace the change that is willing by the individual, let's embrace that change.

RJ Redden [00:05:37]:

Yeah, let's let them choose their own adventure and support them in the choices. There are so many approaches. They're very hard line and prescriptive and seriously, if the USA was going to win the war on drugs, wouldn't that have happened about 50 years ago. Yeah, I think the one that I read was called Chasing the Screen. That's the one. Jonathan, now, I can't remember his last name, but that was quite a world changer for me as well. One person's solution is not the next person's solution. And trying to shove everybody through the same gate doesn't work.

Sherry Price [00:06:28]:

Yeah, we found that in the diet industry, right? The same diet doesn't work for everybody's metabolic profile and what they're interested in and what foods they like to eat. So you're right, it has to be an individual approach and something that's sustainable, right? Like, I can't do a juice cleanse forever. That's just so it's nice to have these tools or these tactics or ways to decrease or take a break from it. But I really wanted something that was sustainable, long term, something that felt like, yes, I want to do this for my lifestyle. And some people really still want to have a beverage here or there and some people don't, but don't know how to really do it in a way that is sustainable because we all want that quick fix. And so it really is so delicious and we all want that challenge for 30 days because it's easy to do something short term and we like those quick wins. But really getting sustainable change is what I'm about because that's what I wanted and that's what I found was missing.

RJ Redden [00:07:34]:

Sustainable change. I'm loving that. I'm loving that phrase. Did that just come to you or.

Sherry Price [00:07:41]:

Did you hear it somewhere else? It just came to me. But now that you said a phrase that you really like, there's another one I like. And I learned of this from Todd White. He is fabulous. We did an episode together on my podcast and what he states is conscious consumption. That is something I love. I want to be conscious and mindful of what I put into my body, whether that be food, whether that be alcohol. I want to be conscious of the media that I take in because if we're too much in the fear mongering of the news, that really affects us mentally and emotionally. So I love thinking of myself as somebody who is a conscious consumer, conscious consumption, so that I can live my best life.

RJ Redden [00:08:32]:

Yeah, because when you exercise your right to choose what comes in, that's a big thing. So I have to tell you, that my secret. Love. It ain't secret. The Great British Baking Show I watch that thing all the time and I do it because it's so positive. And I love seeing people win because it gives me energy and it helps me enjoy my life a little bit. And so that show and all its spin offs, every one of them is constantly kind of on rerun. That. And Star Trek over here. But being a conscious consumer, people walk around with blinders because they get so many messages every single day, most of which don't apply, but a lot of it tinged with fear or anger or frustration. What kind of people does that make us into? And do you want to be different?

Sherry Price [00:09:32]:

Exactly. And what I see with drinking, especially during COVID Right. And what we know coming out of COVID the Rand did a big study where it talked about the people who are impacted most were the women and their drinking skyrocketed during COVID And if you think about all the memes we were seeing on social media at that time, facebook, Instagram, A, Quarantini, people are stressed out, things are happening different. We have to educate our kids. If they came out of school and were at home with us, some people's jobs were affected, some people's lives were affected.

RJ Redden [00:10:06]:

Right.

Sherry Price [00:10:07]:

So all of that stress really led to an uptick in drinking. And we now have the opportunity to self correct. We now have that opportunity to say, okay, we lived through that. We're on the other side, thankfully. And really, do I want to continue this as a habit or do I want to make small changes that are sustainable so that I can feel better? Because when I was drinking, yeah, it felt good in the moment, but I didn't like how I felt about myself the next day. And then it felt like I was constantly having that dialogue.

RJ Redden [00:10:42]:

Right.

Sherry Price [00:10:42]:

I won't drink today. But then by 06:00 p.m., it's like, oh, I need a drink.

RJ Redden [00:10:46]:

Right.

Sherry Price [00:10:46]:

And it's that constant battle with yourself. And that just is emotionally frustrating and exhausting.

RJ Redden [00:10:54]:

It's always exhausting when your desires don't match your values. It's always exhausting to have an argument with yourself because you do not go away and it's so much more. Life is just so much better when you're consciously aligned like that.

