The Brad Mersereau Show
I’m going to talk about real experiences and lessons learned from life love and the pursuit of happiness. Will we find it? possibly. Are we about it? Most Definitely! Come along for the journey as we venture through the up’s and downs together.
The Brad Mersereau Show
Unshackled: The Truth About Sobriety
We explore the multifaceted journey of sobriety—including the science of addiction, myths about recovery, and evidence-based tools for lasting transformation. Going beyond mere abstinence, we examine how sobriety impacts physical health, mental wellbeing, relationships, and daily functioning.
• Alcohol use disorder affects approximately 400 million people globally with annual deaths exceeding 3 million
• Addiction physically hijacks the brain's reward circuitry, but neuroimaging shows remarkable recovery with sustained abstinence
• Common myths about sobriety include equating it with boredom and believing one must hit rock bottom before seeking help
• Early sobriety challenges include withdrawal symptoms, social awkwardness, and identity crisis
• Support options range from peer groups like AA to medications, therapy, and digital tools
• Lifestyle foundations for recovery include proper sleep, nutrition, exercise, and community support
• Recovery tools include relapse prevention planning, creative expression, mindfulness, and celebrating micro-milestones
If today's episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who might benefit. Connect with me at The Brad Mercerow Show on all social media platforms and podcast directories, or email thebradmercerowshow@gmail.com. For immediate help, visit niaa.nih.gov, samhsa.gov, or call 1-800-662-HELP.
Welcome to the show. Talk about it or be about it. It's the About it Podcast here here. Here we go, go go. I'm your host, bradley Marslowe. Welcome back to the Brad Mercerow Show. I'm your host, bradley Mercerow.
Speaker 1:Today's episode is all about sobriety what it really means, why people choose it and how it transforms lives. We'll dig into definitions, science, myths, the toughest early days support systems, personal stories and practical tips you can use right now. Let's dive in. All right, everyone. I just wanted to kick this episode off by giving you guys a news story and making this real. So the title of this is New York.
Speaker 1:A man is accused of being drunk when he allegedly fired a rifle, narrowly missing a group of people in the town of Maycomb. Police were called to stay around 58, around 8.30 pm Tuesday for a weapon complaint. According to troopers, 82-year-old Glenn Heimbach of Bloomsburg, pennsylvania, tried to shoot a coyote. However, the bullet went through a neighbor's garage. According to court documents, the bullet went through the neighbor's garage and almost hit a group of adults and children who were seated at a table. There were no injuries, surprisingly, thank God. In court papers, police say Heimbach was in an intoxicated state while firing the rifle. He was taken into custody and charged with second-degree reckless endangerment. Heimbach was later released to appear in Maycomb Town Court in August.
Speaker 1:So yeah, alcohol is no joke. It affects a lot of lives, from top to bottom, young to old. I mean, this guy was in his 80s and alcohol drove him to shoot at a coyote and almost hit children and a family. Reasons like this and others is why I felt led to do this episode today. To kick this episode off, I'm going to get into a daily reflection from Alcoholics Anonymous. They grew, so the title of it is Giving Center Stage. This is for July 12th, for without some degree of humility, no alcoholic can stay sober at all. Without it, they cannot live too much of a useful purpose or an adversity, be able to summon faith that can meet any emergency. And the following is from the page 70 on the 12 steps and 12 traditions.
Speaker 1:Why do I balk at the word humility? I am not humbling myself toward other people, but toward god. As I understand them, humility means to show submissive respect. And by being humble I realize I am not the center of the universe. When I was drinking, I was consumed by pride and self-centeredness. I felt the entire world revolved around me, that I was a master of my destiny. Humility enables me to depend more on God to help me overcome obstacles, to help me with my own imperfections, so that I may grow spiritually. I must solve more difficult problems to increase my proficiency and as I encounter life's stumbling blocks, I must learn to overcome them through God's help. Daily communion with God demonstrates my humility and provides me with the realization that an entity more powerful than I is willing to help me if I cease trying to play God myself. And that's pretty cool. So what does that mean to me? It means that I don't think I'm so important that I'm making these grand decisions that really end up leading down the rabbit hole of disaster. By showing humility and putting others before myself, it leads down the road of self-improvement and making your life better.
Speaker 1:And for those of you that don't know what Alcoholics Anonymous is or AA is, it is a fellowship of people who come together to solve their drinking problem. It doesn't cost anything to attend the meetings. There are no age or education requirements to participate. Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about their drinking problem. Aa's primary purpose is to help alcoholics to achieve sobriety, and it works like this. Members use 12 steps to maintain sobriety. Groups use the 12 traditions to stay unified. Aa's 12 steps are a set of spiritual principles. When practiced as a way of life, they can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to recover from alcoholism. The 12 traditions apply to the AA as a whole. They outline how AA maintains its unity and relates itself to the world around it.
