Cecily Mak on Going Alcohol-Free, Finding Clarity, and Living "Undimmed"

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About this conversation

Cecily Mak joins Shelf Care Society for a deeply thoughtful conversation about alcohol-free living, unwanted habits, and the clarity that becomes possible when we stop dimming ourselves. Cecily is the author of Undimmed: The Eight Awarenesses for Freedom from Unwanted Habits , a founding General Partner at Wisdom Ventures, a breast cancer survivor, mother of two, and an advocate for a more honest public conversation about alcohol and health. In this episode, Brian and Cecily discuss how her thirty-day experiment to go alcohol-free changed her life, and how habits like drinking, scrolling, overworking, or staying constantly busy can become “dimmers” that keep us from fully feeling and fully living. They also talk about family history, AA, meditation, found time in sobriety, Big Alcohol, breast cancer, and why Cecily’s Eight Awarenesses offer a more spacious and compassionate path toward freedom. This is a conversation for anyone who has ever wondered what might become possible if they stopped reaching for the thing that helps them escape and started listening to the life waiting underneath.

On the table

• Alcohol-free living
• Unwanted habits
• Clarity

Words worth keeping

“We don’t need to have a crisis to make a change in life. All we need is some curiosity or recognition that something might be better if we shift something.”