Speaker 1: Welcome to the two seventeen Recovery podcast.
Speaker 2: If you don't make mistakes, you won't learn.
Speaker 3: With your host, Corey Winfield, you know how you know
Speaker 3: fish is bad if you can't put it on pizza.
Speaker 1: It's a special guest, Mitchell O'Brien.
Speaker 2: I really hate to do listen to you guys, but
Speaker 2: I really have to go to the ab somewhere that
Speaker 2: I just like, can't hold it anymore. Got your ass?
Speaker 3: It is the two seventeen Recovery podcasts. It is the
Speaker 3: twelfth of February twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: My name is Corey Winfield.
Speaker 2: I am Mitchell O'Brien, the only man.
Speaker 1: To leave our podcast because you had to use the restroom.
Speaker 2: I was going to say it more explicitly, but it
Speaker 2: was only a matter of time until you got that drop.
Speaker 3: Really really was and the drop is now forever. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and it's an intro, So thank you for that.
Speaker 1: Mitchell.
Speaker 3: It's been a minute since we've done a podcast as
Speaker 3: to seventeen Recovery, it's been a minute since you and
Speaker 3: I have done a podcast in general. You know you
Speaker 3: last podcast was Halloween.
Speaker 2: I think so.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because you have your redacted podcast which you put
Speaker 3: on hold for a minute.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we were going to start something new, but
Speaker 2: I just don't know where that direction is going.
Speaker 3: So and then our Recovery Dads podcast we've been done
Speaker 3: in eighteen months or something. Dads are busy, oh yeah,
Speaker 3: and we're super busy here at two seventeen recovery and
Speaker 3: you're driving now and you're on the road, and it's
Speaker 3: just you know, Tuesdays was our day for Recovery Dads,
Speaker 3: but now Tuesdays I actually have to go be a
Speaker 3: dad because Marnie wants to work and stuff.
Speaker 2: Now do short rides on Tuesdays.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, So it's just like, when can we get
Speaker 3: all of this together again? And maybe when the sun
Speaker 3: comes out at six am, it'll be a little easier
Speaker 3: to get up, But sometimes it's hard. Man, it's dark,
Speaker 3: dark until eight o'clock. Sometimes it's like, man, before we
Speaker 3: would like before the day started. So we get here
Speaker 3: at AID to a pocket. Now get here AID, it's
Speaker 3: like still dark, and you're like, I don't really want
Speaker 3: to do.
Speaker 2: None of that. I don't know. I kind of like that.
Speaker 2: I don't like waking up in the morning, but I
Speaker 2: don't mind the darkness of the morning.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 2: Yesterday I started the day in the dark in the
Speaker 2: company vehicle and I ended the day in the dark
Speaker 2: in the company vehicle.
Speaker 1: That's crazy. We can't out of you guys now.
Speaker 2: It was a good ride.
Speaker 1: Twelve hour day. Shit, why aren't you working fourteen? You know?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Leaving early today?
Speaker 3: Nah, But that's that's It's kind of cool though, that
Speaker 3: you knew like you had to take a break from
Speaker 3: your podcast to just like hold on, like let me
Speaker 3: revamp this, let me figure it out, and that'll be
Speaker 3: the time my choosing.
Speaker 1: You know, there's no pressure on you, and.
Speaker 3: You use it to kind of help you through, kind
Speaker 3: of help you get something off your chest, to be creative,
Speaker 3: to to create something. And the podcasting is fun that
Speaker 3: way too. And people at early recovery, I'll tell you
Speaker 3: that the podcast helped me. You know, some people are like, oh,
Speaker 3: there's there's different pathways and da dah da da da
Speaker 3: what pathways you choose? And I'm like, podcasting, like what
Speaker 3: that's not We're good for me, man. You know, I
Speaker 3: had to stay sober because we started out we were
Speaker 3: doing them four days a week. I was in a
Speaker 3: sober living home. So my requirement a was to stay
Speaker 3: sober already, but to do them at night. I had
Speaker 3: to stay sober all day to do them four times
Speaker 3: a week, and it really did help me, and it
Speaker 3: helped me, event helped me get stuff off my chest.
Speaker 3: And you can go back and listen to the early
Speaker 3: episodes that are on our app. You know, you can
Speaker 3: get the app. It's free, but it's it's laid out
Speaker 3: pretty easily there for you can go back through the
Speaker 3: years twenty nineteen, twenty twenty twenty one two are doing it.
Speaker 3: Four Yeah, to go through the archives and listen. It's
Speaker 3: I tell people it's like a soap opera almost it.
Speaker 3: I mean, if you go back, you can, like you
Speaker 3: hear the stuff that I was talking about, like, hey,
Speaker 3: we want to do this, we want to do that,
Speaker 3: and it's pretty cool that some of the stuff has
Speaker 3: kind of made it and we've accomplished some goals and
Speaker 3: you know, to make a movie part I still want to.
Speaker 3: I hope to be shooting next month, so I have
Speaker 3: to put the finishing touches on the script of it.
Speaker 3: But you know, and you're gonna help me with that,
Speaker 3: you at least agree to it at one point. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, but that'll be it'll be fun.
