The Big Drink Rethink

By Anna Donaghey

The Big Drink Rethink is a podcast for anyone questioning their relationship with alcohol - whether you want to quit, drink less, take a break, or just explore the role alcohol plays in your life.

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How many episodes does The Big Drink Rethink have?

The podcast currently has 141 episodes available.

Best of The Big Drink Rethink

The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

Number 1: Ep 136: The Alcohol - ADHD Connection | Rethinking Alcohol |
Why does alcohol seem to have a different, more intense pull for some people - and could undiagnosed ADHD be the missing piece of the puzzle? In this episode, Anna Donaghey is joined by Matt Wing, a midlife mentor who spent over 30 years in a cycle of high achievement and high-functioning drinking, before a late ADHD diagnosis reframed everything. Together, they explore the misunderstood relationship between ADHD and alcohol use, bust the myth that it’s a simple willpower problem, and break down the real, neurological drivers behind compulsive drinking. Highlights: 00:00 Intro: Meet Matt Wing, midlife mentor, exploring ADHD and alcohol 01:13 Decades of "normal" drinking and the invisible exhaustion under it 04:45 Compulsive self-fixing, failed solutions, and obsessive searching 06:12 The pink book, ADHD traits, and why self-help didn't always land 10:21 ADHD as a chronic dopamine deficit 11:08 Instant dopamine hits: why nothing's enough 12:44 Why attempts to cut down usually fail: it's not a "willpower" issue 15:03 Alcohol's social acceptance hides its true addictiveness 18:02 ADHD drinking: urgency, intensity, and chasing the unattainable 23:19 Why 4pm is the real problem, not "having a drink problem" 24:16 Racing head syndrome: alcohol as the only "off switch" that works 29:19 Hyperfocus, the evening crash, and alcohol as relief not reward 31:13 Rejection sensitivity and rejection-sensitive dysphoria in ADHD 33:28 Why social drinking feels so necessary (and so hard to quit) 34:38 "Time blindness": why the ADHD brain struggles with "forever” 43:04 The missed ADHD generation: making sense of the past 46:22 New ways to soothe the nervous system 51:40 Growth mindset: you're not stuck, and social skills can be learned 53:37 ADHD as a superpower if you channel it right 56:40 Where to find Matt Wing and resources to get support. Anna’s book "What Are You Thirsty For? Rethinking Alcohol and The Life You Want", is now out in the world for you to buy! Order your copy, access her free tools and explore her coaching programmes at: https://thebigdrinkrethink.com/ The Thirsty For More Mindset Lab is Anna’s ‘inner circle’ - a calm, thoughtful space where conversations continue, patterns are explored, and things begin to make sense. Find out more at: https://thirstyformore.substack.com/ If you appreciate the podcast and would like to show a bit of love, you can donate the cost of a coffee here. It helps support the time and care that goes into making the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/bigdrinkrethink About the host Anna: Anna is a certified Alcohol Mindset Coach, trained by Annie Grace of This Naked Mind. Drawing on her own journey out of alcohol addiction, she now helps others explore and control their drinking. With a career spanning 25 years as a Strategist in the Advertising industry, she combines her own lived experiences, with great insight into what makes us tick and what influences us to behave the way we do. Connect with Anna: Website: thebigdrinkrethink.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annadonaghey Instagram: instagram.com/bigdrinkrethink Produced by winteraudio.co.uk About Matt Wing: Matt Wing is the founder of Midlife Mentor, a coaching and content brand for midlife adults who want to change their relationship with alcohol without calling themselves an alcoholic or sitting in a recovery group. He's the creator of the 4PM Reset Method, built around the idea that most people don't have a drinking problem, they have a 4PM problem: the daily window where old habits take over. Matt speaks from experience, not theory, and has helped clients through his 30-Day Reset, 90-Day Deep Work, and 1:1 coaching programmes. He shares free tools and weekly insight through his newsletter, The Friday Feeling, and on Instagram @midlife.mentor, where he's built a community of over 100,000 followers. Connect with Matt: Website: https://www.midlifementor.me/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/midlife.mentor
August 13, 20261h
Number 2: Ep 138: Pain Pushes Until Vision Pulls | Rethinking Alcohol |