Sherry Price [00:11:18]:

Yes. It's almost like a revelation. I want to say my AHAs, and you want them so quick. But they come, right? They come over time by doing the work of reprogramming your subconscious mind and making more cognitive choice that's aligned with your values, like you said. And that really is kind of the secret sauce, I feel, to satisfaction and contentment.

RJ Redden [00:11:52]:

People, we are giving away the secret today on the epic engagement adventure. I hope you're appreciating this because it's golden. Well, I mean, it really is. Similarly, I talk to people a lot about making their marketing aligned with their values and principles because not everybody should be doing the same marketing. But what you're talking about is so much more gets really at the root of everything. I mean, what you do for a career is a career, but when you are fighting with yourself all day, your quality of life is affected.

Sherry Price [00:12:33]:

Yes. And what I love is that being vocal about this finally.

RJ Redden [00:12:40]:

Right.

Sherry Price [00:12:40]:

There was a lot of shame I had to go through. There was a lot of healing I had to go through. A lot of self acceptance, right? Because I kind of just wanted to brush that under the rug and say, yeah, let's just move on and let's not look back at that. But that doesn't really allow you to move beyond it, right? You're kind of already carrying your baggage and your luggage with you, and it just feels heavy. But now that I've been speaking out about it, I feel like I'm creating this container now for a lot of professionals, right. When you talk about drinking goodness, it's so stigmatized, right? People are worried about their reputations, they're worried about their job, especially in healthcare, all that they worked for all their life, all their reputation and their practice and how that can be taken away if this gets discovered. And so I really wanted an avenue to help, really, those helpers out there that are doing so much for everyone else. But then oftentimes they don't know where to go to seek help or maybe not even supported to seek help, right, because of some of the liabilities that can happen or the consequences. And so I really wanted this space where we can talk about it and it doesn't have to be polarizing and it doesn't have to be everybody has to get to the same goal right away. And really just being supportive and making sure people don't feel alone. Because a lot of times when people feel alone or depressed, of course, the drinking isn't oftentimes what kicks up during those times.

RJ Redden [00:14:17]:

Yeah. Holy moly. Talk to me, too. We were talking about this earlier. Talk to me about your recent not a direction change, but sort of message change when it's come to this.

Sherry Price [00:14:36]:

So I have a couple of ways that I help people, and one of them is called Drink Less Lifestyle. And that's the name of my podcast. And then I noticed while helping people through the podcast and then my programs, that some people didn't want that on their credit card or that would be too damaging to put somewhere or to say that they're a part of. And I get it, right, there are consequences to our actions. And so I went through a name change so that we can protect the identity and change the name of my program. And then also people come to me and they feel a little I don't know if it's shame or embarrassment or tentative about the alcohol. So I brought in that to like, okay, let's just create a healthier lifestyle. So really pulling in the aspects of weight loss, because a lot of women that I work with are in midlife and beyond. And so we're going through hormone changes, we're perimenopausal and menopausal, and our bodies are changing and how we metabolize alcohol changes and how we metabolize sugar and the things that used to not bother us now bother us, or we can have fewer quantity, and now we get more uptick in the symptoms. And so really expanding that to say this is a wellness strategy. This is not because we're bad or we've done wrong, but really we're just concerned about our health and where we're going with that and wanting to do better and improve. So, yeah, I've really focused more on making part of a holistic health care way of taking care of our health. So anything that we consume that could be the media and how it makes us feel, and monitoring that, monitoring how certain foods make us feel, and then monitoring alcohol content as well.

RJ Redden [00:16:23]:

Yeah. For me, even though compartmentalization is kind of counterproductive, I think I really love the holistic way because you're not just looking at, well, this is a stated problem, you're kind of pulling back and looking at it. I used to be a stage painter, a theater painter, and you could paint right in front of you, but you needed to walk out to that front row every once in a while to see if it's actually being seen in the front row as the same thing as you're painting right there. So there was a lot of zoom in, zoom out. And I feel like your holistic way is to zoom out and see what other systems or environments or people are affected by these things. Because really, at the end of the day, compartmentalization is what we do. That's a mental barrier. You know what I mean? So I love your approach of this thing. I think that's the thing that is more sustainable, a holistic way. Do you think so too?

Sherry Price [00:17:34]:

Yeah, and I've always practiced from that way. But I guess when you hear drinking, the desire or the mind just wants to focus in on this one problem.

