Rewired Sober: The Next Chapter

⬇️ READY TO GO DEEPER?

Rewired Sober 1:1 Coaching Spots Are Open (But Fill Up Fast) Start anytime and get 3 months of guidance from Kate designed for women in sobriety. Book a discovery call to inquire: https://calendly.com/katevitelacoaching/deep-dive-1-1-w-kate

Connect with Kate @rewiredsober on all social media platforms:

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/rewiredsober/

Email: [email protected]

Everyone is talking about nervous system regulation—but what does that actually look like in real life?

In this episode, Kate sits down with nurse coach Amyee to talk about emotional numbness, why so many women feel disconnected from themselves, and what’s really happening in the body after years of stress, trauma, and dysregulation.

They explore the idea of numbness as a “black hole”—something many women avoid through coping behaviors like drinking, scrolling, shopping, overeating, and overworking. But what if those behaviors aren’t failures… and are actually attempts to regulate an overwhelmed nervous system?

This conversation breaks down:

• why numbness happens
• how the nervous system drives coping behaviors
• the difference between mindset work and somatic work
• why proper training matters in somatic coaching
• and how to start reconnecting with your body in practical, real-life ways

If you’ve ever felt checked out, flat, or like you’re just going through the motions—this episode will help you understand why… and what to do next.

• Nervous system regulation in everyday life
• Emotional numbness and disconnection
• Trauma, chronic stress, and dysregulation
• The “black hole” of avoided emotions
• Why women numb out (alcohol, scrolling, food, shopping, overworking)
• Somatic work vs. mindset work
• The importance of training and expertise in somatic coaching
• Practical tools for grounding and staying present

Numbness Isn’t Random

Why feeling flat, disconnected, or “off” is often the result of a chronically overwhelmed nervous system—not a personal failure.

The Black Hole

The uncomfortable truth: many women avoid deeper pain, grief, or unresolved emotions by staying busy, distracted, or numbed out—and what it takes to actually face that space.

Coping Isn’t the Problem

Drinking, scrolling, eating, shopping, overworking—these aren’t just bad habits. They’re attempts to regulate stress when your system doesn’t feel safe.

Why Mindset Isn’t Enough

You can’t think your way into feeling safe. This episode explores why empowerment has to include the body—not just thoughts.

Somatic Work That Actually Helps

What real nervous system support looks like (and why training matters if someone is guiding others through this work).

Practical Regulation (Without Escaping Your Life)

Simple, realistic ways to stay grounded, aware, and connected to your body throughout the day.

Connect with the guest Amyee Oen:

www.amyeeoen.com

IG/FB @amyeeoen @findyourtruenorthcoaching

Connect with Kate at Rewired Sober on All Social Media Platforms

Book a Discovery Call with Kate: https://calendly.com/katevitelacoaching/deep-dive-1-1-w-kate

Email the Podcast: [email protected]

In this solo episode, Kate shares what she can feel falling away in her life—and what she’s consciously choosing to embrace instead.

Inspired by a meditation on the goddess Kali from the work of Meggan Watterson and the spiritual teaching of choosing love over fear from A Course in Miracles, Kate reflects on the identities, beliefs, and systems she’s outgrowing.

From recovery dogma and online hustle culture to “good girl” conditioning, this episode explores what it looks like to stop shrinking—and start living with honesty, courage, creativity, and unapologetic feminist energy.

Kate reflects on a powerful question that emerged during a meditation inspired by the work of Meggan Watterson and her Divine Feminine oracle deck.

The card of the goddess Kali invites a confronting but liberating intention:

release all that doesn’t serve you and become the truth of who you are.

This episode explores what it means to consciously choose love over fear, a concept also central to the teachings of A Course in Miracles.

Kate shares several areas of life where she can feel old identities, beliefs, and structures naturally falling away—and what she is embracing instead.

This conversation is about honesty, growth, and the courage to outgrow what once felt necessary.

• Shedding the pressure of the online business “hustle culture” model and embracing authentic connection with real communities of women in recovery

• Letting go of recovery dogma, fear-based thinking, and outdated rhetoric while embracing neuroscience, feminism, soul work, and self-trust

• Releasing the “good girl” conditioning that keeps women quiet about politics, injustice, and women’s rights—and finding the courage to speak honestly

• Redefining fashion and creativity as personal expression rather than trend-chasing or external validation

• The spiritual practice of allowing old identities to fall away so a more authentic life can emerge

This episode is an invitation to ask yourself:

What in my life is an old skin?

What am I holding onto out of fear?

