I Used Daily in a Motel For 5 Months: How Two Cops Ended His 32-Year Addiction

Unexpected Benefits of Sobriety: The Small Wins That Actually Keep You Sober

Everyone talks about what you lose when you get sober. Nobody talks about what you get back. Not the big stuff — career, family, health. Those are real, but they're slow. They're not what keeps you sober at 11 p.m. on a Tuesday. In this episode, Anthony breaks down the unexpected, small, sometimes weird gifts that sobriety actually delivers — the ones that sneak up on you, that nobody puts in their inspirational reels, and that are quietly building the proof your brain needs to stay sober long-term. What's covered: * Real sleep vs. passed-out sleep (and why they're completely different) * Cognitive recovery: when memory and word recall actually come back * Why boredom stops feeling like a five-alarm fire * Eye contact, shame, and what happens when shame unhooks from your identity * People not flinching when you walk in the room — and what that actually feels like * Time you didn't know you had * Being trusted again (and why that weight is a gift) * The weird ones: knowing where your phone is, being able to sit in a quiet room Anthony also covers the honest caveats — PAWS (Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome), the gifts that require active work, and the ones that don't show up on schedule. And for the person who can't feel anything yet: your timeline is real, even if it's slower than the posts. Recovering Out Loud is peer-led recovery media — real stories of addiction and sobriety, no clinical voice, no guru energy.

"I Miss It Sometimes" — Euphoric Recall & What Recovery Doesn't Let You Say Out Loud

You're allowed to miss it. Nobody tells you that. Most recovery content tells you your using days were all bad. But if that were true, you wouldn't have kept going back. In this episode, Anthony gets honest about the parts of his drinking and using days he actually misses — the escape, the ritual, the identity, the connection — and why admitting that out loud might be the most important thing you do in your recovery. In this episode: * What euphoric recall actually is, and why it's not a character flaw — it's brain wiring * The fading effect bias: why month 18 can be harder than month 3 * 5 things people in recovery are allowed to miss (but usually don't say) * The two-bucket framework: needs you can meet differently vs. needs you have to grieve * Why the people in trouble aren't the ones talking about missing it * The one practical tool: playing the tape all the way through Key takeaway: The thoughts you can talk about are the thoughts you control. The ones you can't are the ones that control you. This episode is a permission slip. Recovering Out Loud is peer-led recovery media built on lived experience — real stories of addiction and sobriety, no clinical voice, no guru energy. If you found this helpful, please leave a rating and review — it helps more people find the show.

You Can Get Addicted to Weed. It Almost Killed Him | "I Was Smoking Lint Off the Carpet to Get High"

Everyone says weed isn't addictive. Alex is eight years sober and almost didn't make it out. This is the first time he's told the whole thing start to finish. We get into the last 30 days of his using — when he was so deep he couldn't even get high anymore, just chasing a feeling that was already gone. He takes us to his last day: an ice storm, a long drive for weed that wasn't there, and waking up passed out half in a toilet bowl, ribs smashed, realizing how close it got. The part that stuck with me is what came after the drugs stopped: "The war on drugs is over. Now it's the war on self." We talk about the stuff nobody warns you about in long sobriety — isolation that feels safe, cross-addiction (food, work, gaming), men white-knuckling their mental health, and why "it's just weed" is the sentence he trusts the least. If you've ever wondered whether weed can really be a problem — or you're years in and still fighting yourself — this one's for you. What we get into: * Why he couldn't get high no matter how much he used * The one question his uncle asked that he couldn't lie his way out of * Isolation as a "safe place" — and what it costs * Getting sober before legalization, and why he thinks that saved him * The difference between quitting the drug and quitting the war on yourself Recovering Out Loud is peer-led recovery media built on lived experience — real stories of addiction and sobriety. No clinical voice, no guru energy.

Old Ideas: How to Uncover, Discover & Discard What's Keeping You Stuck

Nobody told me that getting sober wasn't the hard part. The hard part was realizing the version of myself I'd been dragging around for years — the beliefs, the patterns, the way I saw the world — most of it wasn't even mine. In this episode, I'm breaking down one of the most important phrases in my recovery: Uncover, Discover, Discard. This isn't a clinical framework — it's how I actually learned to stop being run by ideas I picked up before I ever touched a substance. We're talking about the subconscious operating systems that keep us sick, where they came from, and how to actually let them go — not just white-knuckle through them. I get into the old ideas that still show up in my own life: tying my self-worth to money, earning love through making people laugh, needing everything to be okay on the outside before I can feel okay on the inside. I also talk honestly about how stopping those patterns is exactly what I wasn't doing before I relapsed — and how "Anthony 3.0" is something I'm actively building, not looking back from. In this episode: * What old ideas actually are (hint: they're not opinions, they're operating systems) * The three-phase process: Uncover → Discover → Discard * Why the gap between letting go of the old and finding the new is where most people relapse * Schema theory, ACT therapy, and neuroplasticity — what the research says * How to "borrow" someone else's beliefs until you build your own Listener reflection prompts: * What's one belief you carried into recovery that you picked up long before you ever touched a substance? * When did you first realize a belief you had about yourself wasn't actually yours? * Have you ever discovered where one of your survival strategies originally came from? Recovery is simple. Not easy.

A Mother’s Story of Grief, Faith, and Recovery : I Lost My 1-Year Old In Recovery

Jesse stayed sober after losing her 1-year-old son. A mother's story of recovery, grief, and faith. In December 2022, Jesse hit her rock bottom — a night of drinking and cocaine that ended in an ER waiting room, where she prayed for the first time and asked for help. Four months later, she found out she was pregnant. Her son Jacob — what she calls her miracle baby — became the reason she stayed clean. Last September, Jacob was rushed to the Emergency room. He didn't come home from the hospital. Against every odd, Jesse stayed sober through it. In this conversation, she opens up about what nobody warns you about — the brutal month and a half of Suboxone withdrawal, finding leftover drugs in her home days after the funeral, the moment anger (not strength) saved her from relapsing, and why she now believes recovery was training for grief. In this episode of Recovering Out Loud, Jesse opens up about: – The last 30 days of her addiction and the night she prayed in an ER waiting room – Coming off Suboxone (a month and a half of withdrawal she calls worse than cocaine) – Why pregnancy became her head start in recovery – Losing Jacob, and the moment she found leftover drugs in her home days after the funeral – How recovery turned out to be training for grief — both are one day at a time – Faith, anger at the funeral, and praying for "just a little relief" – What real support looks like (the neighbour who didn't ask, she just showed up) – Her honest answer to "worst day sober vs best day drinking" — and why it's not the one you expect FOLLOW JESSIES JOURNEY HERE ON INSTAGRAM [https://www.instagram.com/the_soberfrenchie?igsh=MTh6OWdvcm53NnRmMQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr] 📸 INSTAGRAM: @recoveringoutloudpod [https://www.instagram.com/recoveringoutloudpod] 🌐 WEBSITE: https://linktr.ee/Recoveringoutloudpod [https://linktr.ee/Recoveringoutloudpod] — ABOUT RECOVERING OUT LOUD Recovering Out Loud is a peer-led recovery podcast hosted by Anthony — a social work student and person in long-term recovery sharing real stories of addiction and sobriety. No clinical voice. No guru energy. Just lived experience. — If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction or grief, please reach out to a local support resource. This podcast is for peer support and storytelling — not a substitute for clinical care. #RecoveryPodcast #SoberStories #AddictionRecovery