RJ Redden [00:17:43]:

Right.

Sherry Price [00:17:43]:

We want to villainize the alcohol. And I think society has villainized the alcohol.

RJ Redden [00:17:48]:

Right.

Sherry Price [00:17:49]:

And when we zoom out, we can really see that there's a need for the alcohol because there's a pain point in somebody's life a lot of times. It could be some adverse childhood event. It could be a trauma, it could be a divorce that's still not healed. It could be some pain point that's still existing for someone. And so when we do do that, zoom out and not just focus on just the alcohol and just controlling the drinks and just saying, alternate between water and alcohol, all of those things don't get to the root cause. And so when we get to the root cause, wow, that's where the magic is, because that's where you can make the change and then healing. That sets up the brain to be able to say, oh, now I could become a person who can take it or leave it.

RJ Redden [00:18:38]:

Yeah.

Sherry Price [00:18:42]:

Now I've been all focused on the alcohol, and what we know is what the mind focus on expands the desire for it.

RJ Redden [00:18:49]:

Right.

Sherry Price [00:18:49]:

So if I keep saying, I want a Porsche, I want a Porsche, I want a Porsche, I'm just going to keep seeing porsches all around. And I'm like, oh, there's one, there's one, there's one. Right? Because what we focus on expands. So if we keep saying, alcohol, alcohol, I want it, I don't want it, I want it, I don't want it, we're still creating a very antagonistic and very much upticking our desire for it even more. And we don't even realize that that's how the brain works. But once we realize that that's how the brain works, we could say, oh, wait, that strategy doesn't work. Let's work on something that can work and then allow us to create a different relationship with alcohol. And it's not by just focusing on the alcohol. You're absolutely right.

RJ Redden [00:19:31]:

Boy, this is awesome. I'm so glad you're doing this work out in the world, because we need it. I was about probably 15 years ago, I was talking to one of my college professors, an It guy, and we were talking about the rate at which we consume information. And we were talking about how very much faster it was coming and how we have no idea what the effect is going to be on the brain 10, 20, 30 years from now. And that thought, to me, it has stuck in my mind, truly, what we consume is important.

Sherry Price [00:20:17]:

Yeah. And that even brings to my mind RJ I think we're in a time now of overstimulation with technology changes, information overload cognitive load, having to make decisions, even in looking at the cereal aisle.

RJ Redden [00:20:33]:

Right.

Sherry Price [00:20:34]:

We have, like, 45 different boxes of cereal to choose between. Just the daily amount of deluge our brain has to deal with has intensified. And I think that's really contributing to the anxiety, the choice anxiety, what to select, how to select, who do I listen to? Because first fat was bad, now fat is good, now it's sugar that's bad. And all of that information really can weigh on us, which is why people feel like they need a release at the end of the day. Like, I just don't want to think anymore.

RJ Redden [00:21:09]:

Right.

Sherry Price [00:21:09]:

And so I work with a lot of professionals that want to just turn their brain off, and they can't, because it's just constantly being stimulated by text messages and apps and this and that. And I really think there is a lot of benefit that comes from that. I love all the convenience that's brought us, but we really have to be judicial about what we do allow in, because if we don't minimize some of that, we will always feel like we're ramped up and amped up and can't relax. And that's not a good state of cortisol and for our bodies to be in.

RJ Redden [00:21:44]:

No, it's not. It causes real bad things to happen.

Sherry Price [00:21:49]:

Exactly.

RJ Redden [00:21:50]:

Well, I want to thank you for mentioning some of these things. It's not often that I get to talk to another human who's so tuned into, you are what you eat, you are what you consume. Who do I want to be? What choices do I want to have? Can I take control of these things? I want to ask you real quick because we have gone over my normal range of time asking this, but I must ask you, with your wonderful, beautiful tribe, how do you engage them?

Sherry Price [00:22:29]:

Yeah, so we talk about a lot of things in my program. So I do have free resources out there on my website, Epicu.com. I have my podcast. I do have a Facebook group. I don't know if we could put all these links in the notes but invite anybody to follow along and engage in that way. But I really create a safe container for women where we can really share and not be judged and feel like a sense of belonging and uplifting. So it's different than a support group. I will say that the people that are in it are like, this is not a support group. This is like, we are here to up level our lives. And part of that means we're walking away from some of the alcohol, right. And we're just really focusing on where else can we fill our lives with joy? Because if we don't fill up our cup with joy and we take away the alcohol, we'll always be lured back to it.

