Maureen Benkovich (00:00.95)
Welcome back to another episode of Sober Fit Life. I am so excited today, my friend and guest, Christy Osborne. Let me tell you a little bit about her. She is a Christian sobriety coach, author, and host of Love Life Sober podcast on the Life Audio Network. Her work is faith forward and neuroscience informed, and she's coached thousands of women to step out of the grip of alcohol and back into clarity, peace, and a deeper relationship with God. Christy stopped drinking in 2020.
not because she hit a rock bottom, but because alcohol was taking more than it gave. Her new book is Love Life Sober, a 40-day alcohol fast to rediscover your joy, improve your health, and renew your mind. So welcome, Christy, to Sober Fit Life.
Christy Osborne (00:48.142)
I'm so happy to be here. I love you so much. This is so fun.
Maureen Benkovich (00:52.194)
I love you too. I've watched you write this book because we were in the same coaching group together. And I remember thinking, wow, this woman is writing a book and you did it and you recorded the audio book and then you turned it into a course, a fast, a 40-day fast, and we're going to talk about that. But it was really cool to see your whole journey and where you are now.
Christy Osborne (00:58.742)
Yeah.
Maureen Benkovich (01:18.364)
and even that I'm going to be a part of it. We'll get to that everybody. But first, I want to give everybody a backstory with you, Christy. So, let's talk about you went from being glamorous blogger in London when blogs were a thing, right? And you had a big following, it was very glamorous. And I want you to tell us about that because it looked very glossy and exciting on the outside, but you were experiencing something very different.
Christy Osborne (01:33.772)
when blogs were a thing.
Maureen Benkovich (01:48.18)
on the inside. So could you take us back to that time when when you started to think about something needed to change?
Christy Osborne (01:55.247)
Yeah, so I'm obviously not British, as you can hear in my voice. But I moved over to London with my husband right out of law school. He got a job over here, and we said we were going for a two-year adventure. And I wound up working in various kind of fields. I had the law degree, but I really wanted to work in policy. And so I went to Parliament, and I was working there. And as I got to know people,
and more and more expats, I realized that everyone was kind of searching for who, which doctor do you use and where do you get your nails done? Like where's the best place to get whatever. And so this was when again, before Substack, when like original blogs were a thing. So I started this blog, An American Girl in Chelsea, because we were living in the Chelsea borough of London. And it was kind of like a side hustle type of thing. And then it turned into
Maureen Benkovich (02:30.422)
Mm-hmm.
Christy Osborne (02:51.67)
hotels and restaurants and spas, which was really fun, asking me to come in and review things for them. And this is all going on while I am making drinking look really, really glamorous, right? But behind the scenes, I had two kids and when I had my son, I had postpartum really, really bad. And I saw this kind of like uptick in my drinking where I was using it to cope with like
Maureen Benkovich (03:16.704)
Mm-hmm.
Christy Osborne (03:19.96)
grief I didn't understand and being confused and like looking at my sweet baby and like wondering why I didn't really want to even be with him. And it was really hard. And there wasn't like the language there is now. Like people are so open, I think about postpartum these days. But I did not tell anybody. I didn't realize until I was through it, but I know my drinking went up because when I look back over kind of my drinking career, that was one where I can like see a visible like, yeah, a spike.
Maureen Benkovich (03:35.638)
Yeah.
Christy Osborne (03:49.23)
but also a very obvious reason why I was using alcohol if we talk about like the jobs that we give to it. So there was that. And then my mom passed away in 2018 and we had like a very, very complicated relationship because she was my best friend for so many years. But then she started drinking when I was in my mid twenties and it just turned her into this person that I didn't recognize. And I talk about this in my book.
Maureen Benkovich (03:49.302)
Mm-hmm.
Maureen Benkovich (03:56.695)
Yes.
Maureen Benkovich (04:17.622)
Right.
Christy Osborne (04:19.158)
Like I couldn't call her anymore. Like I knew I couldn't call her after certain hours of the day because she'd be drinking. And then it just, it fractured our relationship and it was really, really hard. And so I get this call, March 9th, 2018 that she's just passed away. And I have no idea how to agree with this. I don't know how to grieve it because I don't know how to grieve a death, but the death of
Maureen Benkovich (04:39.33)
Mm.
