Sober Motivation: Sharing Sobriety Stories - Paddy Gleason of Seattle Thunder shares his story and struggle with addiction to heroin and pain medication

Episode Date: December 16, 2022

Paddy Gleason struggled with an addiction to heroin and pain pills for many years. Paddy was attracted to the lifestyle from an early age and it gave Paddy a feeling of belonging.   Everything changed for Paddy on November 11th, 2011, a drug deal went wrong although a drop in the bucket to Paddy it changed everything. Since getting clean Paddy has moved up the ranks in the paintball world to play at the professional level with the Seattle Thunder.  He shared that addiction is very prevalent in the sport and shared his story to inspire others to see that recovery is possible.  Paddy is a lighthouse for those still stuck in the grips of addiction and this is his story on the sober motivation podcast. Follow Paddy on IG Follow Sobermotivation on IG Download the SoberBuddy App The United Recovery Project  

Welcome back to season two of the Subur Motivation podcast. Join me, Brad, each week is my guests and I share incredible and powerful sobriety stories. We are here to show sobriety as possible, one story at a time. Let's go. Patty Gleason struggled with an addiction to heroin and pain pills for many years. Patty was attracted to the lifestyle from an early age and it gave Patty a sense of belonging. Everything changed for Patty on November 11, 2011. A drug deal gone wrong.

Although it was a drop in the bucket to Patty at the time, it seemed to change everything. Since getting clean, Patty has moved up the ranks in the paintball world to play at the professional level with the Seattle Thunder. Patty shared that addiction is very prevalent in the sport of paintball and sharing his story to help inspire others to see that recovery is possible. Patty is also a lighthouse for those still stuck in the grips of addiction. and this is his story on the Sober Motivation podcast. Sober Buddy has a brand new community section of the app. I can't wait for all of you to check out the new live Zoom groups we are hosting twice per day. And you can also plug into the feed and private groups that are also available.

So track your sober days and get connected with others all in one place. Download the sober buddy app today or check out your soberbody.com. The app is available in your favorite app store. See you over there. Getting help for addiction is never an easy thing to do. And picking the right place to get help makes it even more overwhelming. That's why I've decided to partner with the United Recovery Project. I've had a chance to get to know some of the incredible people working at the United Recovery Project over the years.

And that is why this partnership makes so much sense. The United Recovery Project has a top-notch treatment facility and program. I truly believe in Brian Elzate, who is the co-founder and CEO and has 14 years clean. The properties themselves are beautiful. with tons of amenities and activities. But most importantly, it's the level of care they offer. It's exactly what you would hope a family would receive and the staff who most of which are in recovery themselves truly care.

It's really apparent that they do their absolute best to create custom treatment plans to meet everyone's individual needs. If your loved one is struggling, reach out to them directly at 833-551-0077, or check them out on the web at URPRecovery.com. Now let's get to the show. Welcome back to another episode of the Sober Motivation podcast. Today we've got an incredible guest,

Patty Gleason, who's a professional paintball player with the Seattle Thunder, and he wears many, many other hats as well. A good buddy of mine, Chad actually introduced me to Patty's story and heard it somewhere. So I started following Patty a while ago. and was just inspired by everything he's doing. So, Patty, how are you doing today? I'm doing great, man.

Thank you for having me. Of course. Why don't you take us back to the beginning, Patty? What was it like for you growing up? I guess my story starts in Maui, Hawaii, is born and raised out there. I think just growing up, out there, you know, I was listening to some of the other guests that you've had on the podcast,

and I can relate to them in this sense is that my childhood was, pretty normal. You know what I mean? I think that speaks volumes though for kind of desensitizing addiction and stuff. It's like people think that people kind of crawl out of whatever family situations that you're in and end up using. And it's like so many of us just had like a normal childhood. You know, I don't think there was anything specific about each of us that ends up in the grips of addiction. And I think it just speaks so much that it doesn't discriminate. So it's like we can relate to so many people. And I, you know, when I reflect, there's definitely red flags.

