Episode Details

What if the life you’re chasing, and the drinking that comes with it, are both keeping you from the life you really want?

In this honest conversation, Anna Donaghey welcomes recovery and transition coach Alina Roselli, who shares her journey from living “outside-in” - seeking validation, people-pleasing and pushing through burnout, to soul-led sobriety and deep self-acceptance.

Together, they explore why we can lose ourselves trying to meet other people’s expectations, how burnout and exhaustion can force us to question the life we’re living, and why transformation isn’t simply about giving up alcohol, it's about discovering who you are without it.

They also explore self-worth, radical honesty, the trap of external validation and practical ways to start living more “inside-out”.

For anyone questioning their relationship with alcohol, their sense of purpose, or whether there could be more to life, this episode offers an invitation to stop chasing approval and start coming home to yourself.

Highlights:

00:00 Welcome & introduction to Alina Roselli

00:40 Alina’s unraveling, burnout, alcohol and not knowing herself

02:46 The culture of drinking and starting at 15

05:55 Seeking belonging and landing in “image-driven” circles

10:07 What is “outside-in” living and how it shaped Alina’s self worth

12:28 When alcohol shifts from fun to medicine

15:46 How self-image creates our lives (and can keep us lost)

16:43 Burnout as a wake-up call

17:40 Trying everything (yoga, therapy, self-help) but not getting better

23:27 Filling the “God-shaped hole” - how misaligned living leaves us empty

26:04 Making hard changes and letting go of old identities

28:46 Why inside-out living is terrifying and ultimately liberating

30:10 “Pain pushes until the vision pulls”: learning to listen to your soul

32:43 Finding calm, silence, and the right conditions to truly meet yourself

34:19 Discovering introversion, the need for solitude, and creative renewal

36:29 How the small actions revealed a bigger self and a life worth keeping

39:32 How to reconnect with your needs and stop abandoning yourself

41:36 The courage in honesty and the gifts waiting in the unknown

43:42 Acceptance, creativity, and the joy of simply feeling okay

46:35 Becoming yourself changes the world around you

49:33 People have no idea how amazing they are

50:19 How to join The Big Drink Rethink community.

Anna’s book "What Are You Thirsty For? Rethinking Alcohol and The Life You Want", is now out in the world for you to buy!

Order your copy, access her free tools and explore her coaching programmes at: https://thebigdrinkrethink.com/

The Thirsty For More Mindset Lab is Anna’s ‘inner circle’ - a calm, thoughtful space where conversations continue, patterns are explored, and things begin to make sense. Find out more at: https://thirstyformore.substack.com/

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About the host Anna: