Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:00:00) - Hey, guys. So superstars, welcome to Flat Pack Sober, your catalogue of tips, tricks and tactics to design your alcohol free life. So I'm joined today by cellular Optimisation Specialist. And the thing is though, she helps people to regain their vitality and re-engage with their life. And that, I think, is something that we can all understand. And what I particularly like about what she does is she helps people to get to the root of the problem, not treating the symptoms, but treating the root cause. And she does that by giving people easy to implement, simple to use strategies, which I'm sure you will agree is all the kind of stuff we love to talk about on this podcast. So Heather, thank you so much for joining us today.
Heather Creson (00:00:45) - Thanks for having me. I'm thrilled to be here.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:00:47) - Well, let's get started with the obligatory question about Ikea. Do you know Ikea? Are you familiar with their work? I do. So if I gave you a piece of flatpack furniture from Ikea and asks you to build it, how would you go about that?
Heather Creson (00:01:02) - Take it apart.
Heather Creson (00:01:03) - I'd look at stuff. There might be some cursing. I'd probably need a snack and then we'll put it together. Something will inevitably be missing and it won't come together just right. And I'll.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:01:13) - So I love the cursing and the snack. That's such a nice take on it. I put one.
Heather Creson (00:01:19) - Together for my son, so this is very.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:01:21) - Cool.
Heather Creson (00:01:22) - Overall memory.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:01:23) - Did you just kind of, like, get stuck in or did you read the instructions? Did you get everything out? Did you ask a friend what was your sort of approach?
Heather Creson (00:01:30) - I've built enough of these that I should know what I'm doing. So I was like, no, I don't need the instructions. I don't need to follow this. So, okay, I just did it on my own and got halfway in, realised I missed stuff, use the wrong screws bolts. So I had to go undo it. And then I followed the instructions, did it all the way through and it was still wrong, but I just put it up against the wall backwards.
Heather Creson (00:01:49) - I was like, you know, I'm done.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:01:51) - Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's fine. I believe very much in that 80%, I think, good enough. But would you say that you're quite dynamic. You're quite kind of stiff in the way that you solve problems, the way you learn things. Do you normally kind of get stuck in, figure out halfway through that? Maybe it's not ideal and course correct. Is that your approach to life?
Heather Creson (00:02:11) - It depends what thing I'm doing. Sometimes I'm like, let's just go all in and figure it out along the way. And in other times, especially in business, for certain things like my content area, I've had to be very methodical and I work very systematically. But other things I'm like, okay, let's dive in and figure it out as we as we go.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:02:28) - So I think there's a strong element of the dynamo in the way you go about things. And most people, you know, they don't have a single approach, do they? They tailor it to to what they're actually doing.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:02:40) - But I like to start off by kind of getting an understanding of where people are coming from, how they learn stuff, how they approach problems, because I think it really helps the listeners to kind of put what you say in context. You know, if they're like you and they like to get stuck in, they're probably going to love everything that you say. If maybe they're a bit more kind of reflective and they like to absorb the information and pause, then, you know, maybe some of the stuff you say won't gel and maybe some of the stuff you say they really should be trying because it's playing against their sort of natural way of approaching things. As I'm sure you've figured out, there's quite a lot of information on the internet, so part of what we're trying to do with this podcast is help people to find the right information for them, not just more and more information. I kind of like gave you a pretty rough introduction there. Do you want to tell people what you actually do all day?
Heather Creson (00:03:29) - Yeah, absolutely.
Heather Creson (00:03:31) - I specialize in helping people get to the root cause of unresolved health concerns, chronic illness, different mysterious conditions they're experiencing. Like, you just keep going to the doctor and they say, oh, all your blood tests are normal, you're fine. And you're like, no, I am not fine. I but people don't know what to do. So what I love doing is helping people break free from that conventional medical approach and stop chasing symptoms and figure out what's really going on. I've been doing this for 16 years. I started out in the massage and bodywork industry, so you get a lot of hands on experience with people and I love it. I still do plenty of it. That's a huge part of my practice. But one of the problems in that industry is that people are always coming in. They focus on where it's tight or hurting, not why it's tight or hurting. And I feel like you miss a whole lot of the picture and puzzle of a person by just looking at the symptoms that are going on.