You know, I told my story before. I try and kind of go back and kind of like pinpoint. Like I guess maybe you try to reach or look for excuses on why things happened. But there's, you know, I think there's just a series of events and there's definitely red flags growing up. And I was pretty sociable, you know. I got along with everybody. I had friends. I played sports.

Parents were great. And I think just some of the things that I kind of look back on is just my behaviors. And when I'm talking about those red flags, it's just I don't want to get too whimsical on people. But I do think that we are part on this earth with, you know, past lives. And I think that we're all on this, you know, we all have our. individual journeys and we have to graduate through some of these challenges. And I think that that was part of my story. Because as early as I remember, there was just kind of some behavioral stuff when I was a kid that could have been chalked up as though he's just a young kid.

But when it comes to like using, I remember being in the fifth grade sitting in Dare. I don't know if you remember Dare. but I was already chalking up my shopping list of things to do. You know, it's like, oh, I want to definitely do that. I want to do this. Like I was more intrigued by the substances than put in fear, which I think the purpose of it was. And so by 12 years old, I was smoking weed. It was not shortly after that, I was popping pills.

And, you know, I just had it. agenda at an early age. And of course it starts out and it's all just social, right? I was into skateboarding. So, you know, I think very much I'm a product of my environment and a product of my culture. And culture, I mean, yes, I'm born and raised in Maui, so I had the local culture there, but also in the macro sense of just the American culture, right? I think, so I'm 36. So I'm born in the 80s, kind of grew up in the 90s where things started to really get weird and ramp up, I feel like, in an American culture. And so I was a very influential kid. You know, I definitely grew up listening to hip hop and liking that lifestyle. And, you know, I think I just, I wanted to emulate that,

you know? I mean, it was very flashy, all the things. Everybody knows what that projects, and I wanted it, you know. And so I think that was just a big, big piece of it was just I was such I was so young and influential and so I dove into the the party scene wanting to be social and let me just say like growing up on Maui like there's not a there's not a whole ton to do you know and so I started using early and I think the dangerous part of it too was I found out I was really good at it you know like it was just something that that I was good at so it just started to end with anything or with you know with using for an addicts it just progressed like rapidly you know and i was always that kid kind of growing up and when i talk about these kind of

behavior things like i i everything that comes with the package of addiction right i mean yes the using was was there but my manipulation my ability to kind of like weave between the lines like i learned that from a real early age. So it's like the person that I was at home was completely different than the person that I was with my friends or my social group. I learned how to be a chameleon really easy. So I was the kid that like other parents knew about that didn't want their kid hanging out with. You know what I mean? But but let low and behold, my parents, they were like, what are you talking about? Like, Patty's an angel.

You know what I mean? So started off with smoking weed. That was, you know, harmless at the time. But it, like I said, it rapidly kind of progressed to pills to the harder stuff, cocaine and all of that. Before I was even out of high school. And when I used, like I said, I was good at it. But I also used it to excess. I think everyone kind of relates to that.

Like it was just all or nothing. And that goes, that that translates into everything, right, with my life. Even now that I'm clean, I'm still all or nothing. You know what I mean? It's just that I have pivoted and kind of directed that energy towards more productive things. But I've always been like that. And so it's like my using was just hit the pavement and run with it.

it was social until it wasn't and I ran it pretty hard. I think it was, he may have had Dan on shortly not that long ago and he talked about how he couldn't remember like a whole decade of his life and that really hit me because I tell people that ask me about my story all the time like what's really scary is so I got clean at 25 which you know blessed that I was able to get clean early. but from like 18 maybe like even earlier than that like 16 17 to 25 when I got clean I don't remember a lot I have a lot of people that friends that will come up and like revisit stories about crazy shit that I've done and I'm like yo I don't remember that so I think that when I finally did get clean that was a big

shock and like kind of like light bulb moment it's like it's scary. me. You know, it scared me. But before I get to that kind of chapter of my life, it was just like I did a couple, after high school, obviously we, you know, we moved to go to college and stuff like that. So I spent a year in Vegas, in hindsight, huge mistake, you know, don't put a person like me in Vegas. And ended up getting asked to not come back. It was just partying way too much. And, And ended up in Eugene, Oregon. And so in Oregon, it was still moderately under control. Like I was partying, you know, it was just living on campus, just living the party

lifestyle. I think that that lasted for so long, where I was just like, I was a wild child, you know, and just enjoying the partying scene until it wasn't, like I said. And ultimately, like opiates were the ones that kind of took me down. to my rock bottom. Living that lifestyle, like, you know, I was using, but I was also selling. So it was like I always had this kind of endless supply of dope.

