It's Not About the Alcohol
This podcast is for high-achieving women who want to reduce their alcohol consumption by about 80% and feel in control around drinking. Host Colleen Freeland, a mindful drinking coach, explains that over-drinking is often not about willpower but about a lack of self-trust and using alcohol to cope with stress, anxiety, loneliness, or boredom. The show offers a new perspective on drinking less or not at all, framing it as a superpower rather than a sacrifice. It aims to help listeners feel comfortable in their own skin and break free from the shame and guilt associated with drinking.
Episodes
EP356 The real reason you can't follow through on your promise to "not drink" tonight
You have discipline in every other area of your life. You follow through, you deliver, you keep everything running. So why is it that the one night you tell yourself no drinking, you pour that first glass like that was the plan all along? This episode explains what's actually driving that, and why willpower can't make it stop. What you'll learn: Why "not drinking" feels harder than anything else
EP355 How to be truly free from the desire to drink (without willpower)
You've done a lot of work and you've definitely improved. But you're still drinking more than you want. And there's a critical voice in your head that keeps insisting you should be doing more–working harder and changing faster. This episode explains why the desire to drink won't lift until you deal with the emotional patterns that are driving it, and what it actually feels like to be free. What yo
EP354: If it feels like your drinking hasn't changed, track this metric instead
You're still drinking more than you should, and you want to know if real change actually is a slow process, or if you're just making excuses so you don't have to quit. Here's the honest answer, plus a reliable metric to track so that you can feel more confident about your progress. What you'll learn: Why your drinking is usually the last thing to change, not the first Why counting drinks is co
EP353: Your brain talks you into drinking. Here's how to talk back.
You wake up asking the same question you asked yesterday. What the hell is wrong with me? But you've already decided the answer is that you're drinking is out of control. This episode shows you how the story you keep telling yourself becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, and gives you three moves to shift your perspective of what's going on (and what really needs to change). What you'll learn: Why
EP352: Drinking turns off your brain. Planning to quit turns it back on. Here's how to break the cycle.
You wake up feeling rough and decide, "I'm not drinking tonight." For a few hours, that plan feels solid. But evening comes and you pour one anyway. And now your brain has even more evidence that you're not in control. Which makes you less motivated to try again (because what's the point?) This episode shows you why planning to "not drink" often backfires and what to do instead. What you'll learn:
EP351: Why joy is key to drinking less (not discipline)
You've been telling yourself that if you were more disciplined, then you wouldn't drink as much as you do. But the problem isn't that you need more control. It's that giving yourself permission to relax means that you're wasting time or falling behind. Which is why you need alcohol. This episode explains why expanding your capacity for peace and joy is what actually reduces alcohol cravings, and g
EP350: How to tell the difference between self-care and self-sabotage (before your next drink)
You set a plan to take a break from drinking and made it a few days. Then you blew it. And now you're trying to figure out why you keep breaking promises to yourself when it comes to alcohol. This episode gives you a step by step strategy (based on curiosity and self-compassion instead of judgment) to help you reduce your drinking. What you'll learn: Why taking a break from drinking isn't about
EP349 Why you can't say no to wine at night (it's a capacity problem, not a willpower problem)
You keep telling yourself you'll take the night off, or at least stop at two glasses. But then you drain the entire bottle (as usual). This episode shows you why that's not a willpower problem, and walks you through Colleen's Capacity Audit so you can see exactly what's draining you. What you'll learn: Why you reach for wine to relax after work even though you know that's not what you really ne
EP348: Why wondering if you're an alcoholic makes you drink more (and a better question to ponder)
If you're an alcoholic, how is it possible that you can get more done before breakfast than most people do in a week? And yet, you still know that you drink too much. So you Google your questions, maybe take the online quizzes, which don't help. This episode gives you a better way to look at your drinking and one specific question that has a much more clear and productive answer. What you'll learn
EP347: Why you can drink a whole bottle and not feel "drunk" (and how to retrain your brain)
You've always been a little proud of your high tolerance. You can drink grown men under the table and still walk and talk like a rockstar in four inch heels. But lately it scares you. How is it even possible to drink that much and not even feel it? This episode answers that, and shows you how to "feel" the signals in your body that you've trained yourself to ignore. What you'll learn: Why a high
EP346: How to cope with conflict in your relationship without drinking with Karen McMahon
You've been drinking more lately because of your partner. Their mood is the problem. Their lack of effort. Their inability to have an honest conversation. But if this is their problem, why are you stuck? My interview with high conflict divorce coach Karen McMahon will show you how to take your power back instead of drowning it with alcohol. What you'll learn: Why drinking feels safer than confl
EP345: The KNOW-DO Gap: Why you keep drinking when you know you shouldn't.
You know you should be drinking less, but you can't follow through. You promise and plan to do something different and then repeat the same mistakes over and over. This episode explains the gap between knowing what you should be doing and actually doing it. And gives you the perspective shift that you need to make to close it. What you'll learn: The two reasons "knowing" doesn't translate to doi
EP344: The Hidden Hormone Imbalance Making You Drink Too Much (And The Labs Your Doctor Isn't Running)
You've been blaming yourself for drinking too much. You assume the brain fog, the fatigue, the weight you can't shift, the way you can't stick to your plan, all of it, is because you drink. But what if the reason you're drinking so much is that your hormones are off? This episode walks you through what to test for and what to do when your doctor tells you everything looks "normal." What you'll lea
EP343: Why drinking to relax anxiety makes it's worse (and what to do instead)
You've been searching for something to take the edge off. Some tool or strategy that can help you relax so you don't feel like you need to drink so much. CBD. THC gummies. A sleepy-time tea. The anti-anxiety medication your doctor offered. This episode explains why nothing you've tried works as well as alcohol, and what your nervous system really needs. What you'll learn: Why alcohol helps you r
EP342 Change THIS if you want to drink like a normal person again
You've been told that the best way to stop drinking too much is to stop drinking entirely. This episode shows you why that advice usually doesn't work for high-achieving women. Dr. Tammie Kennedy is here to share her experience as one of my students in The Next Chapter. She'll tell you the truth about not only what's changed for her, but also what hasn't changed after nearly a year in the program.
EP341: Why You Need Alcohol To Go To Sleep (And how to break the pattern)
You can't fall asleep without a few drinks. Every time you've tried going to bed without it, you end up back on the couch an hour later pouring a glass because your brain wouldn't shut down. This episode explains what's happening in your nervous system and gives you three practices to rebuild your desire (and ability) to go to sleep without alcohol. What you'll learn: Why trying to "not drink" l
EP340: Why your drinking makes perfect sense (and how to actually rewire your brain)
You've been kicking yourself for finishing the bottle (again) when you promised it was going to be just one glass. This episode explains why trying harder isn't working, and gives you three principles of self-directed neuroplasticity that actually rewire your brain so drinking less stops feeling like you're fighting your own instincts. What you'll learn: Why over-drinking isn't a willpower failu
EP339: The 3 Hidden Patterns Behind Overdrinking in Busy and Successful Women
You're not a woman who needs more information. You read the books. You follow the sober curious accounts. You've done Dry January. You've downloaded Sunnyside or Reframe. Every Sunday morning you promise yourself this week is going to be different. And here you are, still on the hamster wheel. There's nothing wrong with you. You're just trying to solve the wrong problem. This week Colleen walks th
EP338 Minisode: Why You Can Explain Your Drinking But Still Can't Change It
In this episode, Colleen pulls apart something that sounds right, but quietly keeps women stuck: thinking about your feelings instead of actually feeling them. Because most women in this space aren't avoiding the work. They're doing a ton of it. They can explain their patterns. They understand their triggers. They know why they drink. And yet… nothing really shifts. Colleen walks through the diffe
EP337: Why drinking every night destroys your confidence (and how to stop)
Now that I'm on the other side of my recent slip back into drinking every night, I can see exactly what happened—and more importantly, I can explain the mechanism that makes this so dangerous for high-achieving women. In this episode, I'm breaking down why nightly drinking doesn't just affect your health—it systematically destroys your confidence, your self-trust, and your sense of who you are. An
EP336 Minisode: Why Giving Yourself Permission To Drink Actually Helps You Drink Less
In this episode, Colleen revisits one of the hardest ideas to trust at first: that before your drinking changes, you have to stop making your drinking the enemy. And yes… that can feel dangerous. Because the moment you stop restricting, judging, and trying to control yourself, your brain often swings the other direction. It sees a loophole. It tests the boundaries. It acts like the rebellious teen
EP335: I was drinking every night again. Here's how I stopped.