Speaker 1:The book Alcoholics Anonymous describes the AA program of recovery. It also contains stories written by the co-founders and stories from a wide range of members who have found recovery in AA. In short, aa is a group that has admitted that they cannot control alcohol. They have learned that they must live without it to live normal, happy lives. What they are not is anti-alcohol. They have no wish to reform the world, not allied with any group cause or religious denomination. They welcome new members but do not recruit them. They don't impose their experience with problem drinking on others, but they do share it when asked to do so, and they know that their own sobriety depends on connecting with other alcoholics.
Speaker 1:I could tell you from my personal experience with alcohol that AA has actually been a godsend, having a group of people around you that have been through similar situations so they don't judge you and they listen and also depend on you. Being there to help them stay sober has done a world of difference for me personally and to rid my life of alcohol, because going down that path of drinking alcohol to the point where you can't control it anymore leads to nothing but devastation and heartache and heartbreak. It can lead to financial problems, relationship problems, legal problems and all of the above. Sobriety isn't just not drinking or not using. It's a holistic process of healing, growth and reclaiming your fullest life. Recovery involves improvements in physical health, mental well-being, relationships and daily functioning, far beyond the absence of substances. Today we'll look at why the broader approach matters for sustaining change and finding real freedom. Globally, about 7% of adults meet the criteria for alcohol use disorder. That's roughly 400 million people. Alcohol contributes to over 3 million deaths each year and burdens societies with hundreds of billions in healthcare costs, lost productivity and social consequences. Understanding the scale helps us see sobriety as not only a personal journey but a public health imperative. Preventative measures like smarter taxation, marketing limits and early intervention programs have been shown to reduce harm and save lives.
Speaker 1:Addiction is no joke. It hijacks the brain's reward circuitry. Every drink or drug surge rewires neurons to crave more. Chronic use alters dopamine, glutamate and GABA systems producing tolerance and withdrawal and driving compulsion. The good news our brains are remarkably plastic, with sustained abstinence. Imaging studies show gray matter recovery in decision-making regions and improved impulse control. Knowing how the brain heals can make early sobriety feel less mysterious and more hopeful. And that's no joke.
Speaker 1:Alcohol everybody is straight poisoned Like that's exactly what a hangover is. In fact, just one night of drinking can give you a bad hangover the next day, and that is already withdrawing from alcohol. That is, the symptoms of withdrawal is the sweating, the headaches, all that stuff. You are actually withdrawing from alcohol even after just one night of drinking. It's that poisonous to you. The memories it makes you lose, the health consequences it has towards your body. They are serious. It is so highly addictive it can. For some people it can feel like getting hooks stuck in you don't want to let go, like if anybody's ever gotten a fish hook stuck in them while going out fishing on the on or the ocean. Sometimes you have to go to the emergency room just to get it out. And that can even be the same with alcohol, because sometimes it can get so serious that you do have to go and get medication to even get off of it, or else you could die.
Speaker 1:Let me bust a rhyme. Let me bust a couple myths for you. Sobriety does not equal boredom. Real fun comes from presence, being in the moment, no-transcript. And you don't have to hit rock bottom either. Early change actually leads to better outcomes.
Speaker 1:You don't need a catastrophe to decide you deserve more. I know so many have been through, and especially in some of the AA meetings I've been to and all this stuff. Of course I can't say any names or anything like that, but several people for example, one of my buddies in AA woke up the next day after a night of drinking and couldn't find his whole truck. Apparently he crashed it into a telephone pole and had to go looking for it for five hours before he even found it and then had to get it towed home and parts replaced on the thing. So you don't need to go to that level. You don't need to go to the level of getting drunk and blacking out and going and throwing bottles at people's houses or something like that. You don't have to have a catastrophe in your life to decide that, hey, this is rock bottom, maybe I shouldn't be doing this.
Speaker 1:It's okay to recognize these signs early on. If you can't imagine yourself living without alcohol or going anywhere and not drinking, then you might have a problem. You might have an issue that you need to take care of. If you can't just give it up and not go back to it, that's not a good thing. And relapse it doesn't mean failure. Relapse is information, not the end. Every slip teaches you what you need to shore up next time. So just because on your journey of quitting alcohol, you might go back to it when you don't want to, or maybe you decide, hey, I'm going to try it out and I think I can just take one drink, and it just doesn't go. Well, it's not necessarily the end of things. It's just another piece of information that's telling you hey, this is important. It lets you know how important it is to stop what you're doing, to stop you drinking the alcohol. It helps you realize how important it is.
