PODCAST · education
Intelligent Intoxication
by Terri Bradway
Get ready to craft a top shelf life with new episodes every Wednesday. Join your host, Terri Bradway, for season two of the Intelligent Intoxication podcast.
Episodes
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Ep# 139 - Do I Still Matter?
Have you ever wondered if you still matter as much as you used to? Because I think there is something about this season of life that can bring that question to the surface. For many of us, we have spent decades being needed. Our children needed us. Our families needed us. Our homes needed us. We...
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Ep 138# - You Don't Have To Feel Ready to Start
What if you’re waiting to feel confident or motivated before you’re willing to take the next step—but confidence and momentum actually come after you begin? In this episode, I’m talking about what it really means to start something before you feel ready. We often think confidence is something we...
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BONUS EPISODE: My kids are grown - Now What? Group Coaching Program
If this episode resonated with you, take a minute to look at the information for MY KIDS ARE GROWN. NOW WHAT? You can scan the QR CODE on the flyer or use this link to access the sign-up page and learn more about this in-person, group coaching experience: My Kids Are Grown - Now What? Group...
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Ep# 137: How To Stop Rescuing Your Adult Children
The Drama Triangle vs. Empowerment Dynamic The Drama Triangle is a model of relational dynamics created by psychiatrist Stephen Karpman in 1968. It was developed to help us recognize three recurring roles people can fall into during stressful or conflict-filled interactions: Victim, Rescuer, and...
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Ep# 136 My Adult Child Is Struggling - When Should I Step In?
When our kids become adults, our job changes—but our love doesn’t. The challenge is learning how to stay supportive and connected without taking over their lives. In this episode, we talk about: The difference between supporting and rescuing Why allowing normal struggle can help young adults…
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Ep#135: Men Have Midlife Crises- Women Unravel
Men Have Crises. Women Unravel. What if what we call a “midlife crisis” is actually something very different for women? Brené Brown describes midlife as an unraveling—a gradual realization that the roles, expectations, and coping strategies that once served us may no longer fit the woman we've...
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Ep 134: When You Can't Calm Down or Perk Up
The Window of Tolerance Quick Shot Ever wonder why you sometimes feel overwhelmed and wired, while other times you feel shut down and exhausted? The Window of Tolerance can help you understand what’s happening in your nervous system—and what you can do next. In this episode, I introduce my new…
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Ep#133: When Your Possibilities Are Buried
What if decluttering isn’t really about having a cleaner, more organized home—but about creating space for your next season? Inspired by Somer Lynn’s The Uncluttered Project, we explore her powerful idea: “When your home stops overwhelming you, two doors open.” Door one: the people. More space…
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Ep#132 What's Your Life About Now?
When your children are grown, the question isn't necessarily “What should I do now?” A more interesting question is: “What do I want this next chapter of my life to be about?” A life theme isn't a goal, a resolution, or a five-year plan. It's a direction. A quality you want to cultivate. A…
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Ep #131: "I'm Going to Miss You... and I'm Ready for You To Go"
There’s a particular feeling that happens when your adult child has been home for a while—and suddenly, you realize their time at home is coming to an end. Maybe they’re heading back to college. Maybe they’re going back to their apartment. Maybe they’re leaving for a new job or a new chapter. And...
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Ep #130 - How To Be An Asset In Your Friendships - Not A Liability
In our friendships and friend groups, we either show up as a liability or an asset. “People don’t like you because they immediately sense that you’re a survival liability.” Donald Miller When you are coming across as a survival liability when you are engaging in one of these 4 “N’s”: You have a...
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Ep #129 Sometimes You Don't Need to Fix It. You Need to End It.
So much of our lives happen by default. We inherit beliefs. We inherit traditions. We inherit routines. We inherit friendships. We inherit responsibilities. We inherit identities. Eventually we wake up one day and realize: "I'm managing a life I didn't intentionally create." Rather than endlessly...
