#176 Listening to Your Inner Voice & Letting Go of Others' Opinions (feat. My Mom)

#176 Listening to Your Inner Voice & Letting Go of Others' Opinions (feat. My Mom)

What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? This chat between host Madeline Forrest and her mum is a warm, funny, and very real look at how sobriety changes the way you see yourself – and other people’s opinions. Madeline kicks things off with a hilarious Vanderpump Rules–themed brunch story, where a very drunk stranger quizzes her and her partner on why they don’t drink, then casually slags off someone on TV for getting sober.

Instead of feeling stung, Madeline finds herself genuinely amused – a sharp contrast to how fragile she says she’d have felt in early sobriety. It’s a light, relatable way of showing what alcohol-free confidence can grow into. From there, the conversation shifts into deeper territory: how do you tell the difference between your true inner voice and the one that keeps you stuck in the drinking cycle?

Madeline’s mum shares how, even at 16, she knew alcohol was a problem and clung to the life-changing phrase, “It’s okay not to be okay.” They talk about separating *you* from the “mess” and seeing the problem as something you’re bravely cleaning up, not something you *are*. A listener question about being judged as “such a mess” for needing to get sober sparks some of the most powerful moments of the episode.

Madeline and her mum talk about: - why other people’s judgement says more about them than about you, - how fear-based voices in your head are terrible decision-makers, - the right to keep your sobriety story private at first, and - the difference between things you feel you “should” do and the things you deeply “must” do for your own life. It’s a cosy, coffee-in-hand kind of episode that still hits hard emotionally.

If you’ve ever worried what people will think about you getting sober, this conversation might be exactly what you need to hear today.