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Tanya: Okay, Hello, and welcome to the momentum Podcast.  The show dedicated to inspiring, uplifting, and empowering women on their journey through motherhood. I'm your host, Tanya Valentine, and today we have a guest on the show who is someone that I admire and respect so much. I am thrilled to have Allie Ambrose on the show with us today. She's a devoted mother of 3,a successful realtor, and perhaps most remarkably she's celebrating 17 years of sobriety.

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Tanya: Today she's here to share her incredible journey with us from the challenges of addiction to the inspiring heights of recovery. We'll explore what drove her to get sober. How she stays committed. and the countless ways her life has transformed. I promise you. Her story is one of resilience, hope, and the power of personal growth. So without further ado, please join me in welcoming our guest. Ally Ambrose. Welcome to the show Ali!

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Ambrose: Thank you so much. That was so nice, so many nice words. Thank you. I'm glad to be here.

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Tanya: Well, I mean it from the bottom of my heart, and I really appreciate your time. I know that you're busy like you have a career. And you have 3 kids. So this means the world that you're here to.

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Tanya: I'm glad to be able to be here to do it. Yeah, awesome. Well we'll dive right in, and I'll start or can you start just by sharing your personal journey with our listeners. And what led you to the decision to get sober?And how was your life transformed because of it?

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Ambrose: Such a loaded list of questions! So for me. Really it was I got sober on June first, 2,006, and it was after a pretty bad dui accident. I had rear ended a guy that had a little boy in the car, and

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Ambrose: he had such an impact that you know the seat belt. His little buckle had come off so. And this was not. This was at like 10 in the morning. So this is like where the place that I was and I had been doing this game over and over again, different colleges coming home, going to Detox going. I got sectioned a few times. and like I knew that day that, like it was over for me, as far as like, I either was gonna have to kill myself, or I was gonna have to really get sober because there was no, I couldn't do it anymore to my family or myself.

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Ambrose: So for me, it wasn't a decision more so than what happened, I guess for me it was like God intervened and knew that like, like, I wasn't gonna be able to continue on the way was like I was gonna die, no matter what. And so that accident that day, and I mean

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Ambrose: one of the nicest police officers arrested me, and I was such a pain, and I was such a nightmare that day. And I've gone back, and he and I have talked over the years like several times.

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Ambrose: about that experience, and you know I was so young. I was 2023 years old. I was a baby but I was so so sick. So for me like I never drank socially, even in high school.

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Ambrose: Take with friends. I thought everybody blacked out. I thought when you drink alcohol. That's what you were supposed to happen like you're supposed to black out and not remember

and I don't think II try. I'm a true believer that I was born with this genetic disposition, and the second, that I put any substance, mind hooter, altering in my system like the lights, went off, and they did not shut off. You know what I mean. Like it was go time, and that's how it was with everything. So the way I drank at 1516 was already very alcoholically. AndI went down to Utampa, and it was now I had free reign without my parents to control right like, Hey, you can't drink and drive you can't, you know you gotta be home at this time it was free for all, and that I mean, I went off to another planet when I was down there it just I was drinking every day I was going to class drunk.

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Ambrose: I didn't go forward with cheering, and at you, Tampa cause I couldn't get up in the morning. It was just. It was such a think back to it like how chaotic and exhausted it really was, and to try to hide it, too, because, you know, at that age there's you didn't know of anybody that truly had II didn't know why my roommates could not drink every day. I literally had to at that point. What I didn't know is, I was getting sick because I was already so physically addicted to it. Right?

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Ambrose: I mean, stomach getting pumped. I had pancreatitis 3 times before the age of 21. It was yeah, it was really

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Ambrose: yeah, it was, I was really sick. So right before I got sober I was hospitalized for 50 something days I had pancreatitis so bad and alcoholic hepatitis. My liver was so inflamed that they had to start dialysis. You can never drink again.

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Ambrose: Oh, my God! But I did. I got out, and I thought, Well, I'll start buying the little nips instead of like the big bottles of vodka, and I drink 10 of those, and it was just like it didn't scare me when I was looking sick I literally couldn't stop drinking.

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Ambrose: Well, I couldn't. It was crazy.It was a constant. It was just constant. And so, you know, by degrees to God, and not kill anybody in that accident that day I did not kill myself, but if I hadn't gotten sober when I did, I can assure you I wouldn't be here today. My body couldn't handle it. My mind couldn't handle it.