What if the life you’re chasing, and the drinking that comes with it, are both keeping you from the life you really want? In this honest conversation, Anna Donaghey welcomes recovery and transition coach Alina Roselli, who shares her journey from living “outside-in” - seeking validation, people-pleasing and pushing through burnout, to soul-led sobriety and deep self-acceptance. Together, they explore why we can lose ourselves trying to meet other people’s expectations, how burnout and exhaustion can force us to question the life we’re living, and why transformation isn’t simply about giving up alcohol, it's about discovering who you are without it. They also explore self-worth, radical honesty, the trap of external validation and practical ways to start living more “inside-out”. For anyone questioning their relationship with alcohol, their sense of purpose, or whether there could be more to life, this episode offers an invitation to stop chasing approval and start coming home to yourself. Highlights: 00:00 Welcome & introduction to Alina Roselli 00:40 Alina’s unraveling, burnout, alcohol and not knowing herself 02:46 The culture of drinking and starting at 15 05:55 Seeking belonging and landing in “image-driven” circles 10:07 What is “outside-in” living and how it shaped Alina’s self worth 12:28 When alcohol shifts from fun to medicine 15:46 How self-image creates our lives (and can keep us lost) 16:43 Burnout as a wake-up call 17:40 Trying everything (yoga, therapy, self-help) but not getting better 23:27 Filling the “God-shaped hole” - how misaligned living leaves us empty 26:04 Making hard changes and letting go of old identities 28:46 Why inside-out living is terrifying and ultimately liberating 30:10 “Pain pushes until the vision pulls”: learning to listen to your soul 32:43 Finding calm, silence, and the right conditions to truly meet yourself 34:19 Discovering introversion, the need for solitude, and creative renewal 36:29 How the small actions revealed a bigger self and a life worth keeping 39:32 How to reconnect with your needs and stop abandoning yourself 41:36 The courage in honesty and the gifts waiting in the unknown 43:42 Acceptance, creativity, and the joy of simply feeling okay 46:35 Becoming yourself changes the world around you 49:33 People have no idea how amazing they are 50:19 How to join The Big Drink Rethink community. Anna’s book "What Are You Thirsty For? Rethinking Alcohol and The Life You Want", is now out in the world for you to buy! Order your copy, access her free tools and explore her coaching programmes at: https://thebigdrinkrethink.com/ The Thirsty For More Mindset Lab is Anna’s ‘inner circle’ - a calm, thoughtful space where conversations continue, patterns are explored, and things begin to make sense. Find out more at: https://thirstyformore.substack.com/ If you appreciate the podcast and would like to show a bit of love, you can donate the cost of a coffee here. It helps support the time and care that goes into making the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/bigdrinkrethink About the host Anna: Anna is a certified Alcohol Mindset Coach, trained by Annie Grace of This Naked Mind. Drawing on her own journey out of alcohol addiction, she now helps others explore and control their drinking. With a career spanning 25 years as a Strategist in the Advertising industry, she combines her own lived experiences, with great insight into what makes us tick and what influences us to behave the way we do. Connect with Anna: Website: thebigdrinkrethink.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annadonaghey Instagram: instagram.com/bigdrinkrethink Produced by winteraudio.co.uk About Alina Roselli: Alina is a recovery and transition coach who believes we are in an epidemic of not knowing who we truly are. Through her recovery and coaching work, she is witnessing firsthand how most people are living as smaller versions of themselves without knowing it. She's developed Soul Coordinates, a portrait that bypasses the mind entirely and reveals who you actually are underneath the survival strategies. Her online community and course, The Naked Soul Path on Skool, is an accessible way to come home to yourself in community. Her own journey through burnout, addiction recovery and self loss is the source of everything she offers Connect with Alina: https://www.alinaroselli.com/
August 27, 202651min
Number 3: Ep 137: The Beliefs Driving Your Drinking | Rethinking Alcohol |
