Sober Motivation: Sharing Sobriety Stories - Hearing 100 Sober Stories: Here is what I, Brad, learned.

Episode Date: October 17, 2023

In this short (12-minute) but powerful episode, I share 11 things I learned from hearing 100 sober stories here on the Sober Motivation Podcast and what I believe to be the most powerful one of the entire process.  Some examples 👇 1. Get connected to support 2. It is never too late to get sober 3. One Day at a time helps 4. Moderation is tough to manage 5. A "Rock Bottom" is not required. I would love to hear what you have learned listening to the podcast. Message me on Instagram @sobermotivation: https://www.instagram.com/sobermotivation/

Welcome back, everyone, to another episode. This is going to be a lot different than our regular episodes. I want to share 11 things I've learned from hearing 100 sober stories here on the show. Let's start off with the first one. What we consider a rock bottom is not required to get sober. A lot of people understand a rock bottom as an external consequence of some sort. drinking and driving and getting caught, getting in an accident,

maybe getting arrested for something, losing your job, destroying relationships. Although all of those things are very real and can be a great motivator for getting sober, what I heard a lot of people share about on the podcast was a mix of those things. But also, once they were able to get honest with how they felt on the inside

about their drinking, that really seemed to provide them some clarity and motivation that things needed to change. And some people didn't even have any of those external type consequences in their life. And they decided to give up alcohol and get sober anyway. Number two is that alcohol and drugs will kill you. We know this, hopefully.

Several guests on the show shared stories about how consistent drinking maybe for a year or two years, ended them up in the hospital fighting for their life due to the alcohol consumption. We also had Renee on the show whose daughter Sabrina passed away from an overdose and Renee shared about the journey that Sabrina went through how progressive it was. So that's one thing. And the people that are losing their life to these substances are our neighbors, our friends, our family, people we know, our co-workers, their families. And that's something I think that's really important to keep in mind, is that this stuff

does not discriminate. It doesn't care. It can happen to anyone. Community and connection and support are everything. This seems to be one of the ways that helps. the most people. Getting connected with other people that understand the journey that have been through it really seems to be helpful, whether it be a 12-step fellowship, smart recovery therapy,

group therapy, virtual recovery groups, virtual recovery meetings. This seems to be a serious game changer for people and really worked for them to get sober and stuff they weren't trying previous times, they tried to get sober. And the reason why is they shared that it made all the difference to be able to talk to and get support from other people who understand the journey of not only sobriety, but of addiction, of struggling with alcohol, of struggling with substances and what that was like. The next one is that a lot of people shared that they had been trying to get sober to cut back

to moderate for years before it actually stuck before they were able to get 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, and one year sober. They had been working on it for a long time. A lot of people shared that story. And I think that's really true for a lot of us, is that we just couldn't stop. We wanted to, but we just couldn't stop. One of my favorite quotes there for that topic is abstinence is better than perfect moderation. The problem with moderation is sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and we don't necessarily know what's going to be what.

A lot of people shared on the podcast too that they did not know sometimes what that next drink was going to cause for them. It might be the one for them to black out. They didn't know where that line was going to be crossed. And that was the tough part with moderation is that they would often find themselves back to right where they started, the exact. place they wanted to avoid. So something to consider there. The next one here is it's never too late to start. It's never too late to get your life together. It's never too late to be working towards your vision and your goals in life. And it's never definitely, definitely never too late to get sober. Sometimes we feel like that or some people feel like that. Well, you can't teach an old dog new

tricks. Well, you can and you can get sober. You can do it and you can make the rest of your life the best of your life. Don't get stuck in that spot. And a lot of people shared that too that they had those thoughts. Their whole life centered around the bottle. They were able to break free and so can all of us. If you've been around anything to do with sobriety, you understand this next phrase one day at a time. a ton of people found this helpful and helpful in a way that made sobriety manageable. Because one day at a time keeps us present in the moment. And we can truly do anything for a day. So what happened is a lot of people would get full of fear thinking,