Heather Creson (00:04:25) - So with the skill set that I have and have developed along the way, and I'm learning constantly, learning all the time, but figuring out how to get to those root causes in musculoskeletal pain. But then as you start asking questions, you start diving deeper. So a lot of chronic pain comes from chronic inflammation. So where do we go? How do we dig. How do we reduce inflammation. And that has set me out on this journey I love it and I'm just curious every day.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:04:52) - I mean that sounds very, very interesting. I think that kind of like the embodiment of feelings and tension and. That is a massively interesting area. Maybe we will get into that. But before we do, tell us a little bit about alcohol. Where does that fit in your story?
Heather Creson (00:05:10) - I grew up in a very Baptist church with very Baptist parents, very conservative. And I think the, the, the big sins are drinking, smoking, having sex outside of marriage for men, having long hair and getting tattoos like that will send you to hell.
Heather Creson (00:05:27) - So I thought as I grew up, I was like, you know, that's pretty ridiculous. I am going to break all of those things. I tried smoking, I hate that I tried dancing, I suck at that. Still do. I'm 41, terrible at it. But I got I started drinking and I was like, oh, this is great. I'm going to keep going. So I drank heavily and got myself in plenty of trouble, made tons of bad decisions, and I was in my 20s doing that and didn't realize what it was taking away from my life. But then I started just seeing how other people were moving forward more than I was, and I was like, maybe, maybe I should take a look at this. But,, also, my grandfather on my dad's side was an alcoholic. I never met him. He was dead a long time ago, and my dad never really talks about him too much, except that his dad was so drunk when my dad was little, like ten, 12 years old, and my father would have to drive him home from the racetrack.
Heather Creson (00:06:21) - And all of this. Just not something a kid should be doing for their parent. And my dad's never touched alcohol in his life because of the trauma from that. And I don't know exactly what went on because, again, my dad doesn't really mention stuff. But if somebody is not going to touch alcohol because of that experience, it was obviously very traumatic and there might not be an ability to process it or might just not want to talk about it. So,, that's always been in my mind. So I'm sure my dad was devastated when he figured out I was drinking, even though I tried to hide it. He's not dumb. And if you're familiar with alcohol, you know those signs real quickly. So I'm sure my dad was frustrated with me.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:06:56) - Did you get to a point where you thought, right, enough is enough?
Heather Creson (00:06:59) - It was slow, I didn't it wasn't some overnight process where I just hit a rock bottom and said, nope, I'm done with this. But in my practice, I deal with a lot of high performers.
Heather Creson (00:07:11) - I deal with wonderful people, and as I watched them live their lives, they never preached at me. They didn't do anything. But I realized alcohol was not a huge part of their lives, or it was not a part of their lives at all. And as I just got to know them over the years, you see their relationships are healthier, their connection with God or whatever spiritual tradition they follow. Those connections were stronger. They had a lot better friendships and friendships that were built on solid things, not just going out and drinking and all of that. I just slowly observed that over the years. And I'm like, these people have something and I don't know what it is. And so I started asking him questions. I'm like, hey, how do you live your life? What do you do? What are your habits? Because I want to be like you, because you're doing great in many areas. And so I had wonderful I would call them mentors throughout all these years who have been examples.
Heather Creson (00:08:01) - And it's not like they just told me to do something. They have really modeled it. And some of these clients I've had for my entire career, I've known them for 16 years. So you get you get a lot of life that way. And and you can tell if people are not speaking and acting with integrity after that long because their habits and patterns will eventually come out. And so they have taught me a lot about integrity and just life. But yeah, that was one very common denominator. So I'm like, okay, if I want to be successful in these areas, I better start modeling that. And so slowly alcohol just left my life and I was able to get up early. I was able to be more creative, use the gifts that I've been given and just so much more clarity.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:08:45) - Oh wow. There is so much in that, isn't there? I mean, one of the things that just immediately jumps out at me is kind of like talking about connection, really, aren't you? It's like connection to your relationships, deepening the connection in your relationships, friends, family, everything but deepening your connection to whatever you consider to be a higher power or being.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:09:06) - Meaning, purpose, all of that kind of spiritual stuff, a deeper connection to that as well. So would you say it really has magnified your connections?