I don't know. I mean, I think that's one of the major factors. When I was down in Rehab in Florida, my parents, I ended up finally going away, went away. For 6 months I ended up doing sober living.

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Ambrose: And I stayed down in West Palm Beach, but my grandfather lived 30 min away from the Rehab, and so my family was up here obviously, and my grandfather was 32 years over at the time, so he started bringing me to meetings, and so I was going with my grandfather, and I truly believe it was like.

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Ambrose: you know, God works the universe. Who, however, whoever you choose to believe of the Higher Power, had a plan for this to happen like I went with my grandfather to meetings like what an amazing bond I mean, I learned so much about him, and he was like, listen, kid, all you gotta do is get through the 60 days here. And then I was like, I have to do sober living, and he's like, alright. All you have to get through is, you know, 3 months and then see what happens. He never pushed it. He was just like, you know, you never know what's gonna happen.

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Ambrose: And so, you know, up until he died my grandfather gave me. It's so emotional my grandfather would give me every year my medallion and we continued to go to meetings together until he passed away. You know it was

We used to say he was the oldest one in the room, and I was the youngest cause. There wasn't many kids my age getting sober. And they're still, you know, the ones that have are either, not with us anymore.

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Ambrose: and III just got really lucky. I really did. I got really lucky. And it's I had to be physically removed from my element, and I needed really hard therapy. To be honest, I mean, it was like I could not stop drinking. I was drinking against my will. I remember just crying, sitting in my car. I'd been thrown out of my new college at Merrimac, and I would go because I didn't want my parents to know I was thrown out, and I drink in the car by myself, like when I thought of an alcoholic I thought about. You know the homeless man or the crazy uncle at the bar? These are the things that you think about. I didn't think it was a 2223 year old kid that could not stop drinking. But like there is no, it does not discriminate, it really really doesn't. And it's addiction and alcoholism is a powerful, powerful disease, but recovery can even be more powerful. It's just you really have to. You have to put your hands up and say, like, okay, I can't do this alone, right?

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Ambrose: And for me, like the recovery rooms in the halls. That's just what helped. And that's really what  happened to me, and it continues to happen every day, like there are no days off like. Do I think about drinking like I used to? No. Can I be in a room full of alcohol. I can, and it doesn't bother me. I have friends that drink you know. We're very so. Me and my husband don't. We're both sober. But I have my limits. I start getting real antsy. If I'm around it too long.

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Ambrose: It's just like I always have to have like no like. It's like.if that's not my life. I could do it for a short period of time. But then, when I need an exit plan. And I protect myself from that because, like, there are no guarantees that just because I've been sober this long, that means I'm gonna be sober tomorrow, right like there's it's a daily reprieve against the monster of addiction, right? Like you have to always have a guard up of some sort. Cause if you don't that it gets away from you. And then all of a sudden, you find yourself in a situation like oh, was it that bad? Maybe I could just drink wine with my mom friends.

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Ambrose: You know what I mean, and it's like and have I thought that over the years? Absolutely, I'm like, well, maybe it was cause I was so young my body couldn't handle it.

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Ambrose: And then the last few days, I mean, I was in so much physical pain. I believe that, like I mean pancreatitis is worse than childbirth. I could tell you that I've been through childbirth with no meds and pancreatitis and pancreatitis. I felt like I was exploding from the inside.

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Ambrose: It was so painful. So I always bring myself back to those things like, Okay, like, do I ever want to feel like that again. Would I ever want to risk like losing my children? Because, like, that's the end result. Right? Like. put kids in a car, get a dui, kill them or something, so I always have to play out that play like, listen! A drink to me is not worth what could come right, and, like my kids, have never seen me ever have a sick about it. Nothing they don't know. Mom. Mom's never just had, you know, passed out on the couch or party with friends and came home to. Lately they've never seen that. And for me, it's like.

it's really important for me. Personally, it's like they're gonna grow up and know, like you don't have to drink. If you don't want to like my mom doesn't drink. My dad doesn't drink like it's not because everybody does it. And that's a personal choice. My kids are gonna have to make right

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Tanya: right and like, you can still have a good time, and not drink too. I think that's a powerful message to send to them

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Ambrose: all kinds of things without drinking. I've gone through weddings, too, you know. I got divorced and I didn't drink. There's been dear friends that have died. I didn't drink family members that died. I didn't drink mom having stage 4 cancer. I didn't drink so like. There's all these things that I've gotten through and states over. So like, I know that I truly can't stay sober through anything right. And it's like for me. It's like, I don't.

