This Naked Mind Podcast

Trigger Warning: This episode includes mentions of a medical emergency and a homicide.

Sunday morning, and Brenda can't get out of bed. Her head is pounding hard enough that she genuinely believes she might die from it, so she turns over and doesn't get up again until one in the afternoon. She'd been retired for years by then, a daily schedule and routine filled with wine instead, and what she labeled relaxing was really drinking out of boredom. A couple of glasses had turned into a full box, then a bottle most nights, one more way to use up hours a twenty-year police career used to take up on its own. A week later, she threw that box of wine in the trash.

Brenda and Coach Cole discuss:

Starting the police academy, getting married, and quitting drinking, all in the same month, years apart

Why retiring in 2013 removed the one thing that had kept her drinking in check

Naming the voice in her head Dave, and talking back to him out loud in the car

The pink cloud moment driving home along the lake six weeks after her last drink

The Sunday morning hangover that convinced her she was dying, and why it became her turning point

Why she filled her newly empty days with sewing for her local theater and mornings back at the SPCA

And more on rebuilding her marriage and finally learning to put herself first…

Ready to take the next step?

Visit https://learn.thisnakedmind.com/podcast-resources for free resources, programs, and more. Until next week, stay curious!

Episode links:

Alcohol Freedom Challenge - https://go.controlalcohollive.com/2026-challenge-registration

More on this episode - https://thisnakedmind.com/podcast/drinking-out-of-boredom-brendas-naked-life-ep-936/

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Naked Life Story – Irene | EP 295 – https://thisnakedmind.com/ep-295-naked-life-story-irene/

Finding Purpose and Direction After Quitting Alcohol | Alcohol Freedom Coaching | E817 – https://thisnakedmind.com/finding-purpose-and-direction-after-quitting-alcohol-e817/

How Do I Overcome the Trigger of Boredom? | Reader Question | EP 32 – https://thisnakedmind.com/ep-32-reader-question-how-do-i-overcome-the-trigger-of-boredom/

Follow on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-naked-mind-podcast/id1287269357

Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0UB06sNguPjVvgAYFBcR9I?si=b7568f24c21249ff

Trigger warning: This episode contains references to disordered eating and the death of a parent following a medical complication.

“I'm actually on day twenty-six alcohol-free right now, the first time since I was pregnant with my daughter,” Bethany says. Bev has been counting differently: hers started January 13th, and her husband hasn't missed a single one of his own drinking nights since. Bethany and Bev work with Coaches Hayley and Cole on how to quit drinking when your spouse still drinks.

Bethany discusses:

• The exact moment four years ago that changed everything, and the nights she still can't escape it

• Why she calls herself a “cheater” when it comes to quitting, and what she means by it

• The one word she used to describe what alcohol really was to her

• What Coach Hayley asked her about her father, and what Bethany said back

Bev discusses:

• A resentment she didn't know she was carrying, until the alcohol was gone and there was nowhere left to hide it

• Living with a cancer diagnosis that makes quitting drinking a matter of life and death

• The one sentence about her marriage she's never said out loud, not even to her husband

• What Coach Cole told her to do about a husband who won't quit too, and why it wasn't what she expected

• And more…

Ready to take the next step?

Visit https://learn.thisnakedmind.com/podcast-resources for free resources, programs, and more. Until next week, stay curious!

Hayley Scherders is a certified TNM Coach with training from the Canadian Addiction and Mental Health Association. Hayley understands how tough change can be and provides a safe, compassionate, and judgment-free space where her clients can feel supported. Learn more about Coach Hayley: https://thisnakedmind.com/coach/hayley-scherders/

Cole Harvey is a certified Naked Mind Senior Coach. As a habit change and mindset coach, Cole helps men understand themselves, build better habits, and find meaning. Learn more about Coach Cole: https://thisnakedmind.com/coach/cole-harvey/

Episode links:

nakedmindpath.com

More on this episode: https://thisnakedmind.com/podcast/how-to-quit-drinking-when-your-spouse-still-drinks-alcohol-freedom-coaching-ep-935/

Related episodes:

I Quit Drinking But My Spouse Has Not, Any Advice? | Reader Question | EP 48 | https://thisnakedmind.com/ep-48-reader-question-i-quit-drinking-but-my-spouse-has-not-any-advice/

How Quitting Drinking Can Improve a Relationship | Gavin's Naked Life | EP 842 | https://thisnakedmind.com/how-quitting-drinking-can-improve-a-relationship-gavins-naked-life-e842/

How To Stop Drinking To Avoid Emotions | Alcohol Freedom Coaching | EP 845 | https://thisnakedmind.com/drinking-to-avoid-emotions-afc-e845/

Follow on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-naked-mind-podcast/id1287269357

Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0UB06sNguPjVvgAYFBcR9I?si=b7568f24c21249ff

Annie Grace grew up in a cabin with no running water, no electricity, and a dad who never drank. A decade later, in a corporate job in New York City, she was pouring close to two bottles of wine a night, buying the boxed kind so nobody would notice when one ran out. In this episode, she sits down with Mike Marshall, CEO of the U.S. Alcohol Policy Alliance, on his podcast The Shift, to talk about what the alcohol industry doesn’t want you to know, and why “drink responsibly” was never really about you.

Annie and Mike discuss:

Annie’s own story, from a childhood with no drinking in the house to two bottles of wine a night, and the moment that finally stopped her in her tracks

Why “drink responsibly” sounds helpful but was never really written with the drinker in mind

What a former alcohol industry executive admitted about targeting the heaviest drinkers, and building the alcopop to hook teenagers

Why alcohol has carried a carcinogen label for decades, and why most of us never got the memo

Annie’s “grace first” approach to changing your relationship with alcohol, and why shame just isn’t the answer

And more on policy, parenting, and what real freedom from alcohol’s grip actually feels like…

Ready to take the next step on your journey?