Christy Osborne (04:47.37)
of my mom and it was so complicated because I was still mad at her. mean, there's like all these crazy stories, babe. Like I went back to LA and like she had written me out of the will because she was mad at me one night. Like it was wild. And so there was all these layers to the grief and I didn't know how to handle it. So I just was drinking and I was drinking, but making it look really pretty.
And I was like, I was really good at this. Like I looked cute with the glass of champagne in my hand. And then I was probably like, like on a corner, like somewhere in London crying literally in the street because I had had too many and was just so depressed and had no idea where to put it.
Maureen Benkovich (05:27.682)
I even saw a former post because you were sharing some of the things you used to post of you getting an IV hydration and making that look glamorous. And I used to do those too. Spend money, spend time trying to, you know, recoup the damage. But yeah, you made it look glamorous. Yeah.
Christy Osborne (05:34.211)
Yeah.
yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Christy Osborne (05:45.73)
Yeah, I made it look so glamorous. it even got to the point where I got asked because they were trying to find, I mean, they were just trying to find Americans, right? In London to like fill the hours of the non-like ongoing like wedding coverage for Harry and Meghan. So they asked me to come and like, so that was really cool. And so all of these things, like really glossy on the surface. And then I just, I woke up on the anniversary of my mom's death.
Maureen Benkovich (06:02.773)
Royals
Christy Osborne (06:13.676)
to exactly bang on two years on. We had been out the night before celebrating, like a bunch of us got together for like the March birthdays of all of the kids that turned, you know, whatever in March. And so we had been like at a pub and then everyone came over because everybody always came over and I over served and never made everybody stay later. Probably, you know, I think it was a Sunday night. It was definitely a school night. And I just woke up and I was like,
I was looking at my phone and I was looking through all the pictures and I was so sad and flowers arrived from Chris and I was like, ugh. And then my, you know, my cousin was texting me cause she knew it was the anniversary. And I was like, I don't, I can't, I just want to stay in bed. I was so hung over. was so sad. And I just, I was so, so depressed. And I went into the bathroom and I looked in the mirror and I was like, Jesus, I can't do this anymore.
Like it was really like a divine moment. Like I can't explain it anything other than that because I also had fallen so far away from God because I was the party girl. Like I was the party girl. Yeah. stop it. You're so glamorous. But I just, I really was. I loved that identity. I loved being the hostess.
Maureen Benkovich (07:19.382)
Yes. You and I had a lot in common, except for the glamourous part, but yeah, we had a lot in common. Yeah.
Christy Osborne (07:35.776)
My door in London was pink and I called it Hotel California because you could never leave and I would not let anybody ever leave. I would fill them with tequila until like all hours of the night. And I was just so far from Jesus. I wasn't going to church. My marriage was a mess. We were like, you we would drink and then fight and not remember what we fought about. And I was like, at one point I was like, I'm not, my marriage is not gonna make it because
This is horrible. And I had even called my dad and I was like, I think I'm getting divorced. I think I should come back to LA. It was bad, babe. Like it was really, really bad. And I just, on that morning or afternoon or whatever it was of that March 9th day, just, it was the first thing I knew to say out of my mouth, even though I was so far from God was like, Jesus, like help me. Like this is bad. I can't do this anymore. And so yeah.
Maureen Benkovich (08:32.212)
Let's talk about that moment because there were lots of other moments before, right, where you did try to do something on your own, like moderate, right? Did you try to moderate?
Christy Osborne (08:40.108)
Mm-hmm.
Christy Osborne (08:44.076)
Yeah. mean, I had, I did definitely like a few dry Januaries, right? And it was always what we always say, right? To prove to myself that I didn't have a quote unquote drinking problem. I remember one, I was working in business development at a startup and we signed a massive account on like the 29th of January. So I'm like, screw it. Let's have champagne. And then, and then the next, the next January, I made it all the way through, but I remember February 1st, I got.
Maureen Benkovich (09:05.056)
Right?
