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Welcome back to the Sawmill. We
take every issue one log at a time.
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I'm here Buddy a Joe pee,
and before we broke, you know,
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we were talking about February this year, another hospitalization, and it was
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at that point, and you can
tell this is at that point. What
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Action Plan or what steps you talk
moving forward and what lessons that you know,
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you learn or what not to get
you to the point where you're at
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now? Well, I mean,
you know, going back to that that
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time period, that night in the
hospital, I remember specifically for that night,
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basically, I was so bad at
the time I was bleeding out of
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my you know, and I was
I lost a lot of blood. So
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they wouldn't let me out of the
bed. So I was so bad at
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the time I was basically I literally
been man and I was I had to
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eat, sleep, do my business
and everything, all in my bed.
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And you know, I don't I
don't remember who said it. I'm pretty
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sure it's one of my parents or
my one of my grandparents probably told me,
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but they say, you know,
you you know you hit the bottom
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when you can't wipe me on ass
anymore. And that's exactly what I was.
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Here I am sitting in the hospital
and, you know, I'm bleeding
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out internally and it's coming out.
And every time that, you know,
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every time I have a bottle moment
or something and it's coming out. I
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can't even take care of myself.
I got to have, you know,
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these nurses got to come in white
for me, they literally got to wipe
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my ass for me, and that's
when I realize, you know, this
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is it. It's just the bottom
right here, like you won't get any
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lower than this, and I mean
it bottoms relative for everybody, but for
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me that was it, you know, and that's when I I knew at
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that point that that I had a
real problem, that I had to face
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and that you know, if I
made it out of the hospital this time,
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it might be the last time I
make it out on my own power,
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that I couldn't keep doing this,
that next time I may come in
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the same way, but I ain't
going to leave on my I ain't going
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to leave the hospital. So that's
when you know you have that come to
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God moment. That's when I finally
started to accept that I probably had a
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much bigger problem, much more serious
problem, than I ever wanted to believe
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I had. And then, you
know, that's when you get that moment
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when you ask God. It's like, you know, God, help me
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out, I get me out of
this one. I promise you get me
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out of this one. I'll change. I said it millions of times before
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then. Oh yeah, I mean
everybody you know has had that moment where
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they either, you know, hugging
the toilet, hugging the trash can and
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you know, if I get through
this, when the whole bed the room
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spinning, and say, you know, if I get through this, I
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won't drink again, you know,
until the following weekend. Yeah, I
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mean that. How many times that
you and I have to go through that?
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You know, where it's like you
have that that one hard night and
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then the next morning we called each
other up about y'all, never want to
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see another bottle. I'll never want
to see another drink. But you know,
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by time Monday night football rolls around, be back at it again.
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I mean how many times I've been
at your door, you know, not
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necessarily running from the law, but
saying, you know, I got a
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crash on your couch tonight because I
can't make it home. If I get
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back on the road, you're going
to have to pick me up at the
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at the you know, the local
jail. Yep, you know they.
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We've I had too many of those
times, and none of those times that
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I ever think that it was a
problem. None of those times that I
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ever think that I was I was
any different of a drinker than anyone else.
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But now, knowing what I know, like that should have been the
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first sign that I had had a
drinking problem. And you know you asked
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you phrase the question earlier, like
what steps you know, did you take
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after that? Or what steps or
what did you learn? This isn't gonna
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be this isn't a very this isn't
going to be a very popular answer,
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and it's not a very optimistic answer, but the reality is when you have
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someone who's dealing with substance abuse,
with alcohol abuse, they kind of have
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to come to that realization themselves,
like I did. Like you know,
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I had good friends like you,
and you guys are always there for me
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and I'm sure that y'all saw way
before I did well well, early on,
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that I probably was a problem drinking, an alcoholic. But I think
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what you know, you know,
but I think that that is, you
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know, the I honestly necessarily proper. I think that's the truth. For
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Answer, I think you know,
you can, you can always try to
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help whoever, but if they not
in a position really want to help a
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better themselves, don't matter what you
can do other than, you know,
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continue to offer you support, but
it has to be a moment where the
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individual has takes some sort of responsibility
and have that determination that they want to
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let that be the last time.
