Journey to the Sunnyside

Marci Hopkins, host of Wake Up with Marci and author of the upcoming book Wake Up, You’re Not Broken, joins me again to talk about what actually happens after you make a big change. We unpack the first 30 days — including that first-month “I feel amazing” phase — and why things can feel harder once it fades. We talk about identity, spirituality, community, and how to move forward without shame when progress isn’t linear. This episode is about rediscovering yourself, not fixing something that was broken.
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Creators and Guests

Host
Mike Hardenbrook
#1 best-selling author of "No Willpower Required," neuroscience enthusiast, and habit change expert.

What is Journey to the Sunnyside?

Journey to the Sunnyside is a top 1% podcast, reaching over 500,000 listeners every week. It’s your guide to exploring mindful living with alcohol—whether you're cutting back, moderating, or thinking about quitting.

While Sunnyside helps you reduce your drinking, this podcast goes further, diving into topics like mindful drinking, sober curiosity, moderation, and full sobriety. Through real stories, expert insights, and science-backed strategies, we help you find what actually works for your journey.

Hosted by Mike Hardenbrook, a #1 best-selling author and neuroscience enthusiast, the show is dedicated to helping people transform their relationship with alcohol—without shame, judgment, or rigid rules.

This podcast is brought to you by Sunnyside, the leading platform for mindful drinking. Want to take the next step in your journey? Head over to sunnyside.co for a free 15-day trial.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in our episodes do not necessarily represent those of Sunnyside. We’re committed to sharing diverse perspectives on health and wellness. If you’re concerned about your drinking, please consult a medical professional. Sunnyside, this podcast, and its guests are not necessarily medical providers and the content is not medical advice. We do not endorse drinking in any amount.

Speaker 1:

Marcy Hopkins is the host of Wake Up With Marcy and author of the upcoming book, Wake Up, You're Not Broken, joins me again to talk about what actually happens after you make a big change. We unpack the first thirty days, including that first month I feel amazing phase, and why things can feel harder once it fades. We talk about identity, spirituality, community, and how to move forward without shame when progress isn't linear. This episode is about rediscovering yourself. Let's get into it.

Speaker 1:

Okay, Marcy. Thanks for coming back on the show today.

Speaker 2:

Thank you. I loved our last show.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. It was so much fun. And your story is really, you know, I shouldn't even say fun. It's just insightful, because you really went, I would say, through the fire, through trauma, and out the other side of it. And you're back here sharing all of what you discovered and has helped you.

Speaker 1:

And if you're like me, it's probably to give a shortcut to anybody out there without having to go through all the struggles the same way you did.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. I mean, listen, I think we have to go through the darkness to get to the light and then be able to give it back to others.

Speaker 1:

Well said. Well said. Well, when you say recovery is about rediscovering yourself, can you share a story that shows what that looked like for you?

Speaker 2:

Well, I'd say when you first off, I'll say rediscovering yourself is a path. It's not something that's a one shot thing and it happens overnight. I had to do a lot of rediscovery of myself. I had to meditate. I had to take a lot of long walks.

Speaker 2:

I had to get curious. I had to experiment with different things to find, find what really lit me up because I had just been going through the motions of life. I did have a very successful career. And even with, during the time that I was drinking and in front of the camera. So my passion has always been media and content and creation, but like what was deeper inside of me?

Speaker 2:

So as I, over time, as I started experimenting with different things and getting quiet in that clarity and listening to my higher power, my higher self and being guided, guided into the place of my mission and my passion. That's where that rediscovery happened. Because when I was very young, I was like, all I wanted to do was love others and for others to feel that love because I had so much love inside of me. Then as life progressed, I became empty. I didn't know how to really love.

Speaker 2:

I didn't know how to accept love. And so as I was healing, as I was doing this self exploration, that's where I reunited with the love and the passion with inside of me and my connection to God, my higher power, my higher source, the divine, whatever you want to call it, which is ultimately divine love. That is where I rediscovered myself and then had the confidence and the ability to move forward with all of the things that I now am doing in life. And now that journey that has brought me to where I am, which is my platform of Wake Up With Marci, my two books, my speaking and getting involved with amazing people that are helping others in this world of mental health. It's so important.

Speaker 1:

So, so important. And I think you said something there that was really notable, which is rediscovery doesn't necessarily just happen. It's an evolution. You know, I think it can happen, but it usually doesn't happen very fast. I think it's one of those journeys that you finally look back over time.

