Recovery, Reinvention & Why It's Never Too Late with Jen PastiloffRecovery, Reinvention & Why It's Never Too Late with Jen Pastiloff
SHE RECOVERS Podcast
Dawn Nickel talks with author and artist Jen Pastiloff about her recent shift into sobriety, her creative life, and the beliefs that kept her stuck for years. Their conversation touches on shame, deafness, parenting, and the reminder that it’s never too late to begin again.
1:03:06•7 Jul 2026
Jen Pastiloff on Sobriety, Reinvention and Why It’s Never Too Late
Episode Overview
- Questioning alcohol use for years without changing is common; honest self-reflection can be a turning point.
- Sobriety can increase access to feelings, including grief and joy, and deepen intimacy and presence with loved ones.
- Recovery does not have to follow one set model; the 'school of whatever works' supports individual pathways and tools.
- Shame around deafness, addiction, or past choices can soften when people lead with vulnerability and ask to be seen.
- It is never too late to start over; as long as you can take a breath, you can choose again for yourself.
“As long as you can take a breath, you can begin again.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This SHE RECOVERS conversation between co-founder Dawn Nickel and author, artist, and workshop leader Jen Pastiloff offers one candid answer: they figure out "whatever works" and keep starting over. You’ll hear Jen talk frankly about drinking every day for decades, asking herself for years, "Am I an alcoholic?" and still resisting change.
One striking story comes from a hotel bar the night before her keynote at a recovery conference, when she’d downed several tequilas and thought, "I felt like such a fraud." That moment of self-disgust sits alongside her later realisation that sobriety lets her access feelings, cry again, and show up fully for her partner Henry and her son Charlie.
The chat roams through Jen’s patchwork path: dropping out of NYU, 14 years waitressing, becoming a yoga teacher, creating wildly popular retreats, and then reinventing herself again as a visual artist who paints with playful obsession. Her language has become touchstones for many—phrases like "you get to have this," "I’ve done love," "imaginary time gods," and "heart sight" (trusting the knowing of the heart rather than a shame-filled past).
Jen pushes back with her favourite reminder: "As long as you can take a breath, you can begin again." They also share honest reflections on parenting through recovery, intimacy without alcohol, and why non-alcoholic drinks or alternative support communities are valid tools within the "school of whatever works." If you’re curious about sober life, fearful it’s too late, or just love raw, funny conversations about being human, this episode might nudge you to ask: what do you secretly believe you don’t get to have—and are you willing to rethink that?
Dawn and Jen swap stories about shame, eating disorders, grief, and the belief that it’s "too late"—especially for women in their 60s and 70s.
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