<h3>🎧 Episode Description</h3><p><br></p><p>This episode is an emotionally rich, thoughtful exploration of motherhood, storytelling, friendship, and addiction. Sophie reflects on how her podcast began long before podcasting was popular- born out of frustration and a desire for honesty. Instead of curated perfection, she and co-host Jen offered chaos, humour, truth, and community and thousands of women saw themselves reflected, often for the first time.</p><br><p>Sophie also shares deeply personal experiences with mental illness, alcoholism and self-loathing, describing how shame can follow us from childhood into adulthood until compassion interrupts the pattern. Through laughter, vulnerability, and storytelling, she shows how honesty can become a form of healing.</p><br><p>⸻</p><p><br></p><h3>🔑 Key Points</h3><p><br></p><p>🎙 Podcasting with No Blueprint- A movement born from instinct, not strategy.</p><p>👭 Friendship as Creative Foundation- Trust, humour, and emotional safety.</p><p>👶 Motherhood Without Filters- Breaking away from curated Instagram motherhood.</p><p>🧠 Postnatal Depression &amp; Mental Health Struggles-&nbsp;Real emotional aftermath of motherhood.</p><p>🍷 Addiction &amp; The First Drink at 13- Relief, identity, and survival.</p><p>✨ Compassion Through Seeing Children Clearly- Realising nothing was her fault.</p><p>📢 Women’s Voices &amp; The Power of Being Heard - Solidarity and storytelling.</p><br><p>⸻</p><p><br></p><h3>📚 Mentioned in this Episode</h3><p><br></p><p><a href="https://www.patreon.com/motherofpod" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mother of Pod / Stop the Madness Podcast</a></p><br><p>⸻</p><p><br></p><h3>⏱️ Timestamps</h3><p><br></p><p>00:00- How the podcast unexpectedly began</p><p>05:10- “Be my pod wife” moment</p><p>08:40- Building Patreon &amp; creative freedom</p><p>13:20- Irish storytelling culture</p><p>18:10- Postnatal depression &amp; emotional reality</p><p>23:50- When listeners share their truth</p><p>30:20- Addiction &amp; first drink story</p><p>33:00-&nbsp;Breastfeeding pressure &amp; guilt</p><p>40:00- Addiction, breakdown &amp; survival</p><p>52:30- Women’s safety &amp; public space</p><p>59:00- Parenting, screens &amp; doing our best</p><p>Thanks for listening! You can watch the full episode on YouTube&nbsp;<a href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLN4xDBAAv7WCZCJ0VJC8lIXiX8_QtHFZJ&amp;si=yi8ifI_sbjJJISSi" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>. Don’t forget to follow&nbsp;<em>The Laura Dowling Experience</em>&nbsp;podcast on Instagram&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/lauradowlingexperience?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&amp;igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@lauradowlingexperience</a>&nbsp;for updates and more information. You can also follow our host, Laura Dowling,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/fabulouspharmacist?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&amp;igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@fabulouspharmacist</a>&nbsp;for more insights and tips. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review—it really helps us out! Stay tuned for more great conversations.</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>