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Ambrose: That doesn't define a good time for me anymore. And I think society put such a strong hold on like that is what a good time is to unleash, unload, relax, and it's killing people slowly, right? People that can't just put it down. It's like ruining lives. And it's a really hard thing, because it's so socially acceptable. And I think that's why it's so hard for people to not do it, you know.

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Tanya: Well, it's something that they're doing to escape and right escape their emotions right?Like we weren't brought up or really taught how to process emotions or regulate our emotions. And what we're taught to do is buffer with food, alcohol drugs.

social media, just anything to not feel

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Ambrose: right. I mean, it's a lot right like life is a lot. And like the pressures and stressors are like, I mean, some days I feel like I can't breathe right. And I have to go back to like now the tools that I've had to learn to use, that I keep, you know, for dealing with that cause. Of course, when I was anxious before I would take a couple of shots, and then I'd be killed right? And that's just not like an option today for me. So it doesn't even come into like, okay, that's something that I could do. It's like I have to ground myself. I have to meditate. I need to breathe. I need to know that this feeling will last forever. Cause it won't. Right. Thing is like a feeling is temporary, right? And when you're in it. You don't feel like it's temporary. It's like it's never gonna end. And sometimes it takes hours or days to end. But that feeling does end. It doesn't stay forever. So it's like you gotta find the other alternatives. And for me, that's like exercise is huge, right? For me. It's like it's just part of like my routine. If I don't, I feel so thrown off. It's a way to get my anxiety out. It's a way for me not to be snippy with my kids, you know, getting that all out. And then like for me, it's like spending time with self like sometimes it means like going in the closet and taking likejust some damn time to myself. Cause like, when you have kids running around a husband game, their activities work. It's like, it's non stop. And like, I have to remember, like, it's okay to take a few minutes and like collect myself and then go tackle the next thing.it's absolutely necessary. It is absolutely necessary to do it. Because if not like, you're just not, gonna you're gonna react. You're not gonna respond. Being a woman in this day, and age is a lot. We're, you know. We're working the same as men were still raising our children and expected to run a household a lot of I mean, my husband's great. He chips, and we can, but he works longer hours right.

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Ambrose: and it's a lot, and I can see where. It's just the natural reaction to reach for a glass of wine, because it's like it's so much during the day. And everyone wants to just have that relief, and it it could. If you turn, it can be a line in the sand of like being casual, drinking to becoming problem drinking right? And I feel like that line, especially for women, is cross, and people feel so much shame about it.

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Ambrose: And it's like we're not. We're not unique from it right? Just because we're women like we're. But that doesn't say that we can't have these issues or have anxiety. And you know, mental, it's mental health like everything. It's just so much. But like we're not excluded from that right? So it's like. I see that women, I mean. I know so many women that just fall into it. And and I think people are still. If you say like, you're not drinking. People wonder. Well, why did you have a problem. Are you sick? Are you pregnant? And it's like.why does it have to be a reason right? Like there's a stigma around, not drinking, too. And it's still here.

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Ambrose: It's like, it's crazy. I mean, I remember I went to a function not too long ago. and somebody asked me 5 different times.why are you only drinking water? Let me give you something to drink. I said, no, I'm good with my water. Well, why are you want something to drink. It's like, why are we asking people those questions like, there's no boundaries. And it's like, because I'm not right.

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Tanya: Right. I think it's to like that other person like projecting on you, too, like I think it makes them uncomfortable. 

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Ambrose: it's become the social norm like E to congregate, or be it a function like you have to be drinking like. Think about that like how screwed up, or we as society that like at a 40'clock function. Everybody has to have a drink in their hand, like our society tells us, like you've earned it.