No, you absolutely right. Think you
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know. You know. I think
that maybe you may may be. You
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know, I don't know if it's
popular, but I think it's definitely the
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truth. Was the truthful answer as
to that. Yeah, I mean that's
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that's really what the God on his
truth is that, you know, we
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as alcoholics and we as people who
are have, you know, problems with
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addiction. We're going to change when
we're ready to change, and for everyone
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that's going to be different. For
me, I had to hit what I
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thought was the bottom for myself personally. Some people they have, you know,
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they they get their eyes open by
something lesser. Some people may lose
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a job and that's enough and they
say that's it. You know, I
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can't keep going like this. Other
people, maybe they're their family threatens to
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leave them, whatever it is.
It took me and then up in the
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hospital, not being able to wipe
my own ass, like I said.
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But the advice I would give to
to you know, if you have someone
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you see them going through, that
is exactly what you just said. All
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you can do is be there for
them, all you can do is support
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them, because they're going to come
to that conclusion, that realization, when
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they do on their own time and
then they own mind. There's really nothing,
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you know, like just like with
y'all, y'all couldn't tell me nothing.
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I mean, you guys were there
for me, but there's no one
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who could tell me he's ope you. I think, you know, we
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think you got a drinking problem.
You can still of getting help. If
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anything, y'all told me that I
was going to go ahead and probably go
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harder, be honest, but all
you can do is, you know,
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hope and pray for that person,
be there for them, support them and
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encourage them, you know, to
think about seeking help. But the reality
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is that person is not going to
get the help until they're ready to change.
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And for me it took, you
know, twenty plus years before I
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got to that point. And,
like I said, some people will more
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accept that change the way earlier than
other people. Some people need that less,
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less, less of an impact to
get to that point and then other
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hardheaded people like me, you got
to hit the bottom, bottom and then
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you're ready to change after that.
But you know, once I did get
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there, to the bottom, even
at that point, even leaving the hospital,
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I thought I was just going to
jump back into my regular life and
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just go back to working and just, you know, quit drinking for a
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while. And then, well,
aside from you know, the hips point
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of not you know, touching it, you know, alcoholic or what?
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What's been the biggest change difference that
you've seen over the last six eight months.
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I think the biggest thing is,
you know, I have to learn
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more about myself and then learn how
to live life on life's terms. It's
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life comes at me, and that
was my big problem. Putting down the
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bottle wasn't really that hard, to
be honest with you. Stopping the drinking
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that you know, the actual physical
act of drinking and putting down the bottle.
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That's probably been the easiest part of
my whole recovery, to be honest,
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because my my alcoholism is worse than
my drinking. And you know,
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there's is a saying that they have
my thinking is worse than my drinking,
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or my thinking is my drinking,
and for me that is really true,
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because I'm type of person that,
you know, I've always been ultra competitive
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and had high expectations of myself and
any time I didn't meet my own expectations,
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then that's what caused me to drink. You know, that's what that's
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what led me to the bottle.
I would always look for, you know,
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the solution at the bottom of the
bottle and obviously it's never there,
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but you know, that's that's what
I've learned the most is that. You
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know, yes, there is a
physical component to it. There is,
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there is a physical desire and some
people do have a stronger, actual physical
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reaction to want to drink. For
me, that wasn't the case. For
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me, my problem was not knowing
how to deal with life so that when
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life came at me the way that
I didn't wanted to or the way that
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you know, that I wasn't planning
for, the only solution I had was
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the drink. And so what I've
learned over the past few months is,
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you know, I don't get to
control those things. Life is going to
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happen. I mean it's good to
bad people, it's you know, to
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drink the sober people. It's going
to come at you and this go come
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back to you fast, but it's
just as a person who was sufferings from
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alcoholism, I have to be able
to accept the speed it comes at me
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and the things that those at me
and I just have to be able to
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deal with them. And that's what
they say. You know, to go
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through something means to come out the
other side. And you know your your
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your story, your journey, reminds
me a lot like, you know,
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the the movement that was in the
s Michael Keaton and Morgan framing was in
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it was called clean and sober,
and you know, I was. It's
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definitely worth a being for our listeners
out there that dealing with some issues.