Speaker 1:

You might not you might notice little cues here and there, but all of a sudden you look back and you're like, wow. You know, there's real transformation. There's real re redefining who you are, you know, over that time, but it just doesn't happen overnight. And a lot of us need to take note and take take a look, you know? Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Until that point.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Because I used to be afraid to sit in the conference room as the director of on air promotions and speak in front of anybody. And then now, like I have a talk show and, you know, I'm getting on stages. The thought that I would write a book, me, like to be recognized in anything like it is so mind blowing where life has taken me.

Speaker 1:

Can I laugh with you a little bit here? Because I used to be executives in companies, and I'd have to do company presentations once a year and get on you know, get in front of crowds, and it ruined my year every time that happened that year. And then same thing, writing a book on camera, speaking wherever. Yeah, it's certainly a little bit of change happened.

Speaker 2:

I just think it's that confidence, right, that we seek. So many of us when we're young and we're experimenting with alcohol or drugs or whatever, because we don't have that confidence. We don't have the self awareness of who we are. And, I'm grateful I have found it. I'll tell you that.

Speaker 1:

Well, let me ask you, because I don't think we talk about this enough and it's an integral part, it sounds like, to your journey. Tell me how pivotal pivotal your relationship and understanding of God was in your rediscovering and yeah, you know, evolution as well.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Well, I grew up with organized religion, right? And God was the big scary guy in the sky. And I always believed in God and Jesus in the story. I did believe that.

Speaker 2:

But I didn't practice when I got early, older and I wasn't going to church or any of that. Didn't have I mean, when I got married and I had my kids, we did take the kids to church and such. But when I got sober and I started my spiritual journey and my connection to God and turning myself over to a higher power, first of all, that I wasn't in control. I mean, a relief that something bigger than me does actually have my back at all times. Having faith in the journey, like I didn't have faith in anything.

Speaker 2:

I didn't believe even like I had to see it. I had to see it to make it real. Right? But now just that trust that something each thing that happens in my life is happening for a reason. If a door closes, it's not for me.

Speaker 2:

If a door opens, where is that door going to lead me? So, you know, actually walking through each door and just thinking of it in a different way. I think of God today as a mass of just divine love, that we are all connected by the source of love. Just unfortunately through life, we get cut off. And so just reconnecting like energetically.

Speaker 2:

And I did that through meditation. I did that through being in nature, being near the ocean, just feeling the energy that comes off that and to see the sunrise and the birds. It's just like, it's so beautiful. So I just feel like this massive connection to love and something bigger than myself. And it's pretty cool.

Speaker 2:

And I, I don't believe that I would be where I am today if I didn't find that higher power within myself.

Speaker 1:

I connect so much to what you're saying there. You know, I don't come from like, I mean, my mom was Catholic, and I didn't really grow up going to church much. And I always wanted to believe in God. Right? Like, I think my want was stronger than my belief.

Speaker 1:

Mhmm. But and so nothing organized. But as I've gotten in I'm 46 now, I got into my forties, there was a time where I just realized that spirituality was really important, and it wasn't organized. It was very much what you just said there, like a connection, a knowledge, interconnectivity, just that we're all this energetic love that we all are shared, you and I and everyone listening as well. And it was so it really was so moving once I felt that and actually believed it instead of and and I'm this is no commentary on however anybody else connects, only my story.

Speaker 1:

But instead of like reading it or being told about it, that's when I was finally able to break through in this sort of this relief of of faith.

Speaker 2:

Agree a 100%. It's it's not a feeling. It's a feeling versus what you're reading. Right? There's something completely different.

Speaker 2:

And for me, one of the another very life changing way I got to that is the practice of gratitude.

Speaker 1:

That'll change your life right there if you start if you start living with gratitude, start your day with gratitude Yeah. And make it a practice. I mean Yeah. As simple as just starting your day with a pen and a paper for ten minutes.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. Yeah. Or just before you get out of bed, say those three things, right? And that you're grateful for it. I always say keep it really small.

Speaker 2:

And the more you do it, the easier it becomes. And then you just like believe good things are going to happen and good things happen.

Speaker 1:

Yes. Well, you for correcting me there because that's the way I do it. But it's not a to do, it's a feeling, it's a thought, it's I a always say also

Speaker 2:

don't have it as a to do, right? And not another thing to just check off your list. It's something that you really have to connect with.

Speaker 1:

Yes. Yes. You have to believe it. I totally agree. So you have this upcoming book.

Speaker 2:

It's

Speaker 1:

called Wake Up, You're Not Broken, and you focus on the first thirty days of change. Tell us a little bit about this book that you have coming out and what made you feel that this book needed to be written?