Christy Osborne (09:13.134)
completely smashed and literally by the first week of February, I was drinking more than I was in December. And I was like, well, that was pointless.
Maureen Benkovich (09:24.448)
I think it's important to point that out because as sober coaches, it's important for people to hear that we went through what they're going through now. So I just wanted to point that out that it wasn't like instantaneous for you. were down this journey and finally, like me too, you said, Jesus, help me. And that was the turning point, right?
Christy Osborne (09:30.613)
yeah.
Yeah.
Christy Osborne (09:42.464)
Yeah. it wasn't even, even though that like my, you know, that March 9th, 2020 is my alcohol-free date, so to speak. It doesn't mean that there weren't other times, like during the first couple of years that I was like, that's a craving that I didn't think was going to happen a year in, or, you know, maybe one wouldn't hurt or like I lost one of my very, very dear friends at the end of 2020.
Maureen Benkovich (10:02.242)
Mm-hmm.
Christy Osborne (10:09.216)
A mom passed away, three little girls at home, 40 years old. And I remember thinking to myself, the first thought when I got the phone call was, I was in Florida seeing my in-laws at the time. I pictured myself driving to the restaurant where the bar was. And I literally pictured myself with the massive glass of Sauvignon Blanc so that I could make this pain, because it hurts so bad, go away. But because I had like,
spent so much time trying to renew my mind about this. Thankfully, praise the Lord, the next thought after that was, you've done that before. And that does not work for you.
Maureen Benkovich (10:39.938)
Mm-hmm.
Maureen Benkovich (10:49.962)
Right. Yeah, but I love that. you, and that's important again to point out to people, you will have those thoughts in this journey. You will have those cravings, but it's the next thought, like you said, it's what you do with that thought. And that's what you did. You didn't go down the old road and you just turned in a different direction. That's that neuroplasticity we like to talk
Christy Osborne (10:56.984)
Yeah.
Christy Osborne (11:03.927)
Yeah.
Christy Osborne (11:12.31)
Yeah, and it's renewing our mind, right? Even though we have thousands of automatic negative thoughts and our brain spins stories. Like it's just so incredibly cool to me that the manual for how to redirect our thoughts is in the Bible. And we went through the same coaching certification and we geeked out over the same things. But like when I, when I really went through it and studied it as did you like, wait, all this stuff that the secular
Maureen Benkovich (11:13.228)
Yeah. Yes.
Mm-hmm.
Maureen Benkovich (11:27.51)
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
Christy Osborne (11:39.342)
coaching world is using is already in scripture. Like all of it. It's like all there.
Maureen Benkovich (11:42.464)
Right, right. Yeah, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And it took me a while to make that connection. I'm like, wait a minute, that's exactly what it says in the Bible. You what I'm learning in just this science only, you know, training vein, but putting it together, faith and neuroscience is so much more powerful, at least it was for me.
Christy Osborne (11:56.151)
Yeah.
Christy Osborne (12:04.149)
Yeah. Yeah. And Philippians four seven, right? Like do not, don't be anxious for everything, but by prayer and Thanksgiving, bring your, you know, bring your thoughts before God. that gratitude piece we hear all the time. Gratitude, gratitude, gratitude. God's like, I already said that to you. I already told you that. Yes. A hundred percent.
Maureen Benkovich (12:11.67)
Mm-hmm.
Maureen Benkovich (12:20.738)
I already told you that. Yeah. It's the science of gratitude. Right. Yes. And the faith and the science. Well, I want to go back to mommy wine culture because you were saying, so you were here in London, know, the California, Hotel California, you were the consummate entertainer. I'm guessing a lot of those other women were mommies and you were all sort of in this mommy wine culture and
Christy Osborne (12:41.782)
Yep.
Maureen Benkovich (12:45.578)
It's something we're really advertised to and there's all these memes and even wines that are named like Mommy's Little Helper and that kind of thing. So you talk about being drawn into that culture and how insidious it is. And then what was it like to come out of that? What thoughts did you have around like, what will happen if I change with all my mom friends?
Christy Osborne (12:53.121)
Yeah.