Heather Creson (00:09:15) - Oh, what? That was in person? One of the things I always talk about in healing processes with people in general is removing the interference. So whether it's lousy food, whether it's if you're sensitive to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, like removing that stuff so your body can heal and,, alcohol and different things, that's just another thing to remove. So you can remove the interference so you can start having a better connection. And whether that is to yourself, to your relationships, to your higher power, all of that matters. So I've learned. Yeah.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:09:42) - No, I make you absolutely right about that. It's something that I end up trying to talk to people in the wellbeing industry about all of the time, because I'm sure you're a fan of yoga. I'm sure you probably like meditation as well, and I do. I love yoga, I love meditation, but it ain't worth a damn if you're drinking two.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:09:59) - Bottles of wine. You know, you've got to take the thing out that's causing the problem before those really great kind of those other strategies can have any effect. So is that what you spend a lot of time doing, removing the thing that's getting in the way and then building the good behaviors?
Heather Creson (00:10:17) - I do a lot of that. Some people well, when you start speaking physiologically in alcohol, there's such a dependence on sugar that sometimes you have to work with that and make sure people are getting nutrients. So they're not craving that, because I think if you're just taking away something but not replacing it with something that's going to help them, it will do more harm in the short term and in the long term. But yeah, for the most part, you do have to remove that interference, interference and get it in the beginning because it's just going to keep messing with everything. And even in massage, I don't work on people who are drinking or using drugs because I can't help that. That's got to be first.
Heather Creson (00:10:54) - And it blocks so much healing.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:10:56) - But I do really want to pick up on that kind of sugar point, because it's something that you hear quite a lot. I think it was a trap I fell into after I stopped drinking. People do tend to get a bit of a sugar thing going on, so if you've stopped drinking and you've started to eat ice cream like you used to drink alcohol, what advice would you have for people.
Heather Creson (00:11:15) - You know at first? If it's going to keep you from drinking, just do it. But one of the things I work with on people is really restoring that gut health. When you've been drinking, when you've been doing lots of different things, you destroy your gut. So it is not always capable of absorbing the nutrients that you're eating. You have very compromised digestion. Your blood sugar is completely imbalanced. So I use a few supplements, and I'm not a person who preaches supplements all the time. Like, eventually I want to get to you, get you to a point where you're not really relying on those, but there are some supplements that you use to fuel your mitochondria and also get amino acids in.
Heather Creson (00:11:51) - So amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Proteins are the building blocks of everything in your body. So I use a supplement that bypasses the entire digestive process and is really quickly absorbed. So if you're nutrient deficient, which alcoholics will be, that is going to start getting into your cells and at least give your body something to start using for repair. And and as it goes on, then you're going to develop more resilience. Your digestive system is going to start to heal. And then the other cool thing, like alcohol does a ton of damage to the body, but the body is so resilient and you can do a lot of bad things to it, and it will still regenerate. Like obviously it's going to take more effort and more work to do that and a lot more focus. But there is so much hope for reversing what that has done to the system. The body is incredibly resilient.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:12:39) - I think that is great news that I love sharing with people. So I'm feeling a little bit bad that I didn't eat my kimchi with lunch today, but I wouldn't.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:12:48) - So you mentioned a supplement that you used. Do you want to name check that?
