What I Didn't Know: Building the Life You Recovered For

What happens when you take away the substance, only to realize the hardest part wasn't stopping—it was learning how to stay? In this powerful conversation, I sit down with Kristen Nealey to get real about what long-term recovery looks like once the initial ‘shiny’ phase wears off. Moving beyond the surface of sobriety, we dive into the messy work of confronting codependency, romantic expectat...

Healing isn’t about outrunning your past—it’s about finding the courage to stop, feel, and uncover who you were meant to be all along. In this hearteflt conversation, Glenn Mealer and I sit down to talk about the non-linear reality of recovery, facing rock-bottom moments, navigating profound grief, and learning to forgive ourselves. Glenn opens up about arriving in Nashville with a trash bag of cl...

What happens when you stop digging in the wound and give yourself permission to start creating forward? In this week’s episode, Ethan Hansen and I sit down for an honest, grounded conversation about second chances, recovery, and what it actually takes to rebuild. We talk about the stories we make up in our heads—the assumptions, the fear-based thinking, and the false realities we function from—and...

What happens when life throws unexpected loss, change, and zero control your way? In this off-the-cuff episode, I’m breaking away from our usual routine to sit with you directly from the middle of a heavy week. Instead of waiting until things are neatly wrapped up on the other side, I dig into the deep discomfort of living out the very truths I hold close: surrendering to life on life's terms...

What does it truly take to rebuild a life from the inside out—and sustain it for the long haul? In this episode, my guest Andy Walker and I dive into what recovery and mental health actually look like outside the walls of a meeting. We open up about living transparently in high-pressure careers, navigating the pain of outgrowing old relationships, and building a life you don't need to escape...

In this week’s episode, I sit down with Dayna DeHerrera-Smith to unpack what it really takes to unlearn inherited beliefs, reframe rest, and do the uncomfortable work of reinventing yourself. Dayna shares her journey of uncoupling her self-worth from constant output—a pattern rooted in a blue-collar upbringing—and together, we explore how running on empty causes us to give our most exhausted selve...

How do we move from merely admitting our struggles to accepting them in our hearts? In this episode, Carl Caldwell joins me to explore the spiritual mechanics of recovery, unlearning self-reliance, and stepping from Version 1.0 survival into Version 2.0 surrender. Carl opens up about giving up sheer willpower and getting out of the "results business" to find true peace. Together, we unpa...

What happens when life shifts from the self-centered loop of early recovery to a season where you barely have the bandwidth for your own reflection? In this episode, I sit down with Cale Yancey to pull back the curtain on modern adulthood, parenting, and the delicate dance between healthy boundaries and total self-neglect. Together, we unpack what it takes to manage professional, high-volume chaos...

What does it actually cost to dismantle the life you knew and rebuild yourself from the ground up? When I share how I’ve changed my life, it comes from knowing what it feels like to be completely broken and lost—and choosing, day after day, to pick myself up off the kitchen floor and rewrite who I am. I share this story to give that journey a voice, and in doing so, give you permission to do the s...

Moving Sobriety from the Brain to the Heart When high achievement and overthinking can no longer protect us, what does real surrender actually look like? In this episode, I sit down with Bob—a retired attorney in long-term recovery—for a deeply honest conversation about what happens when our sharpest tools stop working. For decades, Bob relied on his intellect, problem-solving, and professional su...

We’ve all lived in that exhausting space of trying to look like we have it all together—hiding our mistakes, dodging our shortcomings, and hoping no one notices. But what changes when we stop pretending we have it all together? In this episode, I sit down with Dan Thatcher for a remarkably candid conversation about his five-year journey of recovery. We dive deep into what it was like for him to di...

What happens when you are told to tell the truth, but never actually taught how ? In this episode, I sit down with Chuck Paetz for a raw, necessary conversation about what it takes to dismantle a lifetime of hiding. Growing up in a rigid, deeply religious household, Chuck learned early on that vulnerability wasn’t safe. To numb the voices, hide his sexuality, and cope with childhood trauma, he tur...

