In this episode I meet with the host of the Adult Child Podcast, Andrea Ashley, who has taken a very courageous journey and will be telling us her story. She learned a family secret at a young age that her mom was an alcoholic, which had a large impact on her, and then affected her development as she grew up. She got into alcoholism and struggled with being an alcoholic from middle school until she was 19 years old when she was finally able to break free from the addiction. Honestly what I really feel like it boils down to is really not a disease of alcoholism, it’s really not the disease of addiction, but I truly believe that it’s the disease of family dysfunction, and that this stuff gets passed from generation to generation and it manifests in different ways.” 24:39

A context of Andrea’s journey and Adult Child 2:39How her journey can provide life tools for you 8:59Trying to get away with narcotics 17:42The underlying issue 24:34Avoiding blame 31:03The main goal of her podcast 39:54What her TED Talk would be 48:45

“So I think in a way that with those personality traits coming out, and that’s what I’m talking about with the toxic shame, I think a lot of it was, I’m going to lean into this role. I’m the girl that nobody likes, and also as a protective measure of like, ‘I’m gonna make you not like me so that you can’t then decide that you don’t like me. Just kind of leaning into that role.” 19:48

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