Today, I’m sharing a conversation that first aired on the Sunnyside podcast—home of the #1 mindful drinking app. I sat down with co-founder and host Mike Hardenbrook to talk about how to change your thinking about drinking so that you can trust yourself with alcohol again. We cover my own personal journey about why I overcorrected my heavy daily drinking with three years of full sobriety, and how I arrived in the balanced, less-is-more life I live now. You’ll hear the exact mental shifts that I teach my high-achieving female clients who want to cut their drinking by up to 80% without shame, rules or life long commitments. Whether you’re sober-curious or simply tired of promising yourself that you’re going to change and then not following through, this conversation will change how you think about both the problem and the solution. 

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.

Want daily updates from me? TikTok: @hangoverwhisperer Instagram: @thehangoverwhisperer Twitter (X): @NotAboutTheAlc YouTube: @hangoverwhisperer

—Do you want coaching from Colleen on a situation you’re struggling with? Click here to submit your question. Your name will not be mentioned on air! 

Driving away from West Virginia, Colleen realized she no longer needs perfect conditions to feel like herself—because that version of her now lives within her. She explores how emotions are echoes of the past, and how clinging to them corrodes self-trust. Through the story of her sister-in-law Laura, she shares how denying your truth disconnects you from your voice—and how letting it surface is what makes healing possible.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Set goals around how you want to feel, not just what you want to do.

• Emotions are old data, not destiny.

• Suppressing truth corrodes self-trust; expressing it clears the path forward.

• It’s not the truth that sets you free—it’s you who must set the truth free.

If you are ready to get support from a community of women who are co-creating this change with intention and clarity— Click here to BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL. 

Do you want help from Colleen with a situation you’re struggling with? Click here to submit your question for Colleen’s NEW Q&A episodes. Your name will not be mentioned on air! 

Find me on:

YouTube: @HangoverWhisperer

TikTok: @hangoverwhisperer

Instagram: @thehangoverwhisperer 

X (Twitter) : @NotAboutTheAlc

Transcript

After years of trying to fix her life by rearranging circumstances, Colleen finally stopped—and turned inward. This is the story of how admitting “I’m not okay” became the first real act of self-trust. Instead of solving her life, she began tending to herself like someone worth saving, and discovered that clarity comes from action, not overthinking.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Admitting you’re not okay can be the first step to freedom.

• Action creates clarity; thinking in circles deepens the trap.

• Your emotions are signals, not problems to solve.

• Trust is built by showing up for yourself, not performing for others.

If you are ready to get support from a community of women who are co-creating this change with intention and clarity— Click here to BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL. 

Do you want help from Colleen with a situation you’re struggling with? Click here to submit your question for Colleen’s NEW Q&A episodes. Your name will not be mentioned on air! 

Find me on:

YouTube: @HangoverWhisperer

TikTok: @hangoverwhisperer

Instagram: @thehangoverwhisperer 

X (Twitter) : @NotAboutTheAlc

Transcript

I’d been a daily drinker for over a decade when somehow, I found the motivation to stay sober for an entire weekend. It was actually easy and felt so good that I took the whole next week off. And I remember feeling giddy, like, OMG, It’s over. Apparently, I don’t have to worry about that anymore!

Sadly, habits don’t just disappear overnight. I was soon back to drinking every day, wondering why I couldn’t just snap my fingers and go back to being that version of myself who wasn’t obsessed with alcohol. What happened to the willpower I had found that week and why couldn’t I get it back?

In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about the hidden habit that keeps you stuck in a cycle of overdrinking. I’ll explain what actually causes alcohol use disorder—and why staying sober doesn’t fix it.

This isn’t about willpower, or how much or how often you drink. It’s how you respond to yourself when you make a mistake.

Inside this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why beating yourself up after a “bad night” locks the pattern in deeper

• How to retrain your brain to treat your hangovers with compassion instead of shame

• And what happens when you set realistic expectations and learn how to fail forward.

This episode will give you a foundational perspective shift so you can finally make sense of why trying to rely on willpower doesn’t work—and what actually does.

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.

Want daily updates from me? TikTok: @hangoverwhisperer Instagram: @thehangoverwhisperer Twitter (X): @NotAboutTheAlc YouTube: @hangoverwhisperer

Do you want coaching from Colleen on a situation you’re struggling with? Click here to submit your question. Your name will not be mentioned on air! 