What if your drinking habits aren’t really about alcohol at all, but about the quiet, powerful beliefs sitting beneath the surface? In this solo episode, Anna Donaghey dives into the “Pyramid of Belief”, a simple framework that explains how deeply-rooted feelings of “not enough” shape much of our behaviour, including drinking. Using lived experience and insights from Dave Gray’s "Liminal Thinking," Anna breaks down how our early experiences, the culture we grow up in, and the swirl of online comparison, all reinforce beliefs like “I’m not smart enough,” “I’m not interesting enough,” and “I’m not enough, full stop.” She explores why alcohol so often becomes the go-to answer for the emotional discomfort those beliefs trigger and guides listeners through the first, vital steps to uncovering what they’re really thirsty for. Highlights: 00:00 Welcome & intro 00:40 The "not enough" beliefs we rarely examine 01:13 Why this episode isn’t (really) about alcohol at first 02:14 What is the Pyramid of Belief 05:04 How our minds filter reality 05:57 How a single shame-triggering moment forms a core belief 09:03 Why you’re not flawed and how “not enough” beliefs got there 10:30 Anna Donaghey’s own formative “not smart enough” moment 13:39 The modern "comparison machine" 14:20 How alcohol soothes the “not enough” wound 16:15 Key question: “What is my drinking actually trying to answer for me?” 16:27 Find your own “I’m not enough” belief 17:47 What “I need...” before a drink reveals about your core beliefs 17:59 Why pinning down beliefs (not just thoughts) is tricky 18:42 Announcing a series exploring specific “not enough” beliefs 19:37 None of this is your fault 20:23 Resources & how to join The Big Drink Rethink community. Anna’s book "What Are You Thirsty For? Rethinking Alcohol and The Life You Want", is now out in the world for you to buy! Order your copy, access her free tools and explore her coaching programmes at: https://thebigdrinkrethink.com/ The Thirsty For More Mindset Lab is Anna’s ‘inner circle’ - a calm, thoughtful space where conversations continue, patterns are explored, and things begin to make sense. Find out more at: https://thirstyformore.substack.com/ If you appreciate the podcast and would like to show a bit of love, you can donate the cost of a coffee here. It helps support the time and care that goes into making the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/bigdrinkrethink About the host Anna: Anna is a certified Alcohol Mindset Coach, trained by Annie Grace of This Naked Mind. Drawing on her own journey out of alcohol addiction, she now helps others explore and control their drinking. With a career spanning 25 years as a Strategist in the Advertising industry, she combines her own lived experiences, with great insight into what makes us tick and what influences us to behave the way we do. Connect with Anna: Website: thebigdrinkrethink.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annadonaghey Instagram: instagram.com/bigdrinkrethink Produced by winteraudio.co.uk
August 20, 202621min
Number 4: Ep 133: Why Waiting Until You’re Ready Rarely Works | Rethinking Alcohol |
What if the real reason you feel stuck around drinking isn't a lack of willpower or information, but simply that your thinking can't yet see another way? Anna Donaghey is joined by Doug Fleener, author of "Start with What If" and creator of the "What If Rule", a simple, three-step practice for creating new perspectives in real time. Drawing on his own journey from addiction to leadership roles at Bose Corporation, Doug shares how change really happens: through interruption, curiosity, and asking different questions. Together, he and Anna explore why curiosity trumps willpower, and how tiny shifts - like asking, "What if I just didn't drink today?" can unlock entirely new possibilities. Here are the Highlights: 00:00 Welcome to The Big Drink Rethink 00:45 What if what keeps you stuck isn’t willpower? 01:01 Meet Doug Fleener 02:14 The “What If Rule”: change in real time, not ‘someday’ 03:23 Doug’s 30,000ft wake-up call 06:09 The power of interruptions and rock bottoms 07:11 Why it feels easier to change your state than change your life 15:15 The real impact of asking “What if I didn’t drink just today?” 16:21 Why avoiding forever/never thinking makes change possible 17:47 “I’ll tackle it when I’m ready” - and how action actually creates clarity 23:10 The What If Rule explained: Pause, Question, Go 31:43 Why one pause matters even if you still have the drink 33:13 How identity, habit, and depletion drive drinking autopilot 37:52 Future journaling: setting intentions for who you want to be 41:12 Drinking as a default off-switch for discomfort 43:08 How to sit with feelings (instead of pushing them down) 45:42 “Nobody ever wishes they drank more” 46:47 The permission to start small 49:12 You don’t need a plan, just the next question. Anna’s book "What Are You Thirsty For? Rethinking Alcohol and The Life You Want", is now out in the world for you to buy! Order your copy, access her free tools and explore her coaching programmes at: https://thebigdrinkrethink.com/ The Thirsty For More Mindset Lab is Anna’s ‘inner circle’ - a calm, thoughtful space where conversations continue, patterns are explored, and things begin to make sense. Find out more at: https://thirstyformore.substack.com/ If you appreciate the podcast and would like to show a bit of love, you can donate the cost of a coffee here. It helps support the time and care that goes into making the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/bigdrinkrethink About the host Anna: Anna is a certified Alcohol Mindset Coach, trained by Annie Grace of This Naked Mind. Drawing on her own journey out of alcohol addiction, she now helps others explore and control their drinking. With a career spanning 25 years as a Strategist in the Advertising industry, she combines her own lived experiences, with great insight into what makes us tick and what influences us to behave the way we do. Connect with Anna: Website: thebigdrinkrethink.