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You're Grieving What You Didn't Experience IN Your Youth
There’s a difference between feel envious of women who are young and experiencing grief over what you didn’t get to experience while you were young. If you've found yourself feeling unexpectedly emotional while watching younger people live their lives, I want to offer you this thought: Maybe…
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How To Change How You Measure Your Worth
When we unintentionally measure our worth by the wrong things, we struggle to feel confident. For years, I measured my worth by who chose me—and who didn't. No amount of achievement could outweigh the fact that I didn't have a boyfriend until my third year of college. Attending my recent 40th…
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Why You're Struggling to Stay Present
Why Midlife Moms Struggle to Stay Present Do you find yourself replaying the past or worrying about the future instead of fully experiencing your life right now? In this episode, we're exploring why so many midlife moms get stuck in regret, rumination, and worry—and why staying present can feel...
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How to Have A Tough Conversation With Adult Children
Navigating Difficult Conversations Difficult conversations don't have to turn into battles. A simple framework can help you communicate clearly while staying connected. Share Your Observations Start with what you've noticed, not accusations. "I've noticed that when we have differing opinions, you...
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When Adult Children Disappoint You
No one prepares us for the complicated emotions that come with parenting adult children. In this episode, I'm talking honestly about the sting of unmet expectations, broken promises, and the stories we tell ourselves when our kids' choices don't align with what we hoped for. We'll explore the...
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Navigating Transitions with Your Adult Children
In this episode, we’ll explore how to support our adult children as they move from the familiarity and freedom of college life into first jobs, new routines, and greater responsibility. We'll focus on supporting them with empathy rather than urgency while normalizing the mix of excitement, grief,...
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Re-Mothering Yourself: The Three Things You May Still Need as a Midlife Mom
Many women arrive in midlife carrying a quiet longing they can't quite name. Maybe you've done the therapy, built a beautiful life, raised children, and accomplished so much—and yet something still feels unfinished. In her book Mother Hunger, therapist Kelly McDaniel identifies three essential...
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Grappling With "Not Enough" As a Midlife Mom
Many women live with a quiet belief running in the background: I'm not doing enough. I'm not accomplishing enough. I haven't had enough. I am not enough. What's interesting is that getting “more” rarely solves the problem. The goal is reached, the project is finished, the glass is refilled, and…
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How To Stop Worrying About Your Adult Child's Future
For midlife moms of adult children, our role shifts dramatically. While we still love them deeply, we can no longer protect, guide, or guarantee outcomes the way we could when they were adolescents. In this episode, we explore the difference between loving our children and trying to emotionally...
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How To Support Your Adult Child Without Becoming Responsible For Their Emotions
Many women—especially mothers of adult children—have been taught that love means emotional availability at all times. But there’s a difference between being compassionate and becoming emotionally permeable or enmeshed. In this episode, we explore: why empathy can quietly turn into emotional...
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Your Adult Children Are Not Your Emotional Charging Station
When our children were growing up, we were meant to be their emotional charging station. They came to us for: comfort reassurance grounding perspective emotional safety That was healthy. That was parenting. But in the empty nest season, many parents unconsciously reverse that relationship and…
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What I Learned About Midlife Women—and Myself—From My First Class
What I Thought Women Needed A clear, written plan for their next chapter Step-by-step direction Tangible outcomes they could take with them What I Discovered They Actually Needed Clarity about where they are right now Language for what no longer fits Permission to want something different...
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Your Adult Children Need You To Be Happy
There’s a quote many mothers have heard: “You’re only as happy as your least happy child.” And if we’re honest, many of us have lived like that’s true. If one child is struggling—emotionally, relationally, financially, spiritually, or professionally—we feel it deeply. Especially in the empty nest...
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What You Need As A Midlife Mom
Do you ever wonder WHY you do what you do? So much of our behavior is driven by the need to have an emotional need met. According to author and speaker, Tony Robbins, there are six human needs that drive all of us — and understanding them can bring so much clarity and self-awareness. On today’s...
