Stronger Bolder Wiser – Details, episodes & analysis

Have you ever quietly asked yourself, "Am I drinking too much?" If that question has ever crossed your mind, even for a second, this episode is for you.

In this solo episode, I'm walking you through the 11 diagnostic criteria clinicians use to identify mild, moderate and severe alcohol use disorder, and I promise this isn't about slapping a label on yourself.

What We Cover:

- The 11 diagnostic criteria I use to help women recognize alcohol use disorder

- Why grey area drinking has no magic number, just a spectrum most of us live on

- How the alcohol industry deliberately targeted women with pink drinks and "sophisticated" marketing

- The six root causes behind problem drinking, and why none of it comes down to willpower

- How women's bodies process alcohol differently as we age, and why it hits harder in perimenopause and menopause

- My five practical first steps for anyone curious about changing their drinking

- Why you don't need to hit rock bottom to give yourself permission to outgrow alcohol

Timestamps

How To Know If Your Drinking Is A Problem (00:00)

What Is Grey Area Drinking Exactly (01:21)

Why Alcohol Brands Target Women With Pink Drinks (03:13)

Where You Fall On The Drinking Scale (08:26)

11 Signs Of Alcohol Use Disorder (14:30)

More Signs You Can't Control Your Drinking (25:09)

6 Reasons You Develop A Drinking Problem (35:58)

5 Steps To Change Your Relationship With Alcohol (44:12)

How To Know If You've Outgrown Alcohol (50:42)

How To Get Support To Quit Drinking (52:48)

***

Sarah Rusbatch is an accredited Health and Wellbeing Coach and one of Australia's leading experts on grey area drinking. Her podcast,  Stronger, Bolder, Wiser, is the go-to space for women who are questioning their relationship with alcohol, navigating life alcohol-free, or simply curious about what life could look like on the other side of the bottle.

If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who needs to hear it. And if you haven't already, subscribe so you never miss an episode, and leave a review to help more women find this community.

***

Join 11,000+ women in my 30-Day Alcohol Reset Challenge this July! 🙌

Full details & sign up → https://programs.sarahrusbatch.com/alcohol-reset?utm_source=sbw_podcast&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=july_reset_challenge&utm_content=show_notes_promo 

Find out more about my other programs here: https://sarahrusbatch.com/

If you want to join a space where women feel safe to be seen, ask the questions they don't always say out loud and connect with others going through the same, join my free Facebook group, Women's Wellbeing Collective here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/342319476897067

And if changing your relationship with alcohol is something you want to explore further, you can find my book Beyond Booze on Audible, Spotify, Kindle and Amazon. Click the link here: https://sarahrusbatch.com/beyond-booze

Staying isn't always fine. And leaving isn't always the answer. But staying stuck in the middle? That's what this episode is here to help with.

Lisa Miller is a relationship and divorce coach, and in this episode we talk about what the silent divorce actually looks like, how alcohol can mask just how unhappy you really are, and what it finally takes to get honest with yourself about what you want.

What We Cover:

- The warning signs your marriage is struggling beneath the surface

- Why resentment is one of the biggest killers of a long-term relationship

- How your nervous system keeps you stuck and how to regulate it

- The connection between alcohol, resentment, and avoiding the truth

- What to do when you want to save your marriage but your partner won't do the work

- Why women in their 40s are initiating divorce more than ever before

- How to start finding your own happiness no matter what you decide

Timestamps:

The Truth About Divorce: Statistics, Signs, and Why Leaving Is Never Simple (00:00)

Are You Just Staying Together for the Kids? The Silent Divorce Signs Women Miss` (08:16)

What Removing Alcohol Reveals About Your Marriage (15:50)

Why Women Leave First: Divorce Patterns, Grey Area, and Nervous System Explained (33:10)

How to Regulate Your Nervous System to Make Clearer Decisions (40:41)

What to Do When You Know You Are Unhappy But Do Not Know What to Do Next (51:49)

Beyond the Financial Fear: How to Start Finding Your Own Happiness (56:14)

Lisa Miller is a certified relationship and divorce coach who has helped over 1,000 women decide whether to stay or leave their marriage and navigate what comes next. She specialises in nervous system regulation, emotional clarity, and helping women break free from the fear and guilt that keeps them stuck. Using her Proven Clarity Framework, Lisa guides women to make the biggest decision of their lives from a place of calm rather than chaos.