And I built up a pretty big habit. In my first attempts to get clean, it hit me hard. I was kind of over living that lifestyle. I think there was always something in the back of my head, call it spiritual or not, someone guiding over me. I knew that I was going down, like the wrong road for quite some time. And I just knew that if I kept doing that, I was going to die. I think it's as simple as that.

Whenever I tell me, sorry, I don't try to dive into the horror stories of it, but it's like shooting up heroin, bad things are going to happen, you know, and you just chalk it up. is oh, that's part of the game, you know, but when you're on the other side of the fence, you're like, yo, that's fucking crazy. After giving myself seizures and stuff, you know, all the crazy stuff that comes along with that,

I knew that I was going to end up dying. So I needed to get out. And ultimately, I left Eugene to go back home to kind of reground myself. And that first time detaching myself from the scene that I was in, man, you're talking about, it was a pretty big habit.

And I went cold turkey. If anybody knows, you quit opi, it's cold turkey. It's not fun. I remember that when I went home, it was on Thanksgiving of 2010. And my parents, like, bless their hearts, you know. They had Thanksgiving plan. There was family coming over. they were cooking, you know, everything like that.

They had no idea the amount of dope that I was doing. I, you know, we kind of talk about it loosely nowadays, and obviously they knew something was going on. I'm their baby boy, you know, they're connected in that sense. They knew something was going on. They didn't know the extent of everything that was. And so when I went home and kicked that cold turkey, it didn't take long.

We, and I say we, I was, I was, I was. in a relationship at the time. And we did bring some dope home with us. And I mean, that didn't last for more than the day that we got back. So by the next day, oh my God, it was like a train hit us. And I just feel so bad because we were sick as a dog, like shit and pissing the bed, throwing up. They had to juggle that with the guests that were coming over.

You know what I mean? And I just so much shame and guilt that comes along with that. And, you know, this was at the end of 2010, beginning of 2011, no idea about the energy it takes to get clean. And I was just like, you know, I mean, it comes down to that moving locations, you know. It's like, yeah, no matter where you go, that's where you are, you know. And so I was able to kind of like maintain a little bit. I stayed off the opiates, but then all the other stuff was still there, right? I was still using.

It just wasn't opiates, but I was patting myself on the back, like thinking I was top dog. And eventually, I always loved to hang out in the barbershop. You can get your haircut. Like now I'm in my stomping grounds, you know, like all my high school friends, all my childhood friends who are still partying and using and doing all that stuff, I'm hanging out and enjoying life and opiates ended up being at a party. It just ignited. And now I'm stuck in this situation where I had, I was, you know, like I said, I was selling and doing it and had like almost an endless supply. So I've built up this tolerance. And then now going to leaving

that but now I have this habit and those opiates they're not cheap man and so it was like that that my bank account I couldn't even keep up with the amount that I was using for two of us too like I always used to take care of my partner was very obviously very toxic um I used to take care of her habit as well but now there's two of us on just the the income that we had from just work a nine to five and uh yeah it was it it didn't take more than six months for that plane to just crash and burn and that's i mean that's ultimately the second time when i it came to a head that my journey of recovery started which was it was at the ending of 2011 man so thankfully i just celebrated 11 years clean wow congrats huge congrats on that

Thank you. Yeah, I can personally relate to a lot of parts of this story. Heroin, the pills were my thing. I think I'm a little bit younger than you, not much, but I think that generation, our generation was when the pill mills, everything exploded. That's when they were giving them out like candy. And then they scaled back at a certain point. I couldn't like remember it like exactly that they scaled back.

