Show Notes
This week I’m talking with Colleen Saldana, a therapist at a recovery center who somehow manages to be both deeply wise and extremely relatable. Colleen got sober at 21, relapsed at 38, and tells the whole “I’ll just have one margarita” story in a way that will make you laugh… and also clutch your water bottle tighter. We get into growing up around alcohol, anxiety, an eating disorder, the way addiction plays the long game, and what finally helped (detox, sober living, sponsorship, and doing the actual program). It’s a big, hopeful, been-there conversation.
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More from Drunk-ish - A Sobriety Podcast
In this second episode with Mia Idrissi, we talk about how fun it is to have feelings now. You know—like sadness, shame, and rage, but without the vodka chaser. Mia drops gems about dating while sober (it’s hard, no notes), learning to sit with uncomfortable emotions, and how grief just kind of shows up like an uninvited guest with dirty shoes. We also talk about how sometimes sobriety isn’t all sunshine and vision boards. Sometimes it’s just surviving another Tuesday without losing your sh*t.
Mia Idrissi joins Drunk-ish to share the kind of story you don’t hear every day—raw, hilarious, heartbreaking, and ultimately redemptive. With 32 years of sobriety under her belt (her third time getting sober), Mia talks candidly about growing up in a party-heavy home, sneaking cigarettes at age six, and getting drunk for the first time at five. She opens up about the trauma of losing her brother to suicide at 16, her own spiral into addiction, working alongside the Green River Killer, and the near-miss that pushed her toward recovery.
In a first of its kind episode, I talk directly to the listeners about (what I consider) the myth of moderation. Maybe I should have titled this episode the myth of moderation so you know what you're getting into but I didn't. So that no one feels tricked, I am going to discuss my own experience with trying to moderate, some other people's experiences, the thoughts out there on whether it is achievable and I will end with a longer bit on the origin of Moderation Management which was touched upon on yesterday's episode with Suzanne Warye.