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annadonaghey Instagram: instagram.com/bigdrinkrethink Produced by winteraudio.co.uk About Doug Fleener: After years of struggle with addiction and self-doubt, Doug rebuilt his life from the inside out. And his journey shaped his belief that transformation begins with one simple question: What if? As the author of “Start With What If” and “The Day Makes the Year (Makes a Life)”, and the creator of The What If Rule, Doug helps people see challenges, habits, and everyday moments in a new light. His insights are practical, hopeful, and deeply human - showing how anyone can create better perspectives and possibilities starting today. Connect with Doug: Website: https://www.dougfleener.com/ Book “Start with What If?”: https://www.dougfleener.com/dougsbooks
July 23, 202651min
Number 5: Ep 139: Toolkit 101 – How To Identify Your Drinking Beliefs | Alcohol Coaching |
What if your drinking is driven less by choice and more by invisible beliefs running beneath the surface? In this solo episode, Anna Donaghey breaks down how beliefs act as our “operating system,” quietly driving our thoughts and behaviours, especially around alcohol. Anna reveals why it’s so difficult to spot the beliefs shaping our drinking, how to distinguish between a thought and a belief, and why simply changing behaviour rarely works unless you dig deeper. With practical examples and the “reverse chain” technique (starting with your behaviour and working backwards), Anna offers clear tools, including the powerful “downward arrow” method to help you uncover the beliefs at the root of your drinking habits and gently rethink your relationship with alcohol. Highlights: 00:00 Welcome & intro 00:41 Recap: The belief “pyramid” and last solo episode 01:20 Why beliefs matter more than thoughts or behaviours 03:10 The difference between a thought and a belief 05:07 Real-world examples: how beliefs quietly shape our actions 12:18 “Alcohol, please help me...”, the jobs we hand to booze 13:38 How habits and beliefs wire together neurologically 14:44 Aaron Beck’s model: core beliefs vs. automatic thoughts 15:35 Why starting with your behaviour is the key to spotting beliefs 16:14 Step-by-step: working backwards from behaviour to belief 24:23 Free guide to run this process anytime 25:30 New episodes: breaking down the most common alcohol beliefs 26:14 Where to find helpful resources. For the worksheet referred to in the episode, visit the toolkit full of free resources on Anna’s website thebigdrinkrethink.com, and download ‘How to Identify Your Drinking Beliefs’ Listen to Episode 137: The Beliefs Driving Your Drinking | Rethinking Alcohol, where Anna shares about the “Pyramid of Belief" and how deeply rooted feelings of “not enough” shape much of our behaviour, including our drinking habits. Anna’s book "What Are You Thirsty For? Rethinking Alcohol and The Life You Want", is now out in the world for you to buy! Order your copy, access her free tools and explore her coaching programmes at: https://thebigdrinkrethink.com/ The Thirsty For More Mindset Lab is Anna’s ‘inner circle’ - a calm, thoughtful space where conversations continue, patterns are explored, and things begin to make sense. Find out more at: https://thirstyformore.substack.com/ If you appreciate the podcast and would like to show a bit of love, you can donate the cost of a coffee here. It helps support the time and care that goes into making the show: https://buymeacoffee.com/bigdrinkrethink About the host Anna: Anna is a certified Alcohol Mindset Coach, trained by Annie Grace of This Naked Mind. Drawing on her own journey out of alcohol addiction, she now helps others explore and control their drinking. With a career spanning 25 years as a Strategist in the Advertising industry, she combines her own lived experiences, with great insight into what makes us tick and what influences us to behave the way we do. Connect with Anna: Website: thebigdrinkrethink.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annadonaghey Instagram: instagram.com/bigdrinkrethink Produced by winteraudio.co.uk
September 03, 202627min