Hannah Power recalls lying in a hospital bed in Bali, staring at the ceiling, completely alone. It was 2016, and her arm was strapped up after surgery, her head foggy, her body aching. For the first time in years, everything had gone quiet. There was no work, minimal distractions, and her body was finally getting a break from alcohol.
As she took in her surroundings, one thought kept running through her mind: 'You don't have anywhere left to turn, Hannah. If you carry on like this, you're going to end up dead.' Outwardly, everything looked successful. Hannah was building a business and had moved to Bali from London at the age of 25. But behind closed doors, she was drinking most nights while watching The Big Bang Theory on repeat, addicted to overworking and quietly spiralling.
Early Struggles with Alcohol
'My relationship with alcohol had never been normal,' she says. 'Even as a teenager, I remember the first time I drank and felt something shift. My mind, which had always been busy, suddenly went quiet. It felt like relief. Like freedom. But I soon learned I didn't have an off switch. Once I started, I couldn't stop.'
By her early twenties, Hannah knew something wasn't right. She would find herself sneaking bottles out of her parents' house so no one would notice how much she was drinking. 'I told myself it was normal, that everyone did it, but deep down I knew I was losing control.'
Trauma and Escalation
At 23, everything escalated. While abroad visiting friends, she was abducted and sexually assaulted. She managed to escape but only after fearing for her life. She is adamant she does not want the experience to define her, but it changed everything. Six months later, she was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
'In many ways, that diagnosis helped,' she reflects. 'Before that, I thought I was going crazy. My brain was scaring me. I was living in a constant state of high alert, walking through London convinced someone was going to attack me, sitting in cars thinking we were about to crash. I found it impossible to switch off.'
While the diagnosis explained what was happening, it also intensified something else. Alcohol became her escape. It was not just social drinking anymore. She found herself drinking alone, five nights a week, sitting in her room with a small bottle of whisky, trying to quieten her already busy mind. 'I knew it wasn't normal. Hiding bottles, drinking in secret, needing it. But I was in survival mode.'
Moving to Bali
At 25, she made what she thought was the decisive solution for her future and moved to Bali. In her mind, it was a fresh start. A chance to rebuild her life away from everything that had happened. But what she didn't realise then is that you don't leave your patterns behind. 'You take them with you. If anything, being in a party environment made it easier to slip further. In truth though, alcohol made me someone I didn't like.'
The whisky was quickly substituted for Bali's beers and martinis. The night of the accident is something she still replays in her mind. A friend had come to visit her from the UK, and they had gone out drinking. 'I remember thinking that I shouldn't drive my scooter home, so I paid a local taxi driver to drive it back for me. That part, I got right. But when we arrived back at my villa, I fell awkwardly whilst getting off. At first, I didn't even feel the pain. The alcohol numbed everything. It was only later, when it hit me properly, that I realised how serious it was.'
Hannah had shattered her collarbone and needed surgery to insert a metal plate. She then needed another operation six months later to remove it. It was painful, invasive, and completely stopped her in her tracks, forcing her to slow down. That first week in hospital was the moment everything caught up with her. At first, she felt sorry for herself. Then the silence set in. And with it, the truth. She had moved across the world to fix her life but was still repeating the same patterns. There was nowhere left to hide.
The Turning Point
'I'd love to say that was my lowest point, but after surgery I was prescribed strong painkillers. Through a dosing mistake, I took far more than intended within a short space of time,' she admits. 'It meant I ended up going through what can only be described as a horrible withdrawal.'
Physically broken, emotionally drained, and feeling alone, it might not have looked dramatic from the outside, but internally, everything shifted for her. She started researching, trying to understand what was happening to her. The more she Googled, the more it became clear. It was not just stress or circumstance - she had a problem with alcohol.
The turning point came the day before her 26th birthday. 'I read Allen Carr's Stop Drinking Now in one sitting. The next day, I woke up and for the first time in a long time, I didn't want a drink. I haven't touched alcohol since. I'd love to say that giving up alcohol fixed everything, but addiction isn't just about the substance. It's about what's underneath.'