Speaker 2:

Well, both of my books, I was truly guided by my higher self. And this book I had on my heart for about two years to write about the first thirty days of my sobriety. I really like this is one of those situations where you're trying to control the way you're supposed to go. And I was like, well, I don't really want to write about sobriety because for me, everything really changed. Like when I started changing my practices and my life and, and what?

Speaker 2:

I had to stop drinking to make those practices happen in my life. So God took me into this place of writing about, the first thirty days of sobriety. And literally it is a blueprint of what to expect in those first thirty days of sobriety. It's also good for families because you can understand what's happening for an individual that is going through sobriety, how to talk with your family, talks about cravings and triggers, gratitude, forgiveness, the pink cloud, you know, drunk dreams, all the things that happen in those first thirty days of sobriety. And I share what happened for me.

Speaker 2:

I mean, it's a lived experience and, I do talk about the 12 step program, but I also offer many other ways, for others to get support in their journey, because what worked for me does not mean it's going to work for someone else, but I wanted other people to understand here are all the ways you can get help through this process. So it's just like that gift from my heart to others that are going through the same, and I don't want them to feel like they're alone. And it literally takes you through those first thirty days and then expanded chapters on my last day of drinking. What got me to the place of drinking to the excess and making the decision to not drink and just all the other things. Then I'm going to have my final chapter in it is about what the experts say.

Speaker 2:

Right. So I have science throughout the book, like what is happening to your body through different processes. But then also what the experts have to say.

Speaker 1:

Well, I think that from my own experience, and also very much there's parallels there to why I wrote my book, that first thirty, sixty, ninety days is so It's also confusing. It's also challenging physical things that most people don't know that are going on. So, yes, I connect to that mission very much so. And I know that, you know, at the foundation of what you say there, realize that people are not alone, that they don't have to figure this all out from scratch really does help so many people.

Speaker 2:

It's scary. It's so scary, and it sucks. It's not fun, but it gets fun.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Well, even that, though, you know, for some people some people, it's challenging. Oh, I thought it was gonna be better than this. And then some people are like, I feel great, and I'm never going back. Like, the same routine, maybe the same route, totally different experiences.

Speaker 1:

Right? And, you know, you said something there that I think some people might not be familiar with, and that is the expression pink cloud. Can you tell you know, explain what that is?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you'll go through this time in beginning where you stop drinking and you just feel like you're so elated and so happy and everything's so light. And you feel like these little spurts of joy for the first time, but it doesn't it doesn't remain. Right? It doesn't stay with you. And so then when you have that kind of that, maybe that let down when that pink cloud dissipates, you're like, what do I do with this?

Speaker 2:

Right? So just understanding that as the alcohol or the substance or whatever is leaving your body, there's a lot of things that are happening chemically within your body and spiritually and, physically. It's like it it it just kind of is that moment where you feel like you're going to just be the happiest person forever, but it's not really that way. Feels good when it's happening, but then when that let down, you're then it like things go flat again and and you're like, what is happening? What is happening?

Speaker 2:

So learn about what happens and what to do with that. Right. And just to continue to move on. And if you do the work and you continue with the practices, even some of the practices we've spoken about and really finding that gratitude and that connection. Forgiveness is a huge part, right?

Speaker 2:

Forgiving yourself. You can't live in the shame of the guilt. You can't move forward, right? You can't have two thoughts at one time. So you get to make the choices that you think.

Speaker 2:

But you also have to change the way that you think, right? Because we are designed and we learn a certain way of thinking, our behaviors, our values. And so these are things that we learn to change. And how do we do that? How do we learn to change the way that we are thinking?

Speaker 2:

First of all, about ourselves. And if you've told yourself that you suck for years and years and years, you've got to retrain the way that you think about yourself. Right? And that's what the affirmations and there is a science behind the affirmations and they don't feel real in the beginning. So these are all the things like once that pink cloud dissipates, the work starts and then you will get to a place where it's a more leveled happiness cloud.

Speaker 2:

Just say a little happiness cloud.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. I mean, the honeymoon does end in some for some people. And, you know, it reminds me of that expression. I don't remember the last time I read it, but it's it's not about the alcohol, you know. And so, like, yes, you're gonna feel better.

Speaker 1:

But for many of us, whether whether or not this doesn't matter if you go sobriety or you're cutting back to where you're proud of yourself. A lot of times, we'll blame everything on this one thing. Then all of a sudden you realize, yes, you're doing better, but there's still things you need to address in your life. While this might fix most of them, it'll certainly set you up to be able to deal with the other stuff much better and finally maybe even address them. But very seldom, after that period, is it is it literally going to fix everything in your life?