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The Happiness Formula For Your Next Chapter
Arthur Brooks, author of The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose In An Age of Emptiness, is a Harvard professor and social scientist who studies happiness and meaning. Brooks simplifies happiness into three core ingredients: enjoyment satisfaction meaning His formula is: Happiness = Enjoyment +...
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Second Season vs. Next Season: Releasing the Pressure to Get It Right
Second Season vs. Next Season: Releasing the Pressure to Get It Right In today’s episode, we’re exploring the subtle difference between calling this chapter your “second season” versus your “next season.” At first glance, second season can sound intentional and beautiful — but it can also carry…
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The Changes You Choose vs. The Ones You Don’t
In this episode, we’re exploring the difference between the life changes we choose as midlife women and the ones that seem to happen to us. Some changes arrive because we intentionally decide something needs to shift — our routines, our relationships, our homes, our health, or the way we want to...
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Stop Trying To Find Your Purpose
So many women feel the weight of the question: “What is my purpose?” It can feel big, vague, and quietly intimidating—like there’s a “right” answer you’re supposed to figure out. But what if the question itself is the problem? This episode offers a gentler, more grounded approach. Key Shift…
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What Emotions To Expect After Your Kids Leave
In this episode, we talk about the three emotional stages many women move through when their children leave home: Grief, Relief, and Joy. These stages don’t always happen in a straight line. You may feel two of them at the same time, or circle back to one when holidays, visits, or life…
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Announcing An In-Person Class for Moms of Adult Children!
I’m thrilled to announce my new in-person class: “Design Your Second Season – Your Kids Are Grown. Now it’s time to rediscover YOU.” Design Your Second Season is a 5-week small-group class where moms of adult children come together to reflect, reconnect with who they are now, and begin shaping a...
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What Are You Still Trying to Prove?
Once the active years of motherhood have passed, we may find ourselves still trying to prove to or convince others that we are valuable and worthy. Proving is similar to people-pleasing in which we’re “lying” to others in order to manage how they think or feel about us. If you’re the mother of...
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How To Live In Hope in the Second Season
It’s not uncommon for moms of adult children in the second half of life to get stuck in fear - rather than managing fear while living in hope. Courtesy of author Kate Swobota, “the fear chain/hope chain” exercise will help you uncover the limiting beliefs beneath your fears so that you can...
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What If You Don't Want What You Think You Should?
A simple coaching prompt stopped me in my tracks: “Actually, I don’t want to ______ because…” In this episode, we explore why so many of us chase goals we inherited—from culture, expectations, or a former version of ourselves—and how quiet resistance can be a form of wisdom. This conversation is...
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Are You a Mom Stuck in Explanations?
In the empty nest, long-standing explanations for why life can’t change often get louder. These stories once protected us—but now they may be quietly limiting our sense of agency, vitality, and connection. 1. The Pattern: Living in Explanation Mode Constant reasons why change isn’t possible…
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Empty Nesting: What's Actually Happening vs. The Story We're Telling
What if some of the hardest parts of empty nesting aren’t the circumstances themselves—but the stories our nervous system tells about them? In this episode, we explore the difference between real empty nest changes and the meaning we attach to them when we’re unsettled or dysregulated. Drawing…
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How To Habit As the Mom of Adult Children
Episode Description: If your habits haven’t been what you wanted them to be so far in 2026, here’s a quick habit refresh for your consideration: Identify whether you are an “abstainer” or a “moderator”. In her book, Better Than Before, author Gretchen Rubin explains: “For abstainers, it’s easier…
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How To Create and Maintain Friendships As the Mom of Adult Children
Moms of adult children often struggle to create or maintain emotionally mature relationships in the second season of life. What if creating new connections can actually be simple, not complicated? Here are my top three tips for creating and maintaining connections: Be interested. No one wants to…
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How To Quietly Quit as the Mom of Adult Children
I use the concept “quiet quitting” to describe the intentional decision to create an internal boundary regarding what we are no longer willing to do, be, or what or to whom we’re no longer willing to grant access to, or determining the amount of space you need between you and another person in...
