The Shift: A Podcast With Ben Brown

What Happens When You Stop Chasing Sex?

In this episode of The Shift, I sit down with anonymous author and recovery advocate Justin Bridges for a powerful conversation about addiction, sexual sobriety, emotional healing, and the journey of becoming whole. Justin shares how growing up in a chaotic family system shaped his relationship with addiction, identity, masculinity, and self-worth. After getting sober at just 17 years old, he began a lifelong search for freedom that eventually led him beyond substance recovery and into the deeper work of emotional sobriety. We talk about sexual abstinence, emotional release, higher power, service, relationships, and the uncomfortable process of letting go of old versions of ourselves. Justin opens up about the profound shift that occurred when he stopped looking outside himself for validation and discovered what he calls a "sacred energy" that had been there all along. This conversation explores what happens when we stop running, stop numbing, and stop chasing the things we believe will complete us. We discuss community, recovery, support systems, personal growth, masculinity, and why real transformation often begins when we're willing to sit with ourselves instead of escape ourselves. If you've ever struggled with addiction, relationships, validation, loneliness, or the fear of change, this episode offers an honest look at what healing can actually look like.

Are You Addicted to Being "You"?

In this solo episode of The Shift, I talk about the process of unlearning. Not learning more. Not becoming someone new. Unlearning the versions of ourselves we became attached to long ago. I reflect on the identities I carried for years, the need for validation, the patterns I brought into relationships, and the ways I kept trying to escape myself through distractions, addiction, and external approval. One of the biggest realizations for me was understanding how much of my life was being driven by an outdated version of who I thought I was. A version created in childhood that I continued protecting long after it stopped serving me. I talk about abstinence, mindfulness, emotional awareness, relationships, and the uncomfortable process of sitting with yourself long enough to actually meet who you are underneath all the coping mechanisms. This episode is about identity. About attachment. About the stories we inherit and the ones we continue repeating without realizing it. Growth is not always about adding more. Sometimes it’s about shedding what no longer belongs to you. If you’ve ever felt stuck in old patterns, disconnected from yourself, or afraid to let go of who you used to be, this one will hit. FACE IT. SHIFT. GROW. REPEAT.

The ONLY Way To Actually Feel Better.

In this episode of The Shift, I sit down with Dr. David Forbes for one of the most impactful conversations I’ve had on the podcast so far. We talk about trauma, emotional release work, childhood wounds, therapy, emotional safety, and what it actually means to heal instead of just cope. Dr. Forbes shares a perspective on trauma that completely changed the way I think about emotional pain. That trauma is not necessarily the wound itself, but the separation that happens from ourselves after the wound. The distance we create from the parts of us carrying pain because at some point, it no longer felt safe to stay connected to them. We get into the limitations of traditional therapy, the importance of being seen and understood, and why healing often requires more than just talking about what happened. We also explore emotional release work, support structures, dependency, psychedelic therapy, sobriety, and the fear so many of us have of relying on anything outside of ourselves to feel okay. This conversation challenged me in a lot of ways. It made me think differently about conflict, relationships, accountability, and the stories we carry into adulthood from childhood. If you’ve ever struggled with feeling disconnected from yourself, emotionally stuck, or trapped in patterns you can’t fully explain, this episode will resonate.

You Are Not Your Pain.

In this episode, I sit down with sex therapist, Amanda Adili to talk about addiction, healing, spirituality, and what it actually means to be true to yourself. Amanda shares her journey through addiction and recovery, and the deeper emotional work that began after getting sober. We talk about the tools that helped her reconnect with herself in a real way. Therapy. Two way prayer. Learning how to sit with discomfort instead of constantly trying to escape it. One of the biggest things we explore is the idea of “capacity” — building the ability to actually feel your emotions without shutting down, numbing out, or running away. Amanda shares how healing wasn’t about becoming someone new, but about slowly uncovering who she already was underneath the pain, fear, and survival patterns. This conversation is honest, funny, spiritual, and deeply human. It’s about learning how to live authentically instead of performatively. How to stop identifying with your wounds. How to trust yourself. And how recovery becomes less about perfection and more about connection. If you’ve ever felt disconnected from yourself, emotionally overwhelmed, or like you’re constantly searching for something outside of you to feel okay, this episode will speak to you.

You Don’t Quit. You Replace.

In this episode, I sit down with Dane to talk about what it actually looks like to change your life. Not just saying you want to be different… but doing the work to become different. Dane shares his journey through sobriety and what he’s learned about replacing old patterns with something better. We talk about the idea that you can’t just remove the things that aren’t serving you, you have to give yourself something new to step into. Something that challenges you. Something that excites you. Something that pulls you forward. We get into the tools that helped him along the way. Meditation. Journaling. Therapy. Faith. And the role that community and honest conversations play in real transformation. There’s no perfect formula here. Just a real conversation about what it means to take responsibility for your life and choose something better, one day at a time. If you’ve ever felt stuck, or there’s a part of you that keeps pulling you back into old habits, this one will hit.