Editing Our Drinking and Our Lives

Jolene Park & Aidan Donnelley Rowley
Editing Our Drinking and Our Lives

Aidan Donnelley Rowley and Jolene Park talk about their decisions to make an Early Exit from the drinking life, the gray area of drinking and the ongoing edits they make to their lives.

  1. EPISODE 4

    Aidan's Stop Story

    Aidan talks about her "dance" between drinking and not drinking. She recently heard Elizabeth Vargas, author of Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction, speak at the She Recovers Conference. Vargas said, "when you start to drink to numb, that's something you need to pay attention to." Aidan agrees with that statement and shares her story of finally deciding to stop drinking for good. She mentions the pain of a miscarriage, how she used wine to self-medicate after the birth of her third daughter and then after the death of her father. Aidan reads her first Year Without Wine blog post, originally published in 2012, called Wine Is My Weakness. With the help of a therapist, she came to realize she may not have a capital "P" problem, but that she had a lower case "p" problem with alcohol and anxiety. She talks about the liberation she found in giving up alcohol and how this gray area of drinking is a universal, under-explored topic.   SUBSCRIBE Subscribe to 'Edit Podcast: Editing Our Drinking and Lives' on iTunes, SoundCloud, or stream on Google Play. Please consider rating us on iTunes. It will help others find our podcast!   CONNECT WITH JOLENE: Craving Brain Coaching - www.healthydiscoveries.com/coaching/ Jolene on Instagram -  www.instagram.com/healthy_discoveries/ Email: jolene@healthydiscoveries.com   CONNECT WITH AIDAN: The Dry Life Blog - www.ivyleagueinsecurities.com/the-dry-life/ Aidan on Instagram-  www.instagram.com/drybeclub/ Email: aidandonnelleyrowley@gmail.com

    35 min
  2. The Power Of Vulnerability

    EPISODE 7

    The Power Of Vulnerability

    Jolene and Aidan debrief what it feels like to have the first six episodes of their podcast out into the world. They talk about the vulnerability hangover of sharing their stories along with the overwhelmingly positive response they’ve received from thousands of listeners who identify with the gray area of drinking. Jolene talks about hitting the sharp edges with her anxiety when they first released the podcast and she shares two examples of a medical professional who brushed her off and told her “she didn’t have a problem with alcohol” whereas another health care professional said she “would have recommended treatment for Jolene.” They talk about the strength that comes from vulnerability even though it’s uncomfortable and often hard, but ultimately very liberating. Jolene shares a coaching tip on how to reduce sugar cravings by eating regularly. Aidan shares a book she’s reading called, Material Girl, Mystical World: The Now Age Guide to a High-Vibe Life by Ruby Warrington. She also shares a quote by Howard Thruman, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”  Please consider rating us on iTunes. It will help others find our podcast!   SUBSCRIBE Subscribe to 'Edit Podcast: Editing Our Drinking and Our Lives' on iTunes, SoundCloud, or stream on Stitcher, Google Play. Please consider rating us on iTunes. It will help others find our podcast!   CONNECT WITH JOLENE: Craving Brain Coaching - www.healthydiscoveries.com/coaching/ Jolene on Instagram -  www.instagram.com/healthy_discoveries/ Email: jolene@healthydiscoveries.com   CONNECT WITH AIDAN: The Dry Life Blog - www.ivyleagueinsecurities.com/the-dry-life/ Aidan on Instagram-  www.instagram.com/drybeclub/ Email: aidandonnelleyrowley@gmail.com

    38 min
  3. Hangovers

    EPISODE 8

    Hangovers

    Aidan looks back on her drinking days and talks about the surprisingly positive mental, emotional, existential aspects of her hangovers. Jolene shares the negative physical effects of her hangovers and how they ultimately motivated her to stop drinking. Jolene talks about the histamine, blood sugar response and explains how, during a hangover, our bodies are simply trying to regulate and bring things back into physical balance, and how we then beat ourselves up emotionally. Also, brain chemicals GABA (helps us feel less anxious) and serotonin (helps us feel less depressed) get depleted from too much alcohol. Aidan talks about how, while hungover, she felt a lot of emotional shame, regret, guilt, sadness and knew spending time hungover meant she was losing time from her precious life. Both Jolene and Aidan talk about a couple ‘hangover supplements’ they used to take. Aidan reveals how she would open up to her husband and feel so vulnerable in the morning after drinking. This was a time when she would be more emotional and cry - which is something that doesn’t come easily to her. The hangover enabled Aidan to access emotions and feelings that she wouldn’t normally allow herself to feel. Both Aidan and Jolene confess that they hid their hangovers at times and Jolene mentions Bessel van dark Koll’s book, The Body Keeps The Score as a helpful resource for understanding stress and trauma and some underlying reasons for why we might drink too much. Jolene gives a coaching tip for boosting gut health with fermented foods and Aidan recommends the book, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar, by Cheryl Strayed. They end this podcast by talking about striving for a quiet acceptance with whatever it is you’re dealing with at this time in your life.   SUBSCRIBE Subscribe to 'Edit Podcast: Editing Our Drinking and Our Lives' on iTunes, SoundCloud, or stream on Stitcher, Google Play. Please consider rating us on iTunes. It will help others find our podcast!   CONNECT WITH JOLENE: Craving Brain Coaching - www.healthydiscoveries.com/coaching/ Jolene on Instagram -  www.instagram.com/healthy_discoveries/ Email: jolene@healthydiscoveries.com   CONNECT WITH AIDAN: The Dry Life Blog - www.ivyleagueinsecurities.com/the-dry-life/ Aidan on Instagram-  www.instagram.com/drybeclub/ Email: aidandonnelleyrowley@gmail.com

    44 min
4.6
out of 5
292 Ratings

About

Aidan Donnelley Rowley and Jolene Park talk about their decisions to make an Early Exit from the drinking life, the gray area of drinking and the ongoing edits they make to their lives.

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