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I know someone that's dealing with the
same issues that we're talking about today.
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But I think it's a very,
very good movie, even and it's still
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a very time of peace, and
I'm pretty sure there's other movies that that
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touch on the same topic, but
that's one of the ones that stand out,
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especially, you know, the last
few scenes of it, you know,
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before, you know, we close
things out here. What's one thing
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that you would say or one thing
that you would piece of advice that you
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are all for to you know,
Joe, two thousand and six Joe.
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I mean if, yeah, if
I could go back fifteen years ago,
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I would, I would tell myself
exactly what I just you know, what
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I just told the audience now,
is learn how to deal with life as
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it comes at you. Don't play
the victim, you know, don't.
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Don't create these scenarios in your head
where the universe is working against you or
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this person is working against you.
I'm not doing as well as my colleagues.
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I'm not doing as well as my
friends, my brothers. You know,
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take life as it comes at you, for the good and for the
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bad. It's okay to to feel
up and to feel down. That's just
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that's the that's the that's the human
experience and we've got to accept that not
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every day is going to be a
great day, not every day is going
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to be a bad day. But
just because you have a bad day don't
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mean that you got to number it
up by picking up the bottle or pills
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or whatever it is your drug,
a choice might be. That's what I
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would tell my you know myself fifteen
years ago. It's just just to accept
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life as it comes at you and
just learn how to deal with life on
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life's terms. And if we're talking
to you know, we have a listener
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that's out there now dealing with the
same thing. What would you tell bad
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person? Oh, you know,
that's a looking for a hand or help.
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Where would you point what direction would
you point them into? From a
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practical standpoint, I would say that
if you if you feel like you have
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a problem, when you feel like
you may have a problem, honestly,
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you know, go online and look
up your local, the local a chapter,
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your local alcoholics anonymous, or your
local, you know, narcotics,
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anonymous chapter, and find what they
call an open meeting. Open meeting is
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basically it's a meeting that's open to
anyone in the general public, doesn't cost
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anything, it's anonymous. You don't
have to you don't have to you know,
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even have to acknowledge, and no
one else is going to acknowledge that
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you were there. But you know, if you really think you have a
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problem, try going to one of
those meetings and just sit there and listen.
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You don't have to say anything,
you don't have to tell your story.
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But sometimes it's hearing other people and
hearing that there's more than just you're
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not the only one going through it. You might find some insight that will
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lead you to the place where you're
going to get help. Before I did,
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to lead you to the place where
you're going to say I'm tired of
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doing what I keep doing and I
don't want to keep, you know,
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living like this anymore. For me
it took, you know, it took
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a lot of physical and, it
looks took a lot of mental, mental,
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emotional, spiritual pain. But for
others, I mean maybe you go
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into those rooms and you hear the
stories that are being told in those rooms
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and that's enough to convince you that
you don't want to live this life of
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addiction anymore and that might start your
road to recovery. So, I mean
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that's you know, you know,
like I said, from a practical standpoint,
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that's what I would offer to the
listener out there is is find a
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meeting and go to a meeting.
From, I guess, more of a
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spiritual emotional standpoint, I would say
this. Look deep in yourself. I
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mean you know yourself more than you
know then you think you doing better than
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anyone else, and you know if
you're truly not happy, get help.