Speaker 2: I think it'll be mostly improv but.
Speaker 3: Like, let's not following the storyboard, Joe, You're like, why
Speaker 3: are we doing this different than what we normally do?
Speaker 3: Then we just grab it and shoot it because I
Speaker 3: paid money to take this film class and they tell
Speaker 3: me how to do it like this, Yeah, that's how
Speaker 3: you make the movie now.
Speaker 1: But and in January, you snuck it by us.
Speaker 3: You weren't like walking around like talking about how many
Speaker 3: years you got, you just got them. And then I'm like,
Speaker 3: wait a minute, because Justin got his five years and
Speaker 3: he was upset I didn't get.
Speaker 1: Him a coin, so yeah, we all heard about it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so and then I was like, wait, Mitch's was
Speaker 3: in January, and I was like, Mitch, i'd say a message.
Speaker 3: I didn't get you a coin or anything, but congratulations
Speaker 3: on your four years.
Speaker 2: Thank you. I don't necessarily track it like some people do,
Speaker 2: you know, and I don't know the exact day either,
Speaker 2: which is I think kind of rare in recovery. I've
Speaker 2: met a couple other people that are like that, but
Speaker 2: most people know the exact day or time, you know,
Speaker 2: where it was I just know it was in January.
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure it was in early January, around the
Speaker 2: third or the fourth of twenty twenty one. So I
Speaker 2: have this weird and people tell me I overthink it,
Speaker 2: and I probably do.
Speaker 1: But.
Speaker 2: I don't track it because that wasn't attached to like
Speaker 2: a good thing, you know, the addiction part of it,
Speaker 2: and I know the sobriety part of it is is
Speaker 2: the good thing. But I'm living a life of recovery.
Speaker 2: But I'm above that I'm living. I want to live
Speaker 2: a life of wellness, which is kind of how I
Speaker 2: organize it in my mind. And it's like I don't
Speaker 2: want to just stay sober today. I want to be
Speaker 2: progressing in all of the aspects of life, you know,
Speaker 2: all of them. So recovery is like a very important
Speaker 2: part of that puzzle, to the point to where like
Speaker 2: my whole life bottlenecked until I found recovery. So it's
Speaker 2: very important, but it's like it's not the only thing.
Speaker 2: I want to make sure And these could all be
Speaker 2: argued as part of recovery, but I don't want to
Speaker 2: make sure my mental health is tiptop, my physical health
Speaker 2: is tip top, and just all these different things, and
Speaker 2: just so I look at it more almost like recovery
Speaker 2: is under the umbrella of a life of wellness. And
Speaker 2: I kind of blog about that a little bit. Which
Speaker 2: part would you say, is the heart is so far
Speaker 2: to tackle? Oh, and maybe it's not the hardest, Maybe
Speaker 2: it's the one the most uncomfortable or when you don't like,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say mental health, but it's the really really
Speaker 2: really bad avoidance habits and behaviors. And I'm still like
Speaker 2: battling those. But like after I got sober and I
Speaker 2: was dealing with mental health stuff, depression, anxiety, working on
Speaker 2: trauma with my therapist, those, one of the things that
Speaker 2: came up is I was always just trying to avoid
Speaker 2: everything in the moment, you know, to get it. And
Speaker 2: that's what drove me to drinking too, because that's what
Speaker 2: I was doing. I was avoiding the depression and the
Speaker 2: anxiety that I was having. You know, I could grab
Speaker 2: a bottle and that feeling would go away almost immediately,
Speaker 2: but then it would be back the next day, so
Speaker 2: then I'd have to do it again. And we all
Speaker 2: know that snowball, you know. So being able to actually
Speaker 2: stay disciplined in not having avoidance.
Speaker 1: Behaviors is that I guess how I'm gonna say.
Speaker 2: It is probably the most difficult part because I would
Speaker 2: have and I think you've been here for at least
Speaker 2: one of them, like panic attacks, full panic attacks when
Speaker 2: I had to make a call that I didn't want
Speaker 2: to make. You know, we're talking about like you know,
Speaker 2: financial debt stuff, and it's like my whole body would
Speaker 2: like lock up, it'd be hard to breathe, and I'd
Speaker 2: be having an actual panic attack. And it's like, but
Speaker 2: I've been living a life of avoidance behavior since I
Speaker 2: was a kid because of trauma and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: So it's like that's probably one of the biggest ones.
Speaker 3: And I think that's a normal one too, and that
Speaker 3: was a big one for me. I didn't and I
Speaker 3: still have problems with it, man, Like I don't want
Speaker 3: to hear the answer that I've already created in my mind,
Speaker 3: Like I already haven't figured out my mind how it's
Speaker 3: going to go. And it's always bad for me, you know,
Speaker 3: I always and maybe this is something that people do,
Speaker 3: addicts do. I don't know, but I always think the
Speaker 3: worst outcome, like oh, they're going to say no, and
Speaker 3: then this before I even ask them. I'm already like
Speaker 3: defensive and ready to defend my position of why they
Speaker 3: shouldn't say no or whatever it is. And bills were tough,
Speaker 3: you know, to open a bill, Oh my god, Like
Speaker 3: I couldn't even do it.
