Gentle disclaimer: the nature of this podcast is conversations about edgy stuff. Listen from a grounded, regulated place.

Ashley and Samara talk honestly about alcohol as a survival strategy after trauma. Not from a place of pathology or labels, but from lived experience. We explore what drinking gave us when our nervous systems were overwhelmed, what it protected us from feeling, and the moment when that protection began to cost more than it offered.

This is a conversation about dissociation, regulation, and choice. About why you don’t have to identify as an alcoholic to question your relationship with alcohol, and how listening to the body can open a different way forward. It’s for anyone who has ever used something to survive and is now wondering what comes next.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Alcohol as a nervous system regulator, not a moral failure• Why many survivors don’t resonate with the label “alcoholic” and still choose to stop drinking• How dissociation can feel like relief, spaciousness, or even creativity• The ways alcohol can amplify ancestral and inherited patterns• What happens when a coping strategy stops protecting us• Listening to the body’s signals instead of overriding them• Choosing sobriety or moderation without hitting rock bottom• Grief for what alcohol once provided and gratitude for its role• Finding regulation, presence, and connection without numbing

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