It's Not About the Alcohol

In today's episode, Colleen shares a personal story about navigating a tense encounter with a neighbor who demanded drastic action after a minor incident involving her dog. Using this real-life situation, she demonstrates how to clear an emotional reaction in real time by properly diagnosing the problem, managing feelings, and resetting the nervous system. This episode highlights the importance of...

NEW! Colleen's doing Q&A episodes! Do you want help from Colleen with a situation you're struggling with? Click here to submit your question. Your name will not be mentioned on air!    At this point, you know better than to beat yourself up. But how do you stay positive and focus on the wins when you keep waking up hungover?   It's a mistake to think that drinking less requires more willpower. Bec...

Click here to BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL . If you're ready to fully commit to your personal growth and do the work to get emotionally sober (side effects include an 80 percent reduction in drinking),You'll walk away from our call with a clear understanding of how to get the skills you need to transform your life.   —Want daily updates from me? Find me on TikTok @hangoverwhisperer and IG @thehangoverwhi...

Click here to BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL . If you're ready to fully commit to your personal growth and do the work to get emotionally sober (side effects include an 80 percent reduction in drinking),You'll walk away from our call with a clear understanding of how to get the skills you need to transform your life.   —Want daily updates from me? Find me on TikTok @hangoverwhisperer and IG @thehangoverwhi...

Are you a disciplined, ambitious grown-ass woman who still battles self-sabotaging urges?   That's normal if you're living in survival mode. When you consistently push yourself to the brink of burnout, your subconscious pushes back. Which is why it gets harder and harder to resist your favorite unhealthy coping mechanisms.   But feeling embarrassed, frustrated and disappointed in ourselves, and wo...

Do you feel like it's impossible to get ahead financially because life always seems to cost more than you actually have?   If you're living in survival mode–buy now and worry later, you already know that overspending is a slippery slope that traps you in a cycle of debt and makes you feel guilty about everything you buy.        It's a mistake to assume that living on a budget is restrictive and th...

Do you dismiss your heart-felt ambitions because going after what you really want feels impossible?   It's easy to go for broke when you have nothing to lose. But when you've worked your ass off to get where you are, the idea of taking a risk can seem childish and unrealistic.   Which is why so many of us end up drinking too much despite having enviable lives. We become stagnant, uninspired and tr...

Are you constantly doing "the work" to improve yourself and wondering when you'll go from being "almost there" to feeling like you've actually arrived?   We're taught that success comes in pretty, perfect packages and demands extraordinary amounts of effort. And so we vacillate between feeling frustrated and exhausted and trying to stay positive with affirmations, vision boards and goal setting.  ...

How much time, energy and money have you spent on talk-therapy and medications trying to deal with your anxiety?   Most people (doctors included) think anxiety is caused by a combination of genetics and stressful or traumatic events. It's a thinking problem that must be understood before it can be solved. So we spend countless hours combing through childhood traumas, assessing attachment styles an...

Do you ever feel like you know exactly what you should be doing but you just can't get yourself to do it?   Most of us have learned to get what we want by setting clear and specific goals and then using metrics to judge our success. We focus on changing the numbers–obsessing over how much we weigh, how much we drink or how much money we have in the bank.    But even when we achieve the goal, our m...

Are you curious to know if plant medicines like psilocybin and pharmaceuticals like naltrexone can reduce your cravings for alcohol?   For women who live and work in mainstream America, the fear of flying to Costa Rica for a psychedelic ceremony ranks right below the fear of telling your doctor how much you really drink.    And so we hide. Because the truth could cost us our career or our kids, fo...

How do you feel about yourself when you wake up and realize you did it again?   If you get hangxiety and shameovers after drinking, it's not your relationship with alcohol that needs to change. It's your relationship with yourself.    The performance-based, perfectionistic mindset that fuels your success in other areas of your life also drives you into a cycle of self-sabotage.   Because when you...