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Ambrose: But the reality is people, you know, there's so many people that are fighting with alcoholism and addiction, and it's still like people have such a stigma around it, and I'm not sure

 you know why, that is. But I just continue to talk about it and just be like, listen like there's plenty of us that don't drink. That don't do drugs that.you know. And we're like, we're okay. We're pretty normal and fun, like, it's okay, you know. And so this anybody that like is listening is thinking about being like sober, curious, and just not drinking for health reasons, like, what's the worst that can happen. Try it out.I guarantee you'll get you'll definitely feel better right.But like, maybe you'll get some power back in your own life, your emotions and stuff. So I think it's a good thing for people to at least dapp with to see like, just don't drink to see what happens. Right?

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Tanya: Yeah, like, yeah, let's talk about the benefits of being sober like for me, like I've been sober now for 2 years, and for one like I just that my energy is so much better like. I think it's as a mom so important to get up before your kids. I need that time. I get up every morning at 5 Am. And I do my morning routine, and I can't do that if I've been drinking the night before, or maybe I can. But it is not gonna be like

 it's gonna be that much more difficult to get up. And I'm just not gonna be in the right frame of mind, or I'm just not gonna like, you know, give my work out my all like, I'm just not gonna have like that energy to do that. And another thing is, I don't want my kids, like I want to be a good example for my kids.

and I don't want them like I don't want to be slurring my words in front of them, or like smelling like alcohol in front of them, and being sober, I don't ever have to worry about getting a dui.

 for you know, and I think, too, just like this higher level of thinking like just the clarity right? 

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Ambrose:I just like the higher level of self right like. Yes, you're in tune with like self and like. It's so important to be with yourself. Know yourself and be able to be yourself.and if you have something like alcohol. How can you truly be any of those things? Because it's just a Mask, right? It's a veil.Yeah. And if you once you get sober, and your mind's cleared out. It's amazing the amount of self that you really get to know right? Like I'm sure, for you. You're like, Wow.

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Tanya: And I think people are afraid of that, to get to know themselves when I was doing like my own like self discovery, and which I continue to do every day, but I realize oh, that's why I drank. Because I hated who I was like I was just.And I'm just like learning that like self love. And like every day, it's like a process, you know, like, it's just every day like a progression like I'm in progress. But yeah, it's just like not being comfortable in my own skin, like, yeah.

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Ambrose: Well, I think you know, that's what alcohol like helps us forget right? The anxiety, the insecurity.But the problem is, is, once the alcohol wears off, it comes back even stronger. It's like it's, it's a spiral. It's like the hamster in the wheel. It just be spinning and spinning and spinning.and it just doesn't stop. And it's like how exhausting it's exhausting enough in life. But then, to grapple with that, it's just too much right. It's just too much, and like life is hard enough and like, just because

 I got so right now, I speak for myself like it doesn't mean that bad things won't happen. It doesn't mean that, you know. Things are. Gonna be easy, peasy all the time. Life's wicked hard. Life is wicked hard, but what I do know is, I've had some major events in my life. and I've gotten through them sober.so I can assure somebody else like they can do it too.

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Tanya: Yes, I love that. You are just like an example of what is possible and how empowering to like. Know that you could do that.

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Ambrose: Yeah. And I always think, though, too like I'm not exempt for being, you know, somebody that couldn't pick up a drink. So like I for me, like I never think like it can't happen to me, and I keep that in front of me all the time, because I don't wanna ever let my guard down to the point of not being scared anymore?

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Ambrose: Just because it's 17 years like, I still wanna be scared. I still wanna be scared of what could happen.And I am. It doesn't debilitate me, but I don't wanna ever have to start over again. I don't wanna ever have to go to Detox again. I don't ever wanna have to be sweating to the point of like white knuckling and my heart racing so bad, you know, hearing things. I never wanna do that again.Yeah. And for me, it's like, I have to always say.What if?

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Tanya: Yeah. And I don't think that it's really talked about, either likehow bad it can actually get like I didn't know how bad it was until I became a nurse, and I treated a ridiculous amount of people who were alcoholics, and I've seen them die, suffer, and die like I like like a wake up! Call for me, was, I'll never forget these 2 women that I took care of, and they were in their thirties, and they died. And I don't think people realize like one of the major causes of death and alcoholics is bleeding, which is like so gruesome, but like I would see people just  bleed to death, because what happens as your liver is responsible for. Like for making your platelets and your plate, you need your platelets, your platelets clot your blood so you don't bleed to death. So when your liver isn't working properly, your platelets are in the toilet, so there's that, and then they get these esophageal varies which are like soul and blood vessels that develop in your esophagus, which is your food pipe. But they're really fragile, and they tend to bleed. And this happens because the blood flow is blocked in the liver. So that's what creates these varieties. And anyway, I mean, yeah, I've seen people come and like they have to get these viruses banded. And you know, lots of times, you know, it's not successful, and they come back. And yeah, that's it. It's scary. And then there are other well, many people also they get assites, which is, I don't know if anybody knows what a site is, but it's like this fluid buildup in your stomach, and you look like you're 9 months pregnant and you're not. It's just this fluid buildup that happens when your liver isn't working

