Becoming sober is a life path with many challenges – but more importantly, it’s a life-long journey with many stages.

In this week’s episode, Josh sits down with his good friend Brian once again to check in on his sobriety journey as well as compare insights from a newbie to that of a veteran. 

On the episode, they also cover life after alcohol – it’s ups and downs, the culpability you have when you “black out”, the body-mind link, dissociation and much more!

Episode Highlights:

0:00 - Introduction

0:49 - Episode beginning

1:23 - An update on Brian’s sobriety

8:42 - Being addicted to “the feeling”

12:25 - The “hair of the dog”, the relation between alcohol and Xanax

22:14 - Caffeine and low-alcohol substitutes

33:26 - Blacking out 101

37:12 - The suitcase story

52:45 - Feeling present and dissociating

1:01:59 - A recent example

About Joshua and Monique Robinson:

Joshua is a recovering alcoholic turned life coach and psychologist.

Co-host of Alternatives to AA is his wife, Monique Robinson.

Josh Robinson is a bodybuilder, athlete, and life coach currently pursuing a degree in psychology. Through hard work, relationship building, and developing their own ways of coping, Josh and Monique are now packaging their recovery in the form of a podcast. He and his wife battled and overcame alcoholism without AA, and their mission is to help others do the same.

Connect with Joshua and Monique Robinson!

Josh’s Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/joshua.robinson.395 

Moniques Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/mo.cool.56 

In this week’s episode, Josh sits down with Sonia Kahlon, founder and CEO of EverBlume - an alternative to AA that places people into smaller groups that are more tailored to their specific sobriety struggles.

Sonia discusses her own sobriety and how she struggled to get her life together, as well as what made her stop, routines, the EverBlume platform, and more!

Episode Highlights:

(0:00) - Introduction

(0:53) - Episode beginning, introduction to Sonia

(4:08) - Sobriety can change with time, beginners vs. pros

(9:40) - Finding an alternative

(11:24) - More info on the guest’s groups and her platform

(14:14) - Some different groups guest has

(20:10) - What made you want to stop?

(24:56) - Different coping mechanisms for drinking

(28:26)  - You cant have a routine when you’re drinking

About Joshua and Monique Robinson:

Joshua is a recovering alcoholic turned life coach and psychologist.

Co-host of Alternatives to AA is his wife, Monique Robinson.

Josh Robinson is a bodybuilder, athlete, and life coach currently pursuing a degree in psychology. Through hard work, relationship building, and developing their own ways of coping, Josh and Monique are now packaging their recovery in the form of a podcast. He and his wife battled and overcame alcoholism without AA, and their mission is to help others do the same.

Connect with Joshua and Monique Robinson!

Josh’s Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/joshua.robinson.395 

Moniques Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/mo.cool.56 

Getting sober is such a personal journey - sometimes it can be easy to forget how it affects other people.

In this week’s episode, the conversation between Monique and her brother Rick continues as he joins the show to share his experiences with Monique when she wasn’t sober. They dive into what’s changed, what it took for Monique to finally get sober and Rick even recalls some stories to give some more background into Monique’s journey.

Episode Highlights:

(0:00) - Introduction

(0:48) - Episode beginning

(4:36) - Some more rehab background

(10:10) - Rick doesn’t forget

(12:45) - What is different about Monique now that she’s sober?

(15:49) - “Do you consider yourself an alcoholic?”

(20:10) - Some other thoughts on dealing with alcoholism

(25:48) - Episode wrap-up

About Joshua and Monique Robinson:

Joshua is a recovering alcoholic turned life coach and psychologist.

Co-host of Alternatives to AA is his wife, Monique Robinson.

Josh Robinson is a bodybuilder, athlete, and life coach currently pursuing a degree in psychology. Through hard work, relationship building, and developing their own ways of coping, Josh and Monique are now packaging their recovery in the form of a podcast. He and his wife battled and overcame alcoholism without AA, and their mission is to help others do the same.

