I failed at getting sober. A lot.
We always tell people, "Don't be afraid to fail," but we rarely talk about what failure actually looks like in practice. On a recent episode of The Leaders' Arena Podcast, I sat down with someone who has seen my failures and successes firsthand: Coach Rick Hendrickson.
I’ve known Coach since I was seven years old in Berkeley Springs, WV. He was my high school wrestling coach, later my boss for many years and ultimately, family.
During this episode, we talked about my journey to hitting three years of sobriety. The reality is, getting to this point required a massive amount of "shedding." Shedding old mindsets, old habits and sometimes, shedding people. Not to place blame, I own my decisions, but because resetting your life requires absolute accountability.
It also required doing the hard, uncomfortable work. After going through five different therapists, I finally found one who was a recovering alcoholic. We did immersion therapy. I would go sit at a bar, order a beer, stare at it and actively force myself to confront every negative thing it had caused in my life.
It rewired my brain so completely that recently, when I had to taste a single drop of a cocktail recipe for a client, my brain registered it as rubbing alcohol.
Sobriety isn't just about stopping. It's about completely clicking your mind into a different place.
I am incredibly grateful to Coach for being a mentor through the years of false starts, so I could finally get to the finish line.
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