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Tanya: but they have to come in like multiple times a month or a week, and they have to have their stomach drain. So a needle and a cat that are put in their stomach, and they have to have it drained. And then just yeah. And and some of them even have to have the drains surgically implanted.Because they're just having to come in so often and have it drained. It just doesn't make sense.So they have a drain that is surgically implanted in their body, and like, that's how bad it can get.

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Tanya: And I just don't think I know I didn't know so just like to inform everybody listening. And

yeah, really, not the idea to scare, just to inform you, and just to plant a seed of like positive change. I really I want to do here.What would you say to anybody who? Maybe they're not an alcoholic, but they're like sober, curious, like. They think that they're just like drinking too much. What do you think like?

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Ambrose: Honestly? And I tell people this one time. just try not drinking for 10 days, and just see how you feel. Journal, how you feel without it, just seeing how you feel. There's no, there's nothing saying that you can't drink again, or that this is forever. But just see how you feel without it. You don't know until you try and like, and the reality is is not. Everybody is gonna have a problem with drinking. But most people have bad things happen to them. It's because of problem from drinking right? Anything. People's big life things of, you know, Duis, or getting sick out with your girlfriends. It didn't happen if you hadn't drank too much right, or if you don't make those kinds of decisions. So just see how you don't feel for a short time.

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Ambrose: and maybe do another 10 days after that. And there's nothing saying that it's forever. But if you really think that you could have a problem with your relationship with alcohol, if you're already thinking that, or wondering if you have a problem with your relationship with alcohol.

then you probably do so. If if you think you have a problem or you overstep boundaries with booze.

The reality is, is, you probably do right. So what is the worst thing that could happen if you just try not to drink for a period of time.

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Ambrose: That's it.That's it. And just see how you feel

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Tanya:  and it's okay to like and don't feel shame about it, because there are plenty of people out there that are going through the same thing. And don't be ashamed to

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Ambrose: what I'm saying like it's still such a stigma, and It makes me so infuriated that there's still such a strong stigma around. If you have a drinking problem, or it's like a secret, right? We have to keep this a big secret. We go to recovery meetings that remain anonymous, which is great. You never have to worry about somebody, but it's it's all based in like secret. because I don't think people wanna talk about it, because then it's like, Oh.so and so. Oh, did you know his wife? She had a bad problem. It's like, why would that be a positive thing of that's being talked about? So I think the more people that share like you and I that like, Hey, listen, we don't drink. And we're doing okay. And if you have a problem, there are people to help you like you don't have to be alone in this, and a lot of people have so much change surrounding it themselves, and because of society, or whatever reason, that

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Ambrose: you don't think you're gonna be able to be helped, or there's nobody else like you. But there is. There's so many of us like you, regardless if we don't have the same story, but you don't have to do it alone.

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Ambrose: and you shouldn't be embarrassed to ask for help.

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Ambrose: It's just. I wish I just wish more people talked about it like, if people say to me like, Oh, why are you sober? And like I had a very, very bad addiction with alcohol, and I'm open about it, you know, always because if I help, one person

 like my job is done. all the pain I went through my job is done. because if you can just help one person, they could have all the things that we have. and that doesn't mean materialistic things. I have

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Ambrose: love confidence. I could be a daughter, a wife, a mother, a sister. My brother struggled terribly with alcoholism, and I never shoved it down his throat. I just kept being an example, and when he wanted help he came to me and he said, Thank you for never pushing it on me. And like that's all that matters right? So there's people here that, like we're here for you. We're here to talk, even if you're just wondering if you should stop for a little bit like this. Talk it out with somebody else, talk it out with somebody that's done it for a long time. and just see what you know what could happen if you don't drink right?And we're not gonna just and we're, not gonna judge, you, you won't be you won't be judge, make sure judgment. And you know what if you do end up still drinking? There is no judgment. Because who are we to judge for anybody else? This is just what works for us. But, hey, I'm gonna always be somebody that wants to talk, even if they continue to drink, and there may be a problem with it like, I'm still here.

