Unbottled Potential

Summary

In this episode of the Unbottled Potential podcast, Amanda Kuda reflects on her year-long hiatus, discussing the challenges of launching her first book and the importance of prioritizing personal well-being. She introduces the concepts of 'Zone of Genius' and 'Sacred Subtraction' as tools for listeners to evaluate their commitments and focus on what truly matters in their lives. Amanda expresses excitement for the podcast's return and invites listeners to engage with her on future topics.

Takeaways

• The importance of taking a break for personal well-being.
• Launching a book comes with significant responsibilities.
• Outsourcing tasks can help manage time effectively.
• Identifying your Zone of Genius is crucial for fulfillment.
• Sacred Subtraction allows for prioritizing what truly matters.
• High achievers often struggle with saying no to opportunities.
• It's essential to evaluate commitments regularly.
• Personal growth requires making tough decisions.
• The podcast aims to explore deeper conversations about life with elective sobriety as the foundation.

Show Links:

Join The FREE Unbottled Potential Challenge - http://www.amandakuda.com/challenge

Work with Amanda - http://www.amandakuda.com/program

Submit Questions & Topic Requests for the show - http://www.amandakuda.com/askamanda

What if the relaxation and deep intuitive trust you've been searching for has been inside you all along?

Welcome back to Unbottled Potential! This month, we're diving deep into connection—connection to ourselves, our friends, our family, and our romantic partners. In today's episode, we’re starting with an important conversation: the misconception that alcohol is a form of self-care.

So many of us have been led to believe that alcohol enhances our ability to celebrate, relax, and connect with others. But the truth? Alcohol disconnects us from our emotions, whether they’re joyful or challenging.

✅ Why alcohol doesn’t help you savor a moment—it actually numbs the experience.

✅ How alcohol "pickles" both high and low emotions, keeping you from fully processing them.

✅ The impact of using alcohol as a stress management tool—and why it actually makes anxiety worse.

✅ The power of learning to sit with and process your emotions without alcohol.

✅ A simple but powerful journaling prompt ("WAIT") to help you pause and reflect before reaching for a drink.

📌 Alcohol doesn't enhance joy—it puts a cap on it. If you've ever used alcohol to celebrate, you may have unknowingly limited your ability to fully experience happiness and success.

📌 Numbing stress with alcohol is a short-term fix with long-term consequences. Drinking as a coping mechanism only defers and intensifies the stress, making it harder to handle later.

📌 Your body was designed to handle emotions. The discomfort you feel when sitting with big emotions is just a sign that you’re re-learning a skill you were born with.

📌 Journaling can be a game-changer. The "WAIT" method—"What Am I Thinking?"—helps you process your emotions instead of avoiding them.

What is one way I can honor my authentic self today?

Take a moment to reflect on how you can truly show up for yourself—without numbing, buffering, or avoiding.

If this episode resonated with you, I’d love to hear from you! Send me a DM on Instagram or share this episode with a friend who needs to hear it.

Resources & Next Steps:

📖 Grab a copy of my book Unbottled Potential

📩 Connect with me on Instagram @amandakuda

🎙️ Tune in next week for Part 2 of our Connection Series!

Friendship isn’t about what’s in your glass—it’s about what’s in your heart. In this episode, I dive into one of the most common fears that come up when considering an alcohol-free lifestyle: Will I lose my friends? I’m here to tell you that your social life doesn’t have to take a nosedive when you stop drinking. In fact, it can deepen in ways you never imagined. I’ll share insights from my own experience, lessons from seven and a half years of coaching clients, and practical tips to navigate friendships without alcohol as the glue.

If you’re worried that giving up alcohol will make you a social outcast, this episode is for you. I’ll guide you through a mindset shift, help you take inventory of your friendships, and give you actionable steps to build deeper, more meaningful connections—without booze.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• The myth that alcohol is necessary for friendship—and why it’s time to let that go.
• My own experience moving to Austin and realizing I needed new, more aligned friendships.
• How alcohol keeps relationships at the surface level and prevents true connection.
• A simple but powerful exercise to take inventory of what you want in a friendship.
• How to shift the context of existing friendships to make space for deeper connections.
• The importance of taking initiative in creating alcohol-free social experiences.
• Why stepping back from certain friendships can be a natural and necessary process.
• How to attract like-minded, supportive friends in alignment with your new lifestyle.

Homework for You:

• Take inventory of your friendships: What qualities do you love? What qualities do you want less of?
• Identify friendships where you can shift the dynamic—invite a friend to do something alcohol-free.
• Step back from social situations that no longer serve you and be intentional about where you spend your time.
• Put yourself in spaces where like-minded, alcohol-free or mindful people gather.

Resources & Next Steps:

• Grab my book for a deeper dive into friendships, alcohol-free living, and personal growth: Get it here
• Want personalized guidance? Apply for my signature coaching program, Awaken Without Alcohol: Apply here
• Let’s connect on Instagram! @amandakuda

Next Week’s Episode: We’re diving into romantic relationships and how removing alcohol can shift intimacy, communication, and connection in ways you never expected. Stay tuned!

Loved this episode? Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show! If this resonated with you, screenshot the episode, share it on Instagram, and tag me @amandakuda—I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Can life’s messiest moments end up being the most profound? In this episode, join Amanda and Sarah Levy as they discuss the power of sobriety stories and the importance of normalizing conversations about alcohol. She shares how she got help to get sober and how her recovery has been an empowering experience for her. Through her journey to sobriety, Sarah found clarity and self-discovery which ultimately led to the publication of her book - Drinking Games. Tune in now to learn more about Sarah's inspiring story and how sobriety can provide a gateway to discovering your true potential!

