🎧 Episode Description

This episode is an emotionally rich, thoughtful exploration of motherhood, storytelling, friendship, and addiction. Sophie reflects on how her podcast began long before podcasting was popular- born out of frustration and a desire for honesty. Instead of curated perfection, she and co-host Jen offered chaos, humour, truth, and community and thousands of women saw themselves reflected, often for the first time.

Sophie also shares deeply personal experiences with mental illness, alcoholism and self-loathing, describing how shame can follow us from childhood into adulthood until compassion interrupts the pattern. Through laughter, vulnerability, and storytelling, she shows how honesty can become a form of healing.

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🔑 Key Points

🎙 Podcasting with No Blueprint- A movement born from instinct, not strategy.

👭 Friendship as Creative Foundation- Trust, humour, and emotional safety.

👶 Motherhood Without Filters- Breaking away from curated Instagram motherhood.

🧠 Postnatal Depression & Mental Health Struggles- Real emotional aftermath of motherhood.

🍷 Addiction & The First Drink at 13- Relief, identity, and survival.

✨ Compassion Through Seeing Children Clearly- Realising nothing was her fault.

📢 Women’s Voices & The Power of Being Heard - Solidarity and storytelling.

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📚 Mentioned in this Episode

Mother of Pod / Stop the Madness Podcast

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⏱️ Timestamps

00:00- How the podcast unexpectedly began

05:10- “Be my pod wife” moment

08:40- Building Patreon & creative freedom

13:20- Irish storytelling culture

18:10- Postnatal depression & emotional reality

23:50- When listeners share their truth

30:20- Addiction & first drink story

33:00- Breastfeeding pressure & guilt

40:00- Addiction, breakdown & survival

52:30- Women’s safety & public space

59:00- Parenting, screens & doing our best

Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube here. Don’t forget to follow The Laura Dowling Experience podcast on Instagram @lauradowlingexperience for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling, @fabulouspharmacist for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.

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