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Ambrose: like, let's find ways to help you feel better regardless if you're drinking or not right like there's nothing like that means you. There's gonna be a judgment if you don't stop drinking. If you relapse a few times like that's part of this. That's the ugly truth like not everybody gets over. And that's okay. And it's also really sad, though right?

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Ambrose: There is no, there is no judgment. There's nothing that anybody can say to me that would make me look at somebody and say, Oh, wow! They're way worse than me.

00:31:43.360 --> 00:31:47.660

Tanya: Umhm. Everybody's life experience like what they've been through their upbringing.

Yeah, everybody's different. And yeah, there's no judgment. And yeah, don't let that be what stops you from

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Ambrose: getting help. No, don't let judgment, shame or fear stop you from just reaching out to somebody. It doesn't mean changing your whole life, just reaching out and maybe talking about it.

00:32:10.440 --> 00:32:18.509

Tanya: and that's something that you should be so proud of like. If you do do it. If you do reach out and get help like that takes a lot of courage.

00:32:18.870 --> 00:32:27.200

Ambrose: It's so is. And it's such a simple yeah. And it's such a simple step, just saying, Hey, like.And that's all you have to do. You don't even have to say anything after that.

Just see what somebody says to you, and see where your path follows.

00:32:38.330 --> 00:32:40.370

Tanya: I love it.And as we wrap up our conversation. Do you wanna just leave our audience with a message of hope or inspiration like, what's one thing you'd wanna convey to uplift and encourage those who are listening, and might be on their own path towards positive change.

00:33:01.220 --> 00:33:06.990

Ambrose: So I just always hope that what somebody gets from when I speak is

00:33:07.270 --> 00:33:33.139

Ambrose: like this thing of disease or obsession. However you wanna describe it. It doesn't discriminate. It doesn't matter how old you are. What your socioeconomic status is. It affects rich, poor, every kind of skin color male woman kids, right? This is where we're at, and there is nothing that you can do about it is, except to try to get some help, and do not be afraid to, just to talk to somebody about how you're feeling, because if you don't open up your mouth, and you don't hear what somebody else has to say. You never know what could have happened like. I don't know for me if I hadn't said to that police officer that day, I said, you have to arrest me, cause I can't stop drinking. And he looked at me, and he said, oh, honey, you're already being arrested. But in my head it was like I knew I'm like, if if you don't arrest me, I'm not gonna be able to do like I have to be like, please. It was like I had to be arrested.

00:34:07.470 --> 00:34:13.780

Ambrose: And I'm here. I have a career, 3 children, and like I made it right one day at a time, and my grandfather used to say to me, Kid, make it 1 min at a time, if you make it a minute. 60 min makes you an hour. And I used to literally sit there. Okay, I just gotta make it. And I make it another few minutes.and like if everybody has to take a step.you all you have to do is take a step, and then you don't have to run the mile right away. Just have to take a step.

00:34:41.880 --> 00:34:42.840

Tanya: Yeah.and learn from like, it is nothing to be ashamed of, like I love your story and the like.because that happened because you went through that trial in your life of being addicted to alcohol. The bond that you were able to have with your grandfather, and I'm sure, like all the lessons that you learned from him. And then this, like what we're doing today. And I'm sure, like you've done even more like prior to this and just like the connections I'm sure that you've made like in Aa or wherever in your life, but just like what you've been able to like. Teach others like, that's that was why you went through that trial in your life.

00:35:26.940 --> 00:35:32.009

Ambrose: Yeah, I hope I hope I can just continue to help people if they need it. And that's like.

 that's really what it's all about for me. Cause it was so freely given to me, and there was people to help me, and there are still so many people there now that still help me right. And my grandfather he is. I feel him all the time. I think he would be so proud to see me and my brother what we've done with our lives and helping others and staying sober, I that it would be a trip. It would be a trip for him to see us like this, because he didn't see my brother sober, but he always said to me, He's gonna get it. Someday that Kid is gonna get it yeah, it's a really cool thing to have that connection with my brother, because he we understand there's we get it. So it's pretty cool. Yeah.

