Sober Motivation: Sharing Sobriety Stories

Ian Madsen grew up in Australia around heavy drinking and alcoholism, Ian shares how alcohol became normalized early in life after losing his mother and how that pattern followed him into professional sprint car racing in America. What started as partying and fitting in slowly turned into isolation, hiding alcohol use, treatment stays, losing relationships, and nearly losing himself completely.
In this episode, Ian opens up about the reality of high-functioning alcoholism, trying to moderate drinking, the fear of quitting alcohol, and the moment he realized he had to get sober for himself.

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Ian also shares how sobriety helped him rebuild his life, reconnect with people, and find purpose again after years of feeling trapped.
Topics Covered:
Growing up around alcoholism
Losing his mother at a young age
Alcohol culture in Australia and racing
High-functioning alcohol addiction
Isolation and drinking alone
Failed moderation attempts
Treatment and recovery
Fear of quitting alcohol
Sobriety and rebuilding life
Finding community in recovery

Sober Motivation Community: https://sobermotivation.mn.co/
Sober Motivation Website: https://www.sobermotivation.com
Support the Podcast: https://buymeacoffee.com/sobermotivation
Contact me anytime: [email protected]
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You don't need a rock bottom to quit drinking. No DUI. No lost job. No moment where everything blows up. For Paula, life looked great from the outside, a beautiful home in South Florida, two kids, a marriage built in the alcohol industry, and a career soaked in alcohol. Nothing was falling apart on the outside or so she thought. She made every soccer practice. She was the homeroom mom. But the hangovers were getting worse, the blackouts had started, and her kids were beginning to see two different versions of her.

In this episode of the Sober Motivation Podcast, Paula shares what she calls the "miserable middle" of drinking. The place so many high-functioning drinkers get stuck. Nothing is bad enough to quit, but nothing feels right either. She talks about growing up with a normal relationship to alcohol, building her entire career around it, falling into the mommy wine culture trap, and how managing her drinking became more exhausting than the drinking itself.
After 30 years of drinking and four years of being sober curious, it was her teenage daughter's words that finally broke through: "I can't take these two different people." That was Paula's day one. November 2, 2022.

We cover:
Quitting drinking without a rock bottom
High-functioning alcoholism and the gray area drinker
Mommy wine culture and how it sneaks up on you
Why managing your drinking is exhausting
Anxiety, hangxiety, and the cortisol crash
How alcohol affects your kids even when you think they don't notice
The "miserable middle" between drinking and sobriety
What the first year of sobriety actually looks like

If you've been sober curious, gray area drinking, questioning your relationship with alcohol, or wondering if your drinking is "bad enough" to quit — this episode is for you. You are not alone, and you don't have to wait for things to fall apart to choose something better.
Sober Motivation Community: https://sobermotivation.mn.co/
Sober Motivation Website: https://www.sobermotivation.com
Support the Podcast: https://buymeacoffee.com/sobermotivation
Contact me anytime: [email protected]
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From the outside everything looked perfect. Behind the scenes alcohol addiction was taking over and one night it nearly ended everything.

In this episode Lauren shares her sobriety story from having her first drink at just 10 years old to years of hiding alcohol addiction behind a life that looked put together.

Her drinking escalates over time leading to serious consequences and a life changing moment that forces everything into the open.

After quitting drinking and starting her recovery journey things begin to improve. But a legal substance called kratom unexpectedly pulls her back into addiction and nearly costs her everything in just a few months.

This episode is an honest look at alcohol addiction relapse and the risks of substances that many people assume are safe.
Sober Motivation Community: https://sobermotivation.mn.co/
Sober Motivation Website: https://www.sobermotivation.com
Support the Podcast: https://buymeacoffee.com/sobermotivation
Contact me anytime: [email protected]
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Bri is almost one year sober. For the year before that she tried to quit drinking over and over, racking up day ones nobody knew about. Two months sober, then a slip. Two months again, another slip. From the outside she was the picture perfect mom. Accountant, wife, two little boys, a pool in the backyard. Behind closed doors it was shots from the freezer on Christmas, weekend blackouts at her own pool parties, and crying in the shower when everyone went home. Then on Easter she pulled her one year old son aside and told him he'd never see her drunk or hungover again. She hasn't had a drink since.
In this episode Bri shares what gray area drinking looks like for a working mom; why her two month sobriety cycles kept breaking; the blackouts she hid from everyone; her first sober tax season; and what one year sober actually feels like. If you keep restarting, this one is for you.

Bri's Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@briinsobriety

Bri on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brimarshallll/
Sober Motivation Community: https://sobermotivation.mn.co/
Sober Motivation Website: https://www.sobermotivation.com
Support the Podcast: https://buymeacoffee.com/sobermotivation
Contact me anytime: [email protected]
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Donald Crowe was telling patients they needed to stop drinking. Then he'd go home, open two bottles of wine, and pass out. Every single night.
A physician with 40 years in medicine, Donald started drinking in college and spent the next two decades convincing himself it couldn't be that bad because his career was still moving forward.

A possible ALS diagnosis at 40 gave him the excuse to drink harder. He lost his first marriage. He chose alcohol over her. When legal consequences finally forced him into treatment, three months of sobriety cracked open a truth he'd been hiding from: "I wasn't drinking to feel better. I was drinking to feel less bad."

You'll hear about: the bitters experiment that proved his brain was wired differently; defending your drinking as an early warning sign; why consequences aren't the real measure of a problem; building a life where resistance is unnecessary.

If you've ever told yourself it can't be that bad because things are still working, this one's for you.

Dr. Donlad Crowe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Secondactrecovery
Sober Motivation Community: https://sobermotivation.mn.co/
Sober Motivation Website: https://www.sobermotivation.com
Support the Podcast: https://buymeacoffee.com/sobermotivation
Contact me anytime: [email protected]
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.