Sober Motivation: Sharing Sobriety Stories - From Alcohol Blackouts To Finding Joy - Sam's Story

Episode Date: October 8, 2025

In this episode, I connect with Sam, a listener of the podcast. Sam shares his story growing up in Northern Virginia, where sports and family played significant roles, transitioning to a college life filled with heavy drinking and partying. After moving to Florida, Sam realized that alcohol prevented him from pursuing his passions and living a fulfilling life. A significant wake-up call from his boss helped Sam make the critical decision to stop drinking. Sam discusses his journey through sobriety, the importance of support systems like AA and podcasts, and how focusing on his hobbies and improving his mental health has changed his life. Sam now channels his energy into helping others and setting personal goals, celebrating one year of sobriety with a renewed sense of purpose and clarity.   Sam on IG: https://www.instagram.com/sammysharks9/   00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome 00:40 Sam's Childhood and Upbringing 02:21 Early Experiences with Alcohol 03:40 High School Drinking Culture 09:37 College Life and Escalation of Drinking 14:00 Consequences and Realizations 17:44 Post-College Reflections 24:35 Health Issues and Denial 27:20 Seeking Help and Self-Reflection 34:19 Breaking the Cycle and Growth 35:15 The Unexpected Journey to Sobriety 35:41 Life in Tampa: Bars, Beaches, and Martial Arts 38:18 The Turning Point: Realizing the Impact of Alcohol 40:09 The Decision to Quit: Work and Personal Life Collide 42:52 The First Steps: AA and Early Sobriety 46:28 Transformations: Physical and Mental Health Improvements 48:20 Finding New Passions: Fishing and Fitness 49:07 Supporting Others: The Power of Community 01:00:45 Reflecting on the Journey: Advice and Encouragement  

Welcome back to season four of the Super Motivation Podcast. Join me, Brad, each week as my guests and I share incredible and powerful sobriety stories. We're here to show sorority as possible, one story at a time. Let's go. In this episode, I connect with Sam, an avid listener of the podcast. Sam shares a story of growing up in northern Virginia where sports and family played significant roles, transitioning to a college life filled with heavy drinking and partying. after moving to Florida, Sam realized that alcohol prevented him from pursuing his passions and living a fulfilled life.

A significant wake-up call from his boss helped Sam make the crucial decision to stop drinking. Sam discusses his journey through sobriety, the importance of support systems like AA and podcasts, and how focusing on his hobbies and improving his mental health has changed his life. Sam now channels his energy into helping others and setting personal goals, celebrating one year of sobriety with a renewed sense of purpose and clarity. And this is Sam's story on the Subur Motivation podcast. Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the podcast. I wanted to share this quick story with you before we jumped into it.

I had this guy that used to attend these Celebrate Recovery meetings that I used to go to, I don't know, 16 years or maybe even longer ago. And I just wasn't getting it. I just wasn't really getting it. I was going just so other people around me would think that I was doing something to improve my life. life, but genuinely, I wasn't really interested in getting sober or the whole process or the thought. I couldn't wrap my head around a life of sobriety. How was that ever going to be possible? I remember one time, though, this guy cornered me. His name was Ron. He cornered me outside of the meeting, kind of sort of. And he asked me this one question, how do you want to be remembered?

And as I was thinking about it, okay, this was kind of strange. This was kind of out of nowhere. I mean, I kind of knew the guy, but I didn't think that we knew each other like that. And then he said, because one day, that's all you will leave behind, is how people remember you. And it sticks with me now at the time. It didn't really have this big impact on my life, but it makes a lot of sense to me now about how do I want to be remembered? How do you want to be remembered?

I think the life I was leading and living for the life. those years of active addiction and when things just never seem to go my way, I don't know that that would have been anything I was proud of leaving behind or the memory that I would have left behind. And I think about that a lot now. How do I want to be remembered? And I feel like what that does is really puts things into perspective about how I treat others, what I accept for my life, how I am as a husband, how I am as a father, how I am as a friend, and what's really important in life. And I think that that's the gold.

I think that that's it. I think that sobriety has brought so many gifts to my life, so many things that I never, ever would have thought possible. And I know that that's not anything rare or anything unique to me. It really does change so many areas of our life. but I think one of the things I'm most proud of that have changed in my life is the ability to deploy empathy. Not to feel bad for others, but to understand maybe where they're coming from. And to be able to sit with them and hear their stories and hear what they've been through from a place without judgment.

because I think at times the world can be heavy into judgment of where somebody is in their current situation without hearing their entire story of where they've come from and maybe gain a better understanding about why they're making the choices and behaving in a certain way that they are right now, especially when it comes to addiction. But they don't hear what it was like for them growing up or they don't hear the things that they've been through. Not that it excuses the way that we act or the way that we behave. but maybe it would make a little bit more sense.

And maybe that's where we need the help in the healing. And maybe that we found alcohol or drugs or whatever it is as a way to comfort us. I never looked at my addiction that way when I was really in the mess of it. I never really looked in the rearview mirror to ask myself, how did I end up here? Was it just on a whim? Like, was I just that lucky to wear? my first drink hit differently than the people around me?

I don't know. I look back now, I mean, I don't think so. I think that it was an accumulation of things, of life, and how it took a toll on me and everything that I had been through. And it wasn't the most traumatic situation in the entire world. And there's obviously people who go through a lot more than I ever did. And there's probably people who go through a lot less. But I don't know that that's really the point.

I think that we all go through some shit. I think we all go through some shit in life. And do we deploy the tools to work through it or do we just avoid and numb? And the longer we do that, I think it becomes comfortable. Even as tragic as addiction can be, I think I found a level of comfort in it. I knew what to expect. even though I was burning my life down to the ground pretty quick. I knew what failure felt like.

I knew what disappointing my loved ones felt like. I knew what anxiety felt like. I knew what sadness felt like. I knew what not achieving goals felt like. The other side of the coin of being successful and happy and joyful and things going good was so foreign to me. I did not understand or comprehend a life like that because I felt like the first 25 years of my life, I was just a burden to everybody around me. So it weirdly made sense, and it weirdly became my comfort zone.

The escape, the reliability that alcohol offered, like it was always there, it was always around. it was acceptable to drink. It's just really interesting. And maybe I'll leave you with that question about how do you want to be remembered? Because one day, you know, that's all we'll leave behind. And I think of that today, you know, I want to be remembered as somebody that was helpful, somebody that cared about others, not based on their status or what they could do for me, but based on them being a human and struggling and maybe relatable.

to the struggles that I went through. And maybe I could just be the one person that would listen to them and maybe they wouldn't expect it. Maybe that's what people need. Maybe people don't need all the answers. Maybe we don't. I know I sure as heck didn't. I didn't need all the answers.

I had already been to rehab many, many times and therapy and doctors and counselors and everybody. I mean, I knew the way out. I just needed maybe the belief in myself that sobriety could be possible for me. I knew things were bad enough. I knew it wasn't going to end well. My mom always reminds me that she had a therapist that said, if I made it to 25, that I would be okay.

But I think her biggest worry was, would I make it to 25? I don't know. I'm glad I did. I'm really happy I did. but there were definitely times where it could have went the other way very easily. There were situations I put myself in. The risk was really, really high for things to go the other way. So I'm extremely grateful for my life today.

It's one that, you know, we hear it a lot, a life beyond your wildest dreams. Like, that's the truth. That is. And, you know, that kind of question keeps me grounded. I mean, how do you want to be remembered? And how do you carry yourself today? is I think how we will be remembered. And hopefully, over time,

things can change about how we can be remembered. You know, that's my hope. And I think I'm headed in that direction. I might not be able to change everybody's mind because some of the stuff I've done, I'm not proud of, and it was hurtful to others. But I think if I keep putting one foot in front of the other with time, the memory that I do leave behind whenever that is will be a positive one and a good one.

And, you know, maybe people will say he went through a rough patch, but he turned it around and did something with it. You know, and that's where I think the gratitude really comes into play is that I could sit here and beat myself up every day for everything that went sideways. But I choose not to do that today. You know, I'm putting one foot in front of the other and trying to maybe. make this world a little bit better in a small little way with this podcast and with the community and everything I try to do is give back and help out and also take care of myself and my family and everything in the meantime. So I'll leave you with that question. Sam, incredible story. Very grateful Sam reached out. We're able to jump on and share his story on the podcast.

