Storytelling, NLP, and Sobriety with Marsha W

Update: 2025-09-29

Description

In this episode of Sisters in Sobriety, Sonia and Kathleen dive into the power of storytelling, resilience, and rewriting our lives with special guest Marsha Vanwynsberghe. Marsha is the founder of OUTSPOKEN, a leadership platform designed to help female entrepreneurs rise as global thought leaders through coaching, writing, speaking, and publishing. As an NLP Trainer, six-time Best-Selling Author, and Boutique Publisher, she empowers her clients to rewire limiting beliefs and build confidence. Today, Sonia and Kathleen explore how her unique blend of personal story and professional expertise helps women transform pain into purpose.

Together, they unpack what it really means to share your story, the difference between wounds and scars, how emotions live in the body, and why resilience doesn’t mean going it alone. They also talk about the role of subconscious patterns in shaping our behavior, the signals cravings send us, and how practices like NLP and reframing beliefs can shift everything from self-worth to success.

Listeners will come away with practical tools for emotional processing, boundary setting, and storytelling. Key takeaways include understanding how emotions last only 90 seconds unless we attach a story, why humor and reframing are powerful tools to loosen old narratives, and how to interrupt negative thought loops with curiosity and new language. You’ll also learn how NLP helps reprogram the subconscious mind so that the conscious goals you set actually stick.

On a more personal note, Marsha opens up about her journey through family addiction, living with endometriosis, and how early experiences with shame shaped her emotional landscape. She shares how storytelling became her healing tool, what it took to forgive herself, and how she moved from silence to speaking boldly. Sonia and Kathleen also bring their own stories to the conversation, making this a raw, relatable, and uplifting episode you won’t want to miss.

This is Sisters in Sobriety, the support community that helps women change their relationship with alcohol. Check out our Substack for extra tips, tricks, and resources.

Episode Highlights

00:01:00 – Marsha shares her transition from kinesiology to coaching and NLP

00:02:45 – Her experience with teen substance abuse and how it changed her family’s story

00:04:10 – The truth about resilience: why it doesn’t mean doing it alone

00:05:30 – How storytelling became a guidebook for others in similar struggles

00:07:15 – Recognizing the generational silence around addiction and shame

00:08:20 – Forgiving herself and reframing past failures

00:09:40 – Difference between telling your story “in it” vs. “on it”

00:11:10 – Wounds vs. scars: why healing requires more than time

00:13:30 – Writing a book while still in the story and how to cope

00:15:10 – Using humor to loosen the subconscious grip of painful stories

00:17:20 – How emotions live in the body and why they last only 90 seconds

00:20:10 – Identifying trigger emotions and patterns

00:23:15 – How unprocessed emotions manifest as physical illness

00:25:30 – Shame, trauma, and how blocked emotions limit joy

00:28:15 – The difference between feeding and feeling emotions

00:29:40 – What happens when people in sobriety stop numbing emotions

00:33:00 – Curiosity as a tool to manage cravings and triggers

00:36:20 – What NLP is and how it rewires subconscious beliefs

00:40:00 – The role of language in reinforcing or breaking down beliefs

00:57:00 – Visualization, manifestation, and acting “as if”