When we stop drinking and over drinking we have so many possibilities. For me, exploring those possibilities looked like going back to school and becoming a nutritionist. It looked like becoming certified as a life coach and helping people discover how to drink less and improve their lives in every way.
What about you? Have you dreamed about what’s next? Perhaps you have thought about writing a book? Starting a podcast? Or maybe you have a product in mind that you want to create and bring into the world to share with your AF community?
My podcast guest today, Tawny Lara, has done all of these things. I first met Tawny when she joined us in The Sober Edge Book Club to share her brand-new book: Dry Humping: A Guide to Dating, Relating and Hooking Up, Without the Booze. Tawny is known as ‘the sober sexpert’. While the title of the book is meant to be provocative, the book is written as a recovery resource; a resource for sexual liberation, sexual empowerment, and empowering women to get to know their own bodies.It’s about communication and boundaries. There is even a chapter about sober breakups. Ultimately, it’s about creating better relationships, especially with yourself.
Tawny is also the founder, along with her husband Nick, of (parentheses), a vinegar-based non-alcoholic beverage. This drink is meant to be served as a pair, the first parenthesis ( is the before, the apéritif. The after-dinner drink, ) is the digestive. Tawny shared that her husband Nick, a former sommelier, makes his own seaweed vinegar. The drinks are meant to be bitter and to be a 1 oz. pour and a ‘slow sipper’. Tawny shares the botanicals that give each part of the (parentheses) their special flavors and how to prepare your drinks to ‘bookend’ your dining experience.
Tawny and I have a rich conversation about what it means to live an alcohol-free life and how it prepares us for these other challenging endeavors, such as becoming a published author and creating a consumer packaged good. There are a lot of ups and downs as an entrepreneur and Tawny is dedicated to sharing the not-so glamorous parts of it all.
I loved this conversation and the unique way that Tawny engages with her creative side – I hope you will be as inspired as I have been, and I hope you will support Tawny’s work by reading her book, preferably while sipping on an apéritif!
Tawny also has a writing workshop: Book Proposal 101: How to Stop Dreading It and Start Writing It. You can find out more HERE