And then we all switched over to doing heroin. Yeah. Yeah, it was cheaper. It was more accessible. And that's exactly my route as well. Yeah. To the heroin because it was cheaper. And then, yeah, it just puts you down another rabbit hole.

I'm wondering too, though, so you started off this stuff when in high school and then like throughout the years, what was it doing for you? That was a crash course. We can unpack all of that. Using, like I said, when it came to the behavior stuff and everything like that, I was on the outside very sociable. right i was relatable people like to hang out with me i was i was a life of the party too you know so kids that were interested in like what i was doing would definitely try and get their taste and then be like yo this this guy is crazy or something like that you know inside though i was definitely very insecure um i was a heavier kid as well and so that always kind of

fucked with me playing sports wise and everything like that i wanted to be like i was an aspiring athlete right i played pro paintball now but even back then i was huge into soccer like soccer was a huge thing for me growing up and so i wanted to be an athlete but i was just always a heavier set kid you know and and although now like i would tell the younger self of me like it doesn't matter like still just work hard to get it back then like I was very bothered by it and I learned that using took away those feelings you know what I mean I think that that's a course for a lot of people whatever your situations are obviously using helps numb our feelings so I think that was a huge one I think if you go even deeper there was a bit of biracial confusion I guess if you want to label

it as something. But I, you know, I come, I come, I'm Irish, obviously, and then I also have Hawaiian and Chinese, but I look Caucasian, you know, and so growing up in Hawaii, that's not always the most popular thing to be, you know what I mean? And so you constantly had to, or I constantly, and I, others can resonate with this, but constantly needed to defend my heritage. Because I wasn't this, wasn't that. And so I, that always messed with me. I think more than I thought back then, you know, as I kind of like do a lot of reflection and stuff. Yeah. And it, because, because it still messes with me now. Um, and things that I always have to process and everything like that. But, you know, having being torn and all the history behind it, right, between the

Hawaiians and the settlers and just the stigma between, you know, that comes. along with that. So I just felt very torn. And it just goes back to feelings, right? Substances was an easy escape. And then like I said, I found out that I was good at it. I could, I had a, like that was a red flag, had a high tolerance and a lot of stuff and I could use. So I think that's what it did did for me in the, in the beginning stages, right? And also so, I mean, social, right? I mean, like, you use with your other community of friends that are using. And, I mean, to chalk it up, I mean, not all of it was bad. You know, I think we kind of try and paint that addiction is all this bad stuff.

And yes, it is. But there was also the other half that, I mean, we did it for a reason. And it was a good time. I had a good time. I'm not going to deny that. Yeah, no, I can relate to that too. I mean, it wasn't bad until it was bad. But I feel like once that.

snowball started to pick up speed, it got real bad. But, I mean, of course, I think for me personally, like the addiction probably saved my life on many different occasions where I was unable to deal with things. I was feeling suicidal. I was in psych. I was in a psych ward, you know, as a teenager, and I was completely lost. And then when I, like, didn't know how to manage all these emotions, didn't know how to deal with life on life's terms. I had no idea. And I felt so horrible as a person. And in the substances was an escape from that. I mean, I can relate to. parties and stuff in college and everything. Like it didn't, you know, the first time I did a drug or drinking, it didn't, you know,

it didn't like cause this big fallout. Didn't burn my life to the ground. It took years to do that. So. But I can relate too with the other stuff for the for the high school stuff. Like insecurities, definitely like I was like an outcast kind of guy. Didn't have many friends, like friends relationships. Didn't really fit in anywhere.

I didn't do well in school either. So that was like always a thing of like I just couldn't just couldn't do. I never studied for a test like once in my life. It was never anything I could ever do. And then the thing with the substances is it works so well. Like it just instantly works. And then I feel like once I got hooked into that, like why would I go through putting in the work to manage to learn how to deal with these feelings with a therapist or a counselor or other ways when something works so fast? You know?

I don't want to look back. I'm like, man, I probably should have done something different. But at the time, I just wasn't there. I wasn't ready to do that. Right. And yes, I 100% agree with that. And I think that's the dangerous thing about learning that substances can do that. So of such an early age, because it's such an easy way out.

