Best Gillian Tietz Ms Cprc Podcasts (2025)

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E277: Being Willing to Start is the Hardest Part (“The Work”) 20:54

4d ago20:54

20:54

I thought getting sober was the end of the story. I did it, I succeeded, now life will be amazing forever. But the parade never came. Instead, I started to get uncomfortable and notice patterns in my behavior that I didn’t like, and without alcohol around, I couldn’t unsee it. This is where a lot of people fall off. Their work begins to show up, it…

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E276: A Burst of Mental Clarity at 60 Days Sober (Cognitive Healing) 26:25

11d ago26:25

26:25

Many people experience a noticeable shift in mental clarity around 60 days sober. When it happened to me I felt like I was waking up from a long dream and I could finally use my brain again. This may feel like being present, having patience, better focus and attention, improved memory, and reduced mental clutter. In this episode, I’ll explain how a…

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E275: 3 Ways Alcohol Damages the Heart and How to Have Good Heart Health in Sobriety 25:55

18d ago25:55

25:55

Alcohol damages every area of the body, but in this episode we are focusing on the heart. I’ll explain 3 ways that alcohol damages the heart, how the heart heals after we get sober, and 5 things you can do to have good heart health moving forward. What to listen to next: E232: The 3am Wake Up E266: Can You Drink After Taking a Break? E268: Is Moder…

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E274: High Dopamine, Low Effort Behaviors and Making Sobriety Feel Less Hard 27:28

25d ago27:28

27:28

Your brain is wired for quick hits of dopamine, or high-reward, low-effort habits that feel good in the moment but sabotage your long-term goals. Over time, this conditions your brain to expect rewards without effort, making real change feel harder than it actually is. In this episode, I’ll explain how these patterns destroy motivation, fuel incons…

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E273: How the Sober Brain Breaks Down Alcohol Associations (But They’ll Build Back Up if You Drink Again) 33:10

1M ago33:10

33:10

We believe alcohol is required for vacations, unwinding, dealing with stress, celebrating, and socializing. We have built up powerful associations in our brains to reinforce these beliefs through dopamine and repetition. After you get sober, facing life without alcohol can feel impossible. Everything reminds you of alcohol. You start to notice how …

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E272: 6 Habits That Make My Life Better 24:03

1M ago24:03

24:03

When we develop a problem with alcohol, it becomes the center of our lives and most or all decisions are made after taking alcohol into consideration. When you remove alcohol, there’s a big empty hole in your life. You can fill this hole with other substances, sex or relationships, gambling or shopping, sitting around sad, or you can make some chan…

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E271: Alcohol, Career Stress, and the Lie of “I Function Just Fine” 27:28

2M ago27:28

27:28

“I function just fine, it’s not like I’m missing work”, I said until I started missing work. “I have a masters degree, I couldn’t have gotten this far if I was an alcoholic.” Have you ever thought things like this to yourself? Most drinkers are able to function. Most will never reach the stereotypical alcoholic that we think of. High functioning do…

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E270: Cravings Increase After Quitting Drinking and Peak Around 60 Days Sober and 6 Months Sober 28:41

2M ago28:41

28:41

You probably expect that the more sober time you have, the less you crave alcohol. That’s true for some people, but others experience an effect called incubation of craving. This is where cravings build up over time and peak around 60 days, then again around 6 months sober. In this episode, I’ll explain the research on incubation of craving, what y…

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E269: Running on Autopilot Mode 31:11

2M ago31:11

31:11

Regular drinking and early sobriety often feel like living on autopilot, where we are repeating the same routines without conscious awareness. Alcohol changes the brain to increase mindless activity, which can lead to rumination, excessive self-focus, anxiety, and addiction-related thought loops. In this episode, you’ll learn about how alcohol affe…

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Making Friends After Getting Sober (Mini Coaching Call) 33:33