So let's jump right into it. Welcome back to another episode of the Sober Motivation podcast. Today we've got Sam with us. How are you? I'm doing well. It's a Monday. Good weather here in Southwest Florida. So doing well. Thanks for having me on, Brad. Yeah, of course, man. I was drawn to you reaching out. You shared that the podcast has impacted your journey and helped you out so much. So it's only fitting that we have you on to share your story with all of us. Yes, thank you, man. I listened to hundreds of episodes of the podcast throughout the past year of my no alcohol journey. So it's been awesome. Yeah, man. Well, thank you for supporting the show and checking it out.

So what was it like for you growing up? Growing up for me was good, man. I grew up in Northern Virginia, played sports my whole life. So played a lot of baseball, got into wrestling in like middle school. So it was always kind of on the go on the weekends. I had an older brother. So we would have baseball tournaments pretty much every weekend. And our parents would drive us kind of all around the state, sometimes to Georgia and Florida for like tournaments and stuff like that.

So baseball was a big part of my life growing up. And then, you know, I think at my age now, I look back and really see how many sacrifices my parents made for me, you know, to get me where I am today and just be able to have that good of an upbringing. Yeah. And that was all in Virginia then. What's it like growing up in Virginia? Yeah, it was cool, man. We had four seasons, so, you know, got to see the snow, got to see the leaves change in the fall. Got nice springs, hot summers.

So it was a cool experience. You know, met a lot of good friends in my hometown. You know, a couple hours from the beach, some smaller mountains near us. So kind of had it all. Kind of had it all out there. You know, well, you've listened to a couple hundred of the episodes there, too. So you kind of know, probably picked up over time about there's a couple different stories of the way things. and then maybe how things go with somebody struggling.

I mean, would you say overall, like, is there anything you draw from growing up that maybe turned you down this path? With alcohol checks and boxes for you or not really? Definitely. Yeah, I would say my experience with alcohol probably started when I was, you know, 17, 18. Really, when I first got a vehicle. So when I got my first truck, it would be, hey, I'm. I'm going to go stay the night over at my friend's house.

And then, you know, somebody would go get a case of beer and we would kind of just drink it on the weekends. And just have fun in one of our parents' basements pretty much. Not too much. We wouldn't really drink and drive. But we'd just stay in someone's basement drink, have a bonfire, stuff like that. So that's kind of where it started for sure. Yeah. I wouldn't say every weekend in high school.

But, you know, towards the end of like junior senior year, it was, you know, every few weekends we would go. out and drank. And it wouldn't just be, you know, from the beginning for me, it wouldn't just be, you know, oh, one or two drinks casually. It was, you know, shotgunning five, 10 beers, seeing who could get the drunkest. And there was no real repercussions, you know, at that time, except for your parents yelling at you, taking your phone or grounding you. So, yeah, no real like ramifications in the beginning for sure. But then as I get to the age I am now, yeah, that's when I really open my eyes to be like, hey, this is, this is slowing me down. in all aspects of my life.

Yeah, it definitely changes as more responsibility comes into life. What was it like for you growing up? I mean, was a lot of drinking around? Were you familiar with sort of the effects of it? Anybody identifies having a problem maybe that you saw? Or like, what was that like?

Yeah, I believe, you know, on my dad's side of the family, his grandparents were heavy drinkers. I know, because, you know, we had conversations about it, you know, in the past few years. He kind of mentioned that. I potentially might run in the family be a genetic thing, potentially.

So not too much drinking. My mom doesn't drink. She just doesn't like the taste of it and then didn't like being hung over. And then, you know, my dad was a lawyer. So, you know, pretty high stress job. So he would drink on the weekends sometimes. And then, you know, I see now that I'm older now, it's like, you know, him and his buddies that were coming to the baseball tournaments with us.

You know, I knew they would have like a little cooler of beer watching the games and stuff. and having fun, having fun with that. But no, you know, it wasn't too much in my family or anything, but just I would say more in the friend group of growing up being 17, 18 in high school and, you know, thinking you were invincible and stuff like that and just not having to care in the world. Yeah. It's interesting, too, though. I mean, did you notice, because you mentioned, too, you went all the way in right from the beginning.

I mean, did you notice that was different from some of your peers, or did everybody you were kind of hanging out with? Yeah. So yeah, I would say it was definitely a little bit different. We'd have some friends who would say, you know, let's see who can drink 10 beers the fastest and just all laugh and have a good time. Like I said, you know, with no repercussions or anything. But I knew deep down from the beginning it kind of had a grip on me. I think I might have, I'm pretty sure I do have, you know, a more addictive personality. So, you know, when everybody would go to bed, say two, three in the morning. I would sometimes stay up by myself and watch music videos, watch fishing videos on YouTube and just drink by myself. And then I'd wake up the next day, you know, super hungover, just a waste of a day. And then realize like, hey, why did I stay up by myself and drink six extra beers, you know, for no reason? So it's like, for me, it was like once I, once I crack that first can, it's very hard for me to stop. Yeah.

Was there anything that you were struggling with sort of in high school? I mean, I know high school for me was really tough. Was there anything that you were working through or trying to figure out? I feel like in high school too where I was anyway, I felt like the pressure of the world. Like I've got to know what I'm doing for the rest of my life. If I don't, I'm completely doomed. What were your thoughts? Yeah, for sure, man.

It's funny you say that too. So I think a big part too. Like I had an older brother who was two years older than me, you know, went to the same high school. So, you know, I was already kind of in with that crowd, you know, with the more baseball. baseball crowd because just knowing his friends from growing up playing travel baseball and stuff together um so you know those guys were two years older than me so you know they were drinking and stuff and i had to be the cool little brother um kind of coming around too so i'd say in high school too you know i had braces um and i have you know i have red hair as well so i got made fun of a lot

whether it was like a lot of joking um not like too serious of bullying but you know friends kind of giving you shit every now and then so that was funny so then i kind of just like I've always been more of like an outgoing social funny person. Like I love to crack jokes and make people laugh and make myself laugh. So that was kind of big for me just to be like, hey, I drank a couple beers and I'm way funnier. And then all of a sudden, I'm the center of attention. And then, you know, everybody, you know, the next week or after drinking, oh, man, you were, you were on one last night. You were, you were being really funny last night.

And, you know, it kind of gained me some popularity through high school and in college. And, you know, even down here in Tampa, meeting people, just having no regard for myself just like, hey, I'm almost doing this for other people's enjoyment. And they're there for me. Hey, it's all fun in games. We're all laughing, doing stupid stuff together. But you're not with me that next day when I'm having, you know, borderline panic attacks and anxiety and ordering fast food at 3 o'clock in the morning. and not going to the gym and exercising. And it just really started affecting my mental health.

So I think that kind of really started from the early days. Yeah, so relatable, man. I was like exactly what kept me around with drinking in the beginning is because I was always kind of on the outside. And then I went to my first party, drank, and like, man, I was this like, this is the sweet spot. Where has this been, man? Everybody loves me.

It was a good time. I don't really remember much of it. but talking with people the next day, you go back, you know, you go back to wherever it is, high school or whatever. And it's like, yeah, you know, the older guys, oh, man, I still remember that. I think that's one of the things that really roped me in because I didn't remember the first time I drank, but I remember the feeling, maybe of afterwards, maybe the next day. And it felt like, you know, okay, there's value here.

This makes sense. Like, wow. And it was easy, right? It was just like, drink the most. You kind of lose that. I did anyway. I lost the insecurities that I had. about who I was or how well other areas of my life that all faded away.

And it was like, oh, here we go. I can make something to this, right? Because I was so used to just getting in trouble and all that. I mean, it just fell right into it. And then, yeah, I mean, I think it's because a lot of people struggle, man. I mean, even fast forward a little bit. A lot of people struggle building relationships in sobriety. And I think a big part of that is because when you're drinking, it's so easy.

It's just like, oh, you drink, I drink. Go to the bar. Go to this. have a few drinks and we can just open up in that sense. So yeah, really interesting. So where do you go after high school? So you're kind of getting into it here and where do things go for you from there? Yeah, so that's definitely when the alcohol and the drinking got turned up a notch is when I went to college.