00:36:22.640 --> 00:36:32.609

Tanya:: that's so nice. Well, I know your grandfather, he he's not physically here, but I know that spiritually he is looking down on you, and he is so proud.

00:36:32.700 --> 00:36:33.800

Ambrose: Yeah.

00:36:33.830 --> 00:36:38.350

Tanya: and I did. I wanted to before you go. I decided recently it would be fun to add a rapid fire question segment to the end of these shows.I just thought it would be a fun way to get to know you a little bit better. And so are you up for it?

00:36:53.690 --> 00:37:07.429

Ambrose: Yeah, let's do it.

00:37:07.610 --> 00:37:08.930

Tanya:  Awesome. Okay? So how does this work is? I just have 5 questions that I've prepared in advance. And when I ask the question, just answer the first thing that comes to mind. No filter.

Okay, ready?Alright. So the first question is, what self care? Activity is something you absolutely prioritize and consider a non-negotiable

00:37:19.610 --> 00:37:20.800

Ambrose: Botox.  I don't care what anybody says. Judge me if you may. It makes me so happy. It makes me so happy, and I don't care. I'll never stop doing it. They can tell me whatever I leave, and I feel like I ran a Boston Marathon. It's my favorite self care thing

00:37:42.060 --> 00:37:43.300

Tanya: good for you. Is there someone in your life who you consider a role model and who inspires you?

00:37:51.930 --> 00:37:53.100

Ambrose: My mom.Yeah, my mom every day. You know, she 5 years ago got a crazy cancer diagnosis, and it was such a small percent of that they could even treat it or get rid of it, and my mom handled it like a boss, and and I am so proud of how she handled it during her treatments. We're so lucky that she's still here, and she retired

from as a guidance counselor, and she helps me and my brother with our children, and it's she inspires me every day. She's the strongest woman I know, and I would not be who I am today, or and I probably wouldn't be sober if it wasn't for my mom cause she she refused to allow me to stay sick. So

00:38:45.910 --> 00:38:52.379

Tanya: what an awesome mom! And what's the best advice you've ever gotten

00:38:54.500 --> 00:38:55.940

Ambrose: to let it go.Oh, yeah, I love that one. Let it go! Let it go, whatever

 you gotta let it go. You have to let it go. And I struggle with it still? But in any situation.

if you can't control it, you're gonna let it go

00:39:11.080 --> 00:39:20.609

Tanya: yes, it's that prayer. What is it? Why can't I think of the name of the prayer? But you know the one that I'm talking?

00:39:20.660 --> 00:39:26.880

Tanya: Yes, let it go. If you. If there's nothing you could do to change it, just accept it and let it go.And what's the worst advice you've ever gotten?

00:39:31.660 --> 00:39:35.919

Ambrose: Oh, man, that's horrible the worst advice I've ever got.

00:39:39.300 --> 00:39:43.469

Ambrose: Huh! I don't. I don't know if I could think of anything for bad advice.No, I don't. Actually, that's not true, I the worst advice I got was.

don't start dating right away after getting divorced, but if I hadn't I wouldn't be with my husband. So yeah. 

Tanya: And then last question, do you have a favorite quote or mantra that helps get you through hard things

00:40:16.030 --> 00:40:24.350

Ambrose: one day at a time. one day at a time. I love that I have it on my foot. I look at it all the time one day at a time

00:40:25.380 --> 00:40:45.959

Tanya: I love that 

Ambrose: you just have to take it one day at a time. anything one day at a time.

00:40:50.430 --> 00:40:53.400

Tanya: and It's not so overwhelming.

00:40:53.680 --> 00:41:01.200

Ambrose: Yeah, if you just break it down to just one day at a time, it's just today. You only have to do whatever you're doing, whatever you're feeling just today.Yeah, get a wake up tomorrow and something totally. You could happen. So just one day at a time.

00:41:08.290 --> 00:41:23.440

Tanya: Alright! Oh, I love that. So everybody listening. Just take it one day at a time, one day at a time. I love that. Oh, I learned so much today. Thank you so much Ali for sharing your story and for being so vulnerable.Thank you. All for joining us today of the momentum podcast are we aim to inspire, uplift and empower, overwhelm moms on their journey through motherhood, stay tuned for more inspiring stories and practical insights until next week. Take care and stay motivated