Christy Osborne (13:06.924)
Yeah. I remember my daughter Ella, who I can't believe she's now almost 16, was like a terrible sleeper. And so I was like basically on my own and in the UK, no family. They had come and gone. And so my husband's like, we should get a night nurse for a night so you could just at least sleep. And I remember she walked in the door and I went straight to the wine cabinet and I literally took the bottle into my room.
because that's what I considered was rest, right? Is like knocking myself out. Yeah, knocking myself out with a massive three glasses of wine or more. And everywhere I looked, other moms were doing the same as this like rest. mean, we would go and we would meet at a restaurant and we would order bottles of rose with our newborns. And we would sit there and we'd be like bouncing these babies and like drinking the rose, thinking like, this is what we get to do because we're.
Maureen Benkovich (13:39.746)
Self-care.
Christy Osborne (14:05.886)
Not sleeping.
Maureen Benkovich (14:07.486)
I deserve it. That was the thought, right? We deserve this. Yes.
Christy Osborne (14:10.924)
Yes, 100%. And this is going to be, this is the treat that we get to look forward to if we can make it till noon the next day. I mean, it's wild to think about, but it's so perpetuated by society and perpetuated by any aisle that you walk down in Target, right? It's just, it really is everywhere. mean, yeah, go ahead.
Maureen Benkovich (14:14.934)
Mm-hmm.
Maureen Benkovich (14:31.114)
It doesn't stop with young moms though either, it's sports, right? Then you get into the time period where you're taking your kids to all these sports events and it's on the sidelines. And I've even seen videos of like how to make your coffee cup look like you have coffee or tea, but it's really wine. There's really a culture promoting this.
Christy Osborne (14:35.033)
yeah.
Christy Osborne (14:46.1)
Yeah. Yeah. Which is so interesting, right? Because like, I remember back to like, when I was younger, that was not a thing. Like moms were not getting lit on the soccer field at my like little, like, I just think of all the AYSO games I went to for my brothers. Like that wasn't a, unless I didn't notice, but I don't think that was a thing. Whereas now, as you said, it's like encouraged. I mean, that's not even to talk about like, are you driving the kids? But anyways, it's just,
Maureen Benkovich (14:50.252)
Mm-hmm.
Maureen Benkovich (14:57.942)
Right?
Maureen Benkovich (15:09.346)
Mm-hmm.
Christy Osborne (15:14.472)
It's crazy and it's funny because there's that juxtaposition then of we see Gen Z and like the younger generation's not drinking, but the moms feel really stuck to me still.
Maureen Benkovich (15:25.28)
Right, right, right, definitely. But I think it's important to bring that up, not in a judgmental way, but because to point out we are being inundated with these messages and the mommy culture is just one culture, you know, and also, like you said, when you're sad, when you're depressed, that's the time to drink too. We are taught this through all our movies and television and everything. So that's one of things you bring and I bring to our coaching is it's not your fault. Like we get, this is how we got here.
Christy Osborne (15:32.66)
Right, of course.
Christy Osborne (15:51.435)
Yeah.
Christy Osborne (15:55.156)
Yeah, 100%. I wrote an article for Grazia magazine, which is, I think, like the equivalent of like an Us Weekly or something like that. But it was basically a, it was just my story about like how I used wine to cope as a mom and how like I realized that it was so much better on the other side. It was a very uplifting and non-judgmental article. But of course the magazine put like one quote on Instagram.
Maureen Benkovich (16:08.066)
Mm-hmm.
Maureen Benkovich (16:14.946)
Right.
Christy Osborne (16:20.904)
And basically it was something like, should you be drinking or moms, should you be drinking something to the end of that effect? And when I tell you, I got massacred in the comments, it was like, this woman obviously doesn't have kids. Why is she coming for us? Who does she think she is? Just like, my gosh. But then what I did was I put myself in the shoes of those women. And like, if I was scrolling and I saw that.
Maureen Benkovich (16:37.313)
Yeah.
Christy Osborne (16:47.68)
When I was, you know, two bottles of Whispering Angel Deep, I would have hated me too. I get it. Don't take it from me. It's the only thing I have.
