#87 – Carrie Pullaro: Challenge Yourself to Change

#87 – Carrie Pullaro: Challenge Yourself to Change

What remarkable journeys have people faced head-on against addiction? This conversation with emotional wellbeing coach Carrie Pullaro takes you right into the messy, honest middle of shame, secrets, and starting over. Carrie shares how childhood trauma, a forced abortion at 14, and the message "we won't talk about this again" lit the fuse of lifelong shame. She explains how those buried experiences fuelled years of substance use, chaotic relationships, and repeated abortions kept in silence.

As she puts it, "secrets keep us sick" – and she spent years running from her own feelings. The turning point came when her partner pushed her towards a recovery meeting. Convinced she didn’t "look like" an addict, Carrie planned to prove everyone wrong. Instead, she found a room of doctors, lawyers, and "crazy looking people too", all with the same problem.

When someone in a meeting said you can’t get clean "by osmosis" and actually have to do the work, something clicked. She stopped trying to run "Carrie’s programme" and got a sponsor, did the steps, and learned that feelings weren’t weakness. Now six years on, Carrie supports women who feel stuck in shame and low self-worth. She talks about how childhood messages become lifelong "stories", and how changing those stories can change your beliefs and behaviour.

For her, every event is neutral until you give it meaning – and that means you can write a new story any time. If you’ve ever thought you weren’t "bad enough" to be an addict, or you’re tired of being scared of your own shadow, this chat offers raw honesty, a few laughs, and a simple but powerful reminder: "Don’t believe everything you think." What story about yourself are you still believing that might be holding you back?