Connect with Joshua and Monique Robinson!

Josh’s Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/joshua.robinson.395 

Moniques Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/mo.cool.56 

Getting sober is such a personal journey - sometimes it can be easy to forget how it affects other people.

In this week’s episode, Monique’s brother Rick joins the show to share his experiences with Monique when she wasn’t sober. They dive into what’s changed, what it took for Monique to finally get sober and Rick even recalls some stories to give some more background into Monique’s journey.

Episode Highlights:

0:00 - Introduction

0:47 - Episode beginning

1:46 - “In what ways is Monique different from when she was drinking?”

7:11 - Nothing was working

9:25 - The ability to be honest

14:40 - Some more background on Monique’s alcoholism

22:39 - Dealing with loneliness and planning for pregnancy 

28:52 - How often were you worried about Monique’s safety?

34:40 - Monique’s pattern

37:09 - What Rick always feared, more fallout from drinking

About Joshua and Monique Robinson:

Joshua is a recovering alcoholic turned life coach and psychologist.

Co-host of Alternatives to AA is his wife, Monique Robinson.

Josh Robinson is a bodybuilder, athlete, and life coach currently pursuing a degree in psychology. Through hard work, relationship building, and developing their own ways of coping, Josh and Monique are now packaging their recovery in the form of a podcast. He and his wife battled and overcame alcoholism without AA, and their mission is to help others do the same.

Connect with Joshua and Monique Robinson!

Josh’s Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/joshua.robinson.395 

Moniques Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/mo.cool.56

One of the most important pieces to sobriety is understanding what leads you to drinking, or using in general. Establishing boundaries around these triggers, whether they be habits or actual people, is crucial to your success.

In this week’s episode, Josh and Monique talk about boundaries - not only setting them personally for yourself - but also setting them around other people.

They’ll discuss where boundaries need to be created as well as how to do so properly. You’ll even get to hear about a recent experience Josh has had in his own life with setting boundaries.

Episode Outline:

0:00 - Introduction

0:48 - Episode beginning

1:15 - Overview of boundaries

3:35 - Josh’s experience with setting boundaries

7:25 - Boundaries are part of “the process”

18:47 - Steps for setting up boundaries

21:58 - Being your own person

24:06 - Why boundaries are important to getting sober

29:35 - Setting boundaries for yourself

38:38 - Episode wrap-up

About Joshua and Monique Robinson:

Joshua is a recovering alcoholic turned life coach and psychologist.

Co-host of Alternatives to AA is his wife, Monique Robinson.

Josh Robinson is a bodybuilder, athlete, and life coach currently pursuing a degree in psychology. Through hard work, relationship building, and developing their own ways of coping, Josh and Monique are now packaging their recovery in the form of a podcast. He and his wife battled and overcame alcoholism without AA, and their mission is to help others do the same.

Connect with Joshua and Monique Robinson!

Josh’s Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/joshua.robinson.395 

Moniques Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/mo.cool.56 

Leading a sober life is a daily challenge - it takes steady commitment, effort and support.

This week, join Josh and Monique as they discuss some of their tips for staying sober in the long-term. With close to a decade of sobriety between them, they’ll let you in on some of the tools they utilize to keep their sobriety on track.

Episode Highlights:

0:00 - Introduction

0:49 - Episode beginning

1:05 - Create a reality that you like more than the one you have with alcohol

5:32 - Dreams come with issues, your ego can trick you

11:06 - Keep track of your progress

16:15 - Finding new things to interest you and occupy your time

18:44 - Envisioning where “going backwards” would take you

21:25 - Bringing back things you enjoyed as a kid

23:30 - Helping others with their sobriety

26:21 - Looking at sobriety as a daily challenge

30:07 - “Drinking dreams”

32:43 - Live in love, not fear

35:50 - Episode wrap-up

About Joshua and Monique Robinson:

Joshua is a recovering alcoholic turned life coach and psychologist.