Lisa is a relationship coach - if you'd like to connect with her or learn more about her work, check out her socials below.

- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Lisa-MillerCoach-100083236703094/

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisamiller.coach/

***

Sarah Rusbatch is an accredited Health and Wellbeing Coach and one of Australia's leading experts on grey area drinking. Her podcast,  Stronger, Bolder, Wiser, is the go-to space for women who are questioning their relationship with alcohol, navigating life alcohol-free, or simply curious about what life could look like on the other side of the bottle.

If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who needs to hear it. And if you haven't already, subscribe so you never miss an episode, and leave a review to help more women find this community.

***

Join 11,000+ women in my 30-Day Alcohol Reset Challenge this July! 🙌Full details & sign up

https://programs.sarahrusbatch.com/alcohol-reset?utm_source=sbw_podcast&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=july_reset_challenge&utm_content=show_notes_promo

Find out more about my other programs here: https://sarahrusbatch.com/

If you want to join a space where women feel safe to be seen, ask the questions they don't always say out loud and connect with others going through the same, join my free Facebook group, Women's Wellbeing Collective here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/342319476897067

And if changing your relationship with alcohol is something you want to explore further, you can find my book Beyond Booze on Audible, Spotify, Kindle and Amazon. Click the link here: https://sarahrusbatch.com/beyond-booze

The first time I interviewed TJ, I felt like I had learned more about myself in 45 minutes than I had in seven years of therapy.

And I don’t say that lightly.

Because what TJ does so well is take something that feels complicated, like your brain, your habits, your lack of motivation, and make it make sense. In a way that instantly clicks.

In this conversation, we’re talking about dopamine, but not in the way you’ve probably heard it before.

TJ Power is a neuroscientist and the founder of Dose Lab, where he studies what he calls “stimulation addiction”, how modern life, from our phones to sugar to alcohol, is rewiring our brains.

And more importantly, how to actually reverse it.

Key moments:

0:00 - Why understanding your brain could change how you experience your entire life

3:06 - What dopamine actually is and why it controls your motivation, focus and mood

5:19 - Why modern life is overwhelming your brain and leaving you feeling flat, distracted or unmotivated

7:26 - How our ancestors earned dopamine and why life felt more satisfying because of it

10:01 - The “great dumbing down” of humanity and what it’s doing to your attention, memory and thinking

16:15 - Why scrolling, alcohol and sugar leave you feeling worse from a neuroscience perspective

24:01 - Why some people constantly chase stimulation but others feel more steady and regulated

29:25 - Why you keep reaching for your phone, food or alcohol even when you know it’s not helping

36:28 - What constant stimulation is doing to kids’ brains and attention spans

40:38 - Why we keep choosing quick relief over what actually makes us feel better

46:28 - The signs your dopamine is dysregulated

50:13 - Ways to rebuild your dopamine so you feel motivated, focused and more like yourself again

56:48 - How quickly your brain can reset when you reduce stimulation

1:03:18 - Why your life can feel like it’s speeding up

Grab TJ’s best selling book, The Dose Effect here. 

And if you want more of TJ you can follow him on IG @tjpower or visit his website www.tjpower.co.uk 

Follow along and see the behind the scenes over at https://www.instagram.com/sarahrusbatch/?hl=en 

Join my latest programs here https://sarahrusbatch.com/ 

If you want to join a space where women feel safe to be seen, ask the questions they don’t always say out loud and connect with others going through the same as you,join my free Facebook group, Women’s Wellbeing Collective here. 