Heather Creson (00:12:52) - It's called map aminos master amino acid pattern. Like as you're healing, people always think about detox. And this is specifically detoxing the system, not detoxing from alcohol. There are a couple different those are different strategies. But we always think about taking things away. But you also need to fuel the mitochondria because your body needs energy in order to detox efficiently in order to heal efficiently. So as I'm building protocols for people and helping them get back on track, like we really focus on mitochondrial health. So yeah, just making sure the body has what it needs. And then a lot of the other stuff I do is focusing on getting the waste and toxins away. And that's the root of healing at the cellular level is those two things.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:13:33) - That's very interesting, isn't it? It's not simply a question of just removing things like, I think I'm quite critical of society for simply telling you to add things, you know, but going to the other extreme of just taking everything away, that's just as bad.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:13:48) - So you've got to kind of take away the bad stuff and then build in the good stuff. You've got to get good at maths. Is that what you're saying?
Heather Creson (00:13:54) - Nearly, though I am not good at math, so people can still be successful if they don't have all that.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:14:00) - Perfect, but.
Heather Creson (00:14:01) - Just really learning to trust your body and paying attention to how it responds. And it's going to take time. And we always want things so quickly, but healing is going to take time, and time is a beautiful part of this journey. Even though we want to rush it. Like your body will recover and you can appreciate how resilient it is.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:14:19) - That's one of the things that I always end up talking to people about, whether it's mental health or physical health. The truth is, it often takes time and you can't shortcut that time. But I guess what you're saying is that you can kind of enjoy it if you're noticing and actually feeling how your body is changing and how it is improving, then that time is not so much a problem because it feels better anyway.
Heather Creson (00:14:43) - One of the things in detox for the system again, not detox from alcohol, but one of the things that celebrated in detox is all those really crappy feelings. Whether you're you have achy muscles and joints or the flu like feeling or headaches. And in the detox world, they're like, oh, this is great. This is how you know you're detoxing. This means it's working and it makes people miserable along the way, and they stick through it because they're like, oh, I'm doing something good for myself. But as I look at that, it's like, no, you don't have what you need to enjoy this journey. You don't have enough nutrients to fuel detoxification. Your drainage pathways are not clear enough for the stuff to get out of the system. So we have to work on opening drainage pathways. That starts with being able to poop well. And then you go to liver health, you go to the health and movement of your bile and all of those things. If those are working, your detox is going to be a whole lot easier and you can start to enjoy what you're doing.
Heather Creson (00:15:31) - But if you just go in really hard, you're going to feel crappy. You're going to want to quit because your body gets overloaded. You get all these detox symptoms and you're like, this isn't fun, but I really think you you can enjoy that journey of healing much more than people do when you have the right information and the right process.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:15:48) - Yeah, yeah. And having somebody to support you through it, I guess, is, you know, somebody with the knowledge and the experience that that makes such a huge difference. So I guess that the question that kind of fers to me a little bit is there's sort of stopping drinking. A lot of people would consider that to be quite a big change. And then there's getting to grips with the other kind of things that you're talking about around health. I guess that's going to change the way that you eat and the way you move and a lot of those kind of things. So we've got two areas that are quite big changes. Would you say that that should be something that's done gradually, or would you say that's something that actually works quite well to kind of like start it all off at the same time?
Heather Creson (00:16:34) - I think everybody is different.
Heather Creson (00:16:35) - And this is what I love about what I do, is that I get that chance to look at an individual. I don't have to look at what everybody else is doing. When I have somebody on, I'm working with them. This is the person in front of me, and we're going to look at the context of your life and the margin that you have available to heal. Because some people have a lot going on. They have busy jobs, they have kids, they have all of this stuff, and then you're trying to stop drinking. That is a that's a whole lot of stress and a whole lot of effort, and you don't have a lot of margin to change all the dietary things and to add an exercise and make sure you're meditating and make sure you're doing all the stress relieving things like that. That all sounds stressful in itself. Yeah, really evaluating a person's life. And when I look at detox, it's kind of like I should say, when I look at health, it's like a bucket.