2M ago33:33

33:33

Making new friends as an adult is difficult enough, but when you're sober, it adds an extra layer of difficulty. In this episode, we're talking about how to find friends in sobriety with a focus on what's the block from putting yourself out there, what do we have control over, how much armor do we have up, a fear of rejection, and how we can start …

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E268: Is Moderate Drinking Healthier? Here’s Why So Many Studies Say Yes 26:57

2M ago26:57

26:57

Most people defend moderation. What about all those people in the blue zones? Europeans drink every day, what about the French Paradox? If you do a quick search, then you can find tons of articles telling you how moderation is healthier than not drinking. Drinking a little bit every day will help you live longer and have a healthier heart. This has…

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E267: Resources vs Support: Are You Setting Yourself Up for Success? 26:53

3M ago26:53

26:53

This is the biggest mistake I see people make. There’s one pattern I’ve noticed with people where they want to be sober, but they approach it in a way that makes them less likely to actually achieve sobriety. In this episode I’m going to explain how you can set yourself up for success, how to build an effective support system, and how support can h…

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E266: Can You Drink After Taking a Break? 35:38

3M ago35:38

35:38

So you’ve taken a break from alcohol and now you’re wondering do you stay sober or do you go back to drinking? In this episode I’ll discuss your options, when the best benefits from a break are, whether it’s possible for some people to moderate their drinking after a break, and how to know if you really have a problem and need to be sober or not. W…

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E265: Rewiring Your Reward System After Getting Sober 28:10

3M ago28:10

28:10

When will being sober feel rewarding? When does it get easier? When does the boredom go away? In this episode you’ll learn about the process of recalibrating your reward system after quitting drinking. I’ll explain how alcohol messes up the reward system, the process of recalibration that occurs during the first year, what happens if you relapse, a…

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E264: Here’s Why You Have Mood Swings After Quitting Drinking 28:32

3M ago28:32

28:32

Are you cranky AF after getting sober? Is your mood volatile and unpredictable? Are the little things setting you off? This is a normal part of the sober experience, so congrats on getting started. In this episode, I’ll explain why we have mood swings after quitting drinking. You’ll learn what’s going on in the brain, when it should start to ease u…

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E263: Sugar Cravings After Quitting Drinking 22:27

4M ago22:27

22:27

Did you go from never wanting dessert to now never skipping it? Are you craving sugar constantly now that you’ve quit drinking? Sugar cravings in sobriety are very normal and in this episode I’ll explain a few reasons why we crave sugar after getting sober and how you can start managing your sugar cravings moving forward. What to listen to next: E1…

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Alcohol and Cancer Risk (Surgeon General Warning Explained) 14:55

4M ago14:55

14:55

The Surgeon General just recommended that cancer warning labels be included on alcohol bottles. However, the link between cancer and alcohol is old news. A recent study from the National Cancer Institute found that only 50% of Americans are aware that alcohol causes cancer, so in this episode you'll learn how alcohol causes cancer, alcohol and canc…

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E262: 31 Tips to Quit Drinking in Dry January 37:09

4M ago37:09

37:09

Are you trying to quit drinking for Dry January? A sober month is a good opportunity to learn more about your drinking and get experience handling your life without alcohol. I know it’s scary in the beginning and you may not know what to do. In this episode I’ll share some research about Dry January and how to be successful this month, then we’ll c…

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E261: The Psychology of New Year's Resolutions (Willpower and Goal Setting) 22:46

4M ago22:46

22:46

2025 can be your year. Most of us set goals to quit drinking or lose weight, and then we don’t achieve it. In this episode, I’m going to explain 3 things that make us less likely to meet our goals. Most people think lack of willpower or self-discipline is the reason why we don’t succeed, and I’ll explain why that’s not the case. You’ll also learn 4…

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E260: 5 Holiday Mental Health Challenges 23:17

4M ago23:17

23:17

If you love the holidays, then I’m happy for you, but many of us don’t. If the holidays make you feel tired, jealous, stressed, and resentful, then you came to the right place. In this episode I’ll discuss different mental health challenges that may be coming up for you and I’ll weave in survey data on stress and mental health during the holiday se…

