E147 - Nate Winkelmes of The Fears | A Story of Sobriety, Mental Health, Songwriting & More

E147 - Nate Winkelmes of The Fears | A Story of Sobriety, Mental Health, Songwriting & More

From What You Don't Hear by Ross Theisen

November 17, 2025 · 1h 48m

About this episode

Nate Winkelmes returns to discuss his journey of sobriety, mental health, and the evolution of his music project, The Fears.

Nate Winkelmes is a musician under his project The Fears ( @fears.fm ) After his first appearance on the show being way back on episode 5, this week I sit down for a great return conversation with musician and creative, Nate Winkelmes. 5 years ago when Nate was first on the show, he was just beginning his real venture into making music through the first phase of his (then) band 'The Fears', after a failed venture into the creative agency world. What I wasn't aware of at the time though, was another journey Nate was on, and that was one of sobriety. As we catch up with Nate's story since his past episode, we talk a lot about the evolution of The Fears and his songwriting process, how his relationship with making music has changed, and as mentioned above, this conversation is rooted a lot in self relfection and growth, as Nate walks us through his journey of finding sobriety. In that he shares the realities of what the battle was like, deciding to officially check in to treatment and get help, his mental health growth alongside all of it, big lessons he learned during that time, understanding self-belief, gaining clarity, and a lot of just raw honesty that I really appreciated Nate…

People in this episode

Guest: Nate Winkelmes

Topics covered

  • sobriety
  • mental health
  • songwriting
  • self-reflection
  • personal growth

Keywords

  • music
  • creativity
  • treatment
  • self-belief
  • clarity

Sponsors

PromoWest Productions

Mentioned in this episode

Products: The Fears

Books & works: A Story of Sobriety

Places: Columbus, OH

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