Maureen Benkovich (16:52.278)
Right, don't take away my coping mechanism. Don't touch it.
Yeah. And that's where we were stuck. And I was stuck thinking it was the only thing I had not being a mom, right? So we can use this coping mechanism for any one of our issues. But the mommy culture is a real thing. But you now have this 40-day fast. So let's like flash forward to you realize, you you need to cut out alcohol. You asked Jesus to help you. That was the start. You went through coaching like I did and then became a coach.
Christy Osborne (17:05.13)
Yeah.
Maureen Benkovich (17:27.424)
So take it from there, like when did you decide I'm going to write a book? How did that happen?
Christy Osborne (17:34.44)
Yeah, so I was coaching gals and I was coaching both Christian and non-Christian gals in the beginning for a couple years. And I just, when I would get a Christian client in front of me, I found myself bringing in scripture and talking about the true source of joy and love and peace and all of these things, comfort and
Then I would basically do my client notes after a session and send recommendations. And if it was a Christian gal, I would normally include a Bible study or something that I was reading that week that was, you know, scripture based. And then I was sitting there and I was doing one of, I always call her DJ Tanner, but Candace Cameron Burr's devotionals. And I was like looking at it I was like, why isn't there something like this for gals who want to take a break from alcohol?
Like we've got 30 day fasts and challenges and stuff, but there's nothing that's actually has scripture to lead it. But then also ties in the way that God made our brains and also the really practical tools that you and I learned in coaching, training and all of that. Why isn't it in one place? And so that's when I was like, I'm just gonna see what it's like to put this together and kind of the rest went from there, yeah.
Maureen Benkovich (18:49.826)
And how did you settle on 40 days?
Christy Osborne (18:53.492)
Yeah, it's biblical, right? Jesus was tempted in the desert for 40 days. I also think it's doable, right? And if it doesn't, if I'm saying this to you right now and listener and you're listening and you're like, it doesn't feel doable, that's okay too. Because like in the book, it accounts for like having growth points, right? If you go for four days and you drink, then you don't have to go back to the beginning because what we're doing is we're, as we're talking about rewiring our mind,
Maureen Benkovich (19:00.791)
Yes.
Christy Osborne (19:23.114)
changing the way that we think so that we change the way that we drink, right? It's all because everything is about our thoughts, which like I didn't know that before, right? Like I never thought about my thoughts. I never thought that I had any sort of agency over my thoughts. I just thought like this, was running a script and I had to listen to it at all times and it was directing me and I had no real say. And again, it goes back to the Bible, right? Where it talks about
Maureen Benkovich (19:29.59)
Yep. Everything.
I didn't either. Yeah.
Maureen Benkovich (19:45.42)
Mm-hmm.
Christy Osborne (19:51.55)
the mind and the soul and the heart kind of interchangeably and how that can direct us. But that also directs our brains. So there's kind of, you know, two things here. We're talking about our brains that send out all these automatic negative thoughts and scripts all the time, but you have control over this. You have a mind that can say, I'm not choosing to actually believe that thought, or I'm going to call that thought a lie from the enemy, or I'm going to call that thought, you know,
Maureen Benkovich (20:08.908)
Yes.
Christy Osborne (20:19.69)
completely untrue and I'm going to look to what God's word says instead. And so I don't remember what I was saying.
Maureen Benkovich (20:28.322)
Yeah. So it involves slowing down and instead of just being a victim to negative thoughts and saying things like, I've always been this way, I'll always be this way, we are now learning and share, you know, you don't have to stay wherever you're stuck. You can challenge those thoughts and choose to move in a different direction. And there are experts like Dr. Daniel Eamon, Dr. Lee Warren.
Christy Osborne (20:35.178)
Yeah.
Yes, yeah.
Christy Osborne (20:44.32)
Yeah, right.
Christy Osborne (20:49.708)
Yeah.
Maureen Benkovich (20:52.812)
who are teaching these very things and even looking at it like Dr. Eamon looks at on brain scans, he shows you the difference. So thoughts are things, we can change them and choose something differently. That's basically where we were.
Christy Osborne (20:58.484)
Yeah, yeah.
