RE 342: Do Your Part
Recovery Elevator
Paul
4.7 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 6 September 2021
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Episode 342 – Do Your Part
Today we have Michael. He is 43, from N. Georgia and took his last drink on January 1, 2020.
Registration for Costa Rica (January 15-23) is open. https://www.recoveryelevator.com/costarica/
Highlights from Paul
Paul discusses three elements that are critical to doing your part in recovery. Paul believes self-respect, self-love, and well-being are fundamental to healing. Doing the work is essential, and it eventually becomes embodied in your circuitry. Over time, we retrain the brain to stop self-harming with alcohol, pop tarts, and disrespect from others.
The state of our world reflects our lack of connection with ourselves, our planet, and our community. He believes a tipping point is upon us. We can help the world by fixing our internal environment, our inner pollution that results in external contamination - that is our part. The inner work (i.e., letting go of resentments) benefits others as well.
Exact Nature exactnature.com Code: RE20
[11:01] Michael took his last drink on January 1, 2020. He is from 43, married, and has two kids. He is a graphic designer and enjoys painting, drawing, playing music, and running.
Michael started drinking in high school. He drank to fit in and didn't really like alcohol. He trained himself to drink. He used alcohol to celebrate, and it felt good. He now realizes he was trying to become somebody he wasn't. In college, alcohol was everywhere, and he drank almost daily. Michael noticed early on his drinking was an issue.
Post-college, Michael didn't want the party to stop. Free booze was a great excuse to overindulge. Alcohol and celebration went hand in hand for Michael. He began moderating when his children were about to be born. Over time, Michael continued to try moderation, and the voice in his head continued getting louder. He started looking at pictures from events he attended and realized there was no joy in his eyes because he wasn't present for his own life. Accepting love was a real challenge for Michael. He quit drinking for an entire year but gradually returned to drinking. Michael now believes sobriety represents his authentic self, and that's why he had to train himself to drink. Podcasts and the book "This Naked Mind" helped him understand addiction. Michael discovered Recovery Elevator, signed up and became part of the community.
Recovery is fantastic for Michael. He doesn't need alcohol to be himself, confident, present, feel his feelings, true joy, true love, and his life is greater than he imagined it would be. He embraces his inner light and beauty as a human being. He loves his wife and his family and appreciates his RE tribe, who understand what it's like to cope with addiction.
Michael talks to someone in recovery every day. He focuses on exercise, working the steps, and writing music to support his recovery.
Kris' Summary
Kris spoke about learning the scientific reasons for addiction when he was in treatment. He needed to understand that addiction was about more than poor personal choices. Kris believes you can't intellectualize your way out of addiction. Kris attended his first sober meet-up six weeks after he left treatment. He witnessed what 'fun in sobriety' looks like. A gathering of strangers came together to learn to live the life we were meant for can be fun and much more satisfying than addiction. The healing spirit is amazing. Shifting the energy we used to put into drinking toward a greater goal: personal growth, showing up for others and community. Kris appreciates everyone he has encountered in the RE community. I am here; I am whole. Feel it. Believe it!
Sponsor: Exact Nature exactnature.com Code: RE20
Upcoming events, retreats, and courses:
- https://www.recoveryelevator.com/costarica/
- You can find more information about our events
Resources
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Recovery elevator episode 342. |
| 0:04.0 | The alcohol was a progression and then the voice in my head was getting louder about you know you're doing the wrong thing you're doing the right thing and then going into the whole moderating and going into like that mental obsession over so that started to increase at that time. |
| 0:30.0 | Welcome to the Recovery elevator podcast. My name is Paul Churchill. Thank you so much for joining us on today's podcast. We've got Michael. He's 43 years old. |
| 0:42.0 | He's from North Georgia and took his last drink on January 1st, 2020. |
| 0:48.0 | I hope you all are enjoying your Labor Day today. Happy holiday. I will not be drinking today and you are all more than welcome to join me with that goal. |
| 0:56.0 | Alcohol free travel is back. Recovery elevator is going to Costa Rica January 15th to the 23rd and you should join us. |
| 1:04.0 | We're meeting in San Jose and then going to La Fortuna and R&R. Then to the Cloud Forest of Monteverde and then to the beach where we're going to check out Manuel Antonio Nature Reserve and the Sleepy Surfer Village of Capos. |
| 1:17.0 | On this trip we're going to connect with nature, with food, the stars, the ocean, each other and most importantly ourselves. |
| 1:25.0 | What does alcohol free travel look like? Well, we cruise around a country for a bit and this time it's Costa Rica. While doing so we've got three recovery workshops built in and there's going to be a lot of laughter. |
| 1:37.0 | We've got space for 34 AF rock stars. Registration is now open. Go to the RE website for more info. The link is in the show notes. Thank you Hilary. |
| 1:47.0 | So usually for my segment I cover one specific topic for anywhere from 8 to 12 minutes. But today I'm going to switch it up and cover three areas of interest which are all relevant to ditching the booze. |
| 1:59.0 | Okay, let's get started. I want to talk to you all about my love for blue powerade. I usually don't drink soda or sugary beverages marketed as athletic drinks often but I do love blue powerade. |
| 2:13.0 | And for the second time in a row, the gas station near my house was out of blue powerade. I know poor, poor Pablo. |
| 2:20.0 | So while checking out with a cashier, I asked her if she knew when they'd get more blue powerade back and stock. She looks at me, turns her palms upside down and says, I don't know. |
| 2:31.0 | And listeners, I'm not looking for a response that says, well, Tom, our powerade guy, he stocks the shelves at 7 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursday mornings. But any answer is better than making the customer feel stupid, which I kind of felt. |
| 2:45.0 | So my response came so fast. I didn't even have time to think about it. It just came out. And this is what it was. So again, I say, do you know when you'll have blue powerade again? |
| 2:57.0 | And she says, I don't know. And immediately I say, oh, you just work here. And I instantly knew she wasn't pleased with me. And I say, ah, look, that wasn't necessary. I'm sorry. |
| 3:09.0 | She then says, have a nice day. And I walk out without a blue powerade nor an idea of when this icy cool beverage and the hottest summer on record in bosom Montana will be restocked again. |
| 3:20.0 | Here's the neat thing about this quitting drinking takes work takes time. And you have to do the work. And so it's nice to see when the work becomes embodied in your circuitry and it becomes the new unconscious behavior. |
| 3:33.0 | To be truthful, my response of, oh, you just work here. I kind of shocked me. There was a time, especially in my childhood and well into adulthood where I didn't stand up for myself. People would disrespect me and I would let them because I didn't feel worthy. |
| 3:49.0 | In that moment, I wasn't okay with someone treating myself nor a little Pablo like an idiot for asking a question. That's not okay. |
| 3:57.0 | In addition, what's neat here is I recognized right away that I needed to apologize for my response. Sure, her tone was rude, but I don't need to put everyone in their place so I feel is being rude. |
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