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Health & Fitness

It’s Not About the Alcohol

Would you like to reduce your alcohol consumption by about 80 percent? Become the version of you who can just “take it or leave it” so that you can enjoy drinking socially without relying on alcohol to manage your stress, anxiety, loneliness and boredom when you’re by yourself?

Most high achieving women assume over-drinking is caused by a lack of willpower–or worse, the incurable disease of “alcoholism.” So they beat themselves up and avoid asking for help because they feel ashamed and out of control.

Whether you’re a daily drinker who can’t break the habit, or you’re still going to sobriety meetings even though you don’t drink anymore, the real problem is that you don’t trust yourself.

Which means it’s not about the alcohol. It’s about your relationship with yourself.

Colleen Freeland is a a mindful drinking coach helping professional women learn how drinking less (or not at all) is actually a superpower, even when the idea of giving up the only thing that helps them quiet their mind feels impossible.

The solution to alcohol use disorder is a FEELING. If you felt comfortable in your own skin and at ease in your life, you would drink like someone who is comfortable and at ease!

Join me each week for holistic, evidence-based strategies to fix your dopamine deficit, regulate your nervous system, cure imposter syndrome, manage sugar cravings, improve your sleep and reclaim your mental health so you no longer have the urge to escape your own body.

Get happy, not sober. Because happy people don’t drink themselves into a stupor.

Latest Episodes:

EP217 What it really means when old habits resurface May 27, 2025

Show notes

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!

EP216 Minisode: Pursuing Purpose Instead Of "Less Alcohol" May 24, 2025

Show notes

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

EP215 Minisode: This is the woo-woo part May 22, 2025

Show notes

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

EP214 Histamines and hormones: why alcohol hits differently at certain times of the month with Dr. Meg Mill May 20, 2025

Show notes

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!

EP213 Minisode:Small Emotions Have Big CONsequences May 17, 2025

Show notes

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

EP212 Minisode: It's not where you are... it's how you respond May 15, 2025

Show notes

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

EP211 Are you drinking because your hormones are in survival mode? with Period Whisperer Bria Gadd May 13, 2025

Show notes

Today's episode is a must-listen for any woman navigating midlife hormonal changes and struggling with overdrinking.

Colleen sits down with Bria Gadd—the Period Whisperer—to talk about the real reason so many high-achieving women hit a wall in their 30s and 40s. This is an honest conversation about how to hear your body's whispers before they become screams, and why pushing through your exhaustion puts your body into "health debt."

If you've ever wondered whether your fatigue, mood swings or wine cravings have more to do with stress than weakness, this episode will show you how to shift from survival mode to sustainable wellness.

💡 Key Takeaways:

• Your period symptoms are not random—they're messages. • "Health debt" happens when you spend more energy than you have. • Overexercising and undereating can actually cause you to drink too much. • The exact strategies that created your success may be causing your burnout. • Recovery starts with simple, foundational shifts like sleep, food, movement, and pleasure.

Find Bria Gadd

https://www.briatheperiodwhisperer.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bria_period_whisperer/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BriaThePeriodWhisperer/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@briagadd YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bria_period_whisperer Podcast: https://www.briatheperiodwhisperer.com/the-period-whisperer-podcast

—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.

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

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

EP210 Minisode: Simple Technique For Letting Go May 10, 2025

Show notes

In today's episode, Colleen shares a simple and powerful practice that can shift your energy in seconds—and help you stop carrying what your body is desperate to let go of.

If you've ever felt like you should stop drinking, overworking, or people-pleasing—but you keep doing it anyway—this episode will show you why resistance doesn't work, and how to reconnect with the wisdom of your body instead.

Plus, Colleen walks you through a one-breath nervous system reset called The Sigh—a technique that helps you release emotional pain, shift mental patterns, and return to a state of balance. No willpower required.

💡 Key Takeaways:

The harder you try to not do something, the more you want to do it.
Letting go is not a mindset—it's a felt, physical action you can practice.
You don't have to analyze your pain to release it—just notice where it lives in your body.
The sigh is a natural, energetic reset your body already knows how to do—you just have to do it on purpose.
The truth that got you here might be the same truth that's holding you back.

✨ Action Step: Practice the one-breath sigh technique Colleen teaches in this episode. Notice what happens in your body when you stop thinking and start releasing.

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

—Click here to TAKE THE QUIZ: Do you have a drinking problem or a thinking problem?

EP209 Minisode: Controlling your energy flow May 08, 2025

Show notes

Today's episode is all about emotional flow—how energy moves through your body and what to do when it gets stuck. Colleen explains how your thoughts can block the natural upward movement of desire, inspiration, and curiosity—reversing the flow and creating emotional heaviness, anxiety, and burnout.

You'll learn why it's not always necessary to unpack your childhood or analyze every emotion. Sometimes the simplest shift comes from asking: is this thought opening me up, or shutting me down?

Whether you're stuck in your career, your relationship, or your relationship with alcohol—this episode will show you how to unclog your energy, reclaim your creativity, and speak your truth into the world.

💡 Key Takeaways:

Your brain is the gatekeeper of your energy—every belief either expands or contracts you.
Heaviness and anxiety are often the result of blocked emotional flow, not personal failure.
You don't have to do a deep dive into your trauma to free yourself—you just have to notice the energetic state you're in.
You can change your reality by changing what you believe and acting from a more open state.
"I create as I speak" isn't just a phrase—it's a practice of embodiment and emotional sobriety.

✨ Action Step:

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.

If 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

EP208 Feelings actually are facts! The Biology of Trauma with Dr. Aimee Apigian May 06, 2025

Show notes

In this episode, Dr. Aimee joins Colleen to explain what it really means to have "stored trauma" in the body—and why unresolved trauma often shows up not as flashbacks, but as fatigue, perfectionism, people-pleasing, and habits like nightly drinking. You'll hear how trauma is stored at the cellular level, why cognitive awareness isn't enough to heal it, and what it really takes to feel safe in your own body.

Key Takeaways:

Trauma isn't defined by an event—it's defined by your body's response to overwhelm, powerlessness, and isolation.
Many women don't realize they're stuck in a trauma response because it looks like being "too busy," "not having willpower," or "just needing to try harder."
The trauma response shows up biologically, at the cellular level, often causing fatigue, anxiety, inflammation, and shut down.
The nervous system doesn't respond to logic—it responds to cues of safety and danger. When your body perceives a threat, you can't use reason to override shame, fear and anxiety.
You don't heal trauma by talking about it—you heal it by completing the stress response, regulating the nervous system, and shifting how safe you feel in your body.

You can pre-order Dr. Amy's new book Biology of Trauma and get over $400 in bonuses at biologyoftrauma.com.

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

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