Midlife AF Podcast

Want a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol? Want to stop all the "will I, won't I" internal conflict around wine? I am running the Great Aussie Alcohol Experiment LIVE from Wednesday 1 July. 30 days. Small group coaching. Only 25 spots. Small, intimate and private. Rewire your brain and nervous system so you no longer have to reach for a glass to quieten your busy brain, calm your overwh...

Want a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol? Want to stop all the "will I, won't I" internal conflict around wine? I am running the Great Aussie Alcohol Experiment LIVE from Wednesday 1 July. 30 days. Small group coaching. Only 25 spots. Small, intimate and private. Rewire your brain and nervous system so you no longer have to reach for a glass to quieten your busy brain, calm your overwh...

Want a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol? Want to stop all the "will I, won't I" internal conflict around wine? I am running the Great Aussie Alcohol Experiment LIVE from Wednesday 1 July. 30 days. Small group coaching. Only 25 spots. Small, intimate and private. Rewire your brain and nervous system so you no longer have to reach for a glass to quieten your busy brain, calm your overwh...

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol Episode 20: Preparation Is Everything - Dry July, No Drama This is going to be the last daily tip for a few days - because we are about to run the FREE 3-Day Alcohol Reset, and the replays will be coming to this podcast. My motto: change happens in an instant, but preparation can take a little time - and it is so wo...

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol Episode 19: Conditions Are Never Perfect - Do It Anyway - Dry July, No Drama Nobel Prize-winning author Doris Lessing once wrote: "Whatever you're meant to do, do it now. The conditions are always impossible." This is exactly what I want to say to you today. Your brain is going to look for every reason to keep you d...

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol Episode 18: What Was Alcohol Keeping You Safe From Experiencing? - Dry July, No Drama I want you to really listen to this one. Instead of beating yourself up after you have drunk more than you wanted to - focus on the data. Stop being so judgemental. Judgement puts us into a state of dysregulation, and dysregulation...

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol Episode 17: The Thing That Changes Everything - Get Support - Dry July, No Drama I asked my membership group what their top tips were for a really great Dry July - one that actually feels good. And every single one of them said the same thing. Community. Getting support. Not doing it alone. I remember what a big dea...

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol Episode 16: You Are Where You Put Your Attention - Dry July, No Drama You are where you put your attention. So put your attention in the right places. Preparation is everything. You can absolutely go into denial and drink as much as you can before 1 July hits and then go "right, that's it" - but while you do that, s...

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol Episode 15: Be Your Own Personal Assistant - Plan Ahead - Dry July, No Drama This is a practical one - and it is more important than it sounds. Having a plan makes your brain and body feel safe. It creates certainty. It removes the daily decision-making that drains your willpower before the evening even starts. So i...

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol Episode 13: If You Have to Drink to Enjoy It - You Probably Don't - Dry July, No Drama If you have to drink to do something or enjoy something - you probably don't actually enjoy it. It was only when I took a break from drinking for a year that I realised half the things I was doing in my life I didn't actually enjo...

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol Episode 14: Treat Yourself Like a Sick Child - Dry July, No Drama When you are taking a break from alcohol, prepare your evenings like you would for a child who is sick and needs looking after. Your evening preparation list: Get some lovely new pyjamas Make sure you have clean sheets and a bedroom that feels nice to...

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol Episode 12: Get Out of Struggle Speak and Into Choice - Dry July, No Drama If you think it's going to be hard, it will be. That's cognitive bias. You know that feeling when you wake up in a bad mood and everything goes to sh*t? People do the same thing with taking a break from alcohol - and it makes everything so mu...

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol Episode 10: Can't Do It Without a Drink? Here's What That's Really About - Dry July, No Drama Start noticing the places where you don't just want a drink. You feel like you need one in order to do the thing at all. To get yourself to the party when you are already running on empty To sit at the dinner table To push...

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol Episode 11: You Are Not the Problem - But You Are the Solution - Dry July, No Drama Our culture convinces us from the minute we are born that we are the problem. This is perpetuated by: Everything we see on TV All the stories from AA Families having interventions Our culture's concept of discipline The idea that dri...

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol EPISODE 9: How to Finally Commit to a Break from Alcohol - No Willpower Required - Dry July, No Drama There is an Afrikaans word - soutpiel - which literally translates to salt willy. It describes someone with a foot in two places, not fully committed to either. One foot in South Africa, one foot in Britain - leavin...

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol EPISODE 8: The Real Reason You Keep Reaching for a Drink - It's Not What You Think - Dry July, No Drama You have heard of fight, flight and freeze - the nervous system safety responses. There is a fourth: fawning - or masking. And alcohol is the biggest mask of them all. The body and brain very quickly learn that dr...

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol EPISODE 7: The Sober Curious Secret - Stop Trying to Stop Drinking - Dry July, No Drama I know this sounds counterintuitive. Stick with me. All that stopping and starting - the trying, the failing, the trying again - plays havoc with our hearts and nervous systems when we are trying to cut back on drinking. In the m...

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol EPISODE 6: How to Say No to Alcohol Without Going to War With Yourself - Dry July, No Drama This goes against everything we have been taught about cutting back on alcohol. Instead of going into battle - lean in. A craving is not your enemy. It is just a trigger - a way of your body letting you know that something is...

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol Episode 5: Why One Day at a Time Keeps You Stuck - And What to Do Instead - Dry July, No Drama I know this one is controversial. I am speaking from my own experience. For me, one day at a time meant I had to keep making decisions - which kept me in decision fatigue, which kept me in willpower. And willpower is a fin...

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol Why Thinking About Your Hangover Won't Help You Cut Back on Drinking - Dry July, No Drama When we are taking time of alcohol we tend to spend a lot of time focusing on the hangover and anxiety post-drinking, and not enough time focusing on the issues in the moment. Our craving doesn't care about tomorrow. It just wa...

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol Episode 3: The One Thing That Makes Dry July Actually Work - Especially If You Have ADHD Just don't drink for 30 days. That's it. Just one thing. Don't try - as we ADHDers are prone to do - to also get fit, go FODMAP or vegan, and declutter the house. It's too much restriction and you will come undone. For those of...

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol Episode 2: How to Reduce Your Drinking by Stopping Thinking About Drinking - Dry July, No Drama The best way to set yourself up for success with a 30-day break from alcohol is to start noticing YOUR behaviours, thoughts, beliefs and physical experience of alcohol. You need to become a need hunter. Don't spend too mu...

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol Episode 1 - Why Cutting Back on Alcohol Has Nothing to Do With Willpower There are not two types of people - those who can drink and those who can't. Anyone can start to use alcohol problematically if they are drinking regularly and begin associating it with relief from emotional or physical pain. These kinds of say...

In this episode, I guide you through my “Rise” framework for changing your relationship with alcohol. We explore why your drinking is never about “willpower” or “moral failure” and is almost always about unmet needs, nervous system overwhelm, and outdated beliefs you’ve carried for years. I share how grounding, visualisation, and gentle self‑inquiry can help your brain feel safer with change, so y...

In this episode, I walk you through my “third way” approach: a compassionate path that sits between white‑knuckling sobriety and feeling stuck in a shame spiral with alcohol. We explore how to get out of resistance and into curiosity, begin reconnecting with our bodies, and gently question the stories we’ve carried for decades. If you’ve ever thought, “What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I just s...