Colleen gets really personal in this episode. She shares the hard winter that (at one point) sent her back to nightly drinking, financial stress, the loss of her dog, feeling stuck in a house that no longer feels like home, and walks through exactly how she got out. In this episode: Why going back to an old drinking pattern is not evidence you failed. It's data. The rat study that proves hope
EP334 Minisode: Lower your tolerance without taking a break from alcohol
In this episode, Colleen pulls on a thread most women don't question: that moment where you're a drink or two in and thinking, "I'm not even feeling this." And instead of solving for it… she slows it down. Colleen walks through how easy it is to miss the actual experience of drinking when you're in your head, distracted, or slightly disconnected from your body—and how quickly that turns into pouri
Ep333: Three Simple Practices To Improve Your Willpower TONIGHT
You made the promise this morning,"I'm not going to drink tonight." You meant it. Then the day happened. And by 6pm, the drink was in your hand like that was the plan all along. This isn't a willpower problem. It's a capacity problem. And once you understand what's actually happening in your nervous system between 6am and 6pm, this stops feeling like a weakness or a character flaw. In this episode
EP332 Minisode: Become Your Own Source Of Comfort (So You Don't Need Alcohol)
In this episode, Colleen names something most women have never been taught to do: have a relationship with themselves. Not self-improvement. Not fixing. Not managing behavior. Actual relationship. Because when you don't know who you are, what you want, or how to meet your own needs, alcohol steps in and fills that space. Colleen walks through why so many women reach midlife feeling disconnected, u
EP331: Workaholism and Over-Drinking Are the Same Problem — Here's the One Shift That Fixes Both
What if the habit you're most proud of — your drive, your work ethic, your ability to get things done — is quietly running on the same fuel as the habit you're trying to change? In this episode, Colleen gets personal. She walks through the exact moment she diagnosed herself with workaholism — not because she objectively works too much, but because of WHY she's been working so much. And the reason
EP330 Minisode: How to leverage your dopamine so that alcohol is less appealing
In this episode, Colleen revisits the biochemistry of change through the lens of dopamine — not as a science lesson, but as a practical explanation for why so many women stay stuck in cycles they genuinely want to change. She breaks down the difference between motivation and overwhelm, and why most attempts to change drinking fail before they ever really begin: the goal is too big, the thinking is
EP329: Why your brain classifies alcohol as medicine, and how microdosing psilocybin changes that w/ Victoria Lee Starr
If you've ever reached for a glass of wine at the end of a hard day without really deciding to, this episode is going to explain exactly why that happens — and why it has nothing to do with willpower or self-control. Your brain isn't misbehaving. It's being efficient. Over hundreds of repetitions, it has learned that alcohol is the fastest available route to nervous system relief — and it has buil
EP328 Minisode: The #1 Lie That Makes You Want To Drink
In this minisode, Colleen explores one of the most powerful lies we tell ourselves when we feel overwhelmed or stuck: "I don't have a choice." It sounds practical, even responsible. But the moment you believe it, your nervous system shifts into survival mode. You feel trapped, resentful, and powerless, and that's often when the drink starts looking like relief. Through a breakthrough coaching sess
EP327: Why Getting Sober Didn't Fix My Drinking Problem (And What Actually Did)
You've been told your drinking is the problem. That if you could just control the behavior — stay sober long enough, count your days, follow the rules — the shame would go away. But what if it's the other way around? In this episode, Colleen gets personal about her three years of sobriety and what she discovered underneath all that "perfect behavior" — a lifetime of shame that started long before
EP326 Minisode: Three Mindset Shifts That Changed My Relationship With Alcohol
In this episode, Colleen shares a coaching moment that started with a simple scheduling mistake and turned into a powerful lesson about belief systems. When a client didn't get her breakthrough session as planned, she chose to see the delay differently: not as something happening to her, but something happening for her. That mindset opened the door to a deeper coaching conversation about leadershi
EP325: Why women who pursue financial abundance can take or leave alcohol with Mystic Millionaire Danielle Amos
What do your drinking and your bank account have in common? More than you think. In this episode, I sit down with mindset coach and Mystic Millionaire Danielle Amos to explore the hidden connection between your money beliefs, your scarcity mindset, and why you reach for the wine at the end of the day. Danielle went from $100K in credit card debt to a million-dollar business — without a website — u
EP324: Stop trying to reduce your drinking. Do THIS instead.