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E259: 10 Things You Might Be Doing to Sabotage Your Sobriety During the Holidays 19:56

5M ago19:56

19:56

Staying sober during the holidays is difficult, but there are some things that I’ve observed people do that make it even more difficult. In this episode, I’m covering 10 things you may be doing to sabotage your sobriety and how to stop doing them. What to listen to next: E211: The Anticipation of a Drink E255-258 holiday support episodes Sober Supp…

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E258: The Science of Peer Pressure to Drink and 7 Strategies to Resist 27:47

5M ago27:47

27:47

Humans are wired to conform—it’s a survival instinct rooted in safety and belonging. That’s why it can feel nearly impossible to resist the pull of doing what everyone else is doing, especially when it comes to drinking. In this episode, you’ll learn about the science behind peer pressure: how your brain processes the need to fit in, the role of au…

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E257: Sober Socializing: Why Alcohol Doesn’t Help 25:51

5M ago25:51

25:51

I know it feels like alcohol is required to socialize, connect with others, and have fun. What if I told you that alcohol makes you feel more relaxed socially, but negatively impacts other people’s perception of you? In this episode you’ll learn why you think you need alcohol, the connection between social anxiety and alcohol use disorder, how our …

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E256: Dealing With Your Dysfunctional Family Without Drinking 27:55

5M ago27:55

27:55

Your family and how you grew up have a major influence on how difficult it is for you to get sober, do the work, and resist relapse. A dysfunctional family influences our mindset, how many coping skills and resources we have, and how in tune we are with our emotions. Lots of families have an unspoken rule of silence, which impacts how we behave as …

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E255: 6 Strategies For Staying Sober Through the Holidays (and Some Holidays Drinking Statistics) 27:07

5M ago27:07

27:07

It’s that time of year again. Time for company happy hours, holiday parties, and seeing family. It’s also a time of year when most people drink a lot more than usual. I quit drinking in early November, so I was a little baby sober for my first holiday season. In this episode, I’ll walk you through the strategies that helped me the most during my fi…

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I'm 5 Years Sober: Here's How I Reached Acceptance 14:15

6M ago14:15

14:15

The most difficult part of the process of quitting drinking is getting from the point where you realize your drinking is problematic and that you need to quit, to where you actually quit and accept that you are done. That is by far the worst stage and I can't tell you how long that lasts. However, what I would like to tell you in this special episo…

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E254: Why You Can’t Make Good Decisions About Your Drinking (or Anything Else) 26:45

6M ago26:45

26:45

Have you ever vowed to stop drinking, but then you drink again anyway? It’s a rhetorical question. I know the answer is yes. It’s frustrating when we keep doing this to ourselves and it destroys our belief in ourselves, which is an essential part of staying sober. In this episode I’m discussing instant gratification, the decision making process, an…

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E253: 5 Common Mistakes in Early Sobriety and How to Avoid Them 23:04

6M ago23:04

23:04

Are you making being sober harder for yourself? I had no idea what I was doing when I first quit drinking and maybe you feel the same way. Over the years there are things that I’ve noticed people tend to do that makes their sobriety journey more difficult and in this episode I’m going to explain them. If you’ve been doing any of these things then I…

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E252: How Many Attempts Does it Take to Quit Drinking for Good 29:40

6M ago29:40

29:40

Multiple quit attempts are common when you are trying to get sober, but how many tries does it take before it finally sticks? In this episode I’ll cover the statistics on relapse rates and share all the data I’ve found on the number of quit attempts it takes to stay sober for good. You’ll learn about what makes sobriety more challenging, and what y…

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E251: Here’s Why You’re Emotions Are So Intense 25:23

6M ago25:23

25:23

The intensity of our emotions determines how we deal with them. If the intensity gets too much and we become overwhelmed, we can use avoidance coping mechanisms, like drinking, but avoiding emotions just increases their intensity. In this episode, I’ll explain why some of us have more intense emotions than others, what the window of tolerance is an…