Heather Creson (00:17:18) - We have so much we can put in and then it starts to overflow. And whatever symptoms that turns out to be is unique to a person. But the more we can reduce the stress coming from the outside and whether that's improving our diets, whether that is turning off Wi-Fi and some of those EMF signals coming through our bodies. Believe it or not, that can be very stressful for some people. And some of that stuff doesn't take a whole lot of extra time. So if you can do all the stuff on the outside, even when you don't have a lot of time with you, it can help that process and then give you more margin to heal. So the stressors start reducing and you're like, okay, I feel a little more capable of doing this today and you just work slowly. Some people are really good at doing it all at once, but I haven't found many people who are completely successful when they just drop everything and change like it. It takes a lot, I see.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:18:08) - I just wanted like a quick 30s like one size fits all.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:18:11) - It may go, oh, it doesn't work like I know, I know, it doesn't work like that. I have to kind of rein in my desire to get there. But,, you mentioned kind of all of the stresses as well. But, you know, one of the things that strikes me is a lot of people, what varies in their life is the kind of the protective factors, the things that help them. So I'm quite aware that when I stopped drinking, I was in a pretty good position. You know, I had a very, very understanding, beautiful and loving wife. And I had, you know, good support networks. I had a job, I had some meaning and purpose in my life. So I had a lot of those kind of protective things. Do you think there's any, any other kind of areas that can help people to make that change and to, to go further through?
Heather Creson (00:18:55) - When I speak from my professional experience, I think there are a lot of underlying health issues that you can start addressing.
Heather Creson (00:19:02) - If you have those health issues going on, it's going to put your body into fight or flight. It's going to put you into that stress state. And when you start addressing those things. So like mold is a huge one that can make people really sick. Parasites are another one. And those can also be huge drivers of craving sugar, craving carbs, craving alcohol. As you start to change what's going on underneath in the system, that can also start taking away stress and give people that safe place to heal.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:19:30) - I love it when people constantly expand my view of the word holistic, but you're talking like so much that can have an impact. So maybe that makes me think like, where do you start? What would be a good place to kind of start to try and make your life a little bit less harmful to you?
Heather Creson (00:19:50) - If if I could tell people something to do right now as they're listening, first thing I would do is have them sit up straight. So you lift your sternum, you get your head in alignment with your spine.
Heather Creson (00:19:59) - That is going to do so many things on a profound level that we don't even think about. But as you sit up straight, that's going to allow your diaphragm to descend properly upon inhale. One of the things for reducing physiological stress and being able to then process your mental health and your emotions in a different way, is regulating the body stress response. And your breath is one of the primary ways to start doing that. So sit up straight, take a deep breath, let your diaphragm descend into your abdomen. The second thing that does is it's going to start regulating the function of your vagus nerve. Your vagus nerve does a ton of stuff. It connects to your heart, your liver, your lungs, your entire digestive tract. And it also helps regulate the body's response to stress. And it takes you out of that fight or flight. So as the diaphragm descends, it's going to start massaging that vagus nerve, starting to improve its function. Then as you change your head posture, the vagus nerve exits the skull kind of right behind your ears.
Heather Creson (00:20:55) - And by that angle of the jaw, if you have a head forward posture and you're compressing that nerve where it exits the skull, you're creating dysfunction all the way through the rest of the nerve. So sitting up straight, aligning your head, that's going to improve a lot at that nervous system and cellular level. And as you can regulate stress better, that's going to help begin to regulate that physiological space. So you can start to heal and have more margin for that.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:21:20) - That's really interesting, isn't it? Of the things that people think they've probably got under control, sitting down and breathing are probably fairly high up on the list. But actually what you're saying is going right back to those basics. That is somewhere where people can straight away make quite a big impact.
Heather Creson (00:21:38) - Can I tell you the next fun thing that it does?
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:21:40) - Yeah. Go on, go on.
Heather Creson (00:21:41) - Oh, okay. So when you're breathing, make sure you have a long exhale. Because we're always taught in school that carbon dioxide is a waste product, but it's actually the primary driver of your breath.