For two years, "reduce your drinking by 80%" was my signature phrase. It's on my website, my ads, my podcast — everywhere. In this episode, I tell you why I retired it, what I replaced it with, and what this shift means for you — whether you're in my program or hearing my voice for the first time. This is a behind-the-scenes episode pulled from Coffee with Colleen, my daily internal podcast for
EP323: How to reverse the shift from "fun" drinking to "coping with stress" drinking
Most women measure alcohol consumption by how much and how often they drink. But the research says the most important predictor of whether your drinking becomes a real problem isn't about the amount you drink — it's why you drink. In this episode, I tell the story of the exact day I became a daily drinker — and why I didn't even know it happened. I break down the neuroscience of why drinking to re
EP322 Minisode: What Big Setbacks With Drinking Really Mean About Your Ability To Change
✦ February Bonus ✦ Join The Next Chapter by February 28, 2026 and receive $2,000 off. In this episode, Colleen reframes one of the biggest misunderstandings about drinking: it's not one behavior — it's a collection of hundreds of habits shaped by context, environment, relationships, and emotional states. Many women believe their drinking defines who they are because they identify with their wors
EP321: How to tell if your cravings are physical or mental (and what to do about each)
You think your cravings are a willpower problem. They're not. You think if you could just think differently, you'd drink differently. And that's exactly why nothing has worked. In this episode, I'm breaking down why the urge to drink starts in your body — not your brain — and giving you three red flags that your drinking is actually a symptom of something most high-achieving women refuse to look a
EP320 Minisode: Why You Keep Breaking Your Own Rules About Drinking
In this episode, Colleen continues sharing takeaways from her retreat with Dr. Amanda Hanson (midlifemuse) — and she names something that sits underneath so much of women's drinking, overgiving, perfectionism, and burnout: conditioning. Not just childhood conditioning — cultural conditioning. Colleen explains how patriarchy functions like an invisible rulebook: the expectations women follow withou
EP319: The #1 skill that will reduce your drinking without (much) willpower
You told yourself this morning you weren't going to drink tonight. But now that it's time to make that decision, it feels impossible to say no. That moment is exactly what Colleen breaks down in this episode — because the path forward requires you to understand that this is not a lack of discipline and it's not a willpower problem. The relief you feel when you take that first sip has nothing to do
EP318: Want to know why some women can take or leave alcohol?