I can never drink again. I can never drink for the rest of my life. I mean, how overwhelming does that sound? And for some people, that works. they run with it. And that's incredible. But for a lot of people, it's a very overwhelming thought to have

when you're beginning on this new journey. So a lot of people just stick for the day, not living in yesterday, not worrying about the future, and not worrying about never drinking again, but just doing the best we can for today. Your story matters. Your journey matters

and sharing it with other people matters. There's someone out there who needs to hear your story. Sharing our stories seems to be so healing. So many people appreciate being able to share their story and having somebody listen and somebody care about it. Somebody care about them and what they've been through and where they're at now. Some people reached out to me and said,

Brad, my life hasn't been full of chaos. I don't know if I'll be a good fit for the podcast. Interestingly enough, when we get into those stories, Not that they were full of chaos, but there was a lot of moving parts, maybe more than they realized. But I picked up on it. I picked up on it that their childhood, there was definitely stuff that was going on, that was a lot of moving parts, was heavy stuff for them to work through. And it's very interesting that, you know, sometimes we don't feel like our story matters. But I really want everybody to know that your story matters.

You don't have to have been through this crazy madness of. of a story for it to matter. You can wake up tomorrow and call it quits. I think sometimes we get lost in the planning and in thinking it and overthinking it, that if we want to give up drinking or give up other substances, we have to have this massive elaborate plan. And of course, there's going to be a time and place for that. But a lot of people shared on the podcast.

They got really intoxicated one night. And the next day, it spooked them a bit. It scared them. It was like the straw that, broke the camel's back. That was the last indicator that they needed to really shine the light on things were not headed in a direction they wanted them to. And they put one foot in front of the other, one day, two days, three days, a week, 30 days. And they just started to work on it. They committed to one thing, not to drink. That was it. And then they started to work on implementing other tools and

other ways to manage life and emotions to remain sober. But sometimes that's a roadblock for us, right? We want to have all the stars in a line. We want to have all the answers. And the truth is, you don't need all the answers and you don't need everything to be in line. The only thing you need is to make a decision that enough is enough and you want something more for your life. Everyone's life got better in many areas, such as their career, relationships with others, the relationship with themselves. I feel like that's the one we forget about. Maybe because we just didn't have one while we were stuck in addiction. They found purpose. They live healthier, spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, and they're focused on things that actually matter in life. A lot less

drama seems to be a part of their lives, which I think is incredible. Another thing I want to point out that we talked a lot about is it can get lonely at first, right? A big part of our lives might center around alcohol, going out, hanging out with friends, hanging out with family members, going to all the functions. And at first we might take a step back from that stuff, so it feels lonely. But look, let me tell you one thing. You're not missing out on anything when you're getting sober and when you're getting your life together.

Because when you get this figured out, when you're living a sober life, everybody around you is going to have a better quality of life. It just might take a little bit of time, but you've got to hang in there, and it's the truth. You're not missing out on anything when you're getting sober. Maybe the most powerful thing I learned through 100 episodes was you never quit quitting. I've only known a few people to get this on the first try.

And that's not to say that it can't be done, because of course it can be done. But you never quit quitting. The only way you truly won't figure this out. You won't get sober is if you just give up on trying to get sober. But what people shared is that they fell down, they got back up. Things didn't go their way. They tried something different.

They kept showing up despite the results. And they kept putting one foot in front of the other, trying to get to where they wanted to, reaching out for help and support in the meantime, because they knew they could no longer live the life they were living. It got that bad. So if you're out there struggling,

you just never quit quitting. And you'll get there too. Just don't give up on it. Don't give up on your vision for a better life, for a sober life. But look, everybody, thank you so much for checking out this episode. This is literally right from the heart.

No script. No plan. No play. just press record, share with you guys what I learned, what I remembered from hearing 100 sober stories on the sober motivation podcast. I appreciate everybody's support over this last year. I'm bringing this podcast to life. Sharing people's stories, sending them messages after they've jumped on an episode,

letting them know you're appreciated, showing them love. People have felt nothing but kindness and everything. And we're just an incredible community of people. just working on helping each other out one story at a time, one sober day at a time, so that we can live our best lives possible. Let me know what you all think of this episode. Send me a message over on Instagram at Sober Motivation. And the stories will be back soon.