Christy Osborne (21:05.95)
Yeah. And this actually, this just happened. So I have a small group of gals like in my community. It's called Truevine. We meet every week. There's like 10 or 12 gals in there and we were chatting and one of the gals came on and she wasn't having a great day. And I just stopped her and I was like, what's good about this day? I can see the sun is shining in your car. She's like, yeah, the sun shining. I'm like, what else?
Maureen Benkovich (21:14.978)
Mm-hmm.
Maureen Benkovich (21:30.124)
Mm-hmm.
Christy Osborne (21:30.218)
And she started rattling off some of the things that she was grateful for or that were positive. And her entire face changed, her demeanor changed, the way that she was just like, her body language changed. And I was like, I was like, babe, look what just happened. You made the conscious switch from being in this place of like bummed out to focusing on gratitude and something good. We have that ability every single moment of every single day. You can focus on.
the icky stuff or you can focus on the abundance. God's, Jesus says John 10, 10, right? Like the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come to give you abundant life. And that is abundant life here and now. And that is what I didn't really understand before this work either in sobriety is like, there's both two things can be true at the same time. Like we can be doing really hard things. We can be grieving really true losses.
Maureen Benkovich (22:01.346)
Mm-hmm.
Maureen Benkovich (22:14.068)
Mm-hmm. Same.
Christy Osborne (22:26.444)
And that can be so, so true, but God, but God, yeah.
Maureen Benkovich (22:30.87)
Yeah. Yeah, I love that because when we're stuck, we're deprivation focused. We're stuck at focusing on the ruminating of what we don't have or comparison or what we think our life should have been like. But if we do even look for the smallest things, like you said, like sunshine or a hot cup of coffee or if you could just shift your mind in the morning to those things, it does physically change what's happening in your brain. And the only way to know that
Christy Osborne (22:38.196)
Yes.
Christy Osborne (22:51.702)
Yeah.
Maureen Benkovich (23:00.054)
like you said, you and I both didn't know that, is to go through it. So your 40-day fast takes people through day by day these little shifts, they're bite-sized shifts. And it's a trusting process, trusting and going through the book, trusting in God, joining the community, finding out there are other women who are struggling with exactly with what you're struggling with. And that alone is so invaluable. So can you talk about your community and the fast and how it works with the book?
Christy Osborne (23:04.033)
Mm-hmm.
Christy Osborne (23:30.814)
Yeah, so I just, realized that this was something to do together, right? Because as we both talked about, when we got to this place, we looked around and we're like, but there's nobody else, who else is gonna stop drinking? Nobody. Who else is gonna stop drinking and wanna talk about Jesus all the time? I can't see anybody. So I opened up this community. It's open year round all the time.
Maureen Benkovich (23:36.674)
Mm-hmm.
Christy Osborne (23:58.332)
And in that we meet for connection calls every single week. We have master classes from expert guests. There's a prayer request space. There's a worship music space. There's a place where everyone posts their mocktail recipes. My favorite addition is there's an in-person hugs map. So, which is by the way, completely optional. You don't have to be on the map if you don't want to. You don't even have to put any of your real information into this. Most people do, but
but the in-person hugs map is so you can go to your city and see if there's any other members near you so you can meet them for a coffee and an in-person hug. And it's starting to happen, which is so exciting to me. And also I'm kind of bummed because I'm so far away. 100%, it's happening in 2026. So that is going on. And then three times a year I coach through the book.
Maureen Benkovich (24:35.937)
Yeah.
Maureen Benkovich (24:42.132)
I know I bummed you're so far away too, but someday we're going to meet in person.
Maureen Benkovich (24:48.705)
Yes.
Christy Osborne (24:55.628)
I coach through it for January, I coach through it for Lent, and I coach through it for normally a sober October type of deal. And so at those three times of the year, we literally go day by day for 40 days through the book. We have multiple coaching calls a week. You are one of the beautiful coaches in there. And it's just a really special, special place because gals that have come from
Never being in any sort of alcohol group or like, wow, there's people like me. Women that are coming from like AA or other secular groups are like, wow, we can talk about Jesus in here.
