406 The Midlife Unraveling: How Julie Rebuilt Her Life After Addiction, PTSD & Burnout

In today's episode, I sit down with my dear friend Julie Bloom - She's a coach, mental health trainer, multilingual communicator, and survivor of childhood abuse, and severe workplace trauma. 

Julie shares her remarkable story of navigating PTSD, burnout, trauma, addiction, and a complete midlife unraveling… and how she rebuilt her identity through emotional regulation, nonviolent communication, and deep personal healing.

Together we explore:
✨ Why emotional regulation is the foundation of all healing
✨ What actually happens in the brain during triggers
✨ How to respond instead of react
✨ The surprising power of compassionate communication
✨ The connection between trauma, addiction, and high achievement
✨ How sobriety opened the door for Julie's personal transformation
✨ Tools like the RAIN method, journaling, two-way prayer, adaptive thinking, and more

If you've ever felt overwhelmed by your emotions, stuck in old patterns, or unsure how to communicate your needs… this episode will give you hope and real strategies you can use today.

Before we jump in, I want to wish all who are celebrating a Happy Thanksgiving! This episode will be released on a day where many of us spend the day with family, for better or worse.

For those who find Thanksgiving to be a challenging day, whether it's due to being around people who push your buttons, or the loneliness that comes from distance or estrangement, I wanted to offer some practical advice on getting through the day sober - both physically and emotionally. 

First, start your day with self-care for your body, mind and spirit. Even if you can only spend 30 minutes in the morning doing it, the return will be well worth the investment.

Think of it like this, if you have to travel a long distance, you'd put gas in your car first so that you could go the distance. Same thing with challenging or high emotion days. Be sure to fill your tank with inspirational literature, or content before venturing out. Also, be sure to boost your positive feel good neurotransmitters like oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins. Go for a walk, do some yoga, or get a workout in too. The physical exercise will burn off anxious energy, and help you to respond instead of react in stressful moments.

Lastly, have an exit strategy. Give yourself permission to make an excuse to leave whenever you need to. Remember, your sobriety and your feelings take priority over someone else's expectations. 

And who knows, if you run the experiment, maybe you'll have a completely different experience of the holidays! 

If you find this episode helpful, please share it with a friend.

So that's it from me today. Please enjoy this episode, and let me know what you think!

Find Julie on Instagram at @juliebloomworld

👊🏼Need help applying this information to your own life?

Here are 3 ways to get started:

🎁Free Guide: 30 Tips for Your First 30 Days - With a printable PDF checklist

Grab your copy here: https://www.soberlifeschool.com

☎️Private Coaching: Make Sobriety Stick

https://www.makesobrietystick.com

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Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music, or you can stream it from my website HERE. 

 

 

 

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-one-day-at-a-time-recovery-podcast/id1212504521

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