Visit https://learn.thisnakedmind.com/podcast-resources for free resources, programs, and more. Until next week, stay curious!

Episode links:

This Naked Mind: https://thisnakedmind.com

Big Alcohol Wants Your Kids (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC7ubYky_zM

More on this episode: [full show notes URL — add once this episode is live on thisnakedmind.com]

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Does Alcohol Advertising Really Work? | Reader Question | EP 184 - https://thisnakedmind.com/ep-184-does-alcohol-advertising-really-work-2/

Is Drinking In Moderation Possible? | Reader Question | EP 08 - https://thisnakedmind.com/ep-08-reader-question-moderation-possible/

How to Break Free From Rules Around Drinking | Reader Question | EP 482 - https://thisnakedmind.com/ep-482-reader-question-how-to-break-free-from-rules-around-drinking/

Why can’t I just have one drink? For Pamela, that question comes from her struggle to moderate her drinking, and for Claude, it sits in her fear of never being able to drink again. Same question but from two very different perspectives. Coaches Cole and Hayley work with Pamela and Claude to discover what sits behind these questions and to find out why one drink never stays one drink for most of us.

Pamela discusses:

Fifty-three easy days, then a Friday night phone call from friends that flipped the switch

Why the third night lined up with the anniversary of her ex-husband's death

Why she uses alcohol to "let go of what's heavy," and what it's really protecting her from

Coach Cole's question about her daughter that undid six years of believing she had to handle things alone

Her real commitment for the next time the Ferris wheel comes back around

Claude discusses:

Why the idea of "never again" feels like free fall and grief, not relief

Tracing the "glitter" back to cocktails, galas, and a stressful career, and finding it elsewhere

An experiment with an untouched glass of wine, left behind on an Adirondack chair

Why a firm 30-day non-negotiable feels lighter than deciding fresh every single day

The question Coach Hayley keeps circling back to: what if there's no such thing as failure?

And more…

Ready to take the next step?

Visit https://learn.thisnakedmind.com/podcast-resources for free resources, programs, and more. Until next week, stay curious!

Cole Harvey is a certified Naked Mind Senior Coach. As a habit change and mindset coach, Cole helps men understand themselves, build better habits, and find meaning. Learn more about Coach Cole: https://thisnakedmind.com/coach/cole-harvey/

Hayley Scherders is a certified TNM Coach with training from the Canadian Addiction and Mental Health Association. Hayley understands how tough change can be and provides a safe, compassionate, and judgment-free space where her clients can feel supported. Learn more about Coach Hayley: https://thisnakedmind.com/coach/hayley-scherders/

Episode links:

nakedmindpath.com

More on this episode: https://thisnakedmind.com/podcast/why-cant-i-just-have-one-drink-alcohol-freedom-coaching-ep-933/

Related episodes:

How to Control Alcohol Consumption | Alcohol Freedom Coaching | EP 772 – https://thisnakedmind.com/alcohol-freedom-coaching-e772/

How to Stop Daily Drinking | Pierre's Naked Life | EP 790 – https://thisnakedmind.com/how-to-stop-daily-drinking-e790-pierre/

Is Drinking in Moderation Possible? | Reader Question | EP 08 – https://thisnakedmind.com/ep-08-reader-question-moderation-possible/

Follow on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-naked-mind-podcast/id1287269357

Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0UB06sNguPjVvgAYFBcR9I?si=b7568f24c21249ff

Judd never considered that he would quit drinking before turning forty. After all, for twenty-five years he would pick the idea up and put it down as regularly as if it were his morning coffee. But one day he picked up a receipt for a book he'd bought two years earlier yet never read. Suddenly the countdown was on, and he was no longer willing to keep the idea of quitting drinking before forty on the shelf. It was now time to change.

Judd and Coach Cole discuss:

How buying The Alcohol Experiment in January 2020 and not reading it for months planted the seed that eventually took hold

Why turning quitting into a 30-day, then 90-day, then six-month goal made an impossible habit feel achievable

The moment his now-wife suggested he aim for a year instead of six months, and why he said yes

How he used the rawness of his first alcohol-free months to write a novel exploring AI, free will, and addiction

Why naltrexone and other medications raise real questions about free will, even when they work

What it was like to travel internationally alcohol-free for the first time, from Sydney's hidden NA bar scene to San Juan's early morning joggers

How realizing most people at parties were not drinking as much as he assumed changed the way he saw every social event

And more on goal-setting, dating after quitting, and what it really means to find your own path to alcohol freedom…

Ready to take the next step? Visit https://learn.thisnakedmind.com/podcast-resources for free resources, programs, and more. Until next week, stay curious!

Episode links:

alcoholexperiment.com

More on this episode:

https://thisnakedmind.com/podcast/quit-drinking-before-turning-forty-judds-naked-life-ep-932/

Judd's Book - Syncope: https://amzn.to/44Y2964

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Escaping The Hamster Wheel of Drinking | Alcohol Freedom Coaching | EP 847 - http://thisnakedmind.com/why-cant-i-quit-drinking-after-so-many-tries-afc-e847/

Beer at 10 – Jim's Story | Naked Life Stories | EP 383 - https://thisnakedmind.com/ep-383-naked-life-story-jim/

Reader Question – What are Naltrexone and The Sinclair Method? | Reader Questions | EP 82 - https://thisnakedmind.com/ep-82-reader-question-naltrexone-sinclair-method/

Follow on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-naked-mind-podcast/id1287269357

Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0UB06sNguPjVvgAYFBcR9I?si=b7568f24c21249ff