In this continuation, Colleen shares how West Virginia shifted her in ways she didn’t see coming. She found herself in a community where image didn’t matter, where people belonged by being present, not by performing. That freedom to be—messy hair, bare face, imperfect and real—awakened something deeper: the possibility of self-trust.

The relationships and experiences from that time became a compass she carried forward. Even as life evolved, that season revealed what authenticity feels like, and how quickly it disappears when we chase approval instead of honoring ourselves.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• True belonging isn’t earned—it’s experienced when you drop the mask.

• Freedom grows when you stop measuring yourself against external standards.

• Authenticity isn’t about circumstances—it’s about how you choose to show up.

• The lessons that change us most are the ones we carry long after we leave a place.

If you are ready to get support from a community of women who are co-creating this change with intention and clarity— Click here to BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL. 

Do you want help from Colleen with a situation you’re struggling with? Click here to submit your question for Colleen’s NEW Q&A episodes. Your name will not be mentioned on air! 

Find me on:

YouTube: @HangoverWhisperer

TikTok: @hangoverwhisperer

Instagram: @thehangoverwhisperer 

X (Twitter) : @NotAboutTheAlc

Transcript

In this episode, Colleen begins a five-part mini-series by reflecting on a season of life where everything looked perfect on the outside—four children, big career moves, and daily discipline to name a few. But on the inside she was hollow, disconnected, and coping in ways that kept her stuck. The move to West Virginia became more than a change of scenery; it became a field trip into herself.

It was here she first began to see the difference between living to perform and learning to be. What felt like upheaval at the time now stands out as a turning point—the beginning of finding her own voice beneath the roles and responsibilities.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Success without connection to self eventually collapses.

• Coping mechanisms are often misguided attempts at emotional regulation.

• Living “from the outside in” erodes trust in your own experience.

• Sometimes the biggest gifts come disguised as disruption.

If you are ready to get support from a community of women who are co-creating this change with intention and clarity— Click here to BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL. 

Do you want help from Colleen with a situation you’re struggling with? Click here to submit your question for Colleen’s NEW Q&A episodes. Your name will not be mentioned on air! 

Find me on:

YouTube: @HangoverWhisperer

TikTok: @hangoverwhisperer

Instagram: @thehangoverwhisperer 

X (Twitter) : @NotAboutTheAlc

Transcript

You know that feeling after you push through a big event or deadline—the letdown that leaves you tired, unmotivated, and maybe even sick ?

Most women assume it’s either “burnout” or “laziness.” But according to my guest, Dr. Aimee Apigian, it’s actually a trauma response.

Dr. Aimee is a medical physician, trauma expert, and host of The Biology of Trauma podcast is here to explain why our bodies store trauma and how that trauma quietly drives brain fog, fatigue, autoimmune disorders, and even nightly drinking habits.

In this conversation, we unpack:

• How to tell the difference between a stress and trauma response based on what you’re thinking

• Why extended periods of stress without recovery cause trauma

• What it actually looks like to complete the trauma response instead of storing it

• Simple ways to give your body time, safety, and energy so it can reset

I’m also going to share my own story of the crash I had after a recent retreat I hosted,  and what changed when I treated my trauma response with compassion instead of my usual bullwhip. You’ll hear Dr. Aimee break it down in real time.

If you’ve been blaming yourself for not having enough willpower, for being “too tired,” or for never getting it together… you need to hear this. Your body isn’t broken, it’s protecting you. You just have to learn how to return the favor. 

Click here to order Dr. Aimee Apigian’s book The Biology of Trauma: How the Body Holds Fear, Pain and Overwhelm, and How to Heal It. 

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.

Want daily updates from me? TikTok: @hangoverwhisperer Instagram: @thehangoverwhisperer Twitter (X): @NotAboutTheAlc and YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hangoverwhisperer

—Do you want coaching from Colleen on a situation you’re struggling with? Click here to submit your question. Your name will not be mentioned on air! 

In this episode, Colleen explores the powerful intersection of science and spirituality—from dopamine research and environmental design to Michael Singer, Don Miguel Ruiz, and Bruce Lipton. Drawing on both brain science and lived experience, she makes a simple but life-changing point: reality isn’t what’s “out there.” It’s what your brain chooses to notice.