So I went to college in, you know, Southern Virginia, a place called Radford University. It was a D1 school, probably 13, I think 13,000 students. We didn't have a football team. So our sport was kind of drinking. Yeah. You know, there was one or two bars around, smaller kind of hole-in-the-wall bars. And we would just do like fraternity parties,

house parties, apartment parties, stuff like that. And it would just be, I mean, there was something to do every night. Like a Tuesday night, there could be karaoke. And then Wednesday night is ladies night at the bar. Thursday night, you know, a fraternity party. And then Friday, party at night, Saturday, day drink during the day, party at night.

and then Sunday was just the kind of just the recovery day. Sometimes I would drink on Sundays too, but yeah, college for me, it was a big, we drank every weekend, blocked out just about every weekend, was still able to graduate, still went to class. I always kept that as a priority. Like, hey, I can't miss class because if you go to class and you take some notes, you know, you usually have an exam every couple, three, four weeks. So I was always good about that studying. So I was able to to graduate. But I joined, you know, I joined a fraternity my second year of the of college. And a lot of the guys were from my hometown, those areas. So, you know, joined in, joined in that and had a good time. Met, you know, met a lot of cool people who are still, you know, still good friends of mine to this

day. But the culture was definitely just, you know, blacking out drunk, who could throw the coolest party, have the most girls over, kind of stuff like that. And again, with no real repercussions, You know, you could get as drunk as you wanted. As long as you weren't driving, you know, who cares? And then, you know, sometimes waking up outside of the fraternity house or on the couch that's on the front porch and, oh, whatever. Let's go get some food and do it all again. Yeah. Well, that kind of stuff was kind of cool and celebrated, right?

Like, for me it was. People would say, oh, man. So I even, even though I kind of deep down, I knew, like, okay, this is, this might be a little bit much. not everybody's living like this, but at the same time, it was like a big pat on the back from everybody. Like, I can't believe that you did that or whatever. And I was like, this is great. I mean, this is just so cool. But I think there was a little part of me that was dying inside of this wasn't the way I knew I could, I should have been operating, you know? Like I was doing that to fit. You know, looking back now, it's, it's 2020, right? Hindsight. At the time, the awareness,

we don't have it. I didn't anyway. And looking back, now I see it clear clear as day for what it was is I was willing to sacrifice my own values and all of that sort of stuff to have a place to call home, you know, or feel like I did, which, but at the time when I was going through it, it sounds like when you were too, like, it's just a college experience, right? And it's really tough when a lot of people share too, right, the college university experience, everybody we associate with is doing the same thing. So it's not like it's like we're just standing out completely on our own.

I even look back at that and I think I thought everybody did what I was doing. When I look back now, I'm like, no, everybody, for my experience, everybody wasn't doing it. The people I was hanging out with were doing it. And I decided to hang out with them because it was kind of like the cosine of the way I was going about things. Exactly. You know? I agree. Yeah.

And it seemed to be like you said, like you get that kind of, you know, that's just what the norm was. Right. Like I didn't know anything but waking up and being hung over then looking, oh, everyone's getting mimosos now at breakfast. And then, you know, you go there and you share stories from night for, oh, man, you were wasted last night. You were dancing on the bar like doing all this. And here's a video. And it's, oh, that's funny. Like, you know, that just seemed to be what we were chasing.

And that was the goal of every weekend. Like there was no real goals of, hey, I'm going to class. I'm passing my classes. Now let's go black out. So, you know, that was a big part of my life. Probably the reason it took me five years to graduate. Yeah. Well, you made it.

I mean, you made it. So that's, you know, what is it better late than never? Did anybody notice or anybody mention anything like in this college portion of your life of maybe not about the drinking directly, but was there anything? I mean, were any dark times in there too for you? There were. There were. You know, I had, you know, a few instances in college. where I had I lost friends where they they passed away, you know, whether it was from a car crash,

you know, I had one friend commit suicide. And then, you know, a good friend of mine that was in fraternity, you know, passed, got in a surfing accident and, you know, passed away from that. And my only response to that was obviously, you know, being emotional, then it was like, oh, now I can go get extra drunk for them tonight. You know, I'm going to live for them. And that's kind of like the avenue I took of like, hey,

like that's my excuse to behave how I want to behave because my friend passed away. So now instead of pouring out one for them, it's like I'm going to drink extra for them. And, you know, just drinking upset is never something to do, you know, and then just getting in fights, like pointless fights with people saying nasty things,

you know, to people. following my parents at like 3 o'clock in the morning and almost just like making up stories and just, you know, getting a call from them the next day with already having that anxiety from drinking. They're like, oh, are you okay? Like you called me, you know, crying last night about, you know, your friend that passed away. Like, are you all right? And then it just like, I never would have acted like that if alcohol wasn't in the picture. And I feel like it just like amplifies every single problem I've ever had in my life. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I mean, even that stuff there. And that's tough too. with you share with you know i mean it sounds like quite a few friends too and and then maybe not you know talking about that or or maybe working through that right just lean on alcohol then it's you know it's really hard to i think to heal anyway in my my situation you know my story and stuff was really hard to do any healing or really process anything when it was just numbing and just pouring gasoline basically on a fire you know exactly and then it would be something like you know

if I'm upset, if I'm happy, if I'm sad, if I'm bored, it was like I always had alcohol right there to make things fun, right? To just escape from reality almost. And this is a problem I can deal with on Sunday now. You know, it's not a problem I have to deal with on a thirsty Thursday. Yeah. So yeah, that was big for me. Yeah. Well, big distraction from life and everything that's going on. And I think, I mean, we're going to get into it. I have the, I have the sense we're going to head in that direction to when we're younger, right, 17, 18, or we're in college, I mean, responsibility's there, but I think we could probably all agree it's a lot lower at that age than, you know, as we get older and we have a lot more responsibility in areas

to figure things out. But eventually, the whole fun aspect and using it as our coping strategy and how we move through life and everything, I think eventually creates more problems than it ever was trying to distract us from. It's a huge distraction in life, you know, the drinking, you know, from a lot of things, right? And I feel like for me anyway, it took me a lot longer to grow up. I feel like it took me a lot longer to grow up maturity because I was just leaning into drinking and that was it. And I feel like I missed out on some of those other like soft and hard skills, you know, that maybe some of my peers were picking up on, you know, sort of in that,

that range of age there. So it's really interesting. So you make it through university. I mean, the wheels don't, it doesn't sound like it anyway, fall off. You're not really having any consequence. But internally, though, it sounds like things are, you're struggling a bit with that. Definitely. And I feel like it was just a part of life. Like it's something I just accepted, like, okay, I'm young. I'm in college. Like, and even after college, I'm just going to drink every weekend that was just like a you know stuck in my brain that's just like that's what we do on the weekends yeah there was never anything else just from building those habits from years and years of doing it that that's what felt like the norm um you know which really you know coming off you know

one year with no alcohol i can just see how much you know time i wasted i was lucky i still you know had the upbringing i did and kind of had you know when i would get home from college or anything like that, like my parents would immediately like, hey, what's your summer job? What are you doing to work this summer? Right. So I was fortunate enough to be pushed by them to always be able to have a job. So I always, I feel like that work ethic was kind of always instilled in me to know that I have to get this done. But then I would reward myself, okay, I'm going to go work all week and then I'm going to get so drunk on Friday, then so drunk on Saturday. And then do it all again. That just felt like, you know, what life was. Until now, you know, having that year of clarity and all the

wisdom I've gained from listening to your podcast, attending AA classes, you know, talking, you know, talking to a therapist going to celebrate recovery through, you know, the local church, things like that to just add the tools. And if anything, I wish I did it sooner. But, you know, I'm a firm believer, I guess, you know, everything happens for a reason. So I did, you know, I wish I did it sooner. But, you know, I'm very happy with where I am now. And, you know, I feel like this year too for me, I want to give back more because I feel like, you know, not that I've conquered it. It's definitely something you need to work on every single day, just like anything, right? If it's the gym, if you have goals in the gym, you have to go every

single day. You're not going to see results overnight. But then when you look back, you know, from a year or even six months, you see those results. So, you know, that's, that's the real motivator for me is like, you know, my family, my parents, you know, they were worried about me. And, you know, they had told me on several occasions, oh, you know, we're worried about you. We don't want you to get hurt. We don't want you to, you know, get killed, get an accident. Yeah. Do anything stupid that affects you, you know, the rest of your life.

