When Life Changes Everything: Finding Strength When You Need It Most

Better, Not Bitter: Jeff Johnston on Loss, Addiction, Grief & Finding Purpose

Part 1 of 2

What happens when life takes someone you love—and then asks you to keep going?

In Part 1 of this deeply personal two-part conversation, I sit down with Jeff Johnston, founder of Living Undeterred, for a conversation that goes far beyond addiction and mental health.

Jeff knows devastating loss firsthand. After losing his 23-year-old son, Seth, to fentanyl poisoning, his life changed forever. Years later, he would experience another devastating loss with the death of his wife, Prudence, from alcoholism.

It would be understandable for grief, anger, and bitterness to take over.

But Jeff made a different choice.

He chose “Better, Not Bitter.”

In this episode, Jeff opens up about what that choice really means—and what it looks like when you're dealing with grief that doesn't simply disappear. We talk about addiction, fentanyl, mental health, the stigma surrounding substance abuse, the importance of asking for help, and the difficult question many people eventually face:

How do you find a reason to keep moving forward when your world has been turned upside down?

This isn't a conversation about having all the answers. It's about being honest about the questions.

Jeff shares the experiences that ultimately led him to create Living Undeterred, a mission dedicated to helping people and communities confront addiction, mental health challenges, grief, and the human cost of silence.

If you have ever experienced profound loss—or know someone who has—this conversation may hit differently.

And this is only Part 1.

Part 2 takes the conversation even deeper.

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