Speaker 2:

Well, 100% not. No way. I mean, nothing fixes everything. I mean, it is an ongoing process for you to really make real transformation in your life. But, you know, that pink cloud happens also because we're sleeping better.

Speaker 2:

We're eating better. We're making better decisions. Right? So you you just naturally are going to feel better. And you're you're another big thing that we haven't talked about.

Speaker 2:

And I know Sunnyside is all about this is community, right? Being with people that are going through the same or just having people that uplift you. I mean, that's a beautiful thing.

Speaker 1:

Oh, community is so important because, I mean, just stepping into it for the first time, realizing that, oh, I'm not alone in thinking these thoughts about myself. I'm not alone in my, you know, behaviors that I'm not happy with too. Yeah. And there are people here to support me along the way.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. And and I want you to know there's always people to support you. You just gotta put yourself out there.

Speaker 1:

Well, you have a podcast, and you've heard hundreds of transformational stories on wake up with Marcy.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Which one or a couple of those have stayed with you the longest?

Speaker 2:

Oh, god, Mike. I mean, that is so I have I have interviewed hundreds and hundreds of people. I've been doing this eight years.

Speaker 1:

That was probably not fair because I've interviewed a lot of people too.

Speaker 2:

I'm going to just say this. I am going to say that I am absolutely amazed by the the incredible people out of there out out out there that have gone through some horrendous things in life and they have turned it around, and they now are giving back to others. And I, I learned through, each person I interview. There is something that I learn or it reinforces something, a belief I have. Right?

Speaker 2:

And it just to feel connected to someone through an interview and know that we are out there trying to do good. And there's a lot of people out there that are trying to do good. And I don't care what the media puts out there. And we have all these negative stories. There are so many positive stories.

Speaker 2:

And that's what I get is proven to me every time I interview someone.

Speaker 1:

I I think that's such a good insight, and I connect with that as well. So many of the things you say, because you know what? Like, even if the the opinions or maybe methods may differ, in general, 99.99 people are out there trying to help other people. They're not in it to profit. They're not in it for any ego boost, although ego may be there.

Speaker 1:

But

Speaker 2:

some there.

Speaker 1:

In general.

Speaker 2:

We all have ego. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

You know, we the last episode, we ended around love, and I think this question would kinda bring us back in that realm. So when somebody, you know, slips or feels stuck, what mindset do you think helps them begin again, maybe without shame?

Speaker 2:

Well, have compassion for yourself and realize that your human mistakes are going to happen and you just start over. You just start over. And as long as you start over, you're giving yourself another chance.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. That's great. I mean, I'd like to tack on that. I think that you can start over, but you're not starting at zero. You know?

Speaker 2:

That's a 100 true because you have wisdom.

Speaker 1:

Yes. Yes. And more experience and Yeah. Decide step the next thing. Marcy, this has been amazing.

Speaker 1:

I just love all the work and all that you've come here today to share. If anybody's listening, do you want to talk about any projects that you have coming up? I know you have your book and where they could go to find out more if they want to learn about what you're working on or reach out and, you know, talk to you about your episode.

Speaker 2:

I would love that. First off, my book, wake up, you're not broken. What to expect the first thirty days of sobriety is, available for presale on Amazon, and it's coming out, April 7. So that's Alcohol Awareness Month. And I'm super excited to share that my book Chaos to Clarity, I just completed the audio version.

Speaker 2:

So I finally get to put it out there on Audible, which is so exciting. And I just have a lot of other things in the cooker, always trying to figure out how I can continue to help and support. And again, Wake Up With Marci. It is a podcast, but it's also on YouTube. And it's I just found out yesterday.

Speaker 2:

I'm part of a streaming network. It's called On Now, and it airs, in New Jersey and launches in LA, Saturdays at 10AM and you can get it on Apple TV and Roku. So just a lot of super exciting things happening and I just feel that the more that I'm able to put myself out there, hopefully the more people I'm able to help.

Speaker 1:

Those are some exciting projects. So if anybody's listening, go check out all of those. And I know how challenging that audio book is to get published. So congrats on that. And well, one final thank you so much for coming on today, Marcy.

Speaker 2:

Thank you. Thank you so much. And, and just I was remiss to say that just everything's at wakeupwithmarci.com so easy peasy just keep it easy

Speaker 1:

perfect all right thank you Marcy

Speaker 2:

thank you thank you Mike really truly and for everything you do