Speaker 1: One time.
Speaker 3: I had to bring my mouth to my mother. It
Speaker 3: was like, Mom, I can't even open this. As she
Speaker 3: opened it, and she's like, oh, it's a hundred and seventeen dollars,
Speaker 3: that's not bad. Okay, well I have eight. It's pretty bad.
Speaker 3: I can't even go drink this problem away, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 3: And she I remember when she opened and then she
Speaker 3: called them for me because I'm like, I can't pay that.
Speaker 3: I don't know what to do. And she did something
Speaker 3: and got something figured out, and she's like, that's all
Speaker 3: you had to do for someone who's sober. Sure, I'm
Speaker 3: sure that would be easy to do, but for me
Speaker 3: and the anxiety from not drinking, you know, like just oh,
Speaker 3: I just remember feeling that whole ball of.
Speaker 1: Just and just I don't Oh, I'm so glad I
Speaker 1: don't have to do it.
Speaker 2: Anymore, angsty and stuff, and I still kind of have
Speaker 2: to do that. I haven't you know, gotten myself out
Speaker 2: of all the debt and everything and medical stuff. But
Speaker 2: it's a little bit easier and.
Speaker 3: As a and at first maybe I started trying. I
Speaker 3: remember people tell me, oh, call two one one, they'll
Speaker 3: help you. That's funny because I called them and they
Speaker 3: wouldn't help me. And they told me, oh, well, you're
Speaker 3: a male with no kids, so.
Speaker 1: I have phone.
Speaker 3: Good luck, Maybe go to a church or something. Yeah,
Speaker 3: but my electrics getting shut off, and like you said,
Speaker 3: I needed a bill.
Speaker 1: I have.
Speaker 3: I have the shut off notice right here. Okay, well
Speaker 3: maybe if you bring that to a church or something.
Speaker 3: What church do you belong to? I'm like none, Like
Speaker 3: damn it, you know. And so that would send me
Speaker 3: in another spiral. So one I would see that, like
Speaker 3: I just knew there was no help out there for me.
Speaker 3: So then that added to the anxiety. And if I
Speaker 3: just left that over there, don't know how much it is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you don't look at it, it's got a problem.
Speaker 3: Or I just don't know how much it is, don't
Speaker 3: really know when it's getting shut off. And sometimes I
Speaker 3: would look to see when it was getting shut off,
Speaker 3: just so I would have a little heads up. But yeah,
Speaker 3: then it was off to liquor store with whatever little
Speaker 3: money I did have to drink that away, Yeah.
Speaker 2: Because then you know, in twenty minutes, you're not gonna
Speaker 2: have to feel it anymore. Yeah until tomorrow.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and the next thing week it's even worse. It's
Speaker 3: like you're going down the stairs or up the stairs.
Speaker 3: Either way, you're going this direction that you don't want
Speaker 3: to go, and it's just like, but the only way
Speaker 3: to forget it is to go get some more m
Speaker 3: Then when you run out of money there, then you're
Speaker 3: really scrounging because you don't have power anymore. And now
Speaker 3: you don't have money the liquor and you know, thank
Speaker 3: God that I did have family. There's some people and
Speaker 3: you've met them too, who are an early recovery or
Speaker 3: trying to be in early recovery, and they have nobody, Yeah,
Speaker 3: like family like mom, dad passed away, don't have brothers
Speaker 3: or maybe brothers and sisters have died or moved away
Speaker 3: or want nothing to do with them, like they have nobody.
Speaker 3: And I feel for those people, I really do. And
Speaker 3: that would be hard to lose a parent and then
Speaker 3: to have to go through all of this alone, like
Speaker 3: that would be that'd be tough. I mean, ultimately we
Speaker 3: have to go through it alone, you know, like our
Speaker 3: parents are family whoever, They're not doing it for us.
Speaker 1: But you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: It's yeah, well, And I think that was what my
Speaker 2: last blog I wrote was kind of about, too, was
Speaker 2: your family's not always gonna understand where you are. And
Speaker 2: because I was talking with a client and they're talking
Speaker 2: about how their their mother is still very critical of them,
Speaker 2: and I just got a chance to share some of
Speaker 2: my story and I was like, well, my mom was
Speaker 2: there for all sixteen years of my heavy alcoholism. So
Speaker 2: when Mitchell pulled out another six months of sobriety, because
Speaker 2: I'd only got six months, three months a nine month
Speaker 2: out of sobriety before this time, like that was just
Speaker 2: Mitchell's next time being sober for a while. But it
Speaker 2: wasn't until I proved and got more long term and
Speaker 2: got into the therapy, got into healthier mental health practices
Speaker 2: and behaviors to where and then that time under your
Speaker 2: belt too, you know, the longer you go. And then
Speaker 2: I got a little bit. I had to kind of
Speaker 2: do it for myself because people are being critical. But
Speaker 2: I got off the vivitroal shots by myself, and I
Speaker 2: got a certain amount of Like I waited six months
Speaker 2: to tell anybody, so I'm a year and a half
Speaker 2: sober now, that's twice as much as the longest I've
Speaker 2: ever had in my adult life at that time. And
Speaker 2: then people start to go, oh, okay, this is different,
Speaker 2: but I had to. What I shared with the client
Speaker 2: was they're not healing at the same pace you are.
