MJs Progress Not Perfection

Sarah was born in Germany as a military kid. She would eventually move around three and was raised in Minnesota. We talk about how she grew up around addiction, but also saw what recovery could look like with her mother. We talk about being homeless and bouncing around trap houses. I will give an extra trigger warning for talking about multiple times she was raped over the years being addicted to...

Vona Black is born and raised in Charleston SC by a single mom that was definitely making sure it was a no nonsense home! Unfortunately for her, that also meant as soon as Vona could be 18 and done school she was off to the races! We talk about how she lived her life in addiction, how she white knuckled being clean the first time, why it didn’t work and why this time it’s different! Check out Vona...

Carly just recently celebrated 8 months sober! Like a lot of us, this isn’t her first time in sobriety, things happen, that’s life. Carly and many others are proof that a relapse can be a part of your story to make your recovery even stronger! We talk about growing up in Michigan and how she got into addiction, but also how her sobriety looks! To listen to the full podcast instead of watch https:/...

Christa and Steve have a unique relationship because it began in rehab! That’s taboo for most people and they even will tell people not to do what they did. They did though do a lot of the right things in how long they waited to live together and other things. Now they have a baby girl on the way and both doing a lot of great things for their life and recovery. You can follow Christa’s YouTube and...

It’s now February so I’m going to be highlighting a lot of different couples in recovery. Whether they’re a couple that met in addiction, found addiction together, met in rehab or even met in recovery. I want to be able to show a lot of different examples of how couples get through things together being sober. This episode is with Roger and Ashley who fell into addiction while already living a reg...

Foster has been a good friend to both myself and the show since we met back in September in a recovery Facebook group. Foster messaged me asking for an emergency episode because he said he had stuff he had to come clean about. He was worried that I would hate him after he came clean about a dark secret he had been keeping to himself for a long time. When he told me his secret I didn't hate him, I...

Nicole and Molly have both already been on the show individually to tell their stories. You can find each of them below. With it being Human