Ever felt like drinking just wasn’t working for you anymore, even if nothing looked "wrong" from the outside? That’s exactly where Hadley Sorenson found herself. This week on Sisters in Sobriety, Sonia and Kathleen sit down with Hadley—writer, speaker, and sobriety advocate—who is on a mission to help women change their relationship with alcohol without shame, stigma, or outdated labels.

Hadley gets real about her journey—how she ignored red flags for years, the pressure to keep drinking because “everyone else was,” and why she finally decided to call it quits. The conversation dives into all the big questions: How do you know when it’s time to stop? What if your drinking looks normal to everyone else? How do you navigate sobriety when your partner still drinks? And how do you shake off the idea that quitting means missing out?

If you’ve ever questioned your drinking but felt like you weren’t “bad enough” to quit, this episode is for you. Hadley breaks down why “rock bottom” is a myth, shares how alcohol was messing with her mental health way more than she realized, and gives honest insight into what sobriety has actually done for her life, relationships, and running game. Spoiler alert: It’s all way better than she expected.

She also talks about why she doesn’t use the label “alcoholic,” how marketing and pop culture keep women stuck in the drinking cycle, and how quitting drinking led her to write a novel (yep, it’s coming soon!).

This is Sisters in Sobriety, the support community that helps women change their relationship with alcohol. Check out our Substack for extra tips, tricks, and resources.

• [00:01:00] Meet Hadley—writer, speaker, and a sobriety advocate with a fresh take.

• [00:02:10] The slow realization that alcohol wasn’t adding anything good to her life.

• [00:04:12] Ignoring red flags: blackouts, anxiety, and shame—but still drinking anyway.

• [00:08:27] The myth of rock bottom—why you don’t have to wait until things fall apart.

• [00:10:15] “If your pan caught fire, you wouldn’t wait for the whole house to burn down.”

• [00:12:19] How alcohol becomes part of our identity (and why that’s so hard to untangle).

• [00:16:03] Why Hadley doesn’t call herself an alcoholic—and why that’s totally okay.

• [00:19:27] The role of alcohol marketing and why it's basically the new "big tobacco."

• [00:22:16] How to stop seeing quitting as deprivation and start seeing it as freedom.

• [00:27:07] Hadley’s thoughts on the “gray area” of drinking and why more voices matter.

• [00:30:00] Why drinking is marketed differently to men and women—and why it matters.

• [00:32:07] What happens when you quit, but your partner still drinks? (Hint: boundaries!)

• [00:36:26] The surprising ways sobriety actually made Hadley’s marriage stronger.

• [00:43:00] All the unexpected physical benefits of quitting alcohol.

• [00:46:52] “Wait… was alcohol making my health issues worse all along?”

• [00:50:06] The power of movement—why running and walking helped Hadley so much.

• [00:54:08] Hadley’s next big project: a novel exploring different relationships with alcohol.

Get in touch with Hadley:

• Hadley’s Instagram

• Hadley’s Website

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🌐 Kathleen’s Website Kathleen does not endorse any products mentioned in this podcast

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