And what might happen if I chose love instead?

Early sobriety can feel confusing, emotional, and honestly… pretty weird. You quit drinking and everyone expects life to magically improve overnight. But the truth is, the early stages of sobriety often come with exhaustion, emotional whiplash, boredom, and a lot of questions about who you are without alcohol.

In this solo episode, Kate Vitela, RN, takes a no-nonsense, honest look at early sobriety—what’s actually happening in your brain, why emotions feel so intense, and why this phase can feel both awkward and transformative at the same time.

Kate breaks down the real challenges people face after quitting alcohol, from the neurological recalibration happening in your brain to the emotional and identity shifts that often follow. She also shares practical ways to stabilize your nervous system, rebuild routines, and navigate the messy middle of sobriety without shame.

This conversation is especially relevant for midlife women who have spent years carrying responsibilities, performing strength, and using alcohol as a socially acceptable coping tool. When alcohol leaves the picture, many women begin reclaiming clarity, boundaries, creativity, and self-trust.

Early sobriety may feel uncomfortable at times—but it’s also where something powerful begins. It’s where you start rebuilding a life that no longer revolves around coping.

If you’re newly sober or questioning your relationship with alcohol, this episode offers a grounded reminder: nothing is wrong with you. Your brain and nervous system are recalibrating, and with time, support, and honesty, a new kind of confidence and clarity can emerge.

• Why early sobriety can feel emotionally intense and disorienting
• What’s actually happening in your brain after you stop drinking
• The emotional whiplash many people experience in the early stages of sobriety
• Why boredom is one of the most common and surprising challenges
• How sobriety can shift relationships and social dynamics
• The identity questions that often arise after alcohol is removed
• Practical strategies that help stabilize the nervous system during early recovery
• Why midlife sobriety can become a powerful turning point for women
• How rebuilding self-trust becomes one of the biggest rewards of sobriety

• Creating structure through sleep, meals, and daily routines
• Moving your body to regulate stress and restore dopamine balance
• Stabilizing blood sugar with consistent nutrition
• Building new rituals to replace drinking habits
• Learning emotional literacy and how to name what you’re feeling
• Reducing unnecessary chaos and protecting your energy
• Staying curious about your experience instead of judging it
• Finding honest conversations and supportive connection

Early sobriety isn’t just about removing alcohol. It’s about rebuilding your nervous system, your identity, and your life. The process can feel awkward and uncomfortable at times—but on the other side of that rebuild is something many people never experienced while drinking: real clarity, self-trust, and freedom.

Work With Kate: https://calendly.com/katevitelacoaching/deep-dive-1-1-w-kate

Email The Podcast: [email protected]

⬇️ READY TO GO DEEPER?

https://linktr.ee/KateVitela

If you’re a midlife woman questioning your relationship with alcohol or figuring out what comes next in sobriety, I’ve created resources to help you move forward with clarity and confidence.

Nurses spend their careers taking care of everyone else. But what happens when the caregiver is the one who needs help?

In this episode, Kate sits down with Stephanie, an ICU nurse with 26 years of experience, a mother of three, and a powerful advocate for honesty and compassion in the conversation around addiction and recovery in healthcare.

Stephanie brings both clinical insight and lived experience to a topic that many nurses know exists—but rarely talk about openly: monitoring programs for healthcare professionals struggling with substance use.

After Kate came across one of Stephanie’s social media posts about receiving a random UA, it sparked a deeper conversation about the realities many nurses face behind the scenes. It also brought Kate back to the origin of her own podcast journey—when the show was first called “You’ve Been Selected,” a phrase that captures what it can feel like to suddenly find yourself navigating recovery systems you never expected to enter.

Together they explore the complex intersection of burnout, stigma, accountability, recovery, and motherhood, and ask a bigger question about healthcare culture:

Are the systems designed to help struggling professionals actually supporting healing—or simply monitoring behavior?

This conversation is not about avoiding responsibility. Patient safety and accountability matter. But so does compassion for the caregivers working in one of the most demanding professions on the planet.

This episode opens an honest discussion about what it looks like to fall, take responsibility, rebuild trust, and find your way forward as both a nurse and a human being.

In this episode we discuss:

• The intense pressures nurses face in high-acuity environments like the ICU

• The connection between burnout, substance use, and mental health in healthcare

• What it’s really like to enter a professional monitoring program

• The fear and stigma many nurses face when asking for help

• Accountability, recovery, and rebuilding a career after crisis

• Navigating motherhood and professional identity during recovery

• How healthcare systems can better support nurses before things reach a breaking point

If you’re a nurse—or anyone working in a high-pressure helping profession—this conversation offers an honest look at the human side of healthcare.