Heather Creson (00:21:50) - So it's going to dilate the capillaries so oxygen can actually get into the cells. So if we're breathing too fast we have too much oxygen in our bloodstream. Not enough carbon dioxide. And we're actually in a chronic state of hyperventilation. But when you're breathing properly, when you're sitting up, when your head's in alignment, another thing that's going to do is improve the flow of lymph. If you have that head forward posture, if you're hunching forward, that is going to disrupt the healthy flow of lymph. So then your body is not detoxing as well as it could because that flow is impacted. So those are huge things. And then your diaphragm moving is going to help pump that lymph. So those three things like you can do them so quickly. And those are going to help so many things. And people like Heather this is too easy. It can't be. It can't be that easy. And yeah there are tons of other things you can do. But if I start people there, it starts regulating a lot, and that can transfer over into the mind and emotions and different triggers, different triggers for drinking.
Heather Creson (00:22:45) - You can have a healthier way to regulate that and maybe create the emotional space in margin to not respond in a poor way.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:22:53) - See just about one of my favorite moments in in all of the coaching I've ever done was a guy that I worked with and the first few sessions we did, he was very hunched over and he was very kind of like he looked beaten down. And we got to this point in the process and it all just kind of clicked for him and it all changed and I could see that straight away. He just sat up straighter. He just got taller, you know, like it was like the weight had been lifted off his shoulders and there was a very obvious physical change to him and I that always stuck with me. I mean, it was one of the greatest moments that's ever happened in my coaching career. And it was great because he just looked like a totally different person. But what you're actually saying is he he'd also physically made a big difference to the way his body was detoxing from the alcohol that was going to be leaving his system as of that moment, because he decided never to drink again.
Heather Creson (00:23:49) - That's great. That's it's so cool to watch that happen in people.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:23:52) - Yeah, it's an absolute privilege. I mean, don't tell anybody, don't let anyone know. But I, you know, I do it for free. I mean, I can't because I need the money. Look, we talked a load about health and some really interesting stuff, some really useful stuff there. But anything else in terms of community or a connection, as we were talking about earlier with people, have you found any kind of communities that have helped you move away from alcohol?
Heather Creson (00:24:15) - One of the huge ones for me, and granted that the entire community does not. They drink quite regularly, but I love paddleboarding. I do a ton of that and it I need to feel good to do it. Like I don't want to go out there with a hangover. And so I got very serious about paddling until, well, until my two kids were born. And then it's been really hard to get out and do that. But though that community drinks quite a bit, I didn't, and I had a really good time and got really healthy doing that stuff and just to have something else to do.
Heather Creson (00:24:42) - Like, I don't know if you've come across that, but like, addicts are going to be addicts for their whole life. It's just what you're addicted to. So I got addicted to paddling.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:24:50) - Definitely better than drinking, I'll give you that. So actually, just to dig into that a little bit now, I, I've never been paddleboarding and the one thing I have noticed about it is. It would probably be enormously stupid to do it after consuming alcohol. So when you say that the paddleboarding community drinks a lot, I presume they do it afterwards rather than during.
Heather Creson (00:25:09) - Typically, yes, they do it at the parties, but I do know a couple people who have died because they were drinking and fell off a board.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:25:15) - So, you know, I I'm constantly confronted with the that alcohol does in society and those kind of accidental deaths due to alcohol stupidity. They are sadly all too common. But I mean, obviously when you're out and about doing it, that's not a problem because most people haven't got a like a four pack on the front of their paddle board.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:25:35) - It's not really an activity that there's alcohol during it. So have you found a way to go to the parties afterwards, or do you just avoid the parties or do you have a plan? What's your take on that part of the community?
Heather Creson (00:25:48) - There are parts that I have not shared that that I won't because I want to protect people close to me, but I'm sure there is a lot of hurt and trauma surrounding alcohol in my life. And I just, I don't care. I don't care if people have alcohol around me. They can do it all I want. I am not going to do that. That's just a personal choice. People can pick on me. They can bully me. It's funny when when you don't drink, people always like to bug you about why or not drinking with them, but they don't ask you why and it's just interesting to watch. But yeah, I've gotten to the point where it has been. It has created so much pain in my life, I'm not going to touch it again.