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The Emotional Whiplash Moms of Adult Kids Feel When They Leave Again
If you’re a mom of adult children and you’re feeling discombobulated after the holidays — this episode is for you. When your kids come home, life often shifts into anticipation mode. We look forward to their arrival, savor the time together, and then suddenly… they’re gone. And you’re left trying...
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How To Feel Better When You're Struggling As the Mom of Adult Kids
In the second stage of motherhood, many women struggle to just “feel better”. In this episode, we explore both top-down and bottom-up approaches to healing and wellbeing as the mom of adult children. You’ll learn: What top-down work looks like (mindset, values, identity, belief-shifting) What...
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How To Stop Anticipating Time With Your Adult Children
In this episode, we explore the subtle but powerful difference between anticipation and presence — and how it impacts your daily peace and joy as the mother of adult children in your second season of life. Anticipation pulls your mind into the future, imagining what hasn’t happened yet. While it...
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Gifts Your Adult Children Really Want - Part 2
On tonight’s episode, we’ll discuss 10 more “gifts” a mother can give her adult children that cost nothing but create emotional spaciousness, safety, and connection. These acts of emotional generosity will help your relationship grow, breathe, and thrive. The Best Gifts a Mother Can Give Her…
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Gifts Your Adult Children Really Want
On tonight’s episode, we’ll discuss “gifts” a mother can give her adult children that cost nothing but create emotional spaciousness, safety, and connection. These acts of emotional generosity will help your relationship grow, breathe, and thrive. The Best Gifts a Mother Can Give Her Adult…
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The Challenges of Adult Children Returning Home For the Holidays
As the mother of adult children, it’s normal to experience challenges when they return for the holidays. Your new routines may be disrupted, your old roles may resurface, and both parents and children have expectations for the time spent together. Here are a few questions for your consideration:...
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Navigating Depression and Anxiety As A Mother of Adult Children
As the mother of adult children, it’s normal to feel occasional sadness and worry. But when sadness becomes depression, and worry is a symptom of anxiety, it’s time to consider getting help. This episode helps you understand the difference between normal transitional feelings and signs that you…
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How To Experience a Happy Empty Nest
So many women in the empty-nest season find themselves waiting to feel “ready,” “clear,” or “purposeful” before they allow themselves to feel happy. In today’s episode, we explore a powerful reframe inspired by this Dan Sullivan quote from his best-selling book, The Gap and the Gain: “Happiness…
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Embracing a "Gain Mindset" As An Empty-Nester
Episode Summary Do you ever look around your quiet home and wonder, “What now?” Your kids are thriving, but you feel… stuck. It’s easy to measure your life by what’s missing — the noise, the busyness, the clear sense of purpose you once had. In this episode, we explore a powerful concept from Dan...
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Boredom As An Empty-Nester
In this episode, we explore boredom — that restless, itchy feeling that something’s missing, even when life is calm. After years of being needed and scheduled, the quiet can feel both freeing and frustrating. Boredom isn’t a sign of failure — it’s a sign of readiness. Your soul is waking up and...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Get ready to craft a top shelf life with new episodes every Wednesday. Join your host, Terri Bradway, for season two of the Intelligent Intoxication podcast.
HOSTED BY
Terri Bradway
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How many episodes does Intelligent Intoxication have?
Intelligent Intoxication currently has 500 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Intelligent Intoxication about?
Get ready to craft a top shelf life with new episodes every Wednesday. Join your host, Terri Bradway, for season two of the Intelligent Intoxication podcast.
How often does Intelligent Intoxication release new episodes?
Intelligent Intoxication publishes regularly with 500 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
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You can listen to Intelligent Intoxication on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Intelligent Intoxication?
Intelligent Intoxication is created and hosted by Terri Bradway.
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