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E250: What Does it Mean to “Be Ready” to Get Sober 22:35

7M ago22:35

22:35

When I was struggling to quit drinking people would constantly tell me that I wasn’t “ready” yet. I felt ready. I was suffering and wanted it to end. What more did I need to be ready? In this episode you’ll learn about the stages of change, what each one might look like with our drinking, and how to move into the next stage if you are stuck in one.…

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E249: Alcohol and Cortisol: Extra Stress and Extra Cravings 24:06

7M ago24:06

24:06

Stress is a main reason many of us drink and it’s a big trigger for relapse after getting sober. In this episode you’ll learn all about cortisol- how it’s released, how chronic stress and heavy drinking disrupt our stress response, and when your stress response system may recover in sobriety. I’ll explain what happens with cortisol in withdrawal, i…

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E248: You Can’t Be Comfortable AND Stay Sober 23:22

7M ago23:22

23:22

Getting sober is tough. We have to figure out how to live again and finally learn some coping skills and tools. It’s uncomfortable. In this episode, I’ll talk about stepping outside of our comfort zone to stay sober and how to recognize and take advantage of growth opportunities that show up during the journey. I’m going to share some uncomfortable…

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E247: Sober Sleep is the Best Sleep, But Not Right Away 21:20

7M ago21:20

21:20

You’ve heard people say it, sober sleep is the best sleep, but when are you going to get some of this great sleep yourself? In this episode, I explain why we think alcohol helps with sleep, how alcohol affects sleep, and what to expect with your sleep when you quit drinking. You’ll learn more about insomnia in the first month, why we have drinking …

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E246: Alcohol and Dementia 28:45

8M ago28:45

28:45

Many of us worry that we’ve done permanent damage to our brains with our heavy drinking or that it’s been too long to make a change. In this episode you’ll learn more about dementia, how heavy drinking damages the brain and increases the risk of developing dementia, and what you can do to reduce your risk of dementia, besides quitting drinking of c…

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E245: Want to Stay Sober? You Need to Be Consistent 25:26

8M ago25:26

25:26

Is being sober truly a priority or would it be a nice to have? If you want to make progress in getting sober, staying sober, and doing “the work”, then you need to be consistent. In this episode, I’ll discuss why consistency is important to the brain, 3 things that make us more likely to follow through with our commitments, and how you can start pr…

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E244: Boredom in Sobriety 21:44

8M ago21:44

21:44

It’s very normal to feel bored when you quit drinking. We get used to constant excitement, dopamine and chaos while we’re drinking, so it can be difficult to adjust. Plus, many of us give up our hobbies that don’t involve alcohol, so when we get sober we don’t know what to do with all of our free time. In this episode I’m going to discuss why some …

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E243: Emotional Eating After Getting Sober 29:59

8M ago29:59

29:59

Emotional eating is a very frustrating thing to deal with, and it’s not uncommon to eat extra or have sugar cravings when you get sober. In this episode I’ll explain why we emotionally eat, the factors that contribute to emotional eating the most, and how this relates to your sobriety. You’ll learn about a lot of different studies on emotional eati…

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E242: The Science of Making Good Habits in Long Term Sobriety 23:07

9M ago23:07

23:07

Many of us eventually realize that we have unhealthy habits like eating a bunch of junk at night, drinking way too much caffeine, not exercising, and more. We want to change these, but changing habits is tough. We can easily get into the same cycle we did with our drinking where we say we’re going to do it and then we do nothing, or we get inspired…

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E241: 6 Theories of Alcohol Cravings 25:25

9M ago25:25

25:25

Understanding why you crave alcohol can be a powerful tool in your sober journey, helping you reduce the frequency and intensity of these cravings. There are many theories about why alcohol cravings occur, and in this episode, I’ll explore the six most scientifically supported reasons. By gaining insight into the different factors that contribute t…