Speaker 2: They're not getting the therapy you are. They're not connected
Speaker 2: to the recovery community you are. Probably they're not going
Speaker 2: to the meetings you are. They're not in this like
Speaker 2: you are. So they're healing at just a little bit
Speaker 2: of interaction that they get from you. So it's gonna
Speaker 2: take more. So you have to have as much grace
Speaker 2: with your loved ones or friends then, you know, as
Speaker 2: as they do for you. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So it's tough and sometimes you'll still get it. And
Speaker 3: that's that's a good way to put it, you know,
Speaker 3: like with their each interaction with you, you know they're okay,
Speaker 3: that's how they're they're healing, and that's how they're growing.
Speaker 3: Because sometimes you know, my mom was still throw it
Speaker 3: out there.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, just.
Speaker 3: No I still want to talk right now, or I'm
Speaker 3: just busy right now, or you know, like my life
Speaker 3: is is pretty crazy in and it's it's a it's
Speaker 3: a good crazy. But she doesn't see all that stuff,
Speaker 3: you know, she just knows. Well, I never got a
Speaker 3: text or a picture with Parker's that he's teething now,
Speaker 3: like I had to. I had to find out the
Speaker 3: long way or the last one or whatever. It's like, okay, well, sorry,
Speaker 3: you know, I didn't didn't write that one down. But
Speaker 3: I send pictures all the time, you know, Like but
Speaker 3: sometimes you know, or I have an attitude about something
Speaker 3: and who knows what I'm really mad about or what
Speaker 3: I'm dealing with, you know. But she'll take it the
Speaker 3: wrong way, and then it's like, well' see, Corey, you
Speaker 3: just you're still not used to being sober. And it's like, no, no,
Speaker 3: I don't understand what I'm going through right now, you know.
Speaker 2: And you don't just get sober and then have all
Speaker 2: of life figured out, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there's a part of that you mentioned.
Speaker 2: What was it?
Speaker 1: I lost it?
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's really similar to that. Oh it's the
Speaker 2: what I was gonna say, is the avoidance behaviors, not
Speaker 2: opening the the the bill, the mail, so whatever that is,
Speaker 2: you get that same. You don't just get good at
Speaker 2: it one day. You don't talk to your therapist about Okay,
Speaker 2: you have to have discipline actually do this stuff and
Speaker 2: then get good at it. You're still gonna have that
Speaker 2: panic attack. Yeah, but the more times that comes up,
Speaker 2: they eat year it gets and it's the same thing
Speaker 2: as you know, your loved one healing at different paces.
Speaker 2: You you know, the longer they see you, the more
Speaker 2: healthy you are around them. Eventually it kind of kicks in.
Speaker 2: It's really similar.
Speaker 3: And speaking of families, yes, is a good good segue here.
Speaker 3: We are going to include families at our next Recovery
Speaker 3: Stories event.
Speaker 2: I saw something but I haven't been able to talk
Speaker 2: to you about it. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Recovery Stories five. It's happening in Traverse City, Michigan. Where's
Speaker 3: it happening at the Grand Travers Event Center on the
Speaker 3: twenty seventh of March and our Message of Hope speaker
Speaker 3: is very excited about Jay Burton, Oh yes, and Paul Back. Yes,
Speaker 3: they're going to do the it's more of an in depth,
Speaker 3: you know, twenty five minute long kind of thing and.
Speaker 1: Then recovery stories.
Speaker 3: We have one lock, then Adam nuth okay, and we're
Speaker 3: still looking for one more, still waiting to hear yes
Speaker 3: or no on that. And then we're going to include
Speaker 3: two families.
Speaker 2: I have a really good one that I'm trying to
Speaker 2: talk into doing it nice. He's very scared, so I
Speaker 2: shouldn't have said scared, but he's avoidance. Yeah, there we go.
Speaker 2: Well that conversation.
Speaker 1: Yeah, get your gass up there.
Speaker 2: I was like three minutes, man, like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, if you missed, if you missed the last one,
Speaker 3: you can watch them online.
Speaker 1: All the videos are up there.
Speaker 3: Kim Russ, Me Jesse, and Marnie and Chris Goss. You know,
Speaker 3: they were the message. Marnie and Chris Goss were the
Speaker 3: message of hopes because Marney had to cut her short
Speaker 3: because their belts ran long.
Speaker 1: I did like ten minutes.
Speaker 2: Well, and the MC wasn't very timely.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And speaking of the MC, it was you, Mitchell.
Speaker 1: You were the MC.
