I own it, I did that, not proud, but that was me, and when I face it, I take back a little dignity, not looking for excuses, I just want to be free from power, weakness had on me.

Free, free, free, free, free.

Hi, everyone, and welcome to the bubble hour where real people tell real stories of addiction and recovery.

I'm Gene McCarthy, recovery author, blogger, and podcast host. I've been chronicling my adventures in life

after alcohol since my first day of sobriety over nine years ago in my blog Unpickled and in books like the Unpickled Holiday

Survival Guide and my poetry collection, The Ember Ever There. I tell my stories there and I hold

space for your stories here. And today I'm holding space for Michael Gallagher. Now Michael has spent a

lifetime studying what causes some people to adapt and transform to match their circumstances while others struggle to find their way.

In his research on transformation, Michael realized there were only a few big building blocks that everyone needed to build upon to create lasting change.

He's the author of Waking Up, a Guide for Transformation, and has a passion for sharing these

life-changing tools with others.

Michael's not speaking at conferences, coaching, or writing.

You'll likely find him traveling with his family, maybe not this year, but hopefully

again soon, and learning about something new or telling one of his four daughters

a dad joke. Michael Gallagher, welcome to the bubble hour.

Thank you. I'm really happy to be here.

I'm glad to have you. So I'm going to just start by turning the airspace over to you

and asking you to tell us about yourself, Michael, and tell us your story.

Well, thank you, Gene. As I start telling my story, I would start by saying it's a lot of what I

wrote about in my book, Waking Up, A Guide for Transformation. You probably won't get the whole thing here,

but if I miss anything, you can get it there.

It was an unusual circumstance, I think, that led me to addiction and alcoholism,

...