And we never really got the skill set to complete, or I, you know, I should say I, never got the skill set to learn how to complete things and to actually put in hard work, which, you know, as you go tenfold, when I got clean, I had to relearn that. But at an early age, like I said, like started using it 12, instantly learned that this was the solution. You know what I mean? This was the easy solution. So I didn't really have to work for anything after that. If it was something that I didn't like or if I felt uncomfortable, fuck, I'd go to use. And I'd forget about it. I'd have a good time, you know, and I always just had good times. I never had adversity. And I never had that kind of struggle to get that conditioning on how to complete things. And so like all the way up

until even into my early recovery, like I never really accomplished anything. You know what I mean? And so that was just like when we get to that chapter, it was such a punch in the face. You know what I mean? And that's why I said. I'm blessed. that I got clean at 25 because it's like as adults get older into their addiction. It just only gets harder. Yeah. Yeah, you start losing more stuff. I had this weird thing too when I got into recovery because I share a similar story.

Like I never, you know, I never had any success really like growing up. I mean, a few things here and there, but most of it was a train wreck. But I felt like when I got into recovery and I started to have some success and the success for everybody looks different. But when I started to have some success, it was really hard because I was not used to it. It was a weird sort of thing. Yeah, dude. Yes.

So. I mean, I guess let's jump into the recovery part. I love talking about the recovery more than the road itself. And yeah. So it was almost a year to the date that when I came from Oregon back to Maui that I got clean again. So 1111, 11 is my clean. clean date. So it's right before Thanksgiving, which is also why I've just loved the holidays now. But it was again, and it was just that, like, in the entire spectrum of everything, like,

the incident that kind of was the catalyst for me to get clean was just such a drop of water, right? It was, I was going to go to work and I was working in a restaurant and I was dope sick, 2011. I was dope sick a lot, man. Like, it was just hard to come by, whatever. And so I was, I was meeting up with the plug and he was just going to give me a pill so I could get by the shift, you know, and I worked in the restaurant so then I could use my tips to go get more. It was, you know, that whole fucking cycle. and he he ran off with it you know i think it was like 30 bucks you know and like i said it's such a

pin drop in the whole scheme of things but i was done bro i was like all right i can't fucking live this life anymore you know what i mean and i oh man i and i always keep this day in my back pocket so i can i can pull from it um and uh i ended up calling my parents you know i i didn't know what, I was just, I was so, I just felt so bad, you know, like I was dope sick and I was down and out and I didn't know what to do. And so I called my parents and I, and I, and I just assaulted them, man, you know, and not in a bad way, but I just dumped them with everything that had been going on. And I was like, pleading for help. I was just like, I need help. The warriors that they are, They rallied up their troops and my mom ended up driving me to work.

She used to drive me to and from work, which is like a 45 minute drives just because I knew I didn't trust myself. I knew where the dope house was. It was, you know, it's all part of the routine. I was like, I just don't trust myself. So it was like that realization that like that identity crisis. I was just like, fuck, man. And so I kicked the opiates, cold turkey again.

for the second time. It's one of those you would think, like you would think I would have learned after the first time. But the second time, all right, let's go. And I was kicking that, you know, threw myself into my work because I just wanted to be occupied. And so I was working seven days a week, coming down. My mom was driving me to and from work. I was slowly, like I was still in that spot where I had no idea what recovery like entailed, but I knew that I just needed to start walking away from my old self. And I ended up going to a therapist and was seeing him. And it was helping. You know what I mean? Like it was helping. It just wasn't recovery based. It was still something missing. And he was ultimately the one that suggested that I go to the 12th

step meetings, you know, and I think it was about just short of 30 days that I stepped into my first meeting, you know, and I stand with my recovery as an example or, yeah, as an example of the results of the rooms. And I know that that doesn't work for everybody, but it worked for me. and I was, I was cheap too, man. I'll be admitting it. I was cheap. And I was like, I don't want to go to a rehab, you know. It's too expensive.

I don't want to do that shit. And I was like, oh, the rooms are free? All right, holler at that. I'm going to go check it out. And so I just stepped into the rooms, man. And I wouldn't say that I found my community right away. That's not the case either. But I'm such a storyteller, right?

