Most of us see anxiety as a personal flaw—something to fix, medicate, or avoid. But what if anxiety isn’t the problem at all? What if it’s the invitation?

In today’s episode, Colleen breaks down the two types of anxiety as explained by Dr. Russell Kennedy—foreground alarm and background alarm—and shares a personal story of how unresolved fears and childhood programming were quietly driving Colleen into burnout... even though her mindset looked great on the surface.

This isn’t just about alcohol. It’s about understanding the real source of your stress, shifting from self-bullying to self-trust, and learning how to work with your nervous system instead of against it.

Whether you’re drinking to deal with anxiety or simply tired of pushing through life at full speed, this episode will help you stop fighting the wrong battle—and start healing what’s actually underneath.

🔑 Key Takeaways:

• Foreground anxiety is triggered by perceived threats—usually created by your thoughts.

• Background anxiety is rooted in unresolved emotional trauma, often from childhood.

• Even when your mindset is strong, your body can still hold onto old fear patterns.

• The real solution isn’t doing more—it’s slowing down to listen and release.

• Emotional sobriety is the power to choose your response, not just manage your reaction.
  
  

Give yourself permission to rest, slow down, and check in with your body instead of overriding it with more effort.

If you are ready to get support from a community of women who are co-creating this change with intention and clarity— Click here to BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL.

Do you want help from Colleen with a situation you’re struggling with? Click here to submit your question for Colleen’s NEW Q& A episodes. Your name will not be mentioned on air!

Find me on

TikTok: @hangoverwhisperer

Instagram: @thehangoverwhisperer

X: @NotAboutTheAlc

Transcript

In today’s episode, Colleen dismantles one of the most common mindset traps she see's in her clients: the belief that anxiety is something to get rid of. If you’ve ever said, “I’m just an anxious person,” or used alcohol to calm your nerves before a flight, presentation, or party—you’re not alone. But what if anxiety itself isn’t the problem?

She'll walk you through a real client breakthrough where they shifted the focus away from “less anxiety” and toward something far more powerful: a regulated nervous system. You’ll learn why trying to “not drink” or “not be anxious” backfires neurologically, and what to focus on instead.

🔑 Key Takeaways:

• Anxiety is normal; our problem is thinking it’s a problem.

• Focusing on what you don’t want wires your brain for more of it.

• The brain can’t solve a negative—it needs a clear, affirmative goal.

• Regulating your nervous system is the secret to lasting change.

• You don’t need to “not drink.” You need to do something else on purpose.
  
  

🛠️ Practice This:

Next time you feel anxious, ask yourself:
What do I want to feel instead—and what would support that feeling right now?

Make a plan for how you want to feel before the plane takes off, the event begins, or the trigger hits.

Then Reflect.

If you are ready to get support from a community of women who are co-creating this change with intention and clarity— Click here to BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL.

Do you want help from Colleen with a situation you’re struggling with? Click here to submit your question for Colleen’s NEW Q& A episodes. Your name will not be mentioned on air!

Find me on

TikTok: @hangoverwhisperer

Instagram: @thehangoverwhisperer

X: @NotAboutTheAlc

Transcript

After 10 months of consistent progress, one of my clients recently found herself drinking every day for two weeks. In this episode, I walk you through the private coaching conversation we had—what really caused the setback, how she responded, and why it had nothing to do with alcohol. If you’ve ever told yourself “I should be farther along by now,” or felt the crushing weight of shame after slipping into old patterns, this episode is a must-listen. You’ll learn how to recognize when you're caught in a thinking problem—not a drinking problem—and how to respond in a way that propels you forward instead of holding you back.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why over-drinking isn’t a sign of failure—but an invitation to go deeper

• The biological reason why stress makes you revert to old coping habits

• How thoughts like “I don’t have enough time” silently sabotage your behavior

• Why the perception of failure activates the “kill-switch” for your motivation

• The power of slowing down, asking for help, and telling yourself the truth

Key Insight:
You can’t change your drinking without changing your thinking. And you can’t change your thinking if your body is in a stress response. Emotional sobriety means learning to create enough internal safety that you can question your own thoughts—without collapsing into shame.