And if changing your relationship with alcohol is something you want to explore further, you can find my book Beyond Booze on Audible, Spotify, Kindle and Amazon. Click the link here.

What if the reason you feel overwhelmed, reactive or completely drained isn’t about willpower at all?

Today’s guest has taught me how to recognise what’s happening in my body and stop trying to think my way through everything… and the results have been incredible.

I’ve become more patient, more playful, less in my head and more present with my loved ones. And because of that - my relationships have improved SO much.

I want this for you too - so today I’m chatting with Jay Fields, the coach that taught me how to have a good experience being myself.

Key moments:

0:00 -  Why so many women reach midlife feeling exhausted, disconnected and like they’re not enjoying being themselves

10:28 - Why you keep saying yes to things you don’t want to do even when you promised yourself you’d start setting boundaries

19:24 - How to recognise when your body is gearing up for conflict before you even realise it

21:28 -  Why constantly staying busy and productive can actually be a sign your body is stuck in stress mode

25:56 -  Why some days you feel flat, foggy and completely unmotivated no matter how much you try to push through

29:55 - Why people-pleasing feels automatic and how your body learns to prioritise everyone else over you

32:46 - What it actually feels like when you are calm, clear-headed and fully yourself

37:33 - How to identify the things that reliably bring you back to your most calm and connected self

47:20 - Ways to shift how you feel in your body when you’re overwhelmed, reactive or shut down

1:02:00 - How learning this changes the way you respond to stress, relationships and everyday life

If you want to connect with Jay, head over to her website www.jaymoonfields.com or over on IG @heywaitwithjay

You can listen to Hey Wait! Podcast here.

Follow along and see the behind the scenes over at @sarahrusbatch 

Join my latest Alcohol Free Challenge here - https://programs.sarahrusbatch.com/alcohol-reset-challenge?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=organic%20social&utm_campaign=april+reset+challenge&utm_content=promotional

and find out more about my other programs here - https://sarahrusbatch.com/ 

If you want to join a space where women feel safe to be seen, ask the questions they don’t always say out loud and connect with others going through the same as you, join my free Facebook group, Women’s Wellbeing Collective here - https://www.facebook.com/groups/342319476897067 

And if changing your relationship with alcohol is something you want to explore further, you can find my book Beyond Booze on Audible, Spotify, Kindle and Amazon. Click the link here - https://sarahrusbatch.com/beyond-booze

So many women get to their 40s and 50s and realise they only know themselves in relation to other people.

What the kids need. What the partner prefers. What the job demands. What the family expects.

But they haven’t stopped to ask themselves what they want in a very long time.

Who are you, outside of what you give to others?

As I approach turning 50, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’ve learned, not just through my own life, but through coaching thousands of women who feel like they’ve slowly disappeared inside their roles.

This episode is a reset.

These are the 10 lessons that can help you reconnect with who you are now, what actually matters to you, and how to redesign your life so the next decade feels lighter, stronger and more intentional.

Key moments:

0:00 - #1: How to feel stronger, clearer and more in control of your body as you age

8:33 - #2: How to reconnect with who you actually are - beyond being a mum, partner or caregiver

13:01 - #3: Three questions you can ask yourself to find out you want more out of in life

17:06 - #4: Learning to choose yourself without guilt

24:50 - #5: Identifying the habit that’s keeping you stuck and how to finally face it

29:30 - #6: How to project your energy so that you don’t spiral into exhaustion and negative self talk

39:06 - #7: What’s actually stealing your happiness (and how to stop chasing the wrong things)

46:00 - #8: The mindset shift that puts YOU back in control of your happiness

49:47 - #9: How to let go of friendships that drain you without feeling like a bad person

51:56 - #10: Tips on making every day feel fuller and more exciting

If you want to join a space where women feel safe to be seen, ask the questions they don’t always say out loud and connect with others going through the same as you, then you are invited to join my free Facebook group, Women’s Wellbeing Collective here. 

And changing your relationship with alcohol is something you want to explore further, you can find my book Beyond Booze on Audible, Spotify, Kindle and Amazon. Click the link here.