Have you considered that the inability to self-correct your drinking habits could be a sign of trauma?   Most high achieving professional women associate the word "trauma" with violence, sexual assault or emotional abuse and neglect, and assume they don't qualify because nothing "that bad" has ever happened to them.   Instead, they attribute their bad habits to a lack of discipline or motivation a...

Are you stuck in a job that doesn't fulfill you–but the thought of making a big career change feels impossible?   When your career isn't meeting your needs, it's easier to blame dissatisfaction and burnout on your own mental health issues.  Because you've invested so much time and energy to get where you are. Why can't you just be happy with what you have?   But feeling trapped and uninspired bloc...

How do your beliefs about money impact your sense of personal power?   When your life appears to be limited by finances, it's easy to blame your discomfort on your partner or chosen career instead of taking full responsibility for the choices you've made.   Even "successful" women are often victims of the patriarchal mindset that tells us we aren't capable of financial independence. We exchange ou...

Does the number on your scale have the power to make or break your day?   Most people think weighing themselves on a daily basis is the best way to hold themselves accountable and achieve their weight loss goals.    But checking your weight everyday is akin to holding yourself hostage. When the number doesn't match your expectations, disappointment and self-criticism lead to all types of self-sabo...

How often do you decide to have a single drink to take the edge off and end up getting completely wasted?   It sounds like a good idea because you're craving an escape and feel like you deserve to cut yourself some slack! But then you wake up to reality…feeling anxious, foggy, behind the ball and wondering why you can't stop once you start.   Today I'm sharing my personal experience with a recent...

Why is it that sometimes we can be hyper-focused and productive, yet at other times, the simplest tasks feel impossible?    High-achievers tend to fall into the trap of believing that pushing beyond our limits is the shortcut to getting what we want. And then beat ourselves up for being lazy or weak when we're actually just tired…because we're human.   Lynne Edris is host of the ADHD Support Talk...

Do you put on a brave face when you're struggling– conducting business as usual while juggling a million things even though you know something is deeply wrong? You may feel isolated, overwhelmed, nauseated, or even have panic attacks in the middle of the night.  But pushing through the symptoms of mental and emotional distress leads to breakdown. When you hear yourself say "I can't keep doing this...

How do you make sense of the fact that, even though you really do want to drink less, you keep making the same mistakes?   You know what you should do. But your brain is blocking your motivation with three sneaky obstacles: Using your past to predict your future, thinking 'I've failed before, so why should this time be any different.' Believing you don't have enough time, energy, or motivation to...

In this special bonus episode, Colleen interviews Susan Keller, author of the new book Mostly Sober: A Love Story and a Road Trip. Susan shares her personal journey of rethinking her relationship with alcohol, how she found her way into the mindful drinking movement, and why she wrote Mostly Sober, a groundbreaking novel for those who want to cut back on drinking without quitting entirely. In this...

Are you tired of feeling trapped in a cycle of emotional eating and self-criticism? Many high-achieving women believe that if they just had more willpower or stuck to stricter diets, they'd finally overcome their struggles with food and body image. But this relentless pursuit of perfection leaves you exhausted, overwhelmed, and disconnected from your own needs—leading to stress, burnout, and an ev...

What happens when you're trying to "not drink" but your brain keeps pestering you to "just have one?"   Most of us put up a fight, trying to override intrusive thoughts with willpower and distractions.    But even if we're successful, it's exhausting. Which is why staying sober feels so hard and drinking feels like a relief.    You have to learn how to respond differently to intrusive thoughts if...

Has your relationship with your partner become a significant source of stress?   When you're unable to connect with the person who is supposed to be your safe place, the fight or flight response in your nervous system hijacks your brain.   Which causes you to exhaust your mental and emotional resources trying to figure out how to fix the problem. Because the alternative is terrifying…divorce would...

Is anxiety one of the main reasons why you crave alcohol? Because drinking is the simplest way to shut down your mind?   The problem for most high achieving women is they assume anxiety and productivity go hand in hand. So even after alcohol becomes an official problem, the idea of giving it up feels impossible.    But before you beat yourself up for not having an off-switch when you drink, you mi...