Podcast · Learning

Stronger Bolder Wiser

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 1 hr 6 min
Latest: 5 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

5 Oct 2026 · 1 hr 10 minNew

Should I Stay or Should I Go? How to Know If Your Marriage Is Really Over with Betsy Pake

Nobody walks into a marriage planning to leave it, yet so many midlife women are quietly asking whether to stay or go. Your body often knows the answer first. In this episode I sit down with Betsy Pake, certified master coach and founder of The Navigate Method, to unpack the question so many midlife women are asking: should I stay or should I go? We talk about why women are choosing peace over partnership, the purgatory of indecision, and how an unhappy marriage so often sits underneath a woman's drinking. Betsy shares her Mirror, Mend or Move method and how to tell a hard season from a…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

1 Oct 2026 · 9 min

6 Reasons Why Successful Women Are Quietly Quitting Alcohol After 40 | Sarah Rusbatch

Struggling to know what to do when stress, boredom or big emotions hit? Download my free guide "100 Things to Do Instead of Drinking", a toolkit for sitting with those feelings instead of reaching for a glass of wine. Get your free guide → https://bit.ly/4qOiGUw The women quitting alcohol are not at rock bottom and they do not call themselves alcoholics. They are running businesses and raising teenagers, and they have simply reached the point where drinking no longer works for them. In this episode I share the six reasons successful women are quietly quitting alcohol, and what they get back…
E31 · 28 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 8 min

What Women Need to Know About Perimenopause, Hormones & Birth Control | Lara Briden

Struggling to know what to do when stress, boredom or big emotions hit? Download my free guide "100 Things to Do Instead of Drinking", a toolkit for sitting with those feelings instead of reaching for a glass of wine. Get your free guide → https://bit.ly/4qOiGUw Perimenopause is not a medical condition and you are not broken. Dr Lara Briden explains what is really happening to your hormones after 40, and why alcohol makes all of it harder. In this episode I sit down with Dr Lara Briden, naturopathic doctor and author of Period Repair Manual, Hormone Repair Manual and Metabolism Repair for…
24 Sep 2026 · 10 min

Why Alcohol Hits Women Harder After 40 + 3 Ways to Drink Less

Struggling to know what to do when stress, boredom or big emotions hit? Download my free guide "100 Things to Do Instead of Drinking", a toolkit for sitting with those feelings instead of reaching for a glass of wine. Get your free guide → https://bit.ly/4qOiGUw If you cannot bounce back from two glasses of wine the way you did in your twenties, you are not imagining it. There are three biological reasons women process alcohol less effectively than men, and all three get stronger as we age. In this solo episode I walk you through the three reasons women cannot metabolise alcohol as…
E30 · 21 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 8 min

Is Alcohol Keeping You Stuck? The Questions Every Woman Who Drinks Should Ask | Jen Hirst

Feeling like alcohol has quietly become your default way to unwind, reward yourself, or take the edge off? Join my October Reset Challenge, a supportive, guided reset to help you break the daily drinking habit, reconnect with yourself, and prove you can feel good without the glass of wine. Join the October Reset → https://bit.ly/4gJyKSY What does it really take to walk out of the "sober closet" and let go of the shame we carry around drinking? In this episode of Stronger, Bolder, Wiser, I sit down with sobriety coach Jen Hirst to trace her journey from hidden, high-functioning drinking to…
17 Sep 2026 · 11 min

Am I Drinking Too Much? The 7 Signs of Grey Area Drinking Every Woman Over 40 Should Know | Grey Area Drinking Coach Sarah Rusbatch

Struggling to know what to do when stress, boredom or big emotions hit? Download my free guide "100 Things to Do Instead of Drinking", a toolkit for sitting with those feelings instead of reaching for a glass of wine. Get your free guide → https://bit.ly/4qOiGUw Most women who recognize themselves in this episode do not identify as alcoholics, and that is exactly why the term grey area drinking exists. It is the space between the every now and then drinker and physical dependency, and it is where a whole generation of midlife women are quietly living. In this solo episode I explain what grey…
E29 · 14 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 6 min

How to Protect Your Brain After 40: A Brain Scientist’s Guide for Women | Tommy Wood