Co-host of Alternatives to AA is his wife, Monique Robinson.

Josh Robinson is a bodybuilder, athlete, and life coach currently pursuing a degree in psychology. Through hard work, relationship building, and developing their own ways of coping, Josh and Monique are now packaging their recovery in the form of a podcast. He and his wife battled and overcame alcoholism without AA, and their mission is to help others do the same.

Connect with Joshua and Monique Robinson!

Josh’s Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/joshua.robinson.395 

Moniques Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/mo.cool.56 

When it comes to addiction, sometimes it can be very difficult to even notice you have a problem.

My guest today struggled to come to that very realization before finally becoming sober one year and three months ago.

AJ Mayer is a 25 year old carpenter and a fellow Hunterdon County native. Growing up in a drinking household, AJ was first introduced to alcohol at a very young age. Following his parents divorce, AJ began down a self-destructive path and hit rock bottom when he was hospitalized over a year ago.

In part 2, we get some more details on AJ’s time in rehab and his rock bottom moment. We also discuss some of what he took away from his time in rehab and how he’s employed that in his life to stay sober since then.

Episode Highlights:

(41:50) - AJs sobriety and how it all started

(48:34) - When AJ started rehab, what it was like

(55:50) - Transitioning to AA, life after rehab

(1:04:28) - Taking it one day at a time

(1:09:23) - What worked for AJ

(1:12:13) - What worked for Josh, staying sober

(1:16:50) - “It’s never going to change, we’re always going to have this mentality”

(1:21:02) - Finding where the anger comes from

(1:24:50) - The importance of a bond, looking to the future

About Joshua and Monique Robinson:

Joshua is a recovering alcoholic turned life coach and psychologist.

Co-host of Alternatives to AA is his wife, Monique Robinson.

Josh Robinson is a bodybuilder, athlete, and life coach currently pursuing a degree in psychology. Through hard work, relationship building, and developing their own ways of coping, Josh and Monique are now packaging their recovery in the form of a podcast. He and his wife battled and overcame alcoholism without AA, and their mission is to help others do the same.

Connect with Joshua and Monique Robinson!

Josh’s Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/joshua.robinson.395 

Moniques Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/mo.cool.56

When it comes to addiction, sometimes it can be very difficult to even notice you have a problem.

My guest today struggled to come to that very realization before finally becoming sober one year and three months ago.

AJ Mayer is a 25 year old carpenter and a fellow Hunterdon County native. Growing up in a drinking household, AJ was first introduced to alcohol at a very young age. Following his parents divorce, AJ began down a self-destructive path and hit rock bottom when he was hospitalized over a year ago.

We talk about the time he spent working for a liquor store, how his addiction grew, how it affected his life and where it took him. Stay tuned for part 2 where we take a deeper dive into AJ’s story!

Episode Highlights:

(0:00) - Introduction

(0:48) - Start of the episode, how AJ started drinking

(3:08) - When AJ’s parents got separated

(6:15) - Working at Bourbon Street Liquors

(12:40) - “I always thought that I could quit”

(13:37) - When AJ started going down a dark path

(19:35) - Before the pandemic, the “Union mentality”

(24:30) - The pandemic’s effect on drinking

(28:10) - Different types of alcoholism

(31:10) - AJ’s DUI, drinking and driving

(40:14) - How long AJ has been sober for

About Joshua and Monique Robinson:

Joshua is a recovering alcoholic turned life coach and psychologist.

Co-host of Alternatives to AA is his wife, Monique Robinson.

Josh Robinson is a bodybuilder, athlete, and life coach currently pursuing a degree in psychology. Through hard work, relationship building, and developing their own ways of coping, Josh and Monique are now packaging their recovery in the form of a podcast. He and his wife battled and overcame alcoholism without AA, and their mission is to help others do the same.

Connect with Joshua and Monique Robinson!

Josh’s Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/joshua.robinson.395 

Moniques Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/mo.cool.56