Speaker 1:There are challenges of sobriety, especially early sobriety. The first days and weeks can be brutal. You can have withdrawal symptoms such as insomnia, anxiety, irritability and, in severe cases, medical risks, like I I talked about before. There can be social awkwardness, so like parties and friend groups suddenly feel like obstacle courses. It's just not the same with the same friends. A lot of times you end up not keeping the same friends that you used to when you drank. You get a new group of friends, and if you go to the alcoholics anonymous groups, then some of those guys become your friends and brothers that you've never had before in a really positive way, and you get shown a whole new world of living. You can have an identity crisis, like I was saying, if you can't give it up or go anywhere without having a drink, you can find yourself in a state of who am I without alcohol or drugs, for that matter? Each tough moment you endure is building self-trust, though the most powerful foundation for a lasting recovery, and you don't have to walk this path alone.
Speaker 1:Here's a quick few tips to help you along the way. There are peer support options, like mentioned before, aa and NA, for Now Narcotics Anonymous, If you're having issues with drugs, they have decades of success. And if you're worried about them preaching too much or something like that although I do have to give Jesus the credit for my salvation and my journey of recovery there are alternatives, like the SMART smart recovery, which focus on self-empowerment and science-based tools. Again, no judgment. That's part of what you learn in these groups is there is no judgment, because many of the folks sitting around you have been through the exact same things. But if you're finding it hard to quit or have medical issues or something like that, there are medications that can help too, such as naltrexone, a compresate, and desulfurum. They can help curb cravings and ease the road when you can't do it on your own, and if total absences feels too, and if total abstinence feels too big at first, creation-based and personalized plans can reduce risk while you build momentum.
Speaker 1:There's also integrated care, which I highly recommend if you can. So combining mental health therapy with therapists, counselors, psychologists, something like that with substance use treatment, boost retention and long-term gains in your journey. There's also a lot of digital tools and technology now. So technology now offers powerful support. There's sobriety apps such as I Am Sober, reframe and Backtrack View that help track progress, connect with peers even and stay accountable. There's wearables, such as devices that monitor alcohol levels and sweat, give real time feedback and great for anyone working on a structured plan. There's online communities and even telehealth. So instant 24 seven support is a game changer for rural areas especially, or those with busy schedules.
Speaker 1:Along with that, there's several lifestyle factors that can be impactful to your journey and many of those a lot don't realize are affected. When you drink alcohol, do drugs and such Alcohol in particular, it can chemically induce that insomnia, the anxiety, the depression, and getting off of it, withdrawing from it, can make it so much worse. That's what part of what drives you to have more is you start getting anxious. These feelings you got to start pacing. You can't sit through an episode of a TV show or a whole movie without having to get up, walk out, go to the bathroom, grab a drink, for example. Alcohol is chemically highly responsible for that, for that dependency. So lifestyle factors again, like sleep, nutrition, exercise, those are all things you even avoid when getting it, when being addicted and on alcohol and drugs. So those are the very things that become so important to your recovery.
Speaker 1:Recovery thrives on a strong foundation. So once you get off of it, the sleep consistent, restorative sleep cuts relapse risk in half. Nutrition, replenishing key vitamins, especially the B and D vitamins, to support brain and mood stabilization, are critical. Exercise right. So getting to the gym, going out for a walk, just getting some sunshine, going out and breathing fresh air, because I know many might have a problem just wanting to even go outside Again with that anxiety, that depression. Maybe you pace outside for a second, but that's about it Again, with that anxiety, that depression. Maybe you pace outside for a second, but that's about it. But movement releases endorphins, sparks neurogenesis and replaces old substance-based rewards with healthy ones.
Speaker 1:And again, joining a group and a peer group is such a big, big help because all the stories you hear really, really invigorate your recovery journey. I know, before I went and joined the AA group and started coming getting clean and all that stuff off of alcohol didn't really have a problem with drugs, but getting clean and sober off of alcohol it was so hard and it was so shameful. Actually that's not what everybody not everybody speaks to that Um, but it's kind of a shameful journey too. It at least it feels like it at Um. But it's kind of a shameful journey too At least it feels like it first.
Speaker 1:But then you get in the group and have the peer support and you start hearing story after story after story which sounds like just like something you've done, and you tell your story and somebody else speaks up and says hey, I remember those days, you know, 10 years ago they'd been sober, um, such as, like all the hiding places you you might hide the bottles or the cans or the beers or liquor or something like that. Like, maybe you're hiding them in the ceiling, you're hiding them under the counters, in the drawers, hiding them in unmarked bottles, putting them in your sippy cup, whatever you got. There's other folks that have been like, hey man, I've been there. There's other folks that have been like hey man, I've been there, I'm crashing your car or something you know, getting in legal trouble, losing your wallet, losing all your money burn, catching something on fire I've even heard that story catching something on fire and burning up 1500 bucks or something. It really helps to be around a nonjudgmental crowd of folks that have been through what you've been through Can't speak to that enough. So, yeah, it's pretty important.
