Podcast | Mindset
Episode 29| February 18, 2024

Overcome Alcoholism & Dream Big w/ Jessica Stipanovic

The Lights Shut Off at 19. It Took a Decade to Turn Them Back On.

Until she was nineteen, Jessica Stipanovic’s world was light and bright. Everything felt possible.

Then the lights shut off. She spent nearly a decade drinking, traveling to reset, and searching for the person she used to be, not understanding that what she was fighting was alcoholism.

Eighteen years ago, she put the drink down for good.

This year she decided to stop keeping her recovery private, and to live her life out loud.

In this episode of the Happy Healthy Hustle Podcast, writer and podcast host Jessica Stipanovic shares how she got sober, why she finally took her memoir off the shelf after fifteen years, and what it means to dream big again.

If your story could help someone else, keeping it private is a kind of stealing.

This is an honest, hopeful conversation about recovery and second chances.

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“It was the hardest thing I ever did, and the best thing I ever did.”

– Jessica Stipanovic

Fast Skim & Timestamps

0:00 Meet Jessica: Writer and Sober Living Host
1:22 Her Superpower: Dreaming Big
3:02 When the Lights Shut Off
4:46 Finding Her Voice in Sobriety
8:25 The Hardest and Best Thing She Ever Did
10:04 The Book She Shelved for Fifteen Years
11:20 Modeling a Mom Who Chases Her Dream
13:51 Choosing to Live Out Loud

Key Takeaways

Dreaming big can be a superpower, even when you cannot yet see how you will get there.
Addiction narrows life to one thing. Recovery is what lets everything else begin again.
Getting well can mean yielding, trusting people who know more than you do right now.
A shelved dream is not a dead one. Jessica finished a book fifteen years after the first draft.
Chasing your dream can be the example your kids most need to see.
If your story could help someone, sharing it is a gift, and keeping it hidden costs them.

Three Petite Practice® Questions

1. What one thing has been quietly narrowing my whole life?

2. What dream have I shelved that I could take back down?

3. What story am I keeping private out of fear of judgment?

Transcript Chapters

0:00 Meet Jessica: Writer and Sober Living Host

[00:00:00] Jessica Stipanovic: Until about nineteen, it was light and bright, everything was possible. Then eventually the lights just shut off, because I did not understand that what I was dealing with was alcoholism. I thought every drink was helping me. If one thing I say can help somebody, then great. [00:00:32] Dr. Christiane Schroeter: Welcome back to the Happy Healthy Hustle. Today I am here with Jessica Stipanovic, who is going to share how she overcame alcoholism. Please introduce yourself. [00:00:50] Jessica Stipanovic: Thank you for having me. I am the writer of an upcoming addiction memoir, and the host of the Sober Living Stories podcast, which shares how people overcome addiction and now live their best lives sober.

1:22 Her Superpower: Dreaming Big

[00:01:22] Jessica Stipanovic: My superpower is dreaming big. From an early age I had two life goals, to become a New York Times bestselling author and to travel to Africa. My parents raised me to believe I could become anything, and it was seamless until about nineteen. [00:02:25] Jessica Stipanovic: I remember a night out with friends during a holiday season. Everyone was talking about the present, and I could never get away from the future and what I wanted to do. I thought, I do not fit in here, I am thinking about how I am going to get there.

3:02 When the Lights Shut Off

[00:03:02] Jessica Stipanovic: At that time I did not have the life experience to fill the pages of that book, and the next ten years would give it to me, as I shifted away from a normal college life into alcoholism. Up until nineteen it was light and bright, and then the lights shut off. I spent nearly a decade trying to turn them back on and find myself. I left the country a number of times to reset, but it never worked, because I did not understand it was alcoholism. I thought every drink was helping me, until I got around people who understood the disease, and I began to get well. That was eighteen years ago, and I have not had a drink since.

4:46 Finding Her Voice in Sobriety

[00:04:46] Dr. Christiane Schroeter: It sounds like you had a very mature sense of time, thinking ten years ahead rather than tomorrow. [00:05:21] Jessica Stipanovic: I knew I would write a book, though I had no idea how. After I got sober I worked as a freelance writer and journalist for about ten years. It was a talent I did not know I had. [00:06:58] Jessica Stipanovic: In active alcoholism it was like the barstool mentality, telling people I am going to do this one day, but nothing came of it. When I put the drink down, within a year and a half I had over one hundred fifty articles published and paid for. It speaks to how, in addiction, everything is only about the alcoholism, not your family or your dreams. Once you get rid of it and have solutions, you can really start your life.

8:25 The Hardest and Best Thing She Ever Did

[00:08:25] Dr. Christiane Schroeter: What was your biggest challenge, and how did you overcome it? [00:08:31] Jessica Stipanovic: Hands down it was overcoming alcoholism. It was the hardest thing I did, and the best thing I ever did. I had people who stood beside me, listened, and always told me the truth. The difference is I yielded and listened. If they told me to do something, I trusted they had an answer I did not have. I had been very self-sufficient, but I knew my life depended on putting down what I knew and listening to people with more time than me.

10:04 The Book She Shelved for Fifteen Years

[00:10:04] Jessica Stipanovic: In my third year of sobriety I started the book. I took a year off and wrote everywhere, at the bank, at the food store. But after that draft, I put it away and did not touch it for about fifteen years. This past year I had the good fortune to be placed in front of people who helped me take it off the shelf and begin again.

11:20 Modeling a Mom Who Chases Her Dream

[00:11:20] Jessica Stipanovic: This time looks very different. Back then I was single and lived alone. Now I have a husband, three children, and a business. Finishing the book took a lot of time from my family this year. Instead of beating myself up for not volunteering at school as much, I reframed it. Maybe my daughter needs the example that her mom has a dream and will go after it until she accomplishes it. I sought balance so I could do it, but not at the expense of my family.

13:51 Choosing to Live Out Loud

[00:13:51] Jessica Stipanovic: This year I celebrated eighteen years of sobriety, ten years of marriage, and I turned fifty. I had always kept my recovery private. It was easy to write it in a book, but this summer I decided to speak about it out loud, because I had to stop being afraid of what people would think and honor that my message could help someone. I have seen a lot of loss and a lot of people not make it. If one thing I say can help somebody, then great. [00:16:12] Dr. Christiane Schroeter: We all have something important to share, and if we do not share it, we are stealing from others. Thank you for sharing, Jessica. Where can people find you? [00:17:03] Jessica Stipanovic: You can find me at jessicastipanovic.com, sign up for my newsletter, the 321, and follow me on Instagram at Jessica Stipanovic. [00:17:40] Dr. Christiane Schroeter: Thank you for being part of the Happy Healthy Hustle.

Meet My Guest

Jessica Stipanovic

Writer & Host of Sober Living Stories

Jessica Stipanovic is the writer of an upcoming addiction memoir and the host of the Sober Living Stories podcast, which shares how people overcome alcoholism and addiction and build full lives in sobriety.

Eighteen years sober, she now speaks openly to help others start their own recovery. Find her at jessicastipanovic.com or on Instagram @jessicastipanovic.

Meet Your Host

Dr. Christiane Schroeter

TEDx Speaker & Leadership Strategist

I’m Dr. Christiane Schroeter, TEDx speaker, leadership strategist, and host of the Top 1% ranked Happy Healthy Hustle Podcast. I help leaders think clearly, speak with conviction, and take the next step during change.

About Dr. Christiane

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