Like, for instance, if you're driving, you know, if you're driving drunk and, you know, God forbid, you hit a family. You hit a minivan full of a family and kids. And you wake up in, you know, holding cell the next day. And they're like, hey, you know, you killed a family of six people. And now their life is over. their extended family lives are essentially ruined my life is over my family's you know life is over i've ruined my parents life if something like that happened and that just made me sick to my stomach um

to know like how little of a of a you know thing is just picking up a drink and and drinking it just what could happen every time you just roll the dice and do it and i was sick of uh sick of just playing with those odds and you know I had a few things happen um not anything crazy like I never got a DUI never you know went to jail or anything like that or the extent of it was just you know upsetting my family and barely barely getting away clean of hey you know you did something stupid the night before you said something stupid and then just kind of brushing it under the rug and okay I'm not going to drink for a week and then two weeks later okay I'm only going to have three drinks tonight. Okay, then a week later, okay, I'm back to having 10 drinks and then something else happens.

I was just sick of living in that repetitive negative cycle all the time. Yeah. Well, thanks for sharing all that. Do you feel like when you drink it changes you? Definitely, definitely. And I think, I thought it amplified me just to be, hey, I'm more social, I'm more fun. But then, you know, when I had close friends who cared about me, reach out and say, hey man like you're not the same person when you drank or if it was um you know girls that i was in a relationship with um to tell me hey you're you're not the same person when you drank and then my family tell me that then i finally started opening my eyes be like you know what at first i would just push it off and be like uh you don't know me you don't know what i'm going through and

realistically i wasn't going through that much i you know what i thought was a lot and then i listened to your podcast and i'm like oh man these a lot of these people have had it way tougher than me right and respect yeah just it's just it's just that whole perspective change of you know not trying to view myself like more with the victim mentality oh i can drink they they say i'm not the same person well you know i just using it at you know things as a scapego like oh well my friend is passed away years ago so you know i'm drinking for him i'm celebrating for him you know just just stuff like that to give, almost give, you know, a reasoning for my behavior to make myself feel comfortable with it. Yeah, but I know it definitely started to catch up with me when people

tell me like, hey, you're not yourself when you're a drink. You're a different person. Yeah. Things that I couldn't see because, you know, you're blinded by alcohol. Yeah. It is so true, man. And we'll kind of get back on the storyline here after this, but just how many problems it causes in life. For me not drinking, I can see it clear as day in a lot of people's lives around me that still do drink. You know, like maybe 84% of the time things are good and they're going in the direction they want, but like the 16% of times that things are chaotic and unpredictable and

everything like that, it's like, man, it's drinking. It sounds like anyway, you're bringing up blacking out a lot. I mean, I only had a handful of experiences like, that but the handful I had I mean it was it was unbelievable man if it was just like what like people are explaining it back to me about this sequence of events and I went to this job and the job sent me home and they called the police and I wasn't supposed to drive and blah blah blah blah I mean it was just like what happened like you guys are you guys are making all this up and we went out to a restaurant and it was just I was like that's all one afternoon I did all of this stuff while I was completely blacked

out and I was like, wow, man, that was, that was wild. I don't know. Like, I didn't know what to believe, but it was, yeah, they wouldn't, the people I was hanging out with, they wouldn't have made it up. Scooting back a little bit, though, so you finish up high school, you go to college, drinking ramps up there. Where do you find yourself going after college? Also, back on the college thing, I'd had one big, you know, event that kind of sticks with me to this day. So we, you know, we were at one of our fraternity houses one day and we built a a huge ramp like a huge jump in the snow. And, you know, we had snow kegs and it was a big thing there. So, you know, everybody shows up. We got the snow keg. We got a hill in the backyard. We have, you know, a ramp to jump off snowboards.

I wasn't, you know, an experienced snowboarder at all. But, you know, a couple, a couple beers from the snow keg and I felt like I was Sean White. I was like, oh man, I can go do this. There's, you know, all my friends are here and a lot of attractive ladies at the party. So I was like, I'm going to go off this jump and do a cool trick. You know, I had that, that liquid courage in me. So I went off the jump, broke my leg, cracked my sternum in my chest and had to have some people driving to the hospital. Didn't tell my parents, didn't put it on my insurance because I didn't want my parents to find out. And which came back to, you know, haunt me, getting sent to collections and things like that that affected my credit score that, you know, I just cleared up a year or two

ago, you know, from that, I'm still, I still have pain in my chest from that because I didn't go to physical therapy. You know, I didn't do the steps. I just went back out, healed. I was going out on crutches. Still going out on crutches and drinking. I'm like, oh, I can't take my muscle relaxers and I'm prescribed because they don't mix well with alcohol. So, I'm I'm not going to take my medication. So I'm going to go out and drink. Still, man, I was on crutches in the ice and stuff like that. And, you know, fast forward to, you know, a couple years later, I ended up going to a cardiologist

because I was having heart palpitations. And I would have, you know, a sharp pain in my chest, which was really from my injury that I did treat because I drank instead of doing the proper rehabilitation. And I thought I had a heart problem. So, you know, I go to the doctor, tell them all about it. How do you drink? Do you drink alcohol? Yeah, yeah. A couple beers on the weekends. I never told them the truth. I never told them I, yeah, I drank 15 beers last night actually and my heart's been beating weird this morning. I slept for three hours. You know, I wouldn't be honest with them.

I wouldn't be honest with myself. Then I ended up wearing a heart monitor for like a month and, you know, thinking, just having that anxiety from the drinking too, just being like, oh my gosh, I have a heart problem. Like, I'm going to die. And just giving myself so much anxiety and freaking out my family to be like, hey, you know, he's healthy. You know, why is having heart issues. And the underlying cause was it was from the alcohol. It was from binge drinking and not sleeping and not treating my injury. So, you know, it still affects me to this day.

You know, when I work out, if I work out chest too hard, you know, it'll get a sharp pain in it. And it's just, you know, that was a huge thing for me to kind of, you know, tie straight to alcohol. Yeah. But even at the time, it's too. Yeah, it's interesting too. and you go, you know, we do, everybody has sort of these, I think,

sort of these interventions in a weird way or another, where we end up in a situation where we're experiencing something as a direct result of our drinking or in a combination of other things. And then we go to get help. And it's like we don't give all the information to where, you know what I mean? And then I had so many situations where he's like, I should have just been honest with what I was struggling with. But I felt ashamed.

I felt ashamed of like where I was and in how I was living. And I was like, is there something like morally wrong? I just wasn't prepared for that conversation of somebody telling me. I think subconsciously I was so scared of somebody saying, well, maybe you shouldn't drink. Because at that point in my life, drinking had become the thing, the only thing that I knew to offer comfort and consistency and a good friend and all this stuff. So I was like terrified to put myself in a situation where that. somebody would make the idea or suggest or even pick up on the fact that I've got a problem because what if they say I have to quit? I tried to quit. I can't quit. I don't know how. I don't know if

I want to. But we go looking, you know, seeking help or guidance or support and then we only kind of share a quarter or maybe half of the story and it's really hard. I don't know if you reflect back but I do in my life. It was really no wonder I didn't get any help. I didn't tell anybody what that was going on. They couldn't help me. Interesting. Yeah, exactly, man. And then it would just be one of those things like, you know, during the week I'm at work, you know, I'm focused on work.

And then the weekend rolls around, it's like, hey, I know what I did last weekend, made an ass out of myself maybe. But then Friday rolls around, oh, I just worked all week. Gone short-term memory. Let's do it again. Maybe I won't drink as many this weekend. Yeah. I probably.

What about? Yeah. And, I mean, did you try that? Like, I think like, okay, maybe I'll just, I think, like, okay, maybe I'll just, I think You mentioned it earlier too, right? I'll have three beers or I'll do this. Like, did that ever pan out for you sometimes hit or miss? Hit or miss, definitely.

And then I, you know, I found myself. I was like, okay, I'm having three beers tonight. And then I would have those three beers and it's like, okay, I can have one more. Okay, I'll take a shot. And then it's just like, I really, I didn't accept it. I didn't accept that I didn't have control. I, you know, I didn't have the self-discipline once I had that alcohol in my system to be like, hey, that's enough. I'm feeling good. I'm going to ride off this buzz. No, it was always,

always just chasing more, chasing more and more. Yeah. That's interesting, too, sort of the self-discipline perspective of things. Because I wonder if people who don't struggle with this, if they think of it from that, do they think of it from that angle? Or do they just, the box is checked, they had enough and they move on with their life? Or is it those of us that struggle with it are in this constant battle of like, am I strong enough or like, why can't I? Because I would get there too. I could have three drinks.