Maureen Benkovich (25:35.98)
Yep. And there's people, there's moms, there's non-moms, there's grandmoms, there's, you know, women who work, women who are stay at home. There's all different kinds of women from all over the world. It's very cool. Yeah, it's really cool. So let's talk about the, go ahead, sorry, go ahead. I was gonna say, let's talk about the Lent Fast because that's coming up fast, the Lent Fast. So what day does that start? What does that look like to sign up and join and how does that work?
Christy Osborne (25:39.713)
Yeah.
Christy Osborne (25:46.996)
Yeah, yeah, one of the things I- No, go ahead!
Christy Osborne (26:05.492)
Yeah. So we're going to open up the special space. So the communities is big, but as a faster, you get a special private space so that you're going through this fast together with your fellow fastest. which is really cool. That space is going to open up on Ash Wednesday, which is February 18th. And then we're going to kick off the coaching the following Wednesday, February 25th. And I'm coaching once a week, you're coaching once a week. And then we've got beautiful arena coaching once a week.
All of those calls are recorded if you can't make them live and we put them again in the private space. I should add that this is all off of Facebook. It's off of all social media. So there's no ads. There's not your weird aunt like trying to see what you're doing. It's really safe and really safe and private. And we also have a team which is incredible of gals who have literally walked this exact road.
Maureen Benkovich (26:48.431)
Right? Yes, it is.
Christy Osborne (26:59.628)
through Love Life Sober, they're called Fast Captains. They've found freedom from the fast and they are here to love you and most importantly, pray for you. We have every single Fast Captain has a list of women that they pray for by name, which I think is so, so cool. And it's women of all ages, as you said, it's like, it's young, like older, all in between, all kind of over the world. And it's really, really special.
Maureen Benkovich (27:14.882)
Mm-hmm.
Maureen Benkovich (27:28.822)
Yeah, it really is. I've coached in some groups and it is special and I'm really honored to be a part of it. I'm so excited to be coaching live in the Lent Fest. And I want to add that so now you've got three different coaches in three different time zones. So there's a lot of options for people. So that's something. So how do they go? Where do they go to check this out? Just to read it, see the information and sign up.
Christy Osborne (27:29.152)
My favorite thing.
Christy Osborne (27:43.978)
Yes, yeah. Yeah.
Christy Osborne (27:53.15)
Yeah. So everything's available on the website, love life sober.com. There's a little coaching tab and on the coaching tab, there'll be a dropdown where you're where you'll see the fast. It's pretty easy to find, but I can also put the direct link for you in the show notes, but everything is kind of there on the website and super easy to sign up. And again, like you'll get an invitation on the 18th of February to come in and join us. And I hope you do because.
Maureen Benkovich (28:18.274)
Mm-hmm.
Christy Osborne (28:20.672)
The next one will be till October, which is wild. That feels so far away. It's always like January and Lent are like back to back. It's like bam, bam. And then you have like this kind of break till October, but we're all in there. Like everybody's already pumped for it. We're so excited.
Maureen Benkovich (28:23.414)
Right, right.
Maureen Benkovich (28:36.192)
Yeah. And there's so many options. So if you do the fast and you love the community, you want to stay in, there's all these different options. There's even a Bible recap group in there. A lot of people are doing it. I know I'm doing it on my own, but you can do that in there with fellow fasters and people who are trying to change their relationship with alcohol and draw closer to God. So, so many options in there. It's so well organized, I have to say. It's very cool. Now, what about your book? If people want to buy your book, where do they go?
Christy Osborne (28:44.437)
Yes.
Christy Osborne (28:54.197)
Yeah.
Christy Osborne (29:02.72)
Well, thank the Lord it's back on Amazon. So I went on the Focus on the Family program and we recorded it last summer, but it only came out this last January. And when it, and I didn't realize they told me that this when I was there, I was the first woman that had ever talked about alcohol on the show. So I was like, my gosh, that's so cool. But I say that because I think women heard this for the first time.
Maureen Benkovich (29:10.187)
Yes.
Maureen Benkovich (29:24.843)
Yes.
Maureen Benkovich (29:31.042)
Mm-hmm.