Speaker 1:Something else that's important is relapse prevention planning. A solid plan is your recovery GPS. It's your navigator, like high risk mapping, identifying the emotional, social and environmental triggers that lead you back to the drinking or towards getting that fixed. Self-medicating that lead you back to the drinking or towards getting that fixed, self-medicating Just basically identifying where the problem areas are that could lead you back that way can help. You have the foresight to not go and fall into that trap again. A coping toolkit, such as phone numbers that you can get from your AA fellow AA members to become your brothers and sisters, someone to call up, your sponsor in the moments you're feeling those urges and desires to self-medicate again or have another drink or have another fix.
Speaker 1:Certain therapies like breathing exercises or quick distractions, an activity you can do like a game, a puzzle, even taking a quick walk to help break that cycle. Routine building, even Anchor days with sleep, meals and movement, make them repetitive, make them something that you do so you're focused on that instead of your next drink. And then accountability Regular check-ins with your sponsors, your therapist and your sober friends. Just stay in contact with them and let them be your mentors, even from how they live life, because that gives you the foresight and the outlook of what your life's about to look like. So be aware of like cultural and spiritual dimensions as well. So culture and belief shape recovery. In many communities, faith-based rituals and church networks provide vital support, turning communal traditions into recovery assets. Secular approaches like mindfulness and meditation also offer a spiritual path without religious affiliation. People reporting a spiritual awakening often see lower relapse rates and greater life satisfaction.
Speaker 1:Something else that helps is journaling and, like expressive arts, so creative expression deepens healing. Journaling helps process emotions, spot patterns and celebrates wins. Artistic outlets like drawing, collages, poetry, music even this podcast I'm doing right now help unlock deeper self-compassion. Sharing work in trusted groups builds connection and vulnerability. There's also digital peer support and community engagement. So, beyond apps, real world and vital communities matter. Digital recovery support services like DRSS, 24-7 peer support forums, video meetups and resource libraries that predict better retention and fewer relapses. You got local events such as sober runs, community rallies and health fairs that raise visibility, normalizing recovery and forge newer friendships. One thing I've heard of that's pretty cool is like the Phoenix model. The Phoenix nonprofit blends fitness with fellowship, from rock climbing to group hikes. Over half a million members nationwide rebuild trust through shared, substance-free challenges. Founder Scott Strode calls it clear-headed moments combined with collective achievement, and that synergy drives lasting change.
Speaker 1:Here's some expert insights and emerging trends. So like looking ahead. You have things like precision recovery, tailoring interventions to genetic, neurobiological and psychosocial profiles. Integrated lived experience Programs increasingly involve people in long-term recovery to shape policy and treatment. Telepsychiatry and AI like even AI is getting involved. Early pilots suggest virtual counselors and chatbots can augment human support effectively. I know I've asked AI hey, what's the meaning of life even before? Some practical and tips and tools. Here's some practical tips and tools I can give you.
Speaker 1:Let's wrap up with actionable takeaways. So celebrate micro milestones. Celebrate every sober hour, day, week, each next step, the trigger matrix Keep a running map of what stirs cravings and your go-to responses. Mindfulness Enjoy mindfulness. So five minutes of deep breathing can diffuse intense urges. Do peer check-ins, daily or weekly calls with support buddy. Give yourself healthy rewards. Treat yourself to experiences, classes, outdoor adventures, creative projects and get professional help. That's not a downgrade, that's not a dig at you. Like I am grateful for professional help. Don't hesitate to tap therapists or physicians for medications and counseling. Like, dig into that and look out for hotlines and meetings. Always have emergency contacts and local meeting info at your fingertips. With this, with all these, you can have long-term benefits and life reimagined. Really Sustain sobriety, unlock stronger relationships, career growth, renewed community engagement, boosted self-esteem and resilience. Imagine celebrating five, 10 or 20 years sober and the person you became along the way.
Speaker 1:If today's episode hit home, share it with someone who might need it. Connect with me at the Brad Mercerow Show on socials and all podcast platforms. The email is thebradmercerowshow at gmailcom. You can also chat with me there. So n-i-a-a-a dot. N-i-h dot gov or s-a-m-h-s-a dot gov, or call 1-800-662-HELP. You're not alone and help is always within reach. Thanks for listening to the Brad Mercer Show and be kind to yourself. Recovery is a journey worth taking.