What happens when you realize you’ve been fiercely devoted to all the wrong things—to toxicity, negative self-talk, and the old rules that keep you small? In this powerful episode, I sit down with Amber Dodd to unpack how we break negative core beliefs, reclaim intuition, and own our inherent worth. Drawing from Amber's journey of surviving childhood trauma, addiction, and human trafficking,...

There is a strange, quiet gravity that shifts when you lose the anchors of your family tree. Suddenly, you aren’t just looking back at your roots—you’re looking at what you're leaving behind. We often treat grief like a linear checklist. But in this episode sitting down with Matthew Hillman, a sudden family passing holds up a mirror to our own lives, sparking a raw, introspective, and surpris...

In this deeply moving and vital episode, I sit down with my friend Haven Thomas to open up a transparent, empowering conversation about surviving domestic violence, breaking the cycle of trauma bonding, and finding the road to true freedom . After touching on resilience back in Episode 20, Haven is back to share her journey. This episode isn't just about what she survived—it’s an eye-opening...

What happens when you finally decide to change your life, but the divine timeline doesn't match the grand vision you’ve mapped out for yourself? In this episode, local Nashville musician Elizabeth Bee and I unpack the messy reality of recovery, relationship loops, and the ultimate freedom of "untelling" old childhood stories. We dive into how healing requires us to intentionally bre...

"What are you getting out of staying stuck?" It’s an uncomfortable question, but it’s the one that finally forced me to look at my own blind spots. Shifting out of old habits and deeply ingrained behaviors requires a massive internal lift, and it rarely happens overnight. Inside the episode: The Reality of Growth: We are walking through the entire messy, non-linear process of change—from...

What happens when the armor you build to protect yourself from the world becomes the very cage that traps you? In this episode, I sat down with Chad Wilkerson to explore the exact turning point where his defense mechanisms became too heavy to carry. We trace his journey from navigating relentless childhood bullying to facing a second-degree attempted murder charge involving a samurai sword—and ult...

How do you rewrite your future when the world keeps dragging you back to a single page of your past? In this candid conversation, Megan Hauschulz joins me to pull back the curtain on rebuilding a life from scratch—from navigating the correctional system to starting over on the outside. But this episode goes far deeper than a broken system. Together, we unpack the heavy things we usually hide: navi...

"Give yourself the opportunity to get it wrong." In this episode, I sit down with Frankie Seeney for an unfiltered look at growing up in the "School of Hard Knocks" and what it actually takes to rebuild a life from the ground up. We dive into the heavy cost of generational emotional suppression—that inherited rule that says you have to swallow your pain, go to work, and never s...

“My first drug of choice was validation.” In this episode, I sit down with Savannah Kirkland for a soul-baring conversation about the beautiful reality of the "Second Chance." We talk about how our first birth is handed to us, but our second birth is a conscious, intentional invitation to begin again. Savannah and I trace the journey from the chaos of active addiction to the quiet streng...

What if today is just the 'Day Before' everything changes? Have you ever felt like you’re doing all the work, making the changes, and showing up—but nothing is actually moving? No phone call, no new door opening, just… silence? In this solo episode, I’m revisiting a piece I wrote back in 2022 called "On the Day Before." It’s an honest look at those seasons where life feels stag...

What does it actually mean to be vulnerable?  In this episode, I sit down with Mike White to discuss the messy, courageous "practice" of becoming new again. From navigating the dating world after decades of marriage to dismantling defense mechanisms like humor and "fake anger," we explore what it really takes to let yourself be seen . We dive into the weight of our choices on o...

What if the goal isn't to get it all right, but simply to find the courage to make the next divine stitch? In this episode, I’m joined by Nashville comedian Marty Quinn for a conversation that explores the magic of long-term recovery. After multiple decades of sobriety, Marty has moved past the spiritual arrogance of early recovery and into a life defined by something much more sustainable: p...

What happens when your "independence" starts to look more like a bunker?    This week, we’re pulling back the curtain on the "squirrely" reality of growth, the weight of carrying grief for others, and why choosing a life of recovery often means trading comfortable solitude for messy, vulnerable connection. In this candid conversation, we explore the concept of "Pattern Wit...