Speaker 3: You were gonna come back from a break and then
Speaker 3: take another break and I was like, no, just get
Speaker 3: it going now. But I just so happened to have
Speaker 3: some audio from the event, and you know, the audio
Speaker 3: is so much better than the other ones because we
Speaker 3: actually ran the mic to our board and so the
Speaker 3: audio was just amazing, and we got some drops here
Speaker 3: and I was hoping maybe you could explain them. So
Speaker 3: let's let's go ahead and play the first one here.
Speaker 3: This is one of my favorites.
Speaker 4: Actually, all right, everybody, we're not about to start yet,
Speaker 4: So if anybody needs to hit their vapor real quick
Speaker 4: or smoke a cigarette, this is the time to do it.
Speaker 2: Will be starting shortly. This would be a good one
Speaker 2: for the beginning of the podcast. I almost put it
Speaker 2: on there, so I'm fat. Did you know that?
Speaker 1: I didn't know. That's not how you identify.
Speaker 2: You, don't. You don't see people as their stereotypes. I
Speaker 2: understand that, all right, everybody, And so that's only like
Speaker 2: four or five stairs, but.
Speaker 1: For a big fella's three, I don't even know.
Speaker 2: I'm exaggerating this thing where it feels like five or
Speaker 2: six could be seven. Okay, So I would get to
Speaker 2: the top of the stairs and have to speak, and
Speaker 2: I would immediately be out of breath.
Speaker 1: Hey, t.
Speaker 2: I should have sayen the national anthem right there. We're
Speaker 2: not about to start yet, So if everybody needs to
Speaker 2: hit their vapor real quick or smoke a cigarette. This
Speaker 2: is the time to do it will be starting shortly.
Speaker 2: You can hear those I'm trying to get oxygen.
Speaker 1: All right, maybe okay, maybe this one. You can explain
Speaker 1: this one then.
Speaker 2: So I want to thank them for letting us be
Speaker 2: able to do things like this, to have awesome.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they have awesome.
Speaker 2: But people started clapping, so I was trying to go
Speaker 2: with the clapping. And you have.
Speaker 1: NMRI who actually were funding the event.
Speaker 2: And then whatever I called Steve's smoking barbecue, which I
Speaker 2: can say now, but I couldn't know the smoking Steve's
Speaker 2: smoking that's a recovery event.
Speaker 1: Uh, that's where we're at in life.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: I do have a couple more yep.
Speaker 2: I was. I was excited to hear that. You said that.
Speaker 2: Justin was. I'm seeing this year's or this this the
Speaker 2: next one. The girls from Phoenix Hall over here, Yeah awesome.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Phoenix Hall is is a treatment center from it's it's
Speaker 3: Diction Treatment Services, but they call it Phoenix Hall and
Speaker 3: that's where the women go.
Speaker 1: But listen, listen to the excitement of Mitch's voice.
Speaker 2: Here the girls from Phoenix Hall over here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, awesome, awesome, you're here.
Speaker 1: The same thing for Dakowski.
Speaker 2: I sound very flamboyant.
Speaker 1: And then there's Harbor Hall is here too. Let's listen
Speaker 1: how you welcome them.
Speaker 2: But first I wanted to give a shout out to
Speaker 2: the boys at Dakaski Hall that are here. Everybody give
Speaker 2: them around the hall.
Speaker 1: The hall. Yeah, so yeah, it wasn't Harbor Hall. It
Speaker 1: was Dakaski Hall.
Speaker 2: First I wanted to give a shout out to the
Speaker 2: boys at Dakowski Hall that are here. Everybody give them
Speaker 2: around the hall. The The thing that's really happening is
Speaker 2: I'm having a good time. You are in my brain.
Speaker 2: Obviously doesn't work. You said that to somebody today and
Speaker 2: they're like winfle just screaming. Obviously donks a little mitch.
Speaker 2: All right, everybody, nobody, I need a handicap ramp or
Speaker 2: I'm going to roll up there like like what's her name? Dead?
Speaker 1: Mary? Did?
Speaker 3: He didn't even use the steps And the first one
Speaker 3: she just like went to the complete different side of
Speaker 3: the stage. Air that just flaps up there, and I'm like,
Speaker 3: what she got done? She just jumps down like Rambow.
Speaker 1: And like, what do you do?
Speaker 2: Breaks I was thinking about going full Chris Farley, if
Speaker 2: you have me do it this time. I was just
Speaker 2: like going and doing the same thing, but like running
Speaker 2: and just being very animated.
Speaker 1: Right, Glad you made it out to Durn.
Speaker 3: We're selling shirts out of the van down by the sidewalk.
Speaker 2: If you don't live a life of recovery, you'll be
Speaker 2: living in a van down by the river.
Speaker 3: Seriously, there's the boardman piffers over there and that's where
Speaker 3: people live and you'll be down there by them. Pull
Speaker 3: your head out of your ass and what do they say,
Speaker 3: pull your big boy pants up or I don't even know, they.
Speaker 2: Pull yourself up by the boots track.
Speaker 1: There you go.
Speaker 3: That's what I was looking for. Yeah, you know, recovery
Speaker 3: doesn't work that way. There was a dinner we went
Speaker 3: to yesterday for before during after incarceration, and Marnie was
Speaker 3: there with the move Rock Parker and she was talking
Speaker 3: about the recovery friendly workplace thing that we do, which
Speaker 3: more details on that at two seventeen recovery dot com.