Do you want to know what's different about the women who can genuinely take or leave alcohol? And why it feels impossible for you to be "more like them?" In this episode, I'm giving you a sneak peak of my new masterclass: The science behind take it or leave it--why some women can and how you can too. The masterclass isn't even on my website yet--you'll watch it right on YouTube. Click Here to WA
EP317 Why talk therapy isn't enough to change your drinking with Dr. Amanda Hanson
I was one of the most therapized people you've ever met. I knew my triggers. I'd unpacked my daddy issues, my relationship with my mom, my insecurity, my eating disorders, problems in my marriage. I cognitively understood what triggered me and why I wanted to drink so much. And that did fuck-all to reduce my cravings. Which is how I know that awareness isn't enough. Understanding the pattern doesn
EP316 Minisode: Next Time You Want To Numb Your Emotions With Alcohol, Try This Instead
In this episode, Colleen shares a raw, surprising takeaway from a recent retreat — one that had nothing to do with learning new concepts and everything to do with experiencing her body in a new way. What began as deep discomfort around words like sensuality and sexual energy opened into a realization many women quietly live with: when you've been taught to fear, suppress, or perform your body for
EP315 What I do the morning after I drink too much
I woke up a little hungover this morning. I had a third glass of wine I didn't need. And instead of spiraling into shame, I did what I always do now—I grabbed my journal and got curious. In this episode, I'm walking you through exactly what I do the morning after I drink too much. The four mindset tools that set me up to learn instead of spiral into shame. The journaling framework I use to extract
EP314 Minisode: How to pull yourself out of a funk without pouring a drink
In this episode, Colleen responds to a question many women hit right after real momentum begins: What if I slip back? What if the funk comes back and I lose everything I've built? Using a recent coaching call — and her own very real 5 a.m. spiral — she breaks down why the goal of emotional sobriety isn't avoiding hard days, negative thoughts, or uncomfortable emotions. It's learning how to recogni
EP313 Three Tools that will help you drink less without relying on willpower
Why does the wine start calling at 5pm—even when you promised yourself this morning you wouldn't drink tonight? In this episode, Colleen breaks down exactly what's happening in your nervous system when willpower fails, why high achievers are stuck in chronic stress mode, and how the shame spiral is actually making you drink more. Plus, three body-based tools you can use tonight to complete your st
EP312 Minisode: You're Not Broken, You're Wounded: The Truth About Trauma and Addiction
In this episode, Colleen unpacks one of the most misunderstood truths in emotional sobriety: drinking isn't a character issue — it's a nervous system response to chronic stress, shame, and unmet needs. Drawing from The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté, she explains why so many of us learned to survive in environments that never felt safe — and how culture, economics, and generational trauma quietly wi
EP311 Why you'd rather drink alone than have sex with your partner (and how to turn yourself back on)
This is a follow-up to last week's episode about a client whose New Year's resolution to "drink less" was already failing two days in. I talked about how emotional overwhelm leads to a "functional freeze," and why this is more than a habit, it's a survival strategy. On the coaching call, we uncovered exactly why she's needed a survival strategy. Like many women who experience a decrease in libido
EP310 Minisode: Why big decisions make you want to drink (and what to do instead)
In this episode, Colleen breaks down one of the most misunderstood moments in personal growth: the space between feeling pressure to decide and actually being ready to decide. Drawing from her own experience with sobriety, divorce, and rebuilding her life from the ground up, she explains why urgency is almost never a sign of clarity — and why the nervous system's state matters more than the decisi
EP309 Why trying to drink less causes you to drink more (Do THIS Instead)
Are you worried about "failing" at your resolution to drink less this year? Before you beat yourself up after your next slip, I need you to understand something: this isn't a willpower problem. It's not a discipline problem. Because this is far more than a habit problem. It's a survival strategy. In this episode, I'm responding to a message from a client who found herself on the couch with wine an