RJ Redden [00:23:28]:

Right.

Sherry Price [00:23:28]:

Because if we're not getting joy from other parts of our life, we'll kind of fall back to that pattern. So I really create this safe container where we could come and express ourselves and our ideas in a non judgmental, safe way for people to really get to the root of what's driving their over drinking and overeating because a lot of times they go hand in hand.

RJ Redden [00:23:52]:

Oh, sure. How much difference is there?

Sherry Price [00:23:56]:

Honestly.

RJ Redden [00:24:00]:

I'm so glad you don't run just another supportgroup.com. Holy moly. And not to talk down on that, but I'm glad that you're once again exercising your power of choice and going off into a new direction with that group. That sounds awesome.

Sherry Price [00:24:21]:

Yeah. I'm all about solutions and results being results focused, not problem focused. Because if we just focus on the problem, we just create more of that problem. So we have to be results focused and so that's what the container really focuses on. And then strategies and tools to make it so and make it sustainable.

RJ Redden [00:24:39]:

Yeah, make it so. That's my favorite Star Trek captain you're talking about there. Beautiful. Well, I want to tell you all that I just threw the link there. It's epicu.com. If you're driving, folding the laundry, be safe, but go to Epicu.com and there's the splash page there. Hit the button, get started, and you can have it's. A free download there, right?

Sherry Price [00:25:11]:

Yes. Five steps to become a woman or five steps to become a woman who can take it or leave it.

RJ Redden [00:25:16]:

A woman who can take it or leave it. Above all things, I love things that put the power of choice back into that person's hands. And I'll tell you why. It's just because there's so many solutions out there for all kinds of things that are like, well, let me guide you. I have all the answers. And then that's usually followed by a request for tens of thousands of dollars. This is something that helps people become more than instead of being all about the coach. And I understand writing freebies isn't so fun sometimes, but I love that you put the power of choice back in people's hands so that they can continue to choose to make their lives better.

Sherry Price [00:26:12]:

Yes. And empowered to do so.

RJ Redden [00:26:15]:

Right.

Sherry Price [00:26:15]:

The autonomy is what we want around anything in our life. They'd be able to say, yes, today is a good day for that or today's not a good day for that, and how much do I want to consume of that? We are making those choices every day and so really empowering the individual around those choices when it comes to these substances that are known to be addictive. Right. Sugar, alcohol, and so, yeah, just giving the choice back to the person without you have to do it this way.

RJ Redden [00:26:46]:

Holy moly. Beautiful stuff. I do want to thank Jessica Do Bestica for coming by. If that isn't the best screen name.

Sherry Price [00:26:57]:

That is the best screen name.

RJ Redden [00:26:59]:

Oh, man. It's fantastic. And I just want to say to everybody out there, if you have a consumption issue of any kind, it might be time to get your hands on your resources and fix that. This might be a great resource for you. You won't know until you check it out. Why not? The locus of control? Is the control really outside? Is alcohol really evil? Are these things happening to you or is this something that you can make choices about and live your life differently? Go check out this free resource because it's going to give you some info that you need and hopefully it'll also get you in touch with my friend Dr. Sherry. Thank you for all you do. Thanks for paying attention to some of the small things that other people would overlook in an instant.

Sherry Price [00:28:09]:

And thank you for being here and thank you, RJ. This was epic. And I'm all about and I know you are about making others epic.

RJ Redden [00:28:18]:

Yes. Fantastic. Well, again, everybody, epicu.com hit the get started button. And for everybody else, you know we're going to be back in the bot cave next week. Same bot time, same bot channel for the epic engagement adventure. Also next week, coming up is surfing the tsunami of change. That is a deal. A little live that my friend Dean and I it's actually a roundtable. Dean and I are going to be talking about lead generation through LinkedIn events next week. So if you want to join us there, surfingthesunami event will take you right to the LinkedIn event. You can hit accept and join us because we're going to be chatting about some important things. Thank you again for listening, everybody. You know, it's going to be a beautiful week and I'll see you in a Bot. Bye.