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 circumstances improve — it’s a mindset and a way of being that can exist even in the middle of the mess. Transformation doesn’t come from fixing yourself or performing worthiness, but from believing in the person you’re becoming before your life catches up.

You are invited to examine where you might still be waiting for rescue, and to practice showing up today as the version of yourself who already knows she’s capable, worthy, and ready.

🔑 Key Takeaways:

• The hidden impact of waiting to be “chosen” or saved.

• Power as a feeling that creates new behavior.

• How belief precedes evidence in lasting transformation.

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 don't have a willpower problem. You have a nervous system problem.

In this episode, I'm breaking down the eight principles of self-directed neuroplasticity—how to actually rewire your brain so drinking less stops being a battle and starts becoming automatic.

Here's what most people don't understand: You can't change your drinking habits while you're operating in overwhelm. Your brain literally doesn't have access to the circuits required for behavior change when you're in survival mode.

Which is why all the rules, commitments, and white-knuckling haven't worked. You've been trying to force change from a state that makes change neurologically impossible.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why alcohol use disorder is a stress response pattern, not a character flaw

• The 5 steps of the stress response (and why recognizing The Wall changes everything)

• Why shame makes change impossible—and what to do instead

• The 8 principles that make lasting brain change possible

• Why short, gentle daily somatic practices work better than dramatic or intense lifestyle changes

• How to build new habits without fighting the old ones

This isn't fluffy self-help. This is neuroscience. And once you understand how your brain actually works, you stop blaming yourself and start solving the real problem.

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 episode, Colleen explores how hidden beliefs quietly shape our choices, limit our vision, and create the illusion of safety at the expense of growth. Most of the obstacles we face aren’t outside of us — they’re thoughts we’ve stopped questioning. 

Through the lens of her own experience, she illustrates how well-intentioned reasoning can harden into self-protection, keeping us in familiar patterns that feel comfortable but constraining. This reflection challenges listeners to look beyond circumstances and into the conditioning that sustains them — and introduces a single, powerful question designed to reveal what’s actually in the way of change.

🔑 Takeaways:

• How subtle conditioning reinforces limitation and fear.

• The difference between real safety and perceived security.

• A one-question method to identify your true internal roadblocks.

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 traces a quiet, familiar fear that surfaces whenever we step into new territory — the fear of becoming “too much.” What begins as a loving message to stay safe or small can become an inherited boundary that keeps us from expansion.

Through her own reflection, she reveals how deeply patterned beliefs about worth, service, and visibility shape the nervous system’s response to growth. This isn’t a story about trauma, but about awakening — seeing how the rules we once followed out of love can quietly hold us back from the life we’re ready to create.

🔑 Key Takeaways:

• Growth often feels unsafe because it challenges early emotional conditioning

• Even supportive family messages can reinforce limiting patterns

• The nervous system interprets expansion as risk until safety is redefined

• True empowerment begins when we stop confusing smallness with love

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

Today I’m sharing a powerful conversation from The Period Whisperer podcast with host Bria Gadd.

We talk about the hidden link between hormones, stress, and drinking—why so many high-achieving women end up using alcohol as a coping mechanism.

You’ll hear the truth about emotional sobriety, how the toxic cultural pressure to be “productive” leads to inevitable breakdown in midlife, and why you don’t actually lose control of your drinking—you lose control of your thinking.

If you use alcohol to quiet your mind or reward yourself for another exhausting day, this episode will shift your diagnosis of the problem so you can start working towards a solution that doesn’t require you to stop drinking completely.

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 episode, Colleen exposes one of the most dangerous lies we tell ourselves: “Whatever. I don’t care.” It’s the phrase that sneaks in at the very moment you’re about to follow through on what matters, pulling you back into autopilot. Habits feel easy not because they’re better, but because they’re familiar—and this thought is the detour sign that keeps you circling the same old roads.

She shows how to catch that phrase in real time, flip it, and reconnect with your real intentions. 

It’s not about one big breakthrough—it’s about interrupting the trance again and again until your brain learns a new path forward.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• “Not caring” is a mental detour that keeps you stuck in old patterns.

• Habits feel easier only because they’re familiar, not because they’re better.

• Interrupt the phrase with: “Actually, I do fucking care.”

• Each interruption is a small act of rewiring, building momentum and self-trust.

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

Your nervous system dictates how you think, feel, and act. The problem? The moments you most need perspective are the very moments your biology shuts it down. A racing mind, tense muscles, and cortisol surges aren’t proof you’re broken—they’re proof your survival system thinks you’re facing a predator, when in reality it’s just an email, a bill, or a sideways glance at the grocery store.

In this episode, Colleen explains how your sympathetic nervous system (fight/flight/freeze/fawn/flop) can hijack your focus in an instant—and why the real threat isn’t the stressor, but your body’s reaction to it. She shows how mindfulness gives you the skill to step into the observer role, notice the storm without fusing with it, and create the space to calm your body so your brain can come back online. True power lies in reclaiming your pause.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Your thoughts and emotions are nervous system states—not permanent truths.

• Stress hijacks your body first; calm restores your power to choose.

• You can’t stop the stress response from firing, but you can notice it and interrupt the loop.

• Modern stressors (emails, money, approval) trigger ancient survival wiring—recognize the mismatch.

• Mindfulness trains you to shift into the observer role instead of reacting on autopilot.

Viktor Frankl’s reminder: “Between stimulus and response, there is space.” Your power lives there.

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

Today I’m back with Sunnyside podcast host Mike Hardenbrook for a conversation that pops the hood on why willpower isn’t enough to change your drinking habits.

We talk about what’s really happening in your brain and nervous system when you reach for a drink, why your desire to drink has nothing to do with alcohol. Your body craves relief from stress and anxiety and the pressure of everyday life.  You’ll walk away with the exact, science-backed shifts I teach my clients that make drinking in moderation a natural side effect of feeling more grounded and at ease.

If you’ve ever wondered why wanting to change doesn’t stop you from pouring another drink, this episode will show you how to break the cycle from the inside out.

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 episode, Colleen draws from Keira Bobinet’s Unstoppable Brain to unpack how perfectionism wires the brain for shame and shutdown. The real shift isn’t about tallying wins and losses—it’s about adopting an iterative mindset, where results are just feedback and every moment is a new chance to adjust. When you stop chasing the highs to avoid the lows, you stop living on a scoreboard and start reclaiming your power. One of the biggest mistakes women make when they start changing their drinking is believing early wins mean they’ve “arrived.” A mindful weekend or a stretch of moderation feels like victory—but if you tie your worth to performance, a setback feels like failure. And that’s the trap.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Early wins are encouraging—but they’re not the finish line.

• Performance-based self-worth keeps you stuck in shame and relapse.

• The iterative mindset: there’s no failure, only feedback and strategy adjustments.

• Painful emotions don’t reveal your worth—they point to distorted beliefs ready to be cleared.

• Your power comes from taking action without waiting for guarantees, and trusting yourself to respond no matter the outcome.

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 final chapter of her West Virginia series, Colleen shares a mysterious story about her daughter Anna—and what felt like a sign from Laura, reminding them both that their needs matter. Whether coincidence or something more, it revealed a deeper truth: your voice is your lifeline back to yourself.

Choosing to name what you need is not selfish—it’s how you stop living by others’ expectations and start living by your own. When you use your voice, the truths that once ruled you quietly from the shadows lose their power.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• Meaning is something you choose—so choose meaning that frees you.

• Suppressed needs harden into self-abandonment.

• Speaking your truth restores trust in yourself.

• Your voice is your freedom—and using it is how you come home to yourself.

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