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Ask for help, you know,
reach out for help, whatever it is,
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if you if it's with your pastor
if you're it's with your friends,
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if it's with your family, if
it's with your significant other, just be
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willing to admit that you need the
help and then just start on that role
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of trying to get it. But
don't keep looking for the solution and in
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the problem. You know, don't
keep looking for the solution in the bottle
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like I did. You know,
and just you's got to get to that
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moment. It's got to want to
change. And when you get to that
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moment and you and you truly feel
like you've had enough and you know you
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just tired of it, then commit
yourself to doing something to change that,
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just by doing small things. I
try going to that meeting or whatever it
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is, to try talking to somebody. But I mean that's you know,
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there's a lot more to this subject. I could talk about this for hours
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on end and and and and that's
and that's the good news is that there's
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always someone that you can talk to
and let you know that they're not going
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through this by themselves. They're not
the first person to go through this and
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you know they won't be the last, and there's always someone out there that
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you can reach out to and get
some conversation to. You know, for
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those lists that want to get some
more information, feel free to email said
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00:17:30.299 --> 00:17:34.980
here at the solment at the saw
mill podcast at gmailcom. Will also post
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00:17:36.059 --> 00:17:42.539
some information on a blog that you
can catch at the Sawmill podcastcom. So
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00:17:44.059 --> 00:17:48.849
email us at the saw mill podcast
at gmailcom and follow blog at the sawmill
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00:17:48.569 --> 00:17:56.450
podcastcom Joe. Appreciate it. Appreciate
you know, friendship, brother Love,
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00:17:56.569 --> 00:18:03.160
you. So glad to see you
your journey. It's a testament of faith,
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dedication, consistency and you know it's
been. It's been quite a treat
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discuss this and on this last few
episodes. Well, I appreciate you have
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me and I want to just say
one more thing before we close it out,
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because I don't want to end this
on the negative. No, I
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want to say that you know,
since I've gone into recovery and then,
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and I could encourage you know,
anyone who has feels like they may need
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to do what I'm doing now,
is that it's not all bad. You're
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going to find a lot of positive
things and you're going to find a lot
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of happy endings and you can find
a lot of a lot of good things
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are going to happen to you in
life when you start this process. And
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one of the things that's going to
happen is exactly what we do in right
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now. You know, a lot
of time, a lot of the reason
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that I didn't get help earlier because
I was ashamed to get help because you
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know, like I said, we
was always come pair in ourselves to each
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other and everyone else, and then
you always ashamed that what your friends are
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going to think of you. But
what you find out and recovery is that
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your real friends only want you to
get better and that you're going to find
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out you got a lot of friends
out there that that are there for you
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and that are going to be happier
with the sober version of you than you
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think and that life can be a
lot better than you think. And I'll
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leave on this. One of the
blessings I've had and one of the blessings
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I've learned and recovery is that some
people only have friends because of their usage,
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and that's what that's what you call
your your drinking friends, friends that
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you know, that that basically you
just drink with. I've been fortunate and
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I been lucky that I don't just
have drinking friends, but I have friends
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that I used to drink with and, you know, friends that are still
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my friends without the drink. Absolutely. So don't be afraid to get you
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know, go out there and get
the help. You be surprised how many
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people want to see you do it, how many people are going to want
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to help you get through and you're
going to be surprised at at how much
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better life can be on the other
side. So until next time, stay
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safe, stay vocal. I'm brand
sakes going to see you next time in
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the saw mill
1
00:00:01.720 --> 00:00:05.759
If you haven't heard about anchor,
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Welcome back to the Sawmill. We
take every issue one log at a time.
9
00:00:48.450 --> 00:00:52.960
I'm here Buddy a Joe pee,
and before we broke, you know,
10
00:00:53.240 --> 00:01:04.349
we were talking about February this year, another hospitalization, and it was
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at that point, and you can
tell this is at that point. What
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Action Plan or what steps you talk
moving forward and what lessons that you know,
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you learn or what not to get
you to the point where you're at
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now? Well, I mean,
you know, going back to that that
15
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time period, that night in the
hospital, I remember specifically for that night,
16
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basically, I was so bad at
the time I was bleeding out of
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my you know, and I was
I lost a lot of blood. So
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they wouldn't let me out of the
bed. So I was so bad at
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the time I was basically I literally
been man and I was I had to
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eat, sleep, do my business
and everything, all in my bed.