Speaker 3: But there was a gentleman there that.
Speaker 1: He was like, oh man, you guys do such great stuff.
Speaker 1: Blah blah blah.
Speaker 3: He wants to help us and we'll see if that's
Speaker 3: going to be a thing. But if you do want
Speaker 3: to help us or support us, we would appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Kind of in a vulnerable time right now, so very
Speaker 3: much appreciate it. But to seventeen recovery dot com, there's
Speaker 3: a link where you can support us and the things
Speaker 3: that we do. We're really looking into maybe opening a
Speaker 3: recovery cafe, and Marnie's kind of working on that. We're
Speaker 3: just trying to see you know about funding. And I
Speaker 3: think it would be a beautiful place though, I really do,
Speaker 3: and I think that the recovery community needs it. I
Speaker 3: know there's like an NA bar or something around here
Speaker 3: where they serve mocktails, which being a person in recovery
Speaker 3: and alcohol being in my drug of choice, not really
Speaker 3: offended by it, but it does do something to my
Speaker 3: soul where I go, wait a minute, So if we're
Speaker 3: in here doing fake cocaine like we're using, you know,
Speaker 3: fake needles like what, they would throw me in jail.
Speaker 3: They would put a red X on me, and they
Speaker 3: would what do they call it, blacklist, ban you or
Speaker 3: cancel you or something like. They would have so many
Speaker 3: people pissed off. If I made a flyer. Hey, we're
Speaker 3: gonna have fake heroin night at the recovery, so people
Speaker 3: would be pissed, you know. And I'm saying it's the
Speaker 3: same thing, you know, but because someone didn't have a
Speaker 3: problem with alcohol that they think it's cool. I don't know,
Speaker 3: you know, but to me it I'm not going to
Speaker 3: try to drink a fake beer. I'm not going to
Speaker 3: try to drink a fake martini, you know. So I
Speaker 3: kind of look at it the same, like, why would
Speaker 3: they think that that that's okay?
Speaker 1: I guess.
Speaker 3: I mean, and people can do whatever the hell they want, really,
Speaker 3: but I'm just saying, like.
Speaker 2: It's a slippery slope, you know what, You're you're drinking
Speaker 2: fake something one day, but you're gonna have a shit
Speaker 2: day and doing stuff like a like a dry bar
Speaker 2: where there's mocktails. To me just feels like the concept
Speaker 2: of being a dry drunk you're not changing the problem,
Speaker 2: You're masking it, removing an ingredient.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna go drink fake stuff at the places I
Speaker 3: used to go and drink real stuff and try to
Speaker 3: meet somebody or I mean, I'm doing the same things.
Speaker 3: It's just I'm missing one ingredient, and then you go
Speaker 3: home and you strike out. You know, I didn't meet
Speaker 3: anybody I was trying to, you know, pick up a
Speaker 3: date or something.
Speaker 2: Well, and there's a liquor store on your way home.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and guess what.
Speaker 3: You know the reason why I didn't I didn't pick
Speaker 3: up homegirls because I wasn't drunk. You know, I need
Speaker 3: to take the edge off of was too nervous social lubrican.
Speaker 3: So next time, I'm just gonna drink a little before
Speaker 3: I go. I mean, dude, there's so many excuses, and
Speaker 3: it's playing with fire for people, and this for me anyway,
Speaker 3: it would be playing with fire if I was faking
Speaker 3: like I'm drinking.
Speaker 2: I really like the cafe like coffee shop feel idea
Speaker 2: because it'll be a place for people to hang out,
Speaker 2: a place for people to have meetings.
Speaker 3: No fake drinks, no fake cocaine, no fake heroin, no
Speaker 3: a real heroin, no real cocaine, no real alcohol.
Speaker 2: Only drugger dealing is caffeine.
Speaker 1: That's a big in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, But it'll be a place where you know, organizations
Speaker 2: can come and have like board meetings and and won't
Speaker 2: have sport watch parties and we can.
Speaker 1: Do the podcast there and record it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll have our own corner of the building that's
Speaker 2: our podcasts.
Speaker 3: That'd be sweet. People can come watch it in person. Yeah,
Speaker 3: watch the hilarity ensue. But there's a lot of great
Speaker 3: things that we have planned for, so hopefully that that
Speaker 3: does manifest itself. And I know there's a lot of
Speaker 3: people in the community that are just like wow, like
Speaker 3: that's great. If you guys can do that, that'd be awesome.
Speaker 3: We're on board, we will support you. This is the
Speaker 3: community for it too, you know, it's big enough. There's
Speaker 3: definitely it. There's a good recovery community.
Speaker 2: There's enough of the people that want that, you know,
Speaker 2: and you're gonna get people outside of.
Speaker 1: That community too, which I think is good.