EP308 Minisode: The connection between overwhelm and the need to drink
🪩 HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!! 💃 In this episode, Colleen pulls back the curtain on what overwhelm actually looks like from the inside — not as a failure, not as burnout drama, but as a nervous system hitting its limit after years of living in survival mode. What began as growth, ambition, and "doing what needed to be done" quietly turned into a chronic stress response that her body could no longe
EP307: How to leverage your dopamine so you actually don't want to drink (so much)
You know what you need to do. So why can't you get yourself to do it? Because you've been waiting for motivation to show up—like it's some mysterious force that either finds you or it doesn't. But motivation isn't magic. It's dopamine. And dopamine follows rules. In this episode, I'm breaking down exactly how dopamine works in your brain, why your current approach to drinking less is actually maki
EP306 Minisode: When You Don't Want To Drink, But Your Mouth Orders A Chardonnay
In this episode, Colleen breaks down a moment almost every woman in this work has experienced: when your body makes a decision before your conscious mind even knows what happened. A glass of wine ordered on autopilot. No craving. No plan. Just habit taking the wheel. Using a real travel story, she explains why this isn't a moral failure, a hidden self-saboteur, or proof you "can't be trusted." It'
EP305 Are you drinking to cope with a job you hate? (And how to change that) with Career Coach Michelle Schafer
If you've been stuck in a job that's slowly draining you—and using wine to cope with the Sunday scaries—this episode is your permission slip to start thinking about what's next. Career coach Michelle Schafer has been through two major career reinventions herself, and she's spent the last decade helping people figure out what they actually want and build a plan to get there. But here's what makes t
EP304 Minisode: T'is the season to break the rules that are keeping you stuck (and drunk)
Why do we buy gifts we can't afford for people who don't need them and over-schedule ourselves to the point where we only have the energy to drink and complain about how stressed we are? This episode is dedicated to your inner rebel—the part of you that wants to pour a drink, flip the bird, and Thelma-and-Louise yourself out of the insanity. Because she's not the problem. She's the part of you tha
EP303 "Why trying to quit made me drink even more" with Katie Herzog (Drink your way sober with naltrexone)
Katie Herzog spent 15 years trying everything: AA, therapy, CBT, SMART Recovery, moderation management, swapping booze for weed. Nothing stuck. And in the back of her mind, she always knew she'd start drinking again. It was just a question of when. Then she found the Sinclair Method—a protocol where you take a medication called naltrexone, wait an hour, and drink. It sounds too simple. It sounds l
EP302 Minisode: How To Make An Emotionally Sober "To-Do List" (For Type A Thinkers)
In this episode, Colleen speaks directly to the women who live and die by the checklist, the ones who can run circles around everyone else at work, keep ten plates spinning at home, and still collapse into bed wondering why they feel exhausted, behind, and overwhelmed. If you're a high-achiever who secretly depends on stress chemistry to function, this one is going to land. Colleen breaks down why
EP301 Minisode: To Drink OR Not To Drink On The Plane
In this episode, Colleen shares a real moment from her life a few weeks ago. The kind of moment everybody encounters but rarely names. On a Thursday flight, she felt calm, grounded, and uninterested in drinking at all. Forty-eight hours later, on the way out of New York, she couldn't wait for the flight attendant to serve her Chardonnay. Nothing "mysterious" happened in between. Her capacity chang
EP300 When burnout drives your drinking: how to interrupt the cycle with Cait Donovan
I recently hit a wall. Not the kind where you're tired—the kind where you wake up and genuinely don't care anymore. About your business. About your goals. About any of it. And here's what scared me: I saw it coming. I knew I was running on fumes. I just didn't stop. In this conversation, burnout expert Cait Donovan helps me understand why. And it's not what I expected. It's not about workload or b
EP299 Minisode: Why hasn't my drinking changed?