Heather Creson (00:26:23) - I have two beautiful kids, I adore them, they're wonderful. And I've I have not touched alcohol for probably six years. But as I've become a mom and I have these two precious kids, number one, I don't want to do stuff to compromise my health where I cannot be their mom, where I would kill myself early by making a dumb decision like I want to be there for every single moment that these kids have.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:26:46) - There's so much around parenthood, and it does change the focus that you have in your life. So would it be fair to say that you have made your decision about alcohol and nothing is going to change that? So it doesn't really matter what people do around you. You're quite happy. If they want to do what they want to do, they can do that. You've made your decision.
Heather Creson (00:27:04) - Yeah, I've made my decision. It's been so cool having kids like I get to be present with them. And not just not just there, but I get to be present for every single bit of laughter and fun and all of those things.
Heather Creson (00:27:16) - And it's the most meaningful thing in life.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:27:18) - Yeah. And I mean, that's one of those things I come across sadly, too often is parents. And, you know, they want to get control of their drinking because part of them sees that they're sort of trying to rush through their children's lives. You know, they're like they're trying to get them to bed or get them somewhere else so that they can go and drink. And it is almost like they are prioritizing the alcohol over their children. And nobody wants to do that. Nobody ever means to do that. But, you know, I just I stopped drinking before Lila was born, so I've only ever, only ever interacted with her sober. But I see that pain and suffering far too much. So would you say that you're beyond alcohol?
Heather Creson (00:28:00) - Absolutely. Yeah. I don't know if reaching for goals is more powerful, or if going away from pain is more powerful. But I'm done. I don't care. It doesn't. Nobody can convince me otherwise.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:28:11) - Yeah, well, it sounds like. I mean, you're very in touch with the positive benefits of not drinking. So, you know, whether you want to go towards the pleasure or escape from the pain. You know, I personally like to think about the good stuff. And you definitely, definitely,, I've got a lot of ideas about that. So have you ever had the meatballs at Ikea?
Heather Creson (00:28:32) - I haven't actually, I don't think I've ever gone to their,, food court.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:28:37) - Okay, let's get good, because the meatballs aren't very nice. Oh, I yeah, well, opinions vary, but I don't think they're very nice. But what I think is it's like,, when you go to Ikea, you kind of like, feel a responsibility to go to the cafe and eat the meatballs because you're in Ikea. And that's my theory anyway, that nobody likes them, but everybody eats them because they have to, because they're there. Which is my weird segue of getting into this question of like, what is the thing that everybody needs to do to stay sober, but nobody really wants to do?
Heather Creson (00:29:06) - That's a real good question and an interesting segway.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:29:10) - No one ever sees it coming.
Heather Creson (00:29:11) - Nope, nope. You got me.. I know I have to say it with sensitivity. Just everybody's coming from a different place, but for me, I just had to finally make up my mind like, this is the life I want, and alcohol is not serving that purpose, and I'm done. And whether it's professionally or with my kids and in the context of family, it just wasn't serving it. And I got I got so sick of it that I don't want to do it again.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:29:34) - So I come from the school of thought that says, make a decision, nail your colors to the mast. You know, screw your courage to the sticking post and that's that. And I'm definitely done with alcohol. I know where you're coming from. Other people have different ways of approaching it. And, you know, one thing that I've learned interviewing so many people is that if it works for you, I'm happy and keep doing it. You know, we don't want to stop people doing stuff that works for them.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:29:59) - So just before I let you go, how can people get in touch with you and find out more about the amazing work that you're doing?
Heather Creson (00:30:05) - Everything is on my website. It's defyyourlimits.com and I have everything there. So I take people through health assessments. That's all free and you can kind of figure out some of those things that might be driving your symptoms, but start at root cause assessments and go from there.
Duncan Bhaskaran Brown (00:30:21) - So we'll definitely put the link to your website on the show notes so people can find that at flatpacksober.com. Look, I mean thank you so much for that. That was really, really interesting. You know, like I kind of like to think I know a little bit about how often diet and all of that sort of stuff. But you have definitely, definitely elevated my thinking. So thank you so much for your time today.
Heather Creson (00:30:43) - Well thank you, I really enjoyed it. I hope it's a blessing to everybody who's listening.