Or like I love stories. And so I loved going in and just hearing other people's stories. And I slowly started to make those connections on, oh, yeah, well, I relate to that. Or, oh, that's a crazy story. I'm not that bad. But it was still like it was an entertainment thing, you know? And I mean, I was still selling dope when I was going to the meetings. So I was still holding on to this idea of who I was, right?

He would be my soon-to-become sponsor, but he kind of took an eye to me and kind of took me under his wing, you know? And he used to do the meetings at the recovery house, the local recovery house. So I would hop in and be a guest at those meetings. And then that was really cool because then I heard really raw. stories of other individuals that are only 30 days into the recovery. You know, so that was a little bit more relatable to me. And it was just by 90 days, I knew that I couldn't have that lifestyle anymore. I was like, okay, like, this obviously isn't working for me.

So I need to completely have a blank canvas and reinvent myself. and was I scared? Fuck, yeah, I was scared. I had no idea. Like we were talking about earlier, like getting clean and learning that I didn't have the, like I didn't have work ethic. I didn't know what it was to be a functioning member of society.

Like I always wanted to be on the fringe. Like so when you just kind of like make that decision that that's not my life, you turn around and there's just a vast space of emptiness. Yeah. Yeah, then you've got to figure out like, yeah, that's great to make that decision and come to that. But now, what am I going to do with myself? Because that's all we know, that other life. It just becomes everything we know. And then, yeah, I mean, I'm completely on board with you on this. Like when I started my journey,

before it started, I was sleeping on my brother's floor in his apartment, in his bedroom. And I had maybe five pairs of clothes and stuff. So, and I just got fired from Little Caesars. And the owner threw a pizza at me and like I couldn't hold the job. I just couldn't do much right. So I'm with you. So many jobs lost. I mean, I'll have flashbacks of jobs that I had and I was like,

yo, I forgot that I even had that fucking job. You know what I mean? Like so many jobs lost, man. Yes. And so it was about 90 days that I asked this guy to be my sponsor and then started to really dive into the steps. You know what I mean?

And that's where I really started to hash. these things out. It took me like a good year, maybe more, to finish my first round of steps. But I swear, it was by steps six or seven that I was bought in. My life was already starting to change, you know, for the better, obviously. And I just wanted more of it. And so I really just fought for my seat in the rooms, you know. I think coming from Maui, too, it's unfortunately. but not a lot of people stay. A lot of people come through the rooms, but not a lot of people stayed.

So I was like one of the only ones, maybe like, maybe like three other people had time from a year to five years. Yeah. You know what I mean? Not there wasn't, there wasn't much though. There wasn't much. So I was really kind of like treading through that territory by myself. but then I had, you know, from five to ten, there was a handful.

And then a lot of people had the ten or more, you know. And so I was really just kind of gravitating towards them. One of my favorite kind of in the room sayings is hang out with the winners. And that I have adopted into my life, just into the fabrics of my life, right? Roll with the winners, you know, they're going to show you how to do it. And don't be scared to copy them. copy the shit out of them do exactly what they do until you become your authentic self you know what i mean and that really is what i did i had no idea what i was doing but i knew that this guy

was doing some dope shit and he was staying clean so i'm gonna do exactly what he's doing for now until i kind of get this treading going yeah and and and it was just like that you know um I ended up going, so, you know, like, jumping back, I was going to school full time. I was, oh, sorry, I was going to work full time. I then enrolled in school full time. Recovery was full time. And for that first year of being clean, I was just so busy that like, well, me and that relationship I was in ended up separating, which was for the best too.

But so then it was just a lot of self-work fully focused on staying clean. because I was so deathly afraid of slipping. Like, I was just like, I cannot, like, I cannot go back to that lifestyle. And so it was a lot of being just a hermit and doing the work. You know what I mean? And that year, although was super tough, I gained so many tools out of that first year, you know. And when we were going back and saying, like, when you pivot and, like, there's just a vast space of, of, of, in terms of your identity, that forced me to jump into the abyss, the unknown, right,

which is so scary for people. But I flipped it and I use that as a tool now constantly, right? And like you were saying at the beginning, like you have no idea what you're doing with this podcast, but yet you just jumped into it, right? Despite the unknowns, repeatedly do we need to do that? Like, I just jump into things now because what's the worst, as long as I don't use, what's the worst that could happen? Like, I've failed so many fucking times in my life.