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And you know, I don't I
don't remember who said it. I'm pretty
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sure it's one of my parents or
my one of my grandparents probably told me,
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but they say, you know,
you you know you hit the bottom
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when you can't wipe me on ass
anymore. And that's exactly what I was.
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Here I am sitting in the hospital
and, you know, I'm bleeding
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out internally and it's coming out.
And every time that, you know,
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every time I have a bottle moment
or something and it's coming out. I
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can't even take care of myself.
I got to have, you know,
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these nurses got to come in white
for me, they literally got to wipe
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my ass for me, and that's
when I realize, you know, this
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is it. It's just the bottom
right here, like you won't get any
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lower than this, and I mean
it bottoms relative for everybody, but for
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me that was it, you know, and that's when I I knew at
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that point that that I had a
real problem, that I had to face
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and that you know, if I
made it out of the hospital this time,
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it might be the last time I
make it out on my own power,
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that I couldn't keep doing this,
that next time I may come in
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the same way, but I ain't
going to leave on my I ain't going
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to leave the hospital. So that's
when you know you have that come to
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God moment. That's when I finally
started to accept that I probably had a
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much bigger problem, much more serious
problem, than I ever wanted to believe
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I had. And then, you
know, that's when you get that moment
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when you ask God. It's like, you know, God, help me
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out, I get me out of
this one. I promise you get me
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out of this one. I'll change. I said it millions of times before
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then. Oh yeah, I mean
everybody you know has had that moment where
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they either, you know, hugging
the toilet, hugging the trash can and
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you know, if I get through
this, when the whole bed the room
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spinning, and say, you know, if I get through this, I
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won't drink again, you know,
until the following weekend. Yeah, I
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mean that. How many times that
you and I have to go through that?
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You know, where it's like you
have that that one hard night and
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00:04:12.180 --> 00:04:15.460
then the next morning we called each
other up about y'all, never want to
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see another bottle. I'll never want
to see another drink. But you know,
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00:04:17.579 --> 00:04:21.339
by time Monday night football rolls around, be back at it again.
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I mean how many times I've been
at your door, you know, not
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00:04:26.689 --> 00:04:29.089
necessarily running from the law, but
saying, you know, I got a
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crash on your couch tonight because I
can't make it home. If I get
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back on the road, you're going
to have to pick me up at the
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at the you know, the local
jail. Yep, you know they.
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We've I had too many of those
times, and none of those times that
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I ever think that it was a
problem. None of those times that I
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ever think that I was I was
any different of a drinker than anyone else.
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But now, knowing what I know, like that should have been the
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first sign that I had had a
drinking problem. And you know you asked
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you phrase the question earlier, like
what steps you know, did you take
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00:05:00.870 --> 00:05:04.990
after that? Or what steps or
what did you learn? This isn't gonna
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00:05:05.069 --> 00:05:09.819
be this isn't a very this isn't
going to be a very popular answer,
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00:05:13.500 --> 00:05:16.779
and it's not a very optimistic answer, but the reality is when you have
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someone who's dealing with substance abuse,
with alcohol abuse, they kind of have
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to come to that realization themselves,
like I did. Like you know,
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I had good friends like you,
and you guys are always there for me
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and I'm sure that y'all saw way
before I did well well, early on,
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that I probably was a problem drinking, an alcoholic. But I think
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what you know, you know,
but I think that that is, you
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know, the I honestly necessarily proper. I think that's the truth. For
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Answer, I think you know,
you can, you can always try to
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help whoever, but if they not
in a position really want to help a
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better themselves, don't matter what you
can do other than, you know,
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continue to offer you support, but
it has to be a moment where the
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individual has takes some sort of responsibility
and have that determination that they want to
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let that be the last time.