You are not the only one who has struggled, and there is a path forward.

Listen, reflect, and share this episode with a nurse who might need to hear it.

Connect With Kate: https://www.instagram.com/rewiredsober/

Guest Info: Stephanie Kelley https://www.instagram.com/sober_steph_mom_nurse/

In this episode of Rewired Sober, host Kate Vitela, RN sits down with Dawn Nickel, founder of SHE RECOVERS, to explore what women’s recovery looks like when we stop forcing it into one narrow definition.

SHE RECOVERS is a global nonprofit dedicated to making recovery accessible, inclusive, and empowering for all women—not just those recovering from substance use, but women healing from mental health challenges, trauma, eating disorders, burnout, and the many ways life impacts the nervous system.

In this powerful conversation, Dawn shares:

1. Why SHE RECOVERS was created as a nonprofit focused on accessible recovery for women
2. How an intersectional approach honors race, LGBTQ+ identities, lived experience, and cultural context
3. Why “we are all recovering from something” is more than a slogan—it’s a truth rooted in women’s biology and social conditioning
4. The importance of allowing the whole woman into recovery spaces, without fragmenting her experiences
5. Dawn’s personal journey with workaholism and how socially acceptable addictions often go unnamed
6. Why traditional recovery models that insist on “no outside issues” often fail women

This episode challenges the idea that women must separate their struggles into neat categories to deserve support. Instead, it offers a model of recovery that understands trauma, mental health, substance use, overwork, and identity as interconnected—not competing narratives.

If you’ve ever felt like traditional recovery spaces didn’t fully see you, this conversation will resonate deeply.

Because healing doesn’t happen in pieces.

And women don’t recover in isolation

Connect with Kate at Rewired Sober on All Social Media Platforms

Book a Discovery Call with Kate: https://calendly.com/katevitelacoaching/deep-dive-1-1-w-kate

Email the Podcast: [email protected]

Connect With Guest Dawn Nickel:

Websites: https://dawnnickel.com/ and https://sherecovers.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dawnnickelphd

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/recoveringdawn

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-nickel-phd-576ab021/

Women don’t just experience alcohol use disorder differently than men — they are judged differently too.

In this episode, we explore the double standard women face around drinking, addiction, and recovery, including how stigma, biology, trauma, and social expectations intersect to create unique challenges for women.

You’ll learn why women often develop alcohol problems faster, why shame and secrecy delay treatment, and how cultural pressures — including work, caregiving, and societal expectations — contribute to rising alcohol use among women.

We also talk about the concept of being “gaslit” by cultural narratives that frame women’s struggles as moral failure instead of understandable responses to stress and life circumstances.

Most importantly, this episode highlights treatment approaches and recovery pathways that actually support women — including trauma-informed care, nervous system regulation, connection-based healing, and women-centered recovery communities.

If you’ve ever wondered why drinking became a coping tool, or why recovery has felt complicated, this conversation will help you understand the bigger picture — and remind you that change is possible.

1. The double standard society applies to women who drink
2. How stigma and shame impact women differently than men
3. The biology of alcohol and why women develop dependence faster (telescoping effect)
4. Hormones, stress, and nervous system regulation in addiction
5. Trauma exposure and psychological risk factors unique to women
6. The cultural shift: work, caregiving, and the modern “double burden”
7. Why alcohol marketing targets overwhelmed women
8. How social and environmental stress affects substance use patterns
9. Treatment approaches that work well for women
10. The importance of safe spaces and women-centered recovery
11. Radical self-love, healing, and hope in sobriety

Women are not broken.

Women are responding to pressure — biological, psychological, and social.

Understanding context reduces shame.

And reduced shame increases the likelihood of recovery.

Connect with Kate @rewiredsober

Work with Kate https://linktr.ee/KateVitela

What happens when a recovery program that once helped you… stops fitting who you’re becoming?

In this episode, Kate sits down with Kirsten — known online as @sobrietybestie and host of the Sobriety Bestie podcast — to explore what it looks like to question Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) after years of participation.

Kirsten spent 10 years in AA and has now been out for 5. Together, they discuss the complex reality that AA can be helpful for many people — while also examining how dogma, identity labels, and recovery folklore can become limiting or even harmful over time.