Christy Osborne (29:31.232)
where they're not alone, that this is something that other women struggle with, that other Christian women struggle with. And so after that episode kind of came out live, the book sold out on Amazon and they had to pre-reprint it, which is so wild. But it's back, it's on Amazon. You can get it on Kindle, Audible, and Barnes and Noble, and Target, all the places.
Maureen Benkovich (29:45.6)
That's wonderful.
Yeah.
Maureen Benkovich (29:53.41)
Cool. Yeah. I want to say that you brought up such a huge point because it's really not discussed in churches. It's kind of like what's said is alcohol is bad, don't get drunk. And that's kind of like the extent of it. And we need to understand more. We need to hear more because it is, you know, a powerful tool that we use as central nervous system down regulation or in, you know, plain terms just to calm down. And we have to understand
Christy Osborne (30:00.16)
Yeah.
Christy Osborne (30:05.345)
Yeah.
Christy Osborne (30:19.456)
Yeah.
Maureen Benkovich (30:20.202)
really the ramifications of that and what that does. We need to understand more and how it ties in with faith and neuroscience together. I mean, I could talk to you for hours because I love talking about this stuff and I love talking to you. But I would just recommend everybody go check out Love Life Sober. Get the book. Check out The Fast, all the information is there on Love Life Sober website and sign up for The Fast for Lent. It's gonna be really cool. Christy's in there. I'm coaching in there and we would just love to see you in there.
Christy Osborne (30:50.924)
We're gonna have so much fun.
Maureen Benkovich (30:52.405)
Yeah, Christy, I would ask everybody on my Sober Fit Life podcast, what do you do to be sober fit?
Christy Osborne (31:01.088)
Sorry, babe, you froze there. Can you say that again?
Maureen Benkovich (31:02.37)
Yeah, what do you do to be sober fit? And when I say fit, that could encompass mental fitness, spiritual, physical fitness. So what do do to be sober fit?
Christy Osborne (31:13.244)
I will, I'll give you to a spiritual fit fitness. I definitely have to be in my Bible. I feel it on days that I don't read the word. Like it's just, it's so important. I just interviewed, you should interview him to actually John Elmore, who wrote this great book. he has a freedom from, alcohol story and he's a pastor in Texas. And he said, he tells this story about it being sustenance, right? And that even if you.
Maureen Benkovich (31:18.658)
Mm-hmm.
Christy Osborne (31:40.822)
He woke up one day and he on a mission trip and all there was was these cold noodles and there was nothing else to eat. And so he didn't eat it because the noodles looked really gross and disgusting. But by day three, he was starving. so he was basically saying, even if you don't get some sort of spiritual epiphany, you need the sustenance of the word every day in order to survive. Even if it's not that you get some giant revelation or download from God.
We ha we just have to like what I should say we get to, we get to be in the word every single day. And it's so helpful. that yes. Yeah. And then even a little more trite, but I am obsessed with my walking pad, which is under my desk. Yes. Yes. And so if I have like non-clients, just meetings or just doing emails, I'm normally walking at this desk and I just.
Maureen Benkovich (32:13.93)
It's grounding, it's grounding, yes.
Maureen Benkovich (32:23.052)
Your walking pad. yeah. One of those. That's cool.
Christy Osborne (32:36.106)
really like it. And sometimes I put on worship music up here. I'm doing my emails and I'm walking and I look like a total lunatic.
Maureen Benkovich (32:43.636)
Okay, that's talent that you can type and walk at the same time. that's also okay.
Christy Osborne (32:48.172)
And it goes really slow. It's like literally point zero. It's not even like a one on a treadmill. It's so slow. Yeah.
Maureen Benkovich (32:54.238)
I may have to look into that. I like that. That's a new one on Sober Fit Life. I love that. Well, you definitely walk the walk, you know, and everything that you're sharing with everybody has been so impactful. And I can't wait to be part of the FAST starting at Lent. So everybody check it out. Thanks, Christy, for being here and I'll look forward to seeing you soon.
Christy Osborne (33:11.84)
Thanks, babe. You're the best. Love you, babe.
Maureen Benkovich (33:15.99)
Love you too.