—Want daily updates from me? Find me on TikTok @hangoverwhisperer and IG @thehangoverwhisperer and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@hangoverwhisperer

—Click here to BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL if you’re ready to fully commit to your personal growth and do the work to get emotionally sober. Side effects include an 80 percent reduction in drinking.

—Do you want coaching from Colleen on a situation you’re struggling with? Click here to submit your question. Your name will not be mentioned on air!

In today's episode, you’ll hear a deeply personal story about the night Colleen’s college-age kids brought home a big bottle of vodka—and invited her to join them.

Years ago, this would’ve been the moment she feared the most. But something powerful has shifted. You’ll hear how self-trust changes everything, how desire—not discipline—is what drives real transformation, and why the solution to alcohol use disorder has nothing to do with drinking.

Whether you’re still stuck in the "managing it" phase or wondering how to build a life that feels bigger than your nightly glass of wine, this episode will show you how to trade self-protection for self-permission—and how to begin crafting a new kind of evening ritual, one that gives you energy instead of stealing it.

💡 Key Takeaways:

• You don’t have to stop drinking—you just have to stop lying to yourself about what you actually want.

• Self-trust doesn’t mean never drinking—it means knowing you can, but not needing to.

• Suffering happens when there’s pain without meaning. Healing begins when you give your struggle a purpose.

• The desire to stop thinking about alcohol is valid—but you must replace it with something you do want to think about.

• Knowing isn’t a thought. It’s an experience.
  
  

✨ Action Step:

Create a “purpose list” for your evenings. No pressure, no big goals (seriously)—just a short list of new things you’d like to try, feel, or experience. The fastest way to uncover your deeper desires is to give yourself permission to explore.

If you are ready to get support from a community of women who are co-creating this change with intention and clarity— Click here to BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL.

Do you want help from Colleen with a situation you’re struggling with? Click here to submit your question for Colleen’s NEW Q& A episodes. Your name will not be mentioned on air!

Find me on

TikTok: @hangoverwhisperer

Instagram: @thehangoverwhisperer

X: @NotAboutTheAlc

Transcript

If the solution to alcohol use disorder isn’t a behavior, but a feeling— HOW THE HELL DO YOU PRACTICE A FEELING?

In today’s episode, Colleen breaks down the mindset shift that will completely change the way you think about manifestation. Not the toxic, glittery, vision-board version. But the grounded, neuroscience-backed practice of training your body and brain to feel powerful on purpose—so you don’t need alcohol to feel that way for you.

Colleen explains why "wanting" and "waiting" energy keeps you stuck, why your thoughts aren’t facts (even the convincing ones), and how to get off the mental hamster wheel of self-doubt, disappointment, and shame. If you’re ready to stop “trying to change” and start experiencing change in real time—this one’s for you.

Key Takeaways:

• The solution to alcohol use disorder is a feeling—not a behavior.

• Thoughts are habits. What you believe isn’t always true—it’s just familiar.

• Manifestation isn’t magic; it’s alignment. Feel like the version of you you want to become.

• Wanting and waiting energy blocks progress. “What’s working now” energy opens the path forward.

• You can only think how you feel. Change your feeling, and your brain will catch up.
  
  

Action Step:

Get a What’s Working Now journal. Start tracking all the tiny signs that your transformation is already happening. Even if you wake up hungover. Especially if you wake up hungover. The more you train your brain to notice wins, the more progress you’ll make.

If you are ready to get support from a community of women who are co-creating this change with intention and clarity— Click here to BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL.

Do you want help from Colleen with a situation you’re struggling with? Click here to submit your question for Colleen’s NEW Q& A episodes. Your name will not be mentioned on air!

Find me on:

TikTok: @hangoverwhisperer

Instagram: @thehangoverwhisperer

X: @NotAboutTheAlc

Transcript

Most women assume their drinking habit is a willpower issue. But what if your body is actually sounding an alarm?