In this episode, Colleen unpacks one of the most common and misunderstood experiences women face in this work: the moment you look up, take inventory, and think, "My drinking hasn't changed." Instead of treating that as evidence of failure, she reframes it as a signal from your nervous system, a window into your thinking habits, and an invitation to expand your internal capacity. She breaks down w
EP298 Minisode: How to complete the stress response BEFORE you pour a drink
In this episode, Colleen shares a simple moment from her morning — a single unexpected email — that shows exactly how the nervous system can hijack your day before you even know what happened. What could've turned into urgency, frustration, and spiraling worst-case scenarios instead became a real-time example of emotional sobriety: noticing the startle, interrupting the stress response, and choosi
EP297 What human design reveals about your drinking with Hope Pedraza
As middle aged women, we all know what it's like to be exhausted. Not the kind of exhausted where you need a nap—the kind where you've been running on fumes for so long you forgot what actual energy feels like. You're already doing everything you can to eat well, exercise, get better sleep and cut back on the wine. You've probably got rows of supplements lined up on your counter like little soldie
EP296 Minisode: How to cope with overwhelm so you don't NEED to drink so much
In this episode, Colleen pulls the curtain back on overwhelm and names it for what it really is: a trauma response living in your nervous system, not a personal failing or lack of willpower. She walks through the five stages your body moves through when the demands on you exceed your capacity, and why trying to "push through" that wall only drives you deeper into shutdown. Instead of treating over
EP295 Minisode: How to improve your motivation to stay sober in an evening
In this episode, Colleen gets brutally honest about something most "high-functioning" women never admit out loud: what happens when your old motivation system collapses. Divorce, sobriety, and building a business forced her to drop the over-functioning, over-exercising version of herself and face a hard truth: she'd been using fitness to run on stress, shame, and hangovers. She unpacks why, after
EP294 How to quiet your spinning mind (without alcohol)
You've done the therapy. Read the books. Listened to the podcasts. You understand your trauma responses intellectually. But when you get triggered, your mind still spins out of control—and you can't make it stop. Here's what you need to know: Your spinning mind isn't something to fix or control. It's communication from a wounded part of you that needs your attention. In this episode, we're talki
EP293 Minisode: What it means when you feel like you HAVE to do something
In this episode, Colleen shares a real-life story about her daughter's college move-in that reveals one of the most important skills in emotional sobriety: knowing the difference between a grounded choice and a nervous system hijack. What started as a harmless whiff of pot in the entryway spiraled into panic, urgency, and the impulse to move apartments immediately. But the real issue wasn't the ap
EP292 Minisode: How to connect with your Higher Self
In this episode, Colleen breaks down one of the most foundational teachings of emotional sobriety: your higher self isn't a future version of you — she's a frequency you can access right now. Drawing from quantum physics, nervous system science, and the emotional practices at the core of this work, Colleen explains why clarity, intuition, creativity, and confidence aren't things you earn after hea
EP291: Why you drink too much when you're alone (and what to do about it)
What if the reason you're still drinking too much when you're alone has nothing to do with willpower—and everything to do with how you think about being alone? You've made so much progress. You're no longer drinking every day. You can go to social events and drink like a normal person without going overboard. You're doing the work, listening to podcasts, journaling, showing up for yourself. But th
EP290 Minisode: You need a vision for WHO you are becoming
In this episode, Colleen walks us through a coaching moment that captures what emotional sobriety really means: shifting from self-criticism and control into vision and alignment. When one client arrived overwhelmed and focused on what her partner wasn't doing, the breakthrough came when she identified who she wanted to be — positive and powerful. From there, everything changed. Colleen unpacks ho
EP289 Minisode: Don't Let the Slip Become a Slide
In this deeply personal reflection, Colleen opens up about her own history with bulimia and the years she spent trying to control her body to manage her emotions. Inspired by Jennette McCurdy's memoir I'm Glad My Mom Died, she explores how disordered eating, drinking, and perfectionism all share the same root: unprocessed emotion and the desperate need to feel safe, seen, and in control. Through h
EP288 Understanding "Reentry Syndrome:" Why excessive drinking is a trauma response (and how to stop)
You know that feeling when you're thinking about drinking later and your stomach drops because you're already worried about overdoing it? Or when you come home from vacation and you're genuinely afraid you won't be able to stop with the daily drinking? That's reentry syndrome. And it's not what you think it is. Most people think if they could just be stronger, more disciplined, or finally "get it
EP287 Minisode: Are you available to Be. Here. Now?
