That's a Wrap Decidedly Dry - Sobriety, Alcohol-Free Living, Quit Drinking, Sober Curious

Well hello my sweet listeners and welcome to Decidedly Dry! This is your pal Jess and with ALL the feels - this is the last episode of the show.
Today, I’ll walk ya through why I made this tough decision, all the things I’m incredibly grateful for and celebrating, and what’s next.
First, in true Decidedly Dry fashion - let’s focus on the good. This podcast was created months after my very favorite podcast, Recovery Happy Hour shared her final episode. I remember heading out for a run one day, I was about a year and half into my sobriety at the time, I put my headphones in, pushed play, and started pounding away on the pavement. This was a ritual of mine. Plugging in and listening to others share their sober stories was extremely helpful for me. I was about a minute into the episode and I heard the words, “This will be the final episode of Recovery Happy Hour”. I’m not kidding you guys… tears began streaming down my cheeks! How could my favorite show be ending?! How could this be?! Now being in a similar place as a podcast host, I completely get it, but at the time I was heartbroken. Towards the end of the episode, Tricia said something on the lines of, “We need more recovery podcasts. If you’ve been thinking about starting one - do it!”
And that my friend, is where the seed was planted.
I quickly researched what it took to start a podcast, reached out to some resources, and the show was published in January of 2022. Yes, that means we celebrated our 2 year milestone this month. Since hitting that record button for the first time, we’ve published 85 episodes, became a top 1.5% globally ranked show, and most importantly, brought incredible individuals behind the microphone to share their sober stories. We ranked every single week on Apple Podcast’s charts and were downloaded not only in the US, but in Canada, the UK, Australia, Ireland, and more. I dabbled in coaching, met amazing individuals, and if I’m being completely honest, hosting this here show has played a pivotal role in my own sober journey. It kept me alcohol-free and motivated me to continue serving YOU.
Last December I celebrated 4 years of living alcohol-free. Was it a cake walk? Absolutely not. Has it be worth it? Absolutely yes. And if I’m being real with you, which is exactly what I’ve always promised to do, I’m getting to a point where I’m not feeling like I need to talk about sobriety as much. My friend Michelle, you know here as Recovery is the New Black, reassured me that this is so common and something she see’s all the time in the sober space. Individuals catch their stride, sobriety becomes part of who they are, and they get to the point where they not only want to talk about other things, but are ready to begin new exciting chapters.
And friend, that’s exactly where I’m at. I’ve spent the past four years serving the sober community and I’ll tell you what - I don’t regret it for a single moment. But the time has come for me to pass the mic and hopefully inspire someone else to start recording and serving this space, just as I did.
It’s funny, I was talking with my sister yesterday and told her I was going to be recording my last episode this week and she laughed. A very supportive laugh I might add, but she said to me, “Jess, you are so funny. You have this tendency of always trying new things, doing really, really, REALLY well. Then it’s like you’re at the top and you’re like, whelp - think I’m done here.” I laughed out loud and agreed with here 1000% percent. She completely gets me.
After thinking about what she said, I laughed again and thought to myself maybe that’s why I like hiking so much?! Hear me out. I study what I need before I go, check out what hikers have said about the trail conditions recently, I arrive, typically work really hard on the way up, pausing from time to time to enjoy my surroundings, and then I hit the top. I come to a full stop and take in the beautiful view,