Sarah Levy is a writer based in Los Angeles by way of New York. Her work examines the intersection of sobriety, relationships, and identity and has been featured in The New York Times, New York Magazine’s The Cut, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Vogue, Elle, and other publications. She holds a B.A. in Literary Arts from Brown University. Drinking Games is her first book.

Key Highlights:

[00:01 - 07:22] Opening Segment

• Introducing Sarah and her memoir "Drinking Games"

• Her work examines the intersection of sobriety, relationships, and identity

• How alcohol redefined her relationship with food and people

• The resources for sobriety that exist now did not exist when Sarah started contemplating sobriety

[07:23 - 14:34] Exploring Sobriety

• Sobriety is becoming a more accepted part of our collective vocabulary

• Hoe Sarah felt alone in her story and couldn't find resources to help her

• Sobriety needs a rebrand and a makeover as the language and labels associated with it have a negative connotation

• Mental health and having a drinking problem are complex issues that need to be understood differently

[14:35 - 21:43] Breaking the Stigma Around Sobriety

• How to navigate sober dating with confidence

• Shifting our understanding of what it means to be sober

• Sobriety should become as accessible as therapy

• Alcohol kept people disconnected from themselves

[21:44 - 29:02] Finding Love Sober

• How Sarah found her husband after a year and a half of dating alcohol-free

• How establishing upfront that you don't drink can be beneficial

• Dating sober allowed for quicker decisions on whether or not someone was compatible

• Taking time to get to know yourself helps attract an authentic partner

[29:03 - 36:08] Sarah's Journey to Sobriety and Manifesting Her Dreams

• Develop a mindset of abundance instead of scarcity

• Why Sarah decided to write a book

• Sharing her story and filling the gap of what life looks like after sobriety

• How sobriety has opened up the potential to achieve dreams

[36:09 - 39:14] Closing Segment

• How recovery and sobriety have given Sarah limitless potential

• Make sure to grab a copy of Drinking Games

Want to connect with Sarah? Follow her on Instagram. Head to her website, and discover what you really want in life!

Key Quotes:

"What I love about being sober is the potential that I get every day to just really make the most of today." - Sarah Levy

"The ability to show up for my family, show up for my friends, the potential to really experience every day that I have now is such a gift." - Sarah Levy

Learn more by connecting with Amanda through Instagram or visit AmandaKuda.com

It's time to unbottle your potential. Apply to work with Amanda.

If you liked the show, please LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW, like, and subscribe through your favorite streaming platform!

Are you pursuing the lives you dream of instead of settling for the ones you feel stuck in? In the conversation, Becky Vollmer shares her story of quitting drinking and transitioning out of the corporate world to pursue a life of purpose and meaning. She talks about what it took for her to finally make the decision to quit drinking and why listening to her soul was the key to unlocking her potential as a teacher, speaker, and movement creator. This inspiring conversation explores the universal experience of feeling stuck, how to overcome it and why we often put others' expectations ahead of our own. It also introduces the concept of an empowerment gap which holds people back from making changes in their lives even when they know they need to. Let's dive in!

Becky Vollmer is a speaker, yoga teacher, and creator of You Are Not Stuck, a movement that empowers people to pursue the lives they most deeply desire. She guides a global community on social media that is several hundred thousand strong, teaches online courses about empowerment and choice, and leads sold-out programs that combine movement, breathwork, self-exploration, and action planning at yoga and wellness centers across the country.

Key Highlights:

[00:01 - 07:52] Opening Segment

• Introducing Becky and her upcoming book "You Are Not Stuck"

• Becky's background and story

• A leading voice in the sobriety and recovery community

• Becky shares her journey to becoming alcohol-free

• Growing up in a home where alcohol was normalized

[07:53 - 15:40] Clearing the Channel

• How quitting drinking made Becky a more powerful and potent person

• A voice inside bellowed at her to stop drinking

• The real chains in life were alcohol-related

• Why drinking was getting messages through a "shitty connection"

[15:41 - 23:10] Closing the Empowerment Gap and Taking Control of Your Life

• Feeling stuck is a universal experience that transcends gender, race, religion, geography, and age

• Common responses to feeling stuck include withdrawing, crying, and procrastinating

• The "empowerment gap" is the space between knowing you need to change and being ready to change

• Understand what it is you don't want and why

[23:11 - 31:46] Uncovering Your True Path

• How to follow your soul and make a change without guilt or shame

• Recognizing the tension between what you should do and what you want to do

• The importance of examining values

• Aligning values and priorities to create magic

[31:47 - 41:07] Closing Segment

• How a stranger gave Becky permission to make a different choice for life

• How the book can be a catalyst for connecting to the soul and acting on it

Grab a copy of You Are Not Stuck, and connect with Becky on Instagram. Head to her website, and move from fear to freedom!

Join Amanda's Unbottled Potential Dry January Challenge: https://amandakuda.podia.com/unbottled-potential-challenge-level-one/buy

Key Quotes:

"Even if you desperately want something different, it's that lack of feeling authorized to make changes and take control of your own lives that holds you back." - Becky Vollmer

"It's okay to do something different, even if it doesn't seem permissible or socially acceptable, or whatever excuse you've given yourself or staying put where you are" Amanda Kuda

Learn more by connecting with Amanda through Instagram or visit AmandaKuda.com

It's time to unbottle your potential. Apply to work with Amanda.

If you liked the show, please LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW, like, and subscribe through your favorite streaming platform!