In this reflective episode, Colleen shares how a single morning meditation changed the trajectory of her entire day — and became a living practice for emotional sobriety. Waking early with her mind already spinning, she found herself caught in the familiar loop of pressure, striving, and self-imposed urgency. Instead of chasing a better plan, she chose presence. The phrase "I'm available to be her
EP286 Minisode: You Can't Have The Money, Honey.
In this reflective episode, Colleen shares a deeply personal moment—learning she couldn't qualify to assume the mortgage on her own home—and how that realization became a masterclass in emotional sobriety, choice, and self-trust. What begins as a financial obstacle unfolds into a powerful teaching on energetic alignment and cognitive reframing. When life tells you "you can't," your mind begins to
EP285 Why a toxic coparent makes you want to drink (and what to do instead) with Divorce Coach Amy Armstrong
What if the biggest problem in your high-conflict relationship isn't your ex—it's that you keep handing them your power? In this conversation, Amy Armstrong breaks down why conflict is a skill deficit, not a character flaw, and how focusing on what you're willing to do (instead of what the other person is doing wrong) changes everything. In this episode, we cover: → The critical difference between
EP284 Minisode: Try my favorite tool: Full Body Reset
In this episode, Colleen revisits a recording in which she introduces a powerful tool that continues to help women interrupt autopilot and reconnect with their bodies — The Full Body Reset. She originally shared it on a morning when she didn't use it — a reminder that growth isn't about perfection, it's about awareness, compassion, and reconnection. When we're tired, stressed, or overstimulated, t
EP283 Minisode: Why you need small group support
The truth is, you can't out-think a thinking problem. And yet, that's what so many women try to do—reading, journaling, "working on themselves"—all while staying quietly trapped inside their own minds. In this episode, Colleen reveals why the real work of emotional sobriety doesn't happen in isolation. It happens in connection. Through years of observation, data, and lived experience, she's found
EP282 How to eat to change how you drink, with Dr. Brooke Scheller
Here's what nobody tells you when you're trying to change your drinking: Your alcohol cravings at happy hour are not just about needing a break after a hard day. And they're definitely not about how much you "just love wine." In reality, you haven't eaten since noon and your blood sugar is in the basement. This is about what you ate for lunch–or more accurately, what you didn't eat. What I've lea
EP281 Minisode: Primal versus Power states
In this minisode, Colleen distills emotional sobriety into its simplest form: learning to recognize when you're operating from your primal state versus your power state. Most of us spend our lives reacting to the world from old programming—patterns shaped by fear, pain, or the need for control—without realizing that we can pause, interrupt, and return to presence. She explains how to move from bei
EP280 Minisode: Are you more worried about how you look than how you feel?
In this minisode, Colleen unpacks the hidden link between insecurity and control — and how most of us try to manage our anxiety by managing other people's opinions. Through a grounded, body-based perspective, she reframes confidence not as something you "earn," but as something you practice by returning to yourself again and again. She challenges the myth that insecurity means something is "wrong"
EP279: The Consistency Code: How to stop self-sabotaging your health with Courtney Townley
When I was in my 30s and 40s, I thought health was something you earned with discipline. I ate clean, drank tons of water, ran marathons and swallowed whatever supplements were trending. And even though I appeared to be doing everything right, my stress was through the roof and my body constantly ached. I was always looking for the next thing to fix. But here's what I didn't realize: I wasn't br
EP278 Minisode: Future Casting
In this episode, Colleen introduces "future casting" — a mindset tool that helps you move from emotional reactivity into grounded awareness. She reframes every "problem" as an emotional one, reminding us that what keeps us stuck isn't the circumstance itself, but the stress response and beliefs we attach to it. Through this lens, future casting becomes a way to access perspective: to pause, regula
EP277 Minisode: Are You A Princess?
In this minisode, Colleen reflects on the stories we grew up with — the ones where the lost princess or overlooked heroine is finally discovered and restored to her rightful place. These stories shaped how many of us learned to wait: for validation, timing, permission, or rescue. She'll reframe that pattern through the lens of emotional sobriety. True power isn't something that arrives once circum
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