Out of millions of possible inputs, your brain filters just a few—and those choices shape your emotions, your energy, and your life. Truth is not abstract dogma or moral code—it’s the felt sense that opens your heart and mind. When you learn to notice what you’re noticing, you reclaim the power to create a reality that feels expansive, joyful, and true.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• The brain processes 11 million inputs every second but only notices ~40—you get to influence which 40.

• “Truth” is felt in the body: it opens your heart and creates curiosity, hope, and creativity.

• The 3D world is neutral; meaning comes from how you interpret and judge it.

• Your focus works like an algorithm: whatever you attend to, you’ll see more of.

• Emotions aren’t nuisances—they’re invitations to examine what you’re projecting and receiving.

• Notice the “newsfeed” in your mind: what stories dominate, and how do they make you feel?

• By shifting attention toward what expands you, you rewire your lived reality.

If you are ready to get support from a community of women who are co-creating this change with intention and clarity— Click here to BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL. 

Do you want help from Colleen with a situation you’re struggling with? Click here to submit your question for Colleen’s NEW Q& A episodes. Your name will not be mentioned on air! 

Find me on:

YouTube: @HangoverWhisperer

TikTok: @hangoverwhisperer

Instagram: @thehangoverwhisperer 

X (Twitter) : @NotAboutTheAlc

Transcript

In this episode, Colleen shares a personal story of missed flights, expired licenses, stolen wallets—and how choosing bat-shit positive over bat-shit negative turned each obstacle into an unexpected gift. With humor and honesty, she reframes setbacks not as evidence that life is against us, but as opportunities to practice trust, adaptability, and creativity.

Through this lens, even a canceled car rental or lost wallet becomes training ground for a deeper truth: the problem is never the problem. It’s the mindset that labels it as wrong that keeps us stuck. When we shift into curiosity—asking, “How is this happening for me?”—the very circumstances we once resented become portals to wisdom, resilience, and growth.

This is more than a pep talk. It’s a lived reminder that shit makes the best fertilizer—what looks like a mess today might be the soil for everything you’ve been waiting for.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• You can only rise to the level of problem you’re capable of solving.

• The mindset that sees a problem can’t solve it—only a growth mindset can.

• Every obstacle is neutral until we assign meaning; you can choose negative or positive.

• “This is happening for me, not to me” turns setbacks into training grounds.

• Wisdom comes through mistakes, pain, and struggle—not through perfection.

• When you trust that you’ll be okay in the long run, today’s problems become gifts.

• Shit makes the best fertilizer: what looks messy now may grow your strongest roots.

If you are ready to get support from a community of women who are co-creating this change with intention and clarity— Click here to BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL. 

Do you want help from Colleen with a situation you’re struggling with? Click here to submit your question for Colleen’s NEW Q& A episodes. Your name will not be mentioned on air! 

Find me on:

YouTube: @HangoverWhisperer

TikTok: @hangoverwhisperer

Instagram: @thehangoverwhisperer 

X (Twitter) : @NotAboutTheAlc

Transcript

What if the struggles you face today as a woman didn’t start with you—but with your mother, and her mother before her? In this powerful conversation, therapist and certified mother-daughter coach Erica Thomas shares how our earliest identity as “daughter” shapes our personality, our relationships and even how we show up at work.

We’re breaking open the cultural and familial scripts that keep women small—silencing our voices, worrying more about how things look than how they feel, and losing ourselves in people-pleasing servitude. You’ll hear Erica’s personal story, why she believes the patriarchy often lives inside us, and how healing the mother-daughter wound creates generational change that ripples both forward and backward in time.

This episode is part truth-telling, part blueprint: a call to every woman who wants to stop carrying the emotional weight she inherited, and start living with authenticity and personal power.

Erica Thomas is a licensed psychotherapist of over 20 years and a mother-daughter relationship expert driven to create generational change for women. As the founder of Vita Nova Counseling and Vita Nova Mother-Daughter Coaching, Erica guides women to heal past hurts and growth into their God-given potential and helps mothers and daughters transform generational legacies into ones that leave healing, hope, reconnection, and empowerment. 

Find Erica on social media Facebook: @vitanovaLHTX Instagram: @vitanovacounseling LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ericagthomas

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.

Want daily updates from me? TikTok: @hangoverwhisperer Instagram: @thehangoverwhisperer Twitter (X): @NotAboutTheAlc YouTube: @hangoverwhisperer

—Do you want coaching from Colleen on a situation you’re struggling with? Click here to submit your question. Your name will not be mentioned on air!