I'd be pissed. I'd be like miserable, but I could have three drinks called a night, whatever. I mean, I could definitely do that from time to time, but it wasn't a good time for me. Like a good time for me was to drink enough to where I didn't think the way I was when I was sober. I'd like try to control it or try to keep it together

is like, I want to drink enough to where that is gone and I can just keep going and try to like have as much fun as I could and not bother myself with the thought of like, why are you drinking too much? But it's always interesting to me because we kind of go back and forth on that. Like, I did anyway. Like, why can't I handle it? Why can't I figure it out? Why can't I just have one or two? I wonder if people who don't struggle with it if they ever, or maybe occasionally they do, but I would guess like overall they probably don't think that they don't that like I need to discipline myself or I need to or maybe it's just easier for them. They're like I have to work tomorrow. I know that if I have any more than two, I won't feel 110%. So I feel like it's maybe an easier

decision. I look at it a lot like gambling, right? Very, very serious addiction that can destroy people's lives. If I go to the casino with my grandmother, I can go overboard, like do little bit extra, but when I leave there, I don't feel guilty. I don't feel ashamed. And I don't ever think about it again until eight months later when she asked me if I want to go again, you know? So I wonder if it's kind of like that. Yeah, definitely. And, you know, it was, it was tough, you know, for sure to kind of go through that stuff and just label it off. Like, you know, this is a more yolo. Like, you only live once, right? If I had lost friends or lost family, It's like, you know, well, who's going to say that I don't get in a crazy accident and die tomorrow?

I'm going to live for today. I'm going to live for tonight. I'm going to have as much fun as I can right now. And then just push off all the responsibility and repercussions until it really comes full circle. And then have anxiety about it, drink it away. And it's just repetitive cycle for so long, man. And I had no idea how much in common I had with you with the podcast. It was just so eye-opening.

I feel like I literally struck gold. And like after listening like two of them, I was just like, oh my gosh. Like this is so relatable. It was insane. I got I got hooked on it, man. Like like I said, dude, I'd be out walking around to ponds or fishing in the ocean. And I just have a air pod and listening to it. Just like, wow, like this is crazy, man.

Yeah. It's interesting too. I mean, I think that like what did you think maybe somebody's life with a problem or or somebody who alcohol was taking more than it gave? I think that that's a big thing that can keep us stuck for time is it's like that's not my life, right? Like some of us we might hear conversations or see in the movies or wherever it is, right? I think a lot of us, and I could be wrong. I'm wrong a lot.

But I think a lot of us have this idea of this person looks like this, walks like that and talks like that. They have a serious problem with alcohol. And if I don't look like that, walk like that, talk like that, talk like that, then maybe I'm good to go. Maybe I can just ride this thing for the rest of days. But I think what I'm hearing a lot, Sam, from you is that alcohol was taking a lot from your life. And I don't mean like dollars and cents and stuff like that. But it does sound like it affected what I think is the most important thing in life is relationships. And I think it was really affecting your mental health and how you felt about yourself and how you showed up.

It really sounds like it really hit you hard there. Yeah. And, you know, I didn't know, I didn't think about a way out. I thought this was just something I was always going to have in my life. And it's like, hey, as long as I'm going to work, you know, I'm more of a functioning alcoholic. And it's like, I don't drink on the weekdays. That's not me.

Like, I'm not at boozer like that. I don't drink Monday nights. But when the weekend rolls around, I'm blacking out drunk almost every weekend. And, you know, I thought that, hey, I'm still going to work. I'm not drinking on the weekdays. I'm fine. This is normal. This is what everybody does, right?

Yeah. So that's what it felt like, you know, at first, except for, you know, breaking that cycle this past year. It's just like, this has been the most growth, the biggest growth year of my life for sure in this past year. It's been amazing, man. Yeah, which, yeah, which is good to hear. I mean, it is. Walk us up to kind of this decision. I mean, was there something that triggered it or was there, was there a bunch of, what is some people called death by,

a thousand cuts you know was it that or was there something a conversation i mean what even got you you thinking because even this sam i'm hearing all this and and i could be wrong on this too but this is kind of what i'm picking up on this whole idea of a not drinking life might not be something close to home for you that that might be a complete foreign concept absolutely yeah i mean i never thought in a million years i could make it a year without alcohol never ever ever thought that um so I would say leading up to it, man, like just living in Tampa, it's beautiful, you know, almost every single day. You know, the bar, there's a big bar scene everywhere. You got the beach bars. You got the downtown bars. And, you know, when I first moved down here and, you know, I left, I left my current job.

I was doing commercial insurance in Virginia in the office every day. So, you know, moved down here. I had to quit that job and started working remote for a sales job. And then ended up, I'm big into martial arts. So, you know, I started training a lot down here. And then ended up meeting some guys who work security at like the local bars. And I figured and they're like, hey, man, we'll pay you 25 an hour to come work security, kick out drunk people, you know, from the bars. And I was thinking about it.

I was like, oh, you know what? I just moved down here. Probably a good chance to meet, you know, meet cool people. And do that. Cool. So, you know, I was at the bar and I was working as security at the bar. And always around alcohol, you know, I'd be up there till. three, four in the morning, mopping the floors and stuff like that. And then I started drinking,

you know, on the job on there. Because I was like, you know what? I have a full-time job. Like, I don't care about this. So kind of, you know, drinking on the job there. And just being around it all the time. And then on top of that, I would get 50% off at the bar when I wasn't working. So just more incentive to like, hey, I know what I'm doing tomorrow. I know, I know everybody here. I know, you know all that. So it's like, I'm in now. I'm, I got two jobs. I'm making good money. I'm getting 50% off drinks. So now I'm buying everybody drinks. And I had this party trick, actually. I called it the tornado. It's when I can drink a Corona in two seconds or less by, you know, spending it and making it look like a tornado vortex.

So I was kind of known as that. And then, you know, people would see me, oh, tornado here. And they would buy me a drink and I would do it. And they put me on their Snapchat or Instagram. And, you know, people would laugh. And it's kind of, I would be like, oh, yeah, that's cool. I don't know. Maybe I'm getting recognized for this. It's funny. People like me. Just, you know, having that very shallow mindset of that's what I cared about.

And then, you know, kind of fast forward, you know, from there, just every, every bar and everything had happy hours, seven to nine o'clock free drinks or $20 all you can drink mimosa's from nine to one o'clock. And then there's football on. And, you know, it was just, it was the thing to do. It's what it felt like, you know, the whole. that's what life felt like it was. I was like, you know, I'm young. I'm going to have a family one day, but right now, this is what I'm doing. And, you know, a big reason I moved to Florida was to chase my passion and my love for fishing

and being outdoors and stuff like that. And it didn't really hit me until, you know, I had a good buddy, Justin from Virginia kind of make fun of me. He was like, dude, you lived in Florida for three years. You haven't caught one big fish. And I was thinking about it. I was like, damn, he's right. What have I been doing every weekend? I've been blacking out drunk.

not chasing my passion, not doing what I love because I thought that's what I loved. You know, why would I go fishing when I could go be at the bar, drinking beers and feeling great about myself and meeting a bunch of people? So that was a real eye-opener for me. Like, you know, I'm gaining weight. I'm ordering fast food every night. I'm eating bar food. I'm not getting a good sleep.

I'm showing up to work, not 100%. I'm not going fishing and chasing my passion and things that made me happy because I just had this, you know, ball and chain of alcohol with me. me at all time. So just starting to kind of open up my eyes on that and then, you know, take it, oh, I'm not going to drink for a month. And then I would go to the gym every day, see how good I felt. And then at the end of the month, it's like, I'm bored. I want to reward myself. Let's go to the bars. I can't not drink if I go to bars. So that kind of happened. And then what really kind of did it for me was, you know, I was, you know, when I moved to St. Pete, I was, you know,

I was in a relationship, you know, for, for a while. And, you know, the girl at a time helped me a ton. She helped me a ton with the not drinking. But still, you know, I would just prioritize myself and put alcohol first over everything, over relationships, over friendships, over family, you know, over anything. My friends would be like, hey, let's go on a fishing trip this weekend. And it's like, oh, no, we got a bar crawl this weekend, man. Like, you know, what are you thinking?