Speaker 3: And I want to help people with eating disorders, people
Speaker 3: with gambling disorder, you know, like sex. There's there's so
Speaker 3: many things that that people need help with and a
Speaker 3: lot of them are afraid to reach out, you know,
Speaker 3: Like we held some gambling meetings here at first, and
Speaker 3: then we find out that people with gambling disorder don't
Speaker 3: want to be known as also a person with a
Speaker 3: drug substance use disorder.
Speaker 1: And a lot of that is they say that.
Speaker 3: I want to say, it's like eighty percent people who
Speaker 3: have gambling disorder have a substant use disorder. And when
Speaker 3: your mom or family members whoever came at you with
Speaker 3: mitch you and your drinking, didn't you go into denial
Speaker 3: mode too, you know, So like it's kind of like
Speaker 3: for over a decade, Yeah, I know people who flat
Speaker 3: out have a problem and they're just like nope, and
Speaker 3: until they can at least say yeah, I have a problem,
Speaker 3: you know, there's nothing I can do for them, you know,
Speaker 3: And so I just sit back and watch them like, well,
Speaker 3: I'm here if you need me, you know, But that
Speaker 3: first step is for real, and they have to admit
Speaker 3: that that they have a problem that they want to change.
Speaker 3: Otherwise it's you might as well talk to a wall.
Speaker 3: But imagine having both of those, and I'm sure we
Speaker 3: have if you want to really break it down, like
Speaker 3: you could say, sugar for me, you know, is still
Speaker 3: another vice of mine, you know, or an addiction.
Speaker 2: Well, and sugar can be actually addictive, but there's like
Speaker 2: for me, it's not just sugar. It's as soon as
Speaker 2: I quit drinking, I started emotional eating. And I did
Speaker 2: that when I was younger too, So it's like it's
Speaker 2: something that I deal with as well. You gotta be
Speaker 2: I gotta be doing something if I'm If I'm stressed
Speaker 2: out or depressed or anxious, it's just like I'll start
Speaker 2: vaping way too much or eating weighting. I guess gott
Speaker 2: to be self aware of that now. But that's all
Speaker 2: part of living a life for recovery is having that
Speaker 2: self awareness, you know, staying sober so you can see
Speaker 2: and feel what your body is going through, to get
Speaker 2: to yourself, to get to yourself, to get yourself to
Speaker 2: the life of wellness that I was talking about before.
Speaker 2: You know that self awareness is a huge part of that.
Speaker 2: And I just don't think that anybody who's going out
Speaker 2: on the weekend having mocktails. I don't really want to
Speaker 2: upset anybody, but I just don't feel like that's coming
Speaker 2: from a place of self awareness. I really don't.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not. It's playing with fire for me. It
Speaker 3: would be like I'm like, I'm not going to pretend
Speaker 3: that I'm drinking something, and we're not going to have
Speaker 3: that at our place, like I said, Yeah, But and
Speaker 3: and other people want to go out and pretend they're drinking.
Speaker 1: They if they, Oh, I don't have a problem a little.
Speaker 1: It's fun. Do what you need to.
Speaker 3: I'm saying for me, you won't find me around there.
Speaker 3: And I think more people are like me in that
Speaker 3: case than not. And so I think opening this place
Speaker 3: will be really, really nice.
Speaker 1: You know, I might have a diet coke. Man, there's
Speaker 1: run in there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of opportunity there.
Speaker 3: There really is. Pour a little glass with some ice
Speaker 3: in it. No, no, this is just a big old
Speaker 3: glass and you got a big old diet coke. Enjoy it.
Speaker 2: Give me a diet coke on the rocks.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, they put them my little red straws in there.
Speaker 2: And an umbrella.
Speaker 1: Now did you hear that they are putting a new
Speaker 1: label on liquor bottles? No?
Speaker 2: What is this nonsense?
Speaker 1: Do you hear?
Speaker 3: No, surgeon, I'm supposed to do an interview some news
Speaker 3: stations sometime. They wanted to talk to me about it,
Speaker 3: and I said, okay, No.
Speaker 2: I guess send down on twelve hour rides and don't
Speaker 2: ever speak to anybody.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, twelve. I thought they were supposed to be
Speaker 1: fourteen slacking That was my own fault.
Speaker 2: No, actually, I scheduled that one from start to finish.
Speaker 3: No, they put a new label on liquor, and I'm
Speaker 3: assuming beer too, But to let our body know it
Speaker 3: caused cancer.
Speaker 2: Oh, I thought you were gonna say it, because don't
Speaker 2: they say something about how it's dangerous for pregnant women
Speaker 2: might be. I thought they're going to say they're adding
Speaker 2: trans men or something. No, no, transcend be careful if
Speaker 2: you're pregnant.
Speaker 3: No, it's that it causes cancer. And I'm like, oh,
Speaker 3: that's weird. As I'm like getting my pincers checked out
Speaker 3: and convinced that I have pincer had a cancer, I'm
Speaker 3: like twive where we're acknowledging this, Lee just put it
Speaker 3: causes death, you know, like real early too, Like if
Speaker 3: you want, I almost didn't even make to my forties.
Speaker 1: Mites, that's sad.
Speaker 2: I almost didn't make it to my thirties.
Speaker 3: And to think that we were at like nope, don't
Speaker 3: got a problem. I mean at that point I kind
Speaker 3: of knew something.