No, you absolutely right. Think you
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know. You know. I think
that maybe you may may be. You
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know, I don't know if it's
popular, but I think it's definitely the
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truth. Was the truthful answer as
to that. Yeah, I mean that's
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that's really what the God on his
truth is that, you know, we
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as alcoholics and we as people who
are have, you know, problems with
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addiction. We're going to change when
we're ready to change, and for everyone
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that's going to be different. For
me, I had to hit what I
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thought was the bottom for myself personally. Some people they have, you know,
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00:06:54.910 --> 00:06:59.189
they they get their eyes open by
something lesser. Some people may lose
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a job and that's enough and they
say that's it. You know, I
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can't keep going like this. Other
people, maybe they're their family threatens to
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leave them, whatever it is.
It took me and then up in the
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hospital, not being able to wipe
my own ass, like I said.
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But the advice I would give to
to you know, if you have someone
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you see them going through, that
is exactly what you just said. All
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you can do is be there for
them, all you can do is support
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them, because they're going to come
to that conclusion, that realization, when
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they do on their own time and
then they own mind. There's really nothing,
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you know, like just like with
y'all, y'all couldn't tell me nothing.
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I mean, you guys were there
for me, but there's no one
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who could tell me he's ope you. I think, you know, we
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00:07:44.990 --> 00:07:47.350
think you got a drinking problem.
You can still of getting help. If
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anything, y'all told me that I
was going to go ahead and probably go
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harder, be honest, but all
you can do is, you know,
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hope and pray for that person,
be there for them, support them and
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encourage them, you know, to
think about seeking help. But the reality
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is that person is not going to
get the help until they're ready to change.
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And for me it took, you
know, twenty plus years before I
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00:08:11.899 --> 00:08:16.089
got to that point. And,
like I said, some people will more
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00:08:16.129 --> 00:08:20.170
accept that change the way earlier than
other people. Some people need that less,
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less, less of an impact to
get to that point and then other
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00:08:24.170 --> 00:08:28.399
hardheaded people like me, you got
to hit the bottom, bottom and then
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you're ready to change after that.
But you know, once I did get
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there, to the bottom, even
at that point, even leaving the hospital,
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00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:41.240
I thought I was just going to
jump back into my regular life and
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00:08:41.470 --> 00:08:43.870
just go back to working and just, you know, quit drinking for a
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00:08:43.909 --> 00:08:48.990
while. And then, well,
aside from you know, the hips point
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00:08:50.309 --> 00:08:54.389
of not you know, touching it, you know, alcoholic or what?
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What's been the biggest change difference that
you've seen over the last six eight months.
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00:09:03.700 --> 00:09:07.019
I think the biggest thing is,
you know, I have to learn
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00:09:07.220 --> 00:09:11.169
more about myself and then learn how
to live life on life's terms. It's
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life comes at me, and that
was my big problem. Putting down the
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00:09:15.610 --> 00:09:18.570
bottle wasn't really that hard, to
be honest with you. Stopping the drinking
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00:09:20.289 --> 00:09:22.850
that you know, the actual physical
act of drinking and putting down the bottle.
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That's probably been the easiest part of
my whole recovery, to be honest,
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00:09:26.840 --> 00:09:33.159
because my my alcoholism is worse than
my drinking. And you know,
129
00:09:33.240 --> 00:09:35.759
there's is a saying that they have
my thinking is worse than my drinking,
130
00:09:35.799 --> 00:09:39.629
or my thinking is my drinking,
and for me that is really true,
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00:09:39.669 --> 00:09:46.309
because I'm type of person that,
you know, I've always been ultra competitive
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00:09:46.870 --> 00:09:52.750
and had high expectations of myself and
any time I didn't meet my own expectations,
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then that's what caused me to drink. You know, that's what that's
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00:09:58.139 --> 00:10:01.580
what led me to the bottle.