In today’s episode, Colleen sits down with functional medicine expert Dr. Meg Mill to unpack the hidden connection between histamines, hormones, and alcohol. If your wine tolerance has changed, your moods are all over the place, or you’re feeling bloated, anxious, or inflamed—this conversation is essential.

Dr. Meg explains how histamines affect everything from headaches to anxiety, why your red wine might hit differently depending on the time of month, and what to do if you feel like your body is reacting to everything lately.

This isn’t about giving up pleasure—it’s about understanding what your body is asking for.

💡 Key Takeaways:

• Histamines are immune messengers that can drive inflammation and trigger symptoms like anxiety, insomnia, and headaches

• Alcohol both contains histamines and stimulates their release, especially during periods of hormone fluctuation

• You don’t need to eliminate foods/drinks that contain histamines forever—but you might need a temporary reset

• Functional medicine is about root cause—not symptom suppression

• If your wine habit has escalated, it might be your nervous system, not your personality

Find Dr. Meg Mill on social media @drmegmill

Click here to get Dr. Meg’s Essential Guide to Histamine Intolerance:

—Want daily updates from me? Find me on TikTok @hangoverwhisperer and IG @thehangoverwhisperer and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@hangoverwhisperer

—Click here to BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL if you’re ready to fully commit to your personal growth and do the work to get emotionally sober. Side effects include an 80 percent reduction in drinking.

—Do you want coaching from Colleen on a situation you’re struggling with? Click here to submit your question. Your name will not be mentioned on air!

In today's episode, Colleen shares a story about a client who unsubscribed from her email list—and how that one glitch almost triggered a cascade of false assumptions, unspoken tension, and missed opportunity. It’s a reminder that the smallest emotional reactions (the ones that barely register) are often the most dangerous. Because they go unchecked. Unquestioned. Unchallenged.

This episode will help you stop letting your emotions drive blind—and show you how to reroute your thinking so you can create a different future than your past.

💡 Key Takeaways:

• Emotions are learned rules encoded into your body—and most never reach conscious awareness.

• A belief is just a thought you stopped questioning.

• Micro-assumptions shape your reality more than you realize.

• What you feel first isn’t always true—but it is always an opportunity.

• If you want your future to be different, you have to stop bringing your past with you.
  
  
  

✨ Action Step:

Pause today and ask: “Where am I assuming something without checking it?” Then get curious. Say the weird thing. Ask the uncomfortable question. You might be one honest conversation away from everything changing.

If you are ready to get support from a community of women who are co-creating this change with intention and clarity— Click here to BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL.

Do you want help from Colleen with a situation you’re struggling with? Click here to submit your question for Colleen’s NEW Q& A episodes. Your name will not be mentioned on air!

Find me on

TikTok: @hangoverwhisperer

Instagram: @thehangoverwhisperer

Transcript

In today’s episode, Colleen shares the most powerful skill you can develop on your emotional sobriety journey: how you respond to yourself when you slip into old habits.

Whether you drank more than you planned or simply feel like you’ve lost your way again, this episode will rewire how you think about failure—and help you stop reinforcing the very pattern you’re trying to break.

Colleen walks you through the real moment of change (it’s not what you think), why “starting over” is a trap, and the nervous system reset that turns shame into self-trust.

💡 Key Takeaways:

• It’s not about what happened—it’s about how you respond to what happened.

• Beating yourself up is the habit that keeps the drinking habit alive.

• Every habit you want to break began as an act of self-protection or survival.

• You don’t need to try harder—you need to design better systems.

• Emotional sobriety means you don’t make it mean something about you.

✨ Action Step:

Notice where you feel shame or stuckness in your body. Breathe into that space and offer yourself a different response in that moment when it feels strongest: one rooted in curiosity, compassion, and forward motion.

If you are ready to get support from a community of women who are co-creating this change with intention and clarity— Click here to BOOK A DISCOVERY CALL.

Do you want help from Colleen with a situation you’re struggling with? Click here to submit your question for Colleen’s NEW Q& A episodes. Your name will not be mentioned on air!

Find me on

TikTok: @hangoverwhisperer

Instagram: @thehangoverwhisperer

Transcript