Speaker 2: When my heart stopped on the tape on the stretchery
Speaker 2: at the hospital. I was in my late twenties, Like
Speaker 2: that was pretty close to the finish line for me.
Speaker 3: They only had that cancer label sooner. Yeah, right, that's funny.
Speaker 3: But what's not funny is like if you walk into
Speaker 3: and this is Michigan, so I don't know how it
Speaker 3: is in other states, but you walk up to a
Speaker 3: counter at a convenience store, I guess what You're not
Speaker 3: getting cigarettes?
Speaker 1: Bape.
Speaker 3: You will not even be able to touch it. It's
Speaker 3: behind it as glass. It's just you can't access it.
Speaker 3: Right next to the mentos, though you can look up
Speaker 3: and oh, there's some shooters just right there, one hundred
Speaker 3: of them right there on displayed.
Speaker 1: Just put them in your pocket.
Speaker 3: And I was at this thing yesterday that I was
Speaker 3: talking about and they were talking about vaping and how
Speaker 3: this school was so bad that kids don't even go
Speaker 3: to the bathroom because the bathrooms just wreak a vape.
Speaker 3: And I'm like, what happened with a bathroom monitor? I mean,
Speaker 3: people used to smoke cigarettes back in my day, you know,
Speaker 3: like they would just go outside.
Speaker 2: Is it easier? Why does this bathroom sound like mango?
Speaker 2: I'm not coming back.
Speaker 1: Like, why wouldn't they put someone in the bathroom? Then?
Speaker 3: I don't know even understand like that's a big deal.
Speaker 3: But people act like oh, vaping is taking over. And okay,
Speaker 3: there's kids that aren't vaping, but they're not buying it
Speaker 3: at the store, right, you know, they're sure there's like
Speaker 3: a guy so somewhere who doesn't care. But ninety nine
Speaker 3: percent of vape shops are not going to sell to
Speaker 3: a minor. They're gonna tell them to leave, you know.
Speaker 3: But here it is they can walk up and get
Speaker 3: some cancer from alcohol well free. Yeah, and they can
Speaker 3: steal it, you know. They can open up the the cooler,
Speaker 3: you know, open up the door of the cooler. Nope,
Speaker 3: not going for that, going for one of these magical
Speaker 3: looking drinks that are awesome looking.
Speaker 1: Let's get one of these.
Speaker 2: Back in back in my day of the vape shop,
Speaker 2: usually if you suspected somebody being too young, you just
Speaker 2: asked further ID, and every single one of them left
Speaker 2: it in their car. Oh yeah, and they'd say I'd
Speaker 2: be right back. This happens so so many times.
Speaker 1: Real bro Okay, yeah, oh I.
Speaker 2: Left in the car and then they forgot that they
Speaker 2: wanted a vape or something.
Speaker 1: After that, it's like, okay, get out of here. Man.
Speaker 2: I never got to take anybody's ID because we had
Speaker 2: a stack because we would keep fake id's we had
Speaker 2: a way to scan them. I never got to do
Speaker 2: that because everybody would, Oh, I'd loft it in the car. Oh,
Speaker 2: how many have you gotten taken?
Speaker 1: That's crazy. Yeah, well that stuff. Yeah, that's how it
Speaker 1: happens here in Michigan.
Speaker 3: But anyway, the recovery story is Mester of Whope, part
Speaker 3: five happening. Like I said the twenty seventh of March,
Speaker 3: if you're interested and want to be sponsor of some
Speaker 3: sort of the media, feel free to reach out to
Speaker 3: us and we'll give you a sheet and.
Speaker 2: I'll say your name properly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, or maybe he won't, you know, but you'll have
Speaker 1: that forever. N it'll be funny.
Speaker 3: And congratulations again Mitch on your four years and thanks
Speaker 3: for popping in to do an episode with me today.
Speaker 3: It's been way too long and I feel like I
Speaker 3: had to get one out and just kind of get
Speaker 3: some off my chest. And you know, there was some
Speaker 3: other stuff that happened that we can get into later
Speaker 3: in a different podcast, but you know, that kind of
Speaker 3: put me in a downer mood. But you know, everything
Speaker 3: happens for a reason, and things aren't going to go
Speaker 3: your way. One hundred percent of the time, it's impossible,
Speaker 3: and it's how you bounce back from situations that build character.
Speaker 1: God's got you covered, yep, he does, and.
Speaker 3: It'll get down to the end. Sometimes you'll be worrying
Speaker 3: and wondering. But at the end, Man, God does have you,
Speaker 3: and I know he has us, you know for sure,
Speaker 3: So we appreciate, appreciate the work you do.
Speaker 1: Jesus, Yes, and your Daddy too. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 3: Check out to seventeen recovery dot com for more and
Speaker 3: we'll talk to you later.
Speaker 2: Bye.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the two seventeen Recovery podcast.
Speaker 3: Listen to over nine hundred episodes on the two seventeen
Speaker 3: Recovery app that's free in your app store or online
Speaker 3: at two seventeen recovery dot com.