Replacing Alcohol with Achievement
With alcohol out of the picture, Hannah threw herself into building a business back home in London. With her trademark determination and hard-work ethic, it took off quickly. Within weeks, she was generating six figures, working with high-level clients, speaking internationally, and being hired by top corporate companies while building something that looked incredibly successful from the outside.
Then during Covid, everything accelerated as demand for what she was doing as a Performance Coach exploded. She decided to build an agency alongside her coaching business, and before she knew it, she had 12 people working for her and was turning over multi-six figures. On paper, it looked like she had made it. Without realising it at the time, she had started to become defined by success. Internally though, she now accepts that she had started to feel like she was in a prison of her own behaviour.
'I couldn't switch off. I couldn't slow down. I had this constant pressure sitting on my shoulders,' she says. 'I was responsible for the team; I had so many expectations weighing me down alongside the demands and constant need to keep everything running smoothly as a successful business owner. I had replaced alcohol with achievement, and I became addicted to success.'
Constantly chasing the next level, the next milestone, the next version of herself, she found herself Googling successful entrepreneurs like Gabby Bernstein and Marie Forleo for hours on end. Convinced she too had the potential to build a similar business empire, but always feeling like it was just out of reach. 'I knew I had so much more potential,' she adds. 'But I didn't know how to unlock it without pushing myself to breaking point.'
Spending and Debt
Alongside that, another pattern crept in: spending. As she started earning more, she began spending more - often way beyond her means. It was not just big purchases, it was constant. Clothes from Zara, hiring more staff, investing in things for the business she later realised she did not even need. Most of the time it was buying things that did not seem excessive in the moment but together, they added up quickly.
And then there were the bigger moments. 'I remember being in Milan and buying a black Balenciaga handbag for £1,600. At the time, I convinced myself it was a reward,' she reflects. 'It was proof that I was successful. That I'd earned it. But if I'm honest, really, it was part of the same cycle. I was constantly looking for something external to make me feel different internally.'
By 2023, Hannah found herself £60,000 in debt, and no one knew. From the outside, she was still performing and showing up as everyone expected. Still the high achiever, appearing in control. A common trait of high-functioning addiction is that outwardly it does not look like addiction at all.
Rock Bottom
Until eventually, Hannah could no longer hold everything together, and piece by piece it all collapsed. Her business went into liquidation, and she lost her home. At the same time, her relationship also broke down. One minute she was getting engaged, the next, her boyfriend left her, at a time when she needed support the most. The stress and anxiety were increasing daily. And then, as if things could not get any worse, her golden doodle Bailey slipped a disc and lost the ability to walk.
'It was Halloween 2023, and I remember thinking I'm literally living my own real-life nightmare. I had no home, no relationship, no business, and my dog was seriously unwell. I ended up sleeping on my brother's sofa, with most of my belongings either still in my car or at my ex's house.'
At 31, while her friends were starting to settle down, Hannah felt like everything had fallen apart. 'I remember waking up one morning and thinking, how has this happened again,' she questions. 'That was the moment everything finally clicked. This wasn't about alcohol, work or money. It was about me. Every pattern had come from the same place - fear, pressure, and a constant need to prove something as at my core I had low self-worth. I had been trying to fix an internal problem with external solutions, and it was never going to work.'
Rebuilding Differently
This time, she rebuilt things differently, focusing on both the internal and the external. Not just changing her habits but changing her relationship with herself. As part of the process, she learned that discipline is not punishment, rather it is self-respect. She also realised that success does not come from pushing harder, but from operating in the right state. Gradually, things began to rebuild.
Within nine months, her income was back to six figures once more. Within a couple of years, she had cleared the £60,000 debt completely - this time by living within her means and watching her spending.
A New Life
Today, Hannah's life looks very different. She runs a successful six-figure business, is booked to speak internationally, is writing her second book, and travels frequently to New York preparing for her next chapter. But the biggest difference is not what she now has; it is how she feels. 'For the first time in my life, I feel calm, grounded, in control, and I have peace. I call it calm excitement where you're still ambitious, still driven, but no longer running from yourself. And that's what I now help others achieve. Because so many high achievers are living exactly as I was - appearing successful on the outside, while privately feeling trapped. High-functioning addiction doesn't look like chaos. It looks like success… until it isn't.'
Hannah Power is a Performance Coach and can be found at www.hannahpower.com