I would always look for, you know,
135
00:10:01.659 --> 00:10:03.820
the solution at the bottom of the
bottle and obviously it's never there,
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00:10:05.580 --> 00:10:11.330
but you know, that's that's what
I've learned the most is that. You
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00:10:11.450 --> 00:10:13.610
know, yes, there is a
physical component to it. There is,
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there is a physical desire and some
people do have a stronger, actual physical
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00:10:20.769 --> 00:10:22.879
reaction to want to drink. For
me, that wasn't the case. For
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me, my problem was not knowing
how to deal with life so that when
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life came at me the way that
I didn't wanted to or the way that
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you know, that I wasn't planning
for, the only solution I had was
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the drink. And so what I've
learned over the past few months is,
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you know, I don't get to
control those things. Life is going to
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happen. I mean it's good to
bad people, it's you know, to
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drink the sober people. It's going
to come at you and this go come
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back to you fast, but it's
just as a person who was sufferings from
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alcoholism, I have to be able
to accept the speed it comes at me
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and the things that those at me
and I just have to be able to
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deal with them. And that's what
they say. You know, to go
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through something means to come out the
other side. And you know your your
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your story, your journey, reminds
me a lot like, you know,
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the the movement that was in the
s Michael Keaton and Morgan framing was in
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it was called clean and sober,
and you know, I was. It's
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definitely worth a being for our listeners
out there that dealing with some issues.
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I know someone that's dealing with the
same issues that we're talking about today.
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But I think it's a very,
very good movie, even and it's still
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a very time of peace, and
I'm pretty sure there's other movies that that
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touch on the same topic, but
that's one of the ones that stand out,
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especially, you know, the last
few scenes of it, you know,
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before, you know, we close
things out here. What's one thing
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that you would say or one thing
that you would piece of advice that you
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are all for to you know,
Joe, two thousand and six Joe.
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I mean if, yeah, if
I could go back fifteen years ago,
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I would, I would tell myself
exactly what I just you know, what
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I just told the audience now,
is learn how to deal with life as
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it comes at you. Don't play
the victim, you know, don't.
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Don't create these scenarios in your head
where the universe is working against you or
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this person is working against you.
I'm not doing as well as my colleagues.
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I'm not doing as well as my
friends, my brothers. You know,
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take life as it comes at you, for the good and for the
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bad. It's okay to to feel
up and to feel down. That's just
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that's the that's the that's the human
experience and we've got to accept that not
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every day is going to be a
great day, not every day is going
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to be a bad day. But
just because you have a bad day don't
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mean that you got to number it
up by picking up the bottle or pills
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or whatever it is your drug,
a choice might be. That's what I
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would tell my you know myself fifteen
years ago. It's just just to accept
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life as it comes at you and
just learn how to deal with life on
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life's terms. And if we're talking
to you know, we have a listener
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that's out there now dealing with the
same thing. What would you tell bad
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person? Oh, you know,
that's a looking for a hand or help.
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Where would you point what direction would
you point them into? From a
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practical standpoint, I would say that
if you if you feel like you have
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a problem, when you feel like
you may have a problem, honestly,
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you know, go online and look
up your local, the local a chapter,
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your local alcoholics anonymous, or your
local, you know, narcotics,
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anonymous chapter, and find what they
call an open meeting. Open meeting is
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basically it's a meeting that's open to
anyone in the general public, doesn't cost
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anything, it's anonymous. You don't
have to you don't have to you know,
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even have to acknowledge, and no
one else is going to acknowledge that
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you were there. But you know, if you really think you have a
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problem, try going to one of
those meetings and just sit there and listen.
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You don't have to say anything,
you don't have to tell your story.