So, you know, just giving that excuse of, you know, I'm just going to drink. at all times for fun. And then, you know, I would say, you know, the main thing was, you know, I went, I went to, like I said, I went to a box game, you know, before I stopped drinking. And, you know, we, like I said, I work Monday and Friday remote. So we had to be in the, we had to be in the office that particular Monday because it was the end of quarter and, you know, I do sales. So we had to push some deals over the line and get a good, good last day of the quarter to set ourselves up for the next quarter. And, you know, I'm in management. So I have to show up 100% every day, right? The, you know, the team energy kind of feeds off me. I'm supposed to be,

you know, the hype guy, you know, getting people motivated and, you know, almost mentoring them. You know, they're younger than me and mentoring them. And who was I as a mentor if I'm blacking out drunk every week and not really accomplishing myself? Sure, I was good at sales. I could show up every day and work hard, but I wasn't really accomplishing much. And, you know, I actually won, you know, sales development rep of the year at the company, my first year. So, And what did I do? When I got blocked out, drunk to celebrate. So I just realized like, hey, you know, if I can achieve these things while I'm drinking

on the weekends, what can I achieve if I cut it, right? How I just want to raise the bar on my life, on my goals and, you know, mindset and things like that. And, you know, we went to the Bucks game that weekend. I had friends in town that were visiting. So, you know, we drank Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Bucks game comes around Sunday. I'm like, oh, I'm not drinking on Sunday.

But I was so hungover and so much anxiety was the only thing. to do. So I went over to Publix and got, you know, two bottles of champagne, didn't have any breakfast. It was a one o'clock game, woke up on my friend's couch at 11 a.m. and drank those two bottles, went to the game and, you know, made an ass out of myself at the game and then went to the bars right after and, you know, got kicked out of some of the bars because I couldn't even stand up. And then I showed up to work the next day, you know, we had, you know, we had some, you know, new people starting and stuff. And, you know, I'm in, I'm in charge of, you know, helping them get onboard and stuff.

And, you know, my, my boss kind of pulled me aside. It was like, hey, are you good, man? Like, seem out of it today. And then, you know, we have a good relationship. We're friends and similar in age. So, you know, he would tell me, I told him, I was like, hey, man, like, you and I got banged up this weekend, you know, three days. I haven't really slept that much.

And he just kind of gave me that wake up call of like, hey, man, I can't have this on the team. Like, you know, don't show up like this again. And then that's really the day, you know, holding all that anxiety from that three-day bender. and then and that because then I knew then I was like okay boom it's affecting work now I told myself if it ever affected work I was going to stop it's affecting my my relationships it's affecting my friendships it's affecting my family and right when it hit work is really when I was like okay I need to stop so I went to I went to my first AA class you know a week after that cool okay

yeah so you went to your first AA class well it's interesting it going through that whole sequence of things there too, right? Where it affected all these other areas of your life, but it was like the work one was maybe the line in the sand for you. And that was kind of what really opened your eyes too, which I think is kind of interesting. I mean, I don't know your thoughts on it now, looking back too about, you know, the other relationships and stuff.

Work is important in life too and everything like that. I would be interested if there was another level. to that about maybe the way you were living was sort of going to eventually probably be exposed even more in that direction. And if that was like, oh, man, you know, I don't want this to blend into this life. I mean, was there a thing there that that was sort of the catalyst too? Yeah, definitely. And then, you know, going into, I guess kind of being in that more management role, you know, like I said, just, you know, more mentoring people and being a coach, it's like, you know, I'm not the best version of myself. So how can I try to help these people become the best versions of

their selves? And then, you know, showing up hungover off no sleep, was just like, I'm not being productive, right? I'm not being productive. I got promoted, you know, making more money. I have more responsibility. And it's like, is this a life I want to live? Just kind of having those thoughts. It's like, hey, I'm making more money. This feels great. So why don't I channel that to, hey, let's see what I can do next. Let's see if I can put down the alcohol. And that's going to give me more time on the weekend and then, you know, realizing I did have an addictive personality to be like, okay, let's, you know, listening to your podcast, listening to other self-help podcast, you know, how can I channel that addicted personality to good? I want to be addicted

to bettering myself, being addicted to going to the gym every day, to improving my, you know, martial arts skills, improving my fishing, you know, things like that that I kind of just neglected and put alcohol and partying as the priority for, I mean, like I said, man, I started drinking when I was 17 and, you know, I just turned 30 a few weeks ago. Well over 10 years of just about every weekend, man, just blacking out and just, you know, realizing how stupid it was and how much time I wasted with, you know, pointless, pointless drunk conversations at the bar and stuff. And that's what really did it for me.

And then, you know, I would say three months in, you know, every day for the first three months, it was like, okay, I'm done drinking until New Year's. I'm going 90 days sober. And then, you know, telling my friends, oh, it's sober October. And then just it was so funny with how many of my friends like laughed at me. They said, oh, you can't. No way you can go a month sober. And then I would just be like, oh, my gosh, that's really how they feel.

And yeah, I can. I'm going to prove them wrong, right? And I feel like I was almost living to not to please other people, but to just like more so fit in and do that. And I was like, wow, like people don't think I can go one month without drinking. It's like a challenge. So I can do it. And I went that one month. And then, you know, I went three months and I hit 90 days. And it was boring, I would say for sure.

because, you know, I stayed away from the bars for probably two months. And then at that point, I was like, you know, I'm good. I can go to the bar and not drink. I would go to the bar and just be miserable. And I feel like my bar of fun of waking up every day was, you know, right here. Like, I can't raise the bar. This is the maximum amount of fun I can have. I can't have that much fun because I'm surely because I'm not drinking.

And then I would say after three or four months is really when, you know, my sleep improved. My skin health improved. Like I wasn't breaking out as much. I felt better mentally. I was going to the gym. I was losing the beer gut that I had. I felt better physically. I was eating clean.

I was treating people better. I had a better relationship with my parents, with my friends, with my family. So everything really, really started to improve after those three months. And like I said, man, listen to your podcast helps so, so much. And hearing people say like, hey, after that three, four months hump, you know, it really started to click for me. That's when I started seeing results. And I was like, why stop now?

I'm going to go six months. Okay. And then what am I going to do after six months? I didn't think about it. It just, you know, a lot of the message from from your podcast and in AA is, you know, it's day by day. Right. So, hey, as long as I can win today, then I can worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. And the big thing for me was like, okay, I got a weekend coming up in five days.

Like, what am I going to do so I don't have to be bored enough to just go sit at the bar all day? Okay, I'm going to make some plans. I'm going to go fishing in the morning. I'm going to go to the gym in the afternoon. I'm going to work on, you know, something else. I'm going to help help my friends with, you know, their companies to make little side money. Stuff like that. So really trying to just channel that to, you know, working and chasing my passion and my hobbies.

And it felt weird at first, you know, I, you know, I would go fishing and I was like, do I even love this anymore? Is this something I just grew up doing? Because I just had that in my brain of just like, you could be at the bars drinking right now. You're out here fishing. You're not catching anything, you know? And just, you know, and just after a while, just really getting that piece of just, it's not about catching the biggest fish or catching fish every time. It's about just being out on the water and being calm and cool and relaxed.

Yeah. Was big for me. So seeing that. And then I ended up starting up an Instagram page, Sammy Sharks. And then, you know, I post videos with my friends and it's got a decent little following now. So I would just post more fishing adventures. I got a GoPro. So that was kind of my thing.

Hey, I'm going to edit footage for three hours. today and I'm going to chase this big fish, you know, so that would, you know, give me an avenue not to just go to the bar all the time. And then now, you know, fast forward, I'm, you know, a year in now. And looking back, I feel like I'm a whole different person. I feel like I'm slowly becoming the best version of myself. And, you know, it feels good to have friends reach out and family saying, hey, I'm proud of you, man. You've been working really hard. You know, you look good. You're in good shape. What changed? And not even knowing that I did stop drink. So it's just like, oh my gosh, I actually stopped drinking alcohol.

And then, you know, from there, having friends just reach out and say, dude, how'd you do it, man? I want to stop drinking. And then, you know, have an hour long weekly phone calls with my friends about stopping drinking. I had a really good friend named Grant. Shout out to Grant. He lives in Fort Lauderdale. So he's on the, you know, East Coast of Florida. And, you know, he stopped drinking.