This conversation explores topics rarely discussed openly, including:

1. How experiences like trauma, neurodivergence, and mental health challenges are sometimes pathologized as “alcoholism”
2. The psychological impact of labels like “dry drunk,” “defects,” and “restless, irritable, discontent”
3. When recovery culture shifts from supportive to rigid or dogmatic
4. AA folklore versus science-based understanding of behavior and change
5. Myths surrounding Bill Wilson and the founding narratives of AA
6. Why questioning recovery systems can provoke strong reactions — including backlash and hostility
7. The fear many people feel when considering leaving a recovery community
8. Rebuilding self-trust after years of outsourcing authority
9. Whether AA meets criteria associated with high-control groups — and why that question matters
10. What real freedom in recovery can look like outside traditional frameworks

Kate also shares her own experience: AA was helpful early in sobriety, but over time began to feel increasingly rigid and disconnected from her evolving understanding of neuroscience, psychology, and emotional health.

This is not an anti-recovery episode.

It’s a conversation about autonomy, critical thinking, and honoring the complexity of healing.

Because two things can be true at once:

A system can help you survive — and you can still outgrow it.

Mentioned In This Episode:

1. Pathologizing normal human experience as alcoholism
2. Trauma, neurodivergence, and mental health in recovery spaces
3. Big Book culture and “Big Book thumpers”
4. Bill Wilson, AA history, and founder mythology
5. Recovery folklore vs neuroscience and psychology
6. Fear-based messaging in sobriety culture
7. Dogma, identity, and belonging
8. Is AA a cult? Examining the question thoughtfully
9. Backlash, hate mail, and stigma around questioning AA
10. Reclaiming inner authority and sovereignty in recovery

Kirsten, known online as @sobrietybestie, is a recovery advocate and host of the Sobriety Bestie podcast. Her platform focuses on helping people deprogram from Alcoholics Anonymous culture and reclaim their identity, autonomy, and lives after leaving 12-step environments.

WORK WITH KATE

Rewired Sober 1:1 Coaching Spots Are Open (But Fill Up Fast) Start anytime and get 3 months of guidance from Kate designed for women in sobriety. Book a discovery call to inquire:

Connect with Kate @rewiredsober on all social media platforms:

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/rewiredsober/

Email: [email protected]

In this episode, Kate is joined by Simmy, founder of Miracle Maker 1111, for a conversation exploring the connection between belief, identity, energy, and manifestation.

Together they unpack the idea that our internal world — our thoughts, expectations, emotions, and self-concept — shapes the life we experience. Simmy shares her step-by-step approach to manifestation, including the role of visualization, emotional embodiment, spiritual connection, and becoming the kind of person who expects good things to happen.

Rather than framing manifestation as “wishful thinking,” this conversation explores how transformation happens when someone begins to see themselves differently, feel differently, and live from a new internal identity.

Topics covered include:

1. How thoughts and self-concept shape lived experience
2. Visualization as a tool for identity and behavior change
3. Why embodiment matters more than positive thinking
4. Becoming the version of yourself who expects expansion
5. Energy, frequency, and the idea of alignment
6. The role of spirituality and connection to something greater
7. What it means to “match the energy” of the life you want
8. Manifesting health, confidence, change, and personal growth
9. Why real change requires internal coherence, not just external effort

This episode bridges spirituality, identity work, and personal development for anyone interested in how inner change creates outer transformation — whether you call that manifestation, mindset, embodiment, or becoming.

Rewired Sober 1:1 Coaching Spots Are Open (But Fill Up Fast) Start anytime and get 3 months of guidance from Kate designed for women in sobriety. Book a discovery call to inquire:

Connect with Kate @rewiredsober on all social media platforms:

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/rewiredsober/

Email: [email protected]

Guest Info: Simmy is a content creator and manifestation coach. She has been a management consultant for over a decade and is now following her passion of impacting and elevating lives through the power of manifestation. She runs the Miracle Makers_1111 page on Instagram. She explains manifestation from the lens of Neuroscience and Psychology. Her work centers on moving people out of limitation and into self-trust. She supports her clients through belief-rewiring tools, subconscious reprogramming and embodiment practices.

IG: https://www.instagram.com/the_miracle_makers_1111/

Website: https://the-miracle-makers.com/

Burnout isn’t just a personal problem—it’s a cultural one.

In this episode, Kate sits down with former Sociology Professor turned Burnout Coach Dr. Jen Costanza for a refreshingly honest conversation about what it actually means to live in today’s world as a woman, a professional, and a human being with a nervous system.

Together, they unpack how modern culture pressures women to perform wellness instead of experience it, why “having it all together” is often a lie, and how burnout is frequently a rational response to unrealistic expectations—not a personal failure.

