Matt interviews Brenda as she relives her days of problem drinking, early recovery, and the two also discuss Brenda’s new path as a Recovery Coach and how that is all moving along.
Here are the main topics discussed in this episode:
- Brenda’s teenage drinking (to excess) to fit in
- Getting pregnant and being repelled by alcohol and other unhealthy things for the growing baby
- 20 years of being able to drink on average a glass of wine per month
- Going to Al-Anon to learn how to detach from her son’s addiction
- Drinking wine becomes a regular occurrence
- Nightly wine overuse and not being able to quit on her own
- Going to AA to quit drinking
- Early recovery in AA, doing the work, healing from the past, and moving on from old behaviors and ways of thinking/being
- The ‘Pink Cloud Phenomenon’
- Guidance and synchronicities in early recovery
- Holding space for another person
- Letting love in
- Allowing people to care for you
- The power of having a solid support group
- Losing her position as a teacher due to downsizing then enrolling in school to become an alcohol and drug counselor
- Being able to forgive yourself
- Healing from codependency
- Finding the ‘Law of Attraction’ and the power within all of us vs admitting total lifelong powerlessness
- Meditation and how it provides direction and answers from within
- More family time and intimacy during the pandemic
- Worsening statistics on mental health and addiction since the pandemic
- Starting a recovery coaching private practice and feeling a new sense of direction and purpose
- How the 12 steps are similar to the stages of grief
- An alternative 12 steps that can be used instead of or in addition to the 12 steps of AA
- The stigma of addiction and avoiding saying words like “addict” etc.
- Looking for the root problem that the addiction is trying to medicate
- Brenda’s new coaching practice services (addiction, codependency, and grief/loss)
How to learn more and work with Brenda:
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