Struggling to know what to do when stress, boredom or big emotions hit? Download my free guide "100 Things to Do Instead of Drinking", a toolkit for sitting with those feelings instead of reaching for a glass of wine. Get your free guide → https://bit.ly/4qOiGUw Your brain is knackered by 5pm because you've been stuck in middle gear all day, and that exhaustion is exactly why the wine starts calling. In this episode I sit down with Dr. Tommy Wood, neuroscientist and author of The Stimulated Mind, to unpack the three cognitive gears (high, middle, low) and why constant task switching leaves…
E28 · 7 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 18 min

Do You Have a Sweet Tooth or a Sugar Addiction? The 6 Signs with Dr. Jen Unwin

Feeling like alcohol has quietly become your default way to unwind, reward yourself, or take the edge off? Join my October Reset Challenge, a supportive, guided reset to help you break the daily drinking habit, reconnect with yourself, and prove you can feel good without the glass of wine. Join the October Reset → https://bit.ly/4gJyKSY Is sugar addiction real, and why do so many women swap alcohol for sugar the moment they stop drinking? In this episode of Stronger, Bolder, Wiser, I sit down with clinical psychologist Dr. Jen Unwin, a leading expert on sugar and ultra-processed food…
E28 · 31 Aug 2026 · 56 min

7 Ways to Handle Stress Without Wine (When Everything Feels Like Too Much)

By 5pm the kids are screaming, you've had 77,000 tabs open in your brain all day, and a voice says you deserve a glass of wine. That voice isn't weakness, it's your brain reaching for the fastest exit it knows. I take you deep into what's actually happening in your body when stress hits, and why alcohol keeps showing up as the solution even when you know it isn't serving you. I walk you through nervous system 101, the fight or flight trap so many of us are living in, and the biology of GABA and why perimenopause leaves us more depleted and reaching for wine. Then I share my seven favourite…
E26 · 25 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 15 min

Want to Live Longer? A Female Longevity Expert Says Focus on These 3 Things | Zora Benhamou

Ageing isn't decline, it's the beginning of something incredible, and the choices you make today are quietly building the woman you'll be at 80. I sat down with gerontologist and biohacker Zora Benhamou, host of the Hack My Age podcast, who has interviewed more than 200 women across 50 countries about how they experience menopause. We got into why so many of us reach for alcohol in perimenopause without realising it's a short-lived fix for a real hormonal shift, and why removing it changes almost everything. Zora walked me through the three phases of the menopause transition, the levers that…
17 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 8 min

The Mum Wine Lie: Why Alcohol Never Made Motherhood Easier

You woke up on the bedroom floor swearing this was the last time, and by Friday you were hovering over that party invite knowing exactly how the night would end. This is the episode about the moment you finally step off the merry-go-round. I sit down with my dear friend Victoria Vanstone, host of the award-winning Sober Awkward podcast. Vic shares the raw truth of her journey from binge-drinking party girl to eight years alcohol-free, including the "one hangover too far" that changed everything and the therapy visualisation that finally set her free. Timestamps Introduction (00:00) The…
10 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 12 min

Why Your Coping Strategies Stopped Working in Perimenopause - with Faye Lawrence

If you've spent your whole life feeling like you're failing at things everyone else finds easy, your ADHD may only be surfacing now because perimenopause has pulled back the curtain on it. This episode shows you why, and exactly what you can do about it. Faye Lawrence, a counsellor, psychologist and ADHD coach who also specialises in grey area drinking, unpacks why so many women are only discovering they have ADHD in their 40s and 50s. She shares the lifestyle tools and supplements her clients lean on alongside or instead of medication. I loved this conversation because I know so many women…
E23 · 3 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 10 min

What's Really Keeping You Stuck? (And How to Create a Life You Truly Love) | Craig Harper

Change doesn't happen because you finally feel ready. It happens because you decide, then follow through, whether you feel ready or not. I'm sitting down with behavior change expert and exercise physiologist Craig Harper, host of The You Project podcast, for a conversation I've wanted to have with him for a long time. We dig into why we keep repeating the habits we know aren't serving us, from grey area drinking to self-sabotage, and why willpower alone was never going to fix it. Craig shares how he manages his own mind, body and behavior, why most of us are chasing "magic" instead of just…
E22 · 27 Jul 2026 · 52 min