Like, it all gets chalked up nowadays. You know what I mean? Like, okay, whatever. But with failure comes success, you know? And so it is a constant reminder. And that's why I always hold some close things that I learned that first year in my back pocket because I pull them out on a daily basis.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, no, that's so true. Yeah. I mean, there's an old old saying there, fail forward. Yeah. And I mean, I go into things without expectations as well. And I find that that helps me.

You know, if I do, I'm going to do something new, then I just, I don't have any expectations for it. It is what it is. And the universe is going to use it as it's going to use it. And it's out of my hands, you know? And I mean, I just try to. maybe the one or two things I can control, you know, the way I respond to things. That's what I, you know, that's my main focus in recovery and has been for years.

And everything else is that in my hands, then things work out. And a lot of things don't, you know, for the one or two things that work out, a lot of things won't. You know, so I wanted to, now you're a professional paintball player. Hey, let's go. And yeah, now you're doing professional paintball and everything like that. You've got off the leash. It's a brand from what I see. Yeah, it's a, it's a gym.

It's like everything. So what are you up to now? Now is crazy, bro. Talk about jumping yourself into so many abysses that now you just flooded with shit. So paintball was always big. Like I mentioned that I was wanting to be a soccer player when I was younger. Paintball was also there. Paintball was a big part of my life at an early age.

And so when I left the island, I actually, ultimately made the decision to go and pursue the pro paintball route because soccer was just too hard and it never completed anything. And so paintball was that route. Painball was always in the background in my active addiction and everything like that. And I was knocking on the doorstep to go pro back in the day. And ultimately, I chose the lifestyle over going pro. And so I really took a turn there And that was the catalyst to really how I went down. And then so I lost that. After I got clean, I was back home.

A lot of my friends heard that I was starting to get clean. And so they're like, yo, why don't you come out and play paintball again? Because I didn't play for a good couple years. And so I started to play again and talk about being reconnected with like an old dream. I was like, yo, like this is what I get chicken skin. I just love it. Like a lot of people would be like, oh, I didn't even know. paintball was a thing pro paintball was a thing it gives me chicken skin right it's such a passion of

mine and so you you really talk about the story of like losing a lost love and then reconnecting with it and so after i got clean started playing paintball again and it was just like a series of events that like there was a little glimmer that this could happen again i was like oh shit i i could make this happened and I punched that ticket. As soon as I found out like there was that little inkling, I was full steam ahead and I got invited to play with this team up here in Seattle. So I'm up here in Seattle for Seattle Thunder. And so in 2018, my current wife, you know, we got, we were finishing school. We got married. We moved and I played my first pro paintball tournament all within the span of like three months. So if you, that was, you know, you want to talk about,

jumping into things. That was another thing. I just jumped right into it. And so I've been playing pro pain paink Paul since 2018. While doing that, I switched careers. I was doing substance abuse counseling when I was back on Maui and kind of just needed a break from it. And so when we moved up, started from scratch and ultimately took fitness coaching as the next route. And so I've been doing fitness coaching from there created off the leash. Off the leash is my remote coaching performance training for paintball players. And then I also now diving into apparel, which is another love of mine. I love apparel.

So I have that kind of married together through working. The gym is a different thing. I work out. I work at a gym as well. and it was through working at the gym, and the gym has such powerhouses working there. Talk about rolling with the winners that I have just been growing so much personally

that we ended up securing the spot with the Major League rugby team, the Seattle Seawolfs, as their strength and conditioning coaches. And this is our second season doing that. So things have just been kind of rolling. So what haven't you done buddy? Yeah. Recovery is blessed, bro.

