When people want to stop drinking, a lot of times the first concern is "who will I be on the other side of this?"

When I interviewed my friend Elliott on my podcast last year, he also voiced that he was worried he'd be this boring person that "everyone thinks is sad."

Who the hell wants that?

I was one of those people who just saw a sliver of the world of recovery, reinforced by disempowering accounts the Instagram algorithm served up, and uninspiring, "straight out of a text book" Google search results.

I was completely misinformed about what would actually happen, which was that I would become more me than I'd ever been.

On this week’s episode of the Get the F*ck Off Podcast, I had the true pleasure of having a conversation with Joe Conley, host of the Brutally Sober podcast, and the Alcoholics Anonymous Deprogramming Podcast on YouTube.

Joe and I clicked right away. Maybe it’s just because we’re both no-bullshit East Coasters, or maybe it’s because we have a lot of similarities in our relationships with alcohol.

This conversation was very raw and real and explored many topics such as Joe’s experience in rehab, Alcoholics Anonymous, the science of drinking, our personal struggles with alcohol both past and present, sobriety during COVID, spirituality, enlightenment, identity, and being a fucking curmudgeon.

I absolutely loved talking with Joe and hearing about his life and experiences.

On this week’s episode of the Get the F*ck Off Podcast, I got the true pleasure of chatting with one of my favorite people, Dr. Eric Fields, who is a Cognitive Behavioral Psychologist specializing in treating addiction.

We talk at length about his alternative approach to the anonymous groups, which have become the American standard with low efficacy rates.

If you’re drinking too much or struggling with something else, but don’t want to go to meetings because you feel they’re not for you- this episode will shine quite a bit of light.

Eric and I share a similar philosophy on helping people grappling with addiction, which is a whole person approach. It’s about enhancing your entire life, not just attacking one specific area which often is a result of a problem, not the problem itself.

He also believes in meeting his patients where they are, instead of insisting on abstinence before progressing with treatment.

This was a great conversation.

If you:

-are struggling with addiction

-are struggling with weight loss (Eric initially worked with patients with eating disorders)

-are finding yourself unable to navigate your substance use disorder within the confines of the Anonymous group-centered American recovery model

Then you will love our conversation and this episode may give you hope.

On Saturday, I experienced my first urge to drink in quite some time.

Where I once struggled with this, feeling the need to drink is a rare occurrence for me.

Even on Sunday, when I bar-hopped for ten hours with friends only drinking club soda, I didn’t desire to drink for one second.

What was different about Saturday?

An unresolved issue reared its ugly head.

In this somewhat vulnerable podcast, I talk about what happened, and what needed to happen for me to move forward.