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But sometimes it's hearing other people and
hearing that there's more than just you're
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not the only one going through it. You might find some insight that will
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lead you to the place where you're
going to get help. Before I did,
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to lead you to the place where
you're going to say I'm tired of
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doing what I keep doing and I
don't want to keep, you know,
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living like this anymore. For me
it took, you know, it took
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a lot of physical and, it
looks took a lot of mental, mental,
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emotional, spiritual pain. But for
others, I mean maybe you go
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into those rooms and you hear the
stories that are being told in those rooms
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and that's enough to convince you that
you don't want to live this life of
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addiction anymore and that might start your
road to recovery. So, I mean
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that's you know, you know,
like I said, from a practical standpoint,
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that's what I would offer to the
listener out there is is find a
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meeting and go to a meeting.
From, I guess, more of a
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spiritual emotional standpoint, I would say
this. Look deep in yourself. I
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mean you know yourself more than you
know then you think you doing better than
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anyone else, and you know if
you're truly not happy, get help.
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Ask for help, you know,
reach out for help, whatever it is,
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if you if it's with your pastor
if you're it's with your friends,
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if it's with your family, if
it's with your significant other, just be
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willing to admit that you need the
help and then just start on that role
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of trying to get it. But
don't keep looking for the solution and in
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the problem. You know, don't
keep looking for the solution in the bottle
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like I did. You know,
and just you's got to get to that
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moment. It's got to want to
change. And when you get to that
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moment and you and you truly feel
like you've had enough and you know you
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just tired of it, then commit
yourself to doing something to change that,
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just by doing small things. I
try going to that meeting or whatever it
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is, to try talking to somebody. But I mean that's you know,
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there's a lot more to this subject. I could talk about this for hours
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on end and and and and that's
and that's the good news is that there's
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always someone that you can talk to
and let you know that they're not going
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through this by themselves. They're not
the first person to go through this and
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you know they won't be the last, and there's always someone out there that
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you can reach out to and get
some conversation to. You know, for
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those lists that want to get some
more information, feel free to email said
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here at the solment at the saw
mill podcast at gmailcom. Will also post
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some information on a blog that you
can catch at the Sawmill podcastcom. So
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email us at the saw mill podcast
at gmailcom and follow blog at the sawmill
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podcastcom Joe. Appreciate it. Appreciate
you know, friendship, brother Love,
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you. So glad to see you
your journey. It's a testament of faith,
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dedication, consistency and you know it's
been. It's been quite a treat
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discuss this and on this last few
episodes. Well, I appreciate you have
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me and I want to just say
one more thing before we close it out,
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because I don't want to end this
on the negative. No, I
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want to say that you know,
since I've gone into recovery and then,
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and I could encourage you know,
anyone who has feels like they may need
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to do what I'm doing now,
is that it's not all bad. You're
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going to find a lot of positive
things and you're going to find a lot
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of happy endings and you can find
a lot of a lot of good things
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are going to happen to you in
life when you start this process. And
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one of the things that's going to
happen is exactly what we do in right
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now. You know, a lot
of time, a lot of the reason
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that I didn't get help earlier because
I was ashamed to get help because you
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know, like I said, we
was always come pair in ourselves to each
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other and everyone else, and then
you always ashamed that what your friends are
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going to think of you. But
what you find out and recovery is that
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your real friends only want you to
get better and that you're going to find
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out you got a lot of friends
out there that that are there for you
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and that are going to be happier
with the sober version of you than you
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think and that life can be a
lot better than you think. And I'll
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leave on this. One of the
blessings I've had and one of the blessings
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I've learned and recovery is that some
people only have friends because of their usage,
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and that's what that's what you call
your your drinking friends, friends that
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you know, that that basically you
just drink with. I've been fortunate and
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I been lucky that I don't just
have drinking friends, but I have friends
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that I used to drink with and, you know, friends that are still
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my friends without the drink. Absolutely. So don't be afraid to get you
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know, go out there and get
the help. You be surprised how many
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people want to see you do it, how many people are going to want
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to help you get through and you're
going to be surprised at at how much
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better life can be on the other
side. So until next time, stay
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safe, stay vocal. I'm brand
sakes going to see you next time in
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the saw mill