Dr. Jen shares openly about navigating imposter syndrome despite holding a PhD from Ivy League institution Brown University, and how even highly educated, accomplished women still struggle with self-doubt—especially when showing up online as coaches, educators, and thought leaders.

This conversation is grounding, intelligent, funny, and deeply validating—especially for high-functioning women who are tired of trying to optimize themselves into worthiness.

1. Why burnout is both a nervous system issue and a societal issue
2. The cultural pressure for women to perform wellness instead of practicing it
3. How “wine culture” became a socially acceptable coping mechanism for overwhelmed women
4. The invisible emotional labor women carry—and its impact on the body
5. Imposter syndrome, even with elite credentials and years of experience
6. What it’s really like to show up on social media as a coach, educator, or professional
7. Owning your voice and expertise without needing to over-prove yourself
8. Why sustainable healing doesn’t require a complex or expensive wellness strategy
9. The overlooked power of foundational practices:
10. Sleep
11. Nutrition
12. Purposeful movement
13. Nervous system regulation
14. How breathwork supports emotional regulation, safety in the body, and burnout recovery
15. Remembering joy, play, and pleasure as essential—not optional—parts of healing

You don’t need a perfect morning routine.

You don’t need to buy your way into healing.

And you’re not behind—you’re likely just burned out.

Sometimes the most powerful path forward is the simplest one:

tending to your body, telling the truth, resting without guilt, and remembering that you are already enough.

Rewired Sober 1:1 Coaching Spots Are Open (But Fill Up Fast) Start anytime and get 3 months of guidance from Kate designed for women in sobriety. Book a discovery call to inquire:

Connect with Kate @rewiredsober on all social media platforms:

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/rewiredsober/

Email: [email protected]

Dr. Jen Costanza is a former sociology professor turned burnout coach, and breathwork facilitator who studies the intersection of identity, culture, performance, and wellbeing. Her work centers around helping people move out of survival mode and reconnect with sustainable ways of living—without the pressure to constantly self-optimize.

Connect with Guest Jennifer Costanza: @rooted.life

Website: https://www.rooted.life

Free Burnout Recovery Guide: https://rootedlife.myflodesk.com/map

In this raw solo episode of Rewired Sober, Kate celebrates eight years of sobriety while recording from New York City during her annual Fashion Week trip. This isn’t a highlight reel — it’s an honest reflection on self-trust, identity, boundaries, feminism, spirituality, grief, creativity, and what actually changes when you build a life you don’t need to escape from.

Kate explores how sobriety reshaped everything: how she dresses, how she speaks up, how she chooses relationships, how she handles discomfort, and how she trusts herself more deeply than ever before. From tattoos and style as self-expression (not performance), to perfectionism, late blooming, public growth, financial stability, emotional resilience, and spiritual curiosity — this episode is about becoming more yourself with every year sober.

If you’ve ever wondered who you’re becoming after you quit drinking, this one’s for you.

• Celebrating 8 years sober in NYC during her annual Fashion Week trip

• Self-trust as the real transformation of sobriety

• Style, tattoos, and identity (no longer performing for approval)

• Dressing for yourself, not the male gaze

• Radical honesty and the peace of having nothing to hide

• Realizing nobody is watching you as closely as you think

• Building a sober life with structure, routines, and real energy

• Outgrowing people, places, and identities naturally

• Boundaries without guilt: “If it’s not fun sober, it’s not fun”

• Emotional resilience and sitting with discomfort instead of numbing

• Being wrong, evolving, and changing your mind publicly

• Feminism, social awareness, and seeing the world more clearly in sobriety

• Exploring spirituality without shame or self-abandonment

• The concept of being both fully human and fully divine

• Grieving the moments alcohol stole (vacations, concerts, presence)

• Perfectionism, repression, and why rebellion softens when you choose yourself

• Major life stressors navigated sober: loss, illness, financial strain, career upheaval

• Building a bold, creative life after alcohol (business, podcast, public voice)

• Late blooming, divine timing, and trusting your life’s unfolding

• The financial clarity sobriety actually creates

• Standing up for yourself professionally

• Holding paradox: two things can be true at the same time

Rewired Sober 1:1 Coaching Spots Are Open (But Fill Up Fast) Start anytime and get 3 months of guidance from Kate designed for women in sobriety. Book a discovery call to inquire:

Connect with Kate @rewiredsober on all social media platforms:

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/rewiredsober/

Email: [email protected]