And he was like two years sober at that point. So, you know, I reached out to him and leaned on him heavily. and we would just have deep conversations because he was the same as me, you know, blacking out drunk every day in college and I'm like, hey, surely, this guy can do it. You know, I can do it. Yeah.

No offense to Grant. But, you know, we were in the same boat there of like, hey, we're the party guys, you know, doing all this. So it helped me a ton just to kind of pick his brain and stuff like that. And I think he might have been the one that showed me your podcast, actually. So just being able to bounce stuff off of him and, you know, really, really help just kind of change my mindset, man. And life is so beautiful.

Like now, you know, this morning I woke up at 7th, 30 in the morning, went down to, you know, went down to the dock and cast the line out and had a work meeting at 9 and then here I am now. So it's just been, it's been beautiful, man, and just, it's just been beautiful in all aspects, truly. Yeah, man. Well, great, a great job, man. I'm so happy to be a part of it too with the show. And with you listening, it's so great to hear that you're able to get some stuff, you know, that's relatable from everybody's story, right? Whether it's tools or whether it's like, you know, like I've been there and look at how people make changes, right? Because I think everything you've said there is, it's so true, man. Not drinking has to be the

first domino to drop, but the potential for all the rest is massive in all this stuff. I mean, I think that's what alcohol sneakily does, is it removes our ability to feel joy in other things that used to bring us joy, you know, and for you, that's fishing. And everybody has sort of their thing that really brought them a lot of joy. And that's when I noticed it changed. It changed. people's lives is when in my life too where it was like I don't really enjoy anything other than drinking that's what I look forward to that's what I want to do I only did activities where there was drinking if there wasn't drinking I wasn't really interested I probably wouldn't participate it just became a lot of what life seemed to be and then when you live like that for time it's like

oh this is it this is the way it goes but then you get sober and you're like oh man you know like Maybe I had that wrong. Maybe there is another way. But when you're in it, it's really hard to see it. It is, man. And, you know, like you said, with the drinking, you know, people would, it's just the norm, just societal norm. You know, every weekend, it's all I, it's all I saw myself doing and caring about until, you know, until you don't do it anymore. And just seeing how much of a hold it really had on you.

Like every single, just 99% of the issues and the problems and arguments and arguments, and anything in life was a mental health. Like anything was always, always like a problem that happened with alcohol. Something I did when I was drunk, something, a way I felt when I was hung over, you know, having so much anxiety than calling my parents be like, oh my gosh, like, I'm about to have a panic attack. And they were just like freaking out. Like, what? What's going on?

And I'm like, nothing. It's just, oh, do you drink last night? Oh, just a few. You know, just lying to them and putting pressure on them and, you know, them telling me they're worried about me and stuff like that, which is a true motivating fact. and, you know, wanting to, wanting to make them proud and, you know, wanting to be the the person that my parents raised me to be without hiding behind this fake persona of, hey, I'm going to work every day.

You know, I'm a good person. I'm going to my nine to five. I'm doing this. You know, I'm going to church on Sundays occasionally. If I'm not too hungover and just, you know, cutting that out and then really, really just, like, opening my eyes, like how much life has to offer. And I think that's, you know, going back, that's what the podcast helped me with so, so much, um, was seeing people like, oh, it gets better. It gets better. Like after a year or six months, you know, it gets better, but you have to work

on it every single day. And because, you know, at first, I'm like, man, it's tough. First couple months, like, this is boring. What, how do people do this? Like, I can never do this. But then I listen to the podcast and, you know, I'll see Instagram reels and Facebook reals of people, celebrities that quit drinking and talking about how beautiful life is and how much they've accomplished and how happy they are with their family and things like that. And I'm like, you know, I don't think they're just BS in me right now. Like, I'm just going to keep going. I'm going to keep working at this because I do feel a little bit better. And not really having a goal in mind of, oh, once I hit one year, then we're celebrating by drinking. It's just like,

once I hit one year, I was like, dude, I'm, I'm pedal to the floor right now. Like, I can't wait to not drink and not drink for this next year and see, see the progress I can make then at work. you know, all myself with relationships, with friendships, with my family, with fishing, with MMA. They're just like, alcohol was the thing holding me back from all of my potential. I don't want to show up and wake up at 60 percent, you know, potential for the day. I want to wake up 110 percent. I want to wake up and crush the day.

I want to get ahead of work on a Sunday and work on the weekends and, you know, make extra money and, you know, waking up hungover or, you know, waking up on a Monday and just scrambling to get my wheat together, just wasn't doing it anymore. It's now it's like, you know, I'll sit back on a Sunday and get ahead on the week. Then I wake up on Monday and I'm like, I already got the momentum. I'm like, I'm going to crush this week. And then I'm ahead on work so I don't, you know, need to work late or do anything extra, stress myself out.

I can go to the gym after work. Then I can go fishing. Then I can wake up the next day and go to work again. Like, this is amazing. That's kind of what I've been doing a lot. And I was like, I never thought I could do this and just unlock, just really unlock my true potential. And like I said, man with year two, It's going into AA classes and doing them on Zoom as well, somebody shares a powerful message

and they're getting emotional on theirs. A lot of people have gone through way, way hard of things than I have. And just shooting them a message like, hey, man, you know, what you said really stuck with me. You know, you motivated me. I'm proud of you. And, you know, keep going. A little message like that, you know, I'll just send those out. It would go a long way.

Then, you know, when I shared my first time in AA, I was super nervous. And I'm pretty nervous right now on this podcast. honestly, I hope I could hit all the points that I wanted to. And then, you know, just having people reach out to me too, like, hey, man, I'm proud of you. I can see the changes you're making. What you've said in class inspired me. It got me through today. That was a feeling of gratification that I never thought I could get. And just how good that made me feel. I was like, oh my gosh, I'm helping them a little bit. That motivates me to help, to keep helping. So, you know, in my year too, coming up, that's, you know, that's my goal is to be more involved. And in my friends'

who are struggling with this and just being a good friend being there for them. Like that's the, that's the buzz I chase now. That's the high I chase now. Seeing other people improve their lives. And, you know, how can I help my friends become the best versions of their selves? You know, I'm not perfect. You know, I'm not there. I don't think anybody's perfect, but I'm doing well and helping other people is going to,

it's going to help me. It's going to motivate me to keep going. I'm like, okay, people are not relying on me, but people are looking up to me with what I'm doing now, whether it's at work or outside of work. So I'm really trying to use that as motivation to keep going. And I think what you're doing is just amazing, man. I see you guys have a huge following on Instagram. Then you're like the number one podcast on Apple Podcasts for the sobriety stuff.

And it's amazing. It touched my life and changed my life. I can only imagine the reach that you have with this. It's truly amazing. And I want to be a part of that. It's a reason I, you know, I kind of message you. And if you go up through our messages, I would comment on, you know, podcast and I'm like, hey, Brad, like, this podcast really touched me. I had a lot in common with this

guy. I'm six months in right now and, you know, it's struggle sometimes, but I want to let you know this podcast has really helped me and then never thinking I would get a message back from you. And then, you know, you messaged me back. It's not some automated thing. Thanks for reaching out. We're here for you. You know, send an email if you haven't had anything. No, you messaged me right back and we're like, hey, man, I'm proud of you. Like, keep pushing. I'm like, oh, man, like, this is the guy who, you know, runs the podcast. He knows who I, you know, he cares. He just read what I said. That's cool, man. So it's just amazing. It's a whole just untapped, just an untapped world that I never thought existed. And I, you know, just the network of, of being collaborative and being there

for other people as, you know, you know, cliché as it sounds. Oh, I'm doing this to help other people. It's like, you know, I feel like I'm at that point now where I don't have those temptations of, of, you know, if a beer's in front of me, I'm drinking or, you know, I'll have some friends, oh, sorry. Oh, you want a beer? Oh, I don't drink. Oh, sorry. Oh, sorry. man, I won't drink around you. Dude, no, it's all good, man. Hey, I'm not, I'm not judging you. This for me, for me, drinking wasn't working out.