Women who fall after the age of 60 have around a 30% chance of never walking independently again.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Most of us don’t think about that when we’re in our 40s or 50s. But there is a gradual loss that can begin long before we notice it. . And by the time it shows up, it’s much harder to reverse.

This episode is about protecting your independence.

It’s about feeling capable in your own body.

It’s about building the kind of strength that lets you hike at 80, carry your own suitcase, recover well from surgery, and get back up if you ever fall.

Joining me on the podcast to talk about exactly that is Hailey Babcock, a trainer who has helped over 92,000 women get stronger and feel more confident in their bodies.

Key moments:

8:52 - The risks of losing strength that most women don’t think about until it’s too late

14:30 - How to get stronger even if you feel nervous, intimidated or unsure where to start

18:17 - The key to living a life where you feel more confident in yourself and your body

22:46 - What “earning the right” means - and how to avoid the injuries that set women back for months

27:30 - How to know what level you’re truly at (and why starting lower builds you faster)

34:55 - The statistic about falls after 60 that should make every woman pause

39:46 - Why you are never too old to change your trajectory

40:35 - The one simple movement that translates directly into real-life independence

If you want to work with Hailey, you can download her app here, or follow her over on IG @haileyhappensfitness or Facebook. 

Follow along and see the behind the scenes over at https://www.instagram.com/sarahrusbatch/?hl=en 

Join my latest Alcohol Free Challenge here and find out more about my other programs here https://sarahrusbatch.com/ 

If you want to join a space where women feel safe to be seen, ask the questions they don’t always say out loud and connect with others going through the same as you,join my free Facebook group, Women’s Wellbeing Collective here. 

And if changing your relationship with alcohol is something you want to explore further, you can find my book Beyond Booze on Audible, Spotify, Kindle and Amazon. Click the link here.

If you’ve ever looked down at your belly in your 40s and thought… “Where did that come from?” this one’s for you.

I first discovered Angela Foster through The High Performance Health podcast which  I binged. I was left thinking, “where has this woman been all my life?”

Because she was asking the exact questions so many of us are quietly thinking - especially when our bodies start to change in midlife.

Today I’m sitting down with Angela to unpack what’s actually happening when we begin storing more fat around the middle, why sleep suddenly becomes so hard to maintain, why sugar cravings ramp up, and why the old strategies just stop working.

Key moments:

03:05 -The real reason your body changes in your 40s (and why it’s not just “ageing”)

8:55  - The simple explanation of insulin resistance that finally makes sense

11:02 -  Is midlife weight gain actually fat gain… or something else entirely?

14:35 - Why you keep waking up at 2–3am 

18:48 - How poor sleep quietly drives belly fat 

21:59 - The hidden stress pattern that keeps weight stuck (even in healthy women)

28:58 -  Fasting in midlife: It is helping us or harming us?

32:52  - The one thing that stopped my sugar cravings completely

39:42 - “Lower your inflammation” - what that actually means for your body

46:24 - How to reduce your risk of injury as you age

50:27 - When exercising for 20 minutes is enough to see HUGE benefits

Follow Angela over at https://www.instagram.com/angelasfoster/?hl=en 

Let me know what you thought of this episode and see the behind the scenes over at https://www.instagram.com/sarahrusbatch/?hl=en 

Join my latest Alcohol Free Challenge here and find out more about my other programs here https://sarahrusbatch.com/ 

If you want to join a space where women feel safe to be seen, ask the questions they don’t always say out loud and connect with others going through the same as you,join my free Facebook group, Women’s Wellbeing Collective here. 

And if changing your relationship with alcohol is something you want to explore further, you can find my book Beyond Booze on Audible, Spotify, Kindle and Amazon. Click the link here.

Life has never been easier. 

We can order food in seconds. Scroll endlessly. Avoid discomfort at every turn.

And yet… so many women feel exhausted, flat, overwhelmed and more stressed than ever.

Why?