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E240: Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS) After Quitting Drinking: 8 Tips to Cope 25:33

9M ago25:33

25:33

You may have heard of Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS), a condition that can develop after you’ve quit drinking and includes lingering symptoms like mood swings, anxiety, brain fog, and fatigue. In this episode I will explain what PAWS is, why it develops, what factors influence the severity of PAWS, what you can expect, and I’ll give you 8 ti…

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E0: How Alcohol Affects Your Body: Here's What the Science Says 1:21:57

9M ago1:21:57

1:21:57

This episode is a deep dive into how alcohol affects the body, timestamps are below. This isn’t an episode meant to scare you, just to inform you about all the things you may be experiencing. Often we don’t know that alcohol is the cause. In the second half of the episode I’ll shift gears to the scary side of how alcohol impacts the body, specifica…

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E239: How the Brain Heals After Quitting Drinking 22:03

9M ago22:03

22:03

In this episode you’ll learn about what the brain is like in the first couple of weeks of sobriety, how the brain’s of people who relapse are different from those who stay sober, how healing progresses up to 7 years of sobriety, and some common roadblocks. This episode is part of a 9 episode series for Dry July 2024. Make sure to follow my podcast …

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E238: Why Moderation Doesn’t Work 20:25

9M ago20:25

20:25

Moderation is impossible. If you can’t moderate, then you’ll never be able to. Some people can moderate with rules and intense focus, but that’s not real moderation. In this episode I’ll explain why we can never be cured, what’s going on in the brain, and hopefully help you accept that you drink the way you drink and that’s it. What to listen to ne…

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E237: Why We Forget How Bad It Was 19:51

9M ago19:51

19:51

Have you ever felt totally convinced that it was going to be different this time, only to drink and find out it’s still not any different? We can repeat this cycle too many times to count, and maintain the belief that we’ll be able to moderate our drinking someday if only we keep trying. In this episode you’ll learn why you repeat this process even…

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E236: Why Alcohol Feels Good and Then Feels Really Bad 16:51

9M ago16:51

16:51

At the end of our drinking, we continue to drink even though it’s not enjoyable and causes a lot of suffering. As addiction progresses it goes from liking alcohol to wanting or needing alcohol. In this episode I’ll explain why alcohol feels pleasurable and enjoyable for us, and how eventually we get a payback and start feeling miserable. You’ll lea…

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E235: Dopamine and Loss of Control 22:47

10M ago22:47

22:47

Everyone loves dopamine right now. We know it’s involved in addiction and pleasure, and that it gets depleted when we drink. In this episode, I’m going to explain dopamine’s role in motivation, cravings, and building associations with our drinking. One of the earliest signs of addiction is loss of control, so how dopamine contributes to us being un…

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E234: The Scary Side of How Alcohol Affects the Body 41:23

10M ago41:23

41:23

Cancer and cirrhosis. The 2 scary parts of drinking. This is going to be a brutally honest episode about the scary side of how alcohol affects the body. I purposefully split this off from the previous episode in case you don’t want to hear it. In this episode you’ll learn how the body processes alcohol, why women typically have more health related …

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E233: How Alcohol Affects the Body: A Deep Dive 42:46

10M ago42:46

42:46

There’s so much to say about how alcohol affects the body I could go on for hours, and none of it is good stuff. I’ll explain why alcohol makes you sweaty and red, how it affects sleep, how it impacts the heart and blood pressure, how alcohol impacts skin and aging, how it causes leg cramps, how it initially energizes us before making us horribly e…

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E232: The 3am Wake Up of Shame: Alcohol and Anxiety 16:27

10M ago16:27

16:27

Not remembering how we went to bed becomes a normal experience, but it is not normal. We get drunk, eventually end up in bed, only to jolt awake around 3am. After the panic passes, we realize we’ve done it again. We got way too drunk and can’t remember the end of the night. This realization is followed by shame and anxiety, which likely continues i…

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Gillian Tietz Ms Cprc Podcasts

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