I'm not judging you for drinking at all, man. But, you know, if you do want to reach out and you need some help, I'll give you my opinion and I'll do that, you know, as a good friend. But, you know, I'm not judgmental on anybody who drinks. You know, that's their own decision. It was my own decision to stop drinking. I didn't do it, you know, for other people. I, you know, I did it for myself at the end of the day, which, you know,

what affects, you know, my relationships and a positive. positive way there. Yeah. Man, I was thinking about when you were sharing that there, I had the thought of, I think my uniqueness or that I thought I was this overly unique person. I mean, we all have our own experiences in life and nobody can take that away from us. But I thought I was uniquely different in the fact that the experiences of how good sobriety got, that was just for other people.

that would never be my story. And you even kind of touched on it. Like I see, you see these celebrities and you see these other stories of like giving up alcohol, completely changed my life, not overnight, but with time. And I would convince myself at the earlier days going to meetings like, yeah, yeah, that's fine that, you know, for this guy, things changed. But like, that's not my reality. Like, come on.

When I was homeless, you know, 15 years ago, 16 years ago, and I would hear stuff with people have families and houses and, it. And they got all this stuff. I'm like, come on, are you kidding me? Like, that'll never be my life. There's no way. And now I'm kind of the family guy, you know, with a life that I never, I never thought growing up. I never thought about having kids.

I never thought about owning a home or having anything. It just never crossed my mind because it was so far from my reality. But to see it all play out. And I love how you kind of hit home there too. Like, it does take time. I mean, I heard the best thing the other day. It takes you 15 minutes to walk in the woods. long does it take you to walk out? You know, 15 minutes. It might not be exactly like that to a,

to a science, but it does take a little bit of time. And it can feel boring because we are used to dopamine, massive dopamine. And when you drink, it just floods the system and you go out and you're with people and it's just flooding, flooding, flooding, so if you're not drinking anymore, your brain is like, okay, let me catch up to how things actually work, not the alcohol, you know, stimulating everything. But if you hang in there, things make sense. Heading towards wrapping up here, Sam. I really appreciate you. Huge congrats on a year. I love that too, man. Reaching back, I think year two is definitely about finding purpose and definitely about emotional sobriety and working through that. So I love that you're on to that.

Anything that you would mention to anybody that's kind of starting out or any closing thoughts? Definitely, man. You know, I think so. Something that I tell, you know, my friends and people that I talk to who reach out looking or so we're curious is, you know, when you're super hungover and you have that anxiety, they call it, and you feel like your life's falling apart. Take those feelings in, don't run from them. Take them in and use that as motivation. You know, what I did too was I'd have so much anxiety.

I would even record myself and just talk how I was feeling. Hey, I'm feeling like this right now. I feel like my world's crumbling. I feel like everybody hates me. You know, I feel like I'm just not a good version of myself. I just have crazy anxiety that I'm, you know, I'm going to get fired from my job when I wake up one day and I'm doing great at work. But just having those thoughts in your head is just like negative thoughts, you know,

two or three days a week from being hung over. It just adds up, man. And then, you know, you say I'm really hung over on a Sunday and then I work the whole week. Those feelings kind of go away. You don't really think about them too much. The weekend rolls around. You're like, ah, all right. But, you know, if you take a video of yourself or you journal it, like, you know,

okay, this happened. Okay, that has to do with alcohol. Write down everything that, you know, happens when you drink, the mistakes you make, how you feel the next day, how much money you're spending, your quality of sleep. Are you going on walks? Are you working out? Like, are you chasing your hobbies? No.

Write that down. And, you know, how alcohol is, is that blocker for you. So that was big for me. And then just to like look. now in the present moment just like how everything man it affects everything your sleep the food you're putting in your body how you're taking care of yourself dude like it it raises your blood pressure it's just it's not good and i was just running from that all the time so you know if you can document that write down the pros and cons of drinking right i guarantee you're going to have a million

more cons than you are pros right so now it's just like i'm confident in myself and you know where i'm at that I don't need alcohol to have good conversations. I don't need alcohol to go out and have a good night. I never, ever thought I would be here, but it's just like, now I'm addicted to, hey, I'm going to go out and I'm going to wake up at 7 a.m. and I'm going to go to kickboxing class. And then I get home and I get a text from my friends like, oh, what happened last night? I just ordered Uber Eats.

I'm couch locked all day today. And I'm just like, oh, man, I just hit the gym at 7 a.m. I'm doing laundry now. I'm super productive and just kind of, you know, comparing what the old me was doing versus, you know, the current me is the, is the biggest motivation for me now, for sure. Yeah, I mean, that's what it's all about, right? The things that change. And, you know, realizing where we're at where we never thought we would be. I mean, I think that's one of the coolest things. I mean, all these gifts that come along with this, a lot of it, a lot of people share, you know, they started out with alcohol being the problem. And if I just quit alcohol, every. will fall into place. But what we realize is we go on this self-development journey and maybe this spiritual journey for some in a sense that all these other areas of our life also improved. And we realize that alcohol is getting in the way of, you know, everything. So good, man. I'm happy to hear it,

dude. And the fishing, too, right? Yeah. Yeah. So super excited me and my roommates are going to chase down a Goliath grouper. Next, you know, 300, 400 pound fish under a bridge. And it's like, you know, now I'm getting up at three, four in the morning to go fishing instead of getting home from the bars at three or four in the morning. So I feel like my whole life has just kind of done that 180. So yeah, I would just say, man, like take it day by day. Find what fuels you, find your passion. And alcohol will, you know, amplify your problems. So, you know, just because I quit alcohol, it's not like all this stuff fell in the place. It just gave me more time to to work on myself. And, you know, to give back and to find what I truly love to do because it was always hindered.

it was always hindered by alcohol. So, you know, take it day by day. It's not something you can just do overnight. When the day, then you win the week and then you win the month and then you win the quarter and then you win the year. And then you look back and you're like, man, I've came so far. So just just really take it day by day and know that you can do this. I mean, if I can do it, you can do it because, you know, I have one drink and I have 15 drinks. So now it's like, you know, if I'm drinking sparkling water, I'm the same way. I'll have 10 sparkling waters when I'm hanging out with my friends. So I know it's like having that social anxiety of like always needing something in my hand. And I feel like that was always a beer or a shot or a corona that I could tornado in two seconds.

And everybody would get a laugh out. But now I'm drinking water. Now I'm really hydrated. Now my skin's clear. Now I'm able to go to the gym and wake up early and do what I love and go fishing. So it's been amazing. So just keep pushing. Keep pushing.

And listen to these podcasts. It helped me a ton. you know, ask for help. Ask for help for sure. And then I know my, I think my Instagram's tied to this too. So, you know, reach out to me. You know, I'll give you, you know, any advice that I can and just take, take those little perspectives from, you know, every podcast, every AA meeting.

Try to learn something new or get a different perspective or tell someone you're proud of them. And to keep them going because that's going to motivate you. So, yeah, thank you, Brad. This has been awesome. I know definitely a little bit nervous at first, man. A little starstruck meeting you. You've really had an impact on my life. And so, and, you know, this podcast truly has, truly has changed my life, man.

Just being able to do it. Like I said, having a busy schedule, just being able to throw it on the Bluetooth in the car, on a road trip or on a flight, okay, I'm going through sober motivation. Oh, look at this. This is a cool story. I'm going to download that for my flight. And then just, you know, filling my mind with self-help, not just garbage of music or Instagram reels, just brain rot.

It's like trying to fill myself with like self-help has really, really had an impact. So I really appreciate it, man. Yeah, good, man. Well, I'm happy to hear that, dude. So happy to hear it. Well, thanks a lot, man, for jumping on and throwing your name in the hat. And I'm glad we were able to connect and share your story. Yes, thanks, Brad.

It was great meeting you, man. And, you know, I hope if one person can get something out of my story, you know, that's going to bring me a bunch of motivation to keep going. So if you're listening to this and you're struggling, keep going, take a day by day. You know, find yourself, find, you know, what you love to do and just substitute that time when you're drinking with something you love something productive, you know, reading a book, self-help, exercising. And just keep stacking those winds up day over day.

And it becomes easier. You know, every day is not easy, but rely on your support system and listen to the podcast. Not every day's perfect. But just keep working for the better you every day. That's what really helped me. Yeah, beautiful, man. Well, there it is another incredible episode here on the podcast. Another big shout out to Sam.

Give it up for Sam, one year, alcohol free. many things are changing. Incredible stuff. I'll drop Sam's contact information down in the show notes below. Send him a note. Let them know you appreciate him. Jumping on the podcast. If there's anything you can relate to, I'm sure you would love to hear it.

If you haven't left a review yet, jump over to Apple or Spotify. Drop a five-star review and I'll see you on the next one.