Yeah. It just seems to just open so many doors, man. I mean, everybody has their own route, I think, in recovery. But I hear the story time and time again that people who get sober and get clean, they just really blow the door wide open because then you put that energy that you had into. And it requires so much. People don't know. to maintain a heroin and addiction to pills is a 24-7 gig.

You have to have it just like you need food and water. So if you put that into something else, what's been your highlight from the paintball career? Honestly, this is going to be really cliche. I mean, I love playing paintball at the highest level. And I love playing with these other athletes that I have been watching for so long. and now have them in my cell phone. Yeah.

And they reach out to me for shit, you know, or like just to chop it up. Like that is like pinch me. Like I can't believe that I'm, I'm at that kind of level. I mean, and to stay humbled. But at the same time, like, let's go pat myself on the back. Like, that's really cool. I think though the most rewarding is to just being a lighthouse to other people within the paintball community of sharing my story, right?

And being this beacon that like I've gone through all of this. And I, even though it's late in the game, like 36, what I've been in since 2018, I'm not going to do the math. But I was in my 30s. I was in my 30s when I got into the pro division, which is late, right? They have 17, 18, 18, year old, early 20s that make their first pro debut. So I think just being a beacon showing that there's always a path, right? And just being able to relate to the other people struggling with addiction because it is prevalent within our community as well, that there is another route.

Yeah, I love that too. Yeah, it definitely is. I mean, my paintball days go back a long time. But yeah, I mean, there was definitely, you know, definitely what I saw was a lot of the like sort of beginning substances, right? Alcohol, you know, underage stuff. Weed. I don't know where things materialized for people, but it was definitely like there was a lot of older crowd and younger crowd. You know, I connected with my first mentor that was in paintball. And that's when I first connected in high school with like an older crowd.

They were all good. I never had that experience. Nobody got me like nobody got me started from it. But it was a great, like it's a brotherhood type stuff, right? I really kind of miss it. Who do you look up to in the paintball world? Who did you grow up watching? Well, one, I got as, Corey Field.

He played, I play with him. So that was crazy. So the Seattle Thunder now, for all the paintball fans out there, Seattle Thunder now used to kind of be the old naughty dogs back in the day. So Corey Field used to play for the naughty dogs. Watching him, was a huge fan now playing with him and he's my best friend.

You know what I mean? So that's always been kind of a reward of recovery. I mean, you get the big ones too, like Alex Goldman, right? He's always someone to watch. I like Alex Frazy, you know, he's got crazy style. And I would have to say Constantine Federoff. You know, I mean, those guys, those names are always revolving in, in the top, you know. And then just to know, like I said, I think it's even more rewarding to just know them now and like have other conversations as friends.

So I think that adds to kind of like looking up to them even more. Yeah. It's always nice when you're able to break that barrier between somebody that you've enjoyed and that's inspired you and then you can connect with them and like just see that there's a real genuine human behind behind them there that like is more than a paintball player more than a movie star. You know, it's a really cool experience. Yeah. You can, I mean, I know you got to go too. And it's like you can apply that to whatever you're searching for in life. I think there's always like this veil to the arena of like this is where I'm at.

And like the people that are doing what I want to do is such a fantasy. Yeah. But once you remove that veil, you realize that they're no different. You know, they're fucking human beings. You know what I mean? And and you have all the skill set necessary to do what they're doing. Yeah. And it just comes down to throwing yourself in.

I mean, we can revisit. that all the time. Just throw it, just jump on into it. Like, remove that fear or, you know, take yourself off the leash and just go do it. You know, and you're going to realize that those other people don't have much more skill set than you do. They just did it earlier. You're just earlier in your journey doing that. Wow, what an incredible episode with Patty Gleason from Seattle Thunder professional paintball player. Super cool for him to take the time and jump on the podcast with us really enjoyed his story and what he is comeback he's definitely made a massive comeback because if you guys look him up you'll see this guy's moving and shaking every single day

so if you enjoyed the episode be sure to send him a message too give him a phone on instagram on facebook send him a message let him know you appreciate it i think people really enjoy you know when their story can help somebody else out or somebody else connects with it so keep rocking everybody out there be good and as always thank you for the support and we'll catch you on the next one