6 Things Happy Women do Differently | How to Create your Happiest Life after 40

Women today have more freedom, choice, and opportunity than any generation before them, yet happiness has been declining since the 1970s. I'm sharing six principles that have genuinely changed how I experience my own life, and I believe they can change yours too. I unpack why women's happiness has been declining since the 1970s despite having more freedom and opportunity than ever. This episode is packed with practical, science backed ways to feel more alive in this next chapter of life. What We Cover: - Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable trains the brain's AMCC and builds the…
20 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 16 min

Discovering Who You REALLY Are Without Booze with Sober Dave

Sober Dave quit drinking after 40 years and discovered that stopping was the easy part - the real work was figuring out who he was without it. In this conversation with Sarah, he and Sarah unpack the identity void that follows sobriety, why moderation almost never works, how to grieve the "relationship" you had with alcohol, and what to say to a partner who won't admit their drinking is a problem. What We Cover: Why the hardest part of quitting drinking isn't the quitting, it's figuring out who you are afterward The toxic relationship pattern that explains why alcohol feels like your best…
E20 · 13 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 12 min

The Menopause Weight Gain Nobody Explains, and the Hormone Truth Behind All of It with Karen Martell

Your body isn't failing you. It's running out of the hormones it needs, and no doctor told you that was coming. I sit down with Karen Martel, certified hormone specialist and transformational nutrition coach, to pull back the curtain on what perimenopause and menopause are actually doing to women's bodies and minds. Karen shares her own journey through hormonal collapse in her early 30s, early menopause at 42, and how she rebuilt her health from the inside out. Together, we walk through the full hormonal picture, from the first drop in progesterone to the metabolic storm of estrogen loss,…
E19 · 6 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 6 min

The Best Sex of Your Life Could Still Be Ahead of You. Here's Why with Sex Therapist Jacqueline Hellyer

What if the "lost libido" you've been blaming on age, hormones or your relationship was never actually about desire at all? In this episode I sit down with renowned sex and relationship therapist Jacqueline Hellyer to talk about one of the most common things I hear from women in my community: "I just don't want sex anymore." Jacqueline breaks down the myth of spontaneous desire, why so many of us have only ever known unsatisfying sex, and how real intimacy starts long before you ever get to the bedroom. It is an honest, eye opening and at times very funny conversation about reclaiming…
E18 · 29 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 5 min

Why Are You Waking Up at 3AM? The Real Reasons Women Can't Sleep Through the Night with Annika Carroll

If you're waking up at 3am every single night feeling wired, anxious and exhausted, this episode is about to change the way you think about sleep forever. In this episode I'm joined by Annika Carroll, women's sleep and health coach and CEO of Sleep Like a Boss, to unpack one of the most under-discussed topics in women's health: sleep. We dive into why so many of us start struggling with sleep in our 40s, what's really going on during those dreaded 3am wake ups, and how hormones, stress, blood sugar and alcohol all play a role. Timestamps Why Can't You Sleep Through the Night? (00:00) Why…
22 Jun 2026 · 56 min

"Am I Drinking Too Much?" If You've Ever Asked Yourself That, You Already Know the Answer

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…
E16 · 15 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 1 min

Is Your Marriage Over or Does It Just Need Work? with Relationship Coach Lisa Miller

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…
8 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 4 min

What Happens to Your Life When You Change Your Drinking | Andy Ramage

You already know something needs to change. This conversation might be the nudge that finally makes you do something about it. I sat down with Andy Ramage, co-founder of One Year No Beer and someone I genuinely consider the godfather of the alcohol-free world, for one of the most honest and wide-ranging conversations I've had on this podcast. Andy went from burnt-out city broker to thriving alcohol-free coach, and together we unpack exactly why so many people stay stuck in the middle lane of drinking, and what it actually takes to get out. If you've ever told yourself "I just need to cut…
1 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 3 min

Nobody Taught Us This: The 3 Boundary Types Every Woman Needs to Start Thriving

Are you exhausted, resentful, and running on empty…but still saying "I'm fine"? In this episode I talk about something most of us were never taught: how to set boundaries. Not the cold, wall-building kind. But boundaries that actually protect your mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing and creates more time, more energy, and more joy in your life. I break down the three types of boundaries, the six areas of life where you can start setting them right now, and the surprisingly simple ways to begin… even if you're terrified of disappointing people. You don't need more resilience. You don't…
25 May 2026 · 58 min

Your Vagina After 40: What's Normal, What's Not, and What to Do with Dr. Sara Reardon

Leakage when you laugh… Dryness that makes sex uncomfortable. Your vagina is telling you something… Nobody explained to us what happens to our bodies when estrogen drops. Nobody taught us what normal actually looks like and we have accepted it. But here’s the good news. Most of it is treatable. This week I chat with Dr Sara Rearden, board certified pelvic floor floor therapist and known to many as the Vagina Whisperer, for the most honest, practical and genuinely important conversation about our vaginal and pelvic floor health. I wish I'd had this conversation ten years ago. And I want you…
18 May 2026 · 1 hr 27 min

Is your Brain Fog Menopause or Early Dementia? Dr Helena Popovic explains how to tell the difference.

Every three seconds, someone in the world receives a dementia diagnosis. And two thirds of them are women. In Australia, dementia is now the number one cause of death. And most women have no idea how much power they have to change that. This week I'm sitting down with Dr. Helena Popovic, medical doctor, bestselling author and one of the world's leading experts on brain health. This conversation stopped me in my tracks. We talk about why women are so much more vulnerable than men, what the drop in estrogen is actually doing to your brain, and most importantly, what you can start doing today…
11 May 2026 · 1 hr 23 min

Why your Gut Health Matters more than Ever After 40 with Stephanie Grosvenor

You know that exhausted, bloated or anxious feeling that just won’t shift? It might not be stress, it might not be your hormones… It might actually be your gut… and it could be trying to tell you something important. This week I sat down with Functional Nutritionist & Health Coach Stephanie Grosvenor from Unlimited You Coaching, who spent years sick without the answers before finally listening to her gut and healing herself. Now, Stephanie wants to help others to heal too. We’re talking about why gut health becomes extra critical in peri-menopause and menopause, what leaky gut actually is…
4 May 2026 · 1 hr 5 min

How the Food Industry Tricks Us Into Eating More with Matty Lansdown

Matty Lansdown started out in cancer research, where he found that 90 - 95% of cancers are related to diet and lifestyle and decided to switch paths to become a nutritionist. Now he’s working with hundreds of women on their emotional and binge eating journey to heal their relationship with food. We’re sitting down today to really unpack the cycle of emotional eating, emotional binge eating, why we do it, how to stop it, and why it's actually not about willpower. So many of the things Matty spoke about today shocked me… from the flavour industry manipulating your appetite, to foods that make…
27 Apr 2026 · 49 min

It’s not your fault! 5 Ways to break free of the self-sabotage cycle

If you've ever found yourself doing the exact thing you promised yourself you wouldn't, and then spent the next day beating yourself up about it… I want to help you break that cycle. Because here’s what I want you to know before we even start: You’re not weak. You are not broken and it’s not your fault. Our brains are biologically programmed to keep us safe and we fall back into old patterns because we are building a new version of ourselves we haven’t met before. In this episode, I breakdown the self-sabotage cycle. What it actually is, why incredibly capable women keep doing it, and most…
20 Apr 2026 · 1 hr 5 min

What If It’s Not Hormones? Iron Deficiency Could Be the Missing Piece with Dr Libby Weaver

55% of women have some degree of iron deficiency. And it turns out… a lot of the symptoms you might be experiencing are connected. So today I’m sitting down with Dr Libby Weaver to unpack what midlife women actually need to understand about iron… and why it might be the missing piece you haven’t looked at yet. Dr Libby is a nutritional biochemist, author of 13 bestselling books, and someone who has spent decades helping women understand how their bodies actually work. In this conversation, we go way deeper than “just take a supplement” and really break down what’s going on under the surface.…
13 Apr 2026 · 1 hr 9 min

Neuroscientist: “We are in the Great Dumbing Down of Humanity.” What every Woman (and parent) needs to hear with TJ Power

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…
6 Apr 2026 · 1 hr 9 min

Why changing the state of your nervous system can change your life (and how to do it)

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…

About Stronger Bolder Wiser

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. Stronger Bolder Wiser 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

Stronger Bolder Wiser is a English learning podcast from 37 Projects. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: 37 Projects
Language: English
Category: Learning
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 1 hr 6 min
Latest episode: 5 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1884809438
Rights: 37 Projects

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