Today I’m sitting down with Dr Paul Taylor, neuroscientist, exercise physiologist, and author of Death by Comfort and The Hardiness Effect, to talk about exactly that. 

We’re talking about dopamine, cortisol, menopause, strength, HRT, our kids screentime and how we can re-train out brains to be able to not only handle stress again, but thrive.

Key moments:

0:00 -  Dr Paul Taylor’s background and why his life experience shapes how he teaches resilience

8:19 - Why modern life feels harder even though it’s more comfortable than ever before

18:27 -  The long-term impact constant comfort and screens are having on our kids’ resilience

22:23 -  What it means that teenagers today are projected to spend over 62 years of their lives on their phones

29:43 - What life can look like when you choose challenge instead of comfort

34:09 - How the way you interpret stress determines whether it weakens you or strengthens you

42:29 - The relationship between menopause, emotional regulation and cortisol

47:34 -  Practical ways women can step off the stress rollercoaster and take back control

50:52 - The mindset Dr Paul adopted when he was diagnosed with a congenital heart condition

53:56 - Five simple ways to start building resilience so you can handle the next challenge better

1:02.06 - Why getting clear on your family values helps you act bravely even when you feel anxious

1:08.00 - Why strength training is non-negotiable for women who want to age well

1:13:00 - Rapid fire questions

Books mentioned:

Death by Comfort - Dr Paul Taylor

The Hardiness Effect - Dr Paul Taylor

Enchiridion - Epictetus

Want more of Paul? Follow him on IG @paultaylor.biz or visit his website www.paultaylor.biz

Listen to the Hardiness Podcast on Apple or Spotify.

Let me know what you thought of this episode and see the behind the scenes over at https://www.instagram.com/sarahrusbatch/?hl=en 

Join my latest Alcohol Free Challenge here and find out more about my other programs here https://sarahrusbatch.com/ 

If you want to join a space where women feel safe to be seen, ask the questions they don’t always say out loud and connect with others going through the same as you,join my free Facebook group, Women’s Wellbeing Collective here. 

And if changing your relationship with alcohol is something you want to explore further, you can find my book Beyond Booze on Audible, Spotify, Kindle and Amazon. Click the link here.

One morning in my 40s, I woke up to my 5 year old asking me “Mum…what happened to your face?”

The night before, I’d been at a friend's 40th birthday and something had happened that went to change the course of my life completely.

What ensued after that was years of trying and failing, trying and failing…but ultimately it led me to where I am now: happier, healthier, stronger, bolder and wiser. 

If you have followed me for a while you may have heard this story already but today I’m revealing some details I haven’t spoken about. I’m sharing my story to give you permission to start questioning what’s not working for you, to stop wondering how you ended up here and take back control.

You can read my article on Mamamia here.

Follow along and see the behind the scenes over at https://www.instagram.com/sarahrusbatch/?hl=en 

Join my latest Alcohol Free Challenge here and find out more about my other programs here https://sarahrusbatch.com/ 

If you want to join a space where women feel safe to be seen, ask the questions they don’t always say out loud and connect with others going through the same as you,join my free Facebook group, Women’s Wellbeing Collective here. 

And if changing your relationship with alcohol is something you want to explore further, you can find my book Beyond Booze on Audible, Spotify, Kindle and Amazon. Click the link here.

No one really prepares you for this stage of life.

One day you wake up and realise…

You’re exhausted.

Your body feels different.

Your sleep is off.

Your tolerance for things you used to accept has disappeared.

And you start quietly asking yourself:

“Surely life is meant to feel better than this?”

If you’ve ever had that thought… this podcast is for you.

The Stronger, Bolder, Wiser Podcast is a space for honest and science backed conversations

We’re talking about the things women are actually experiencing:

hormones, health, alcohol, stress, identity shifts, and the quiet reinvention happening behind the scenes.

Because this stage of life isn’t about shrinking.

It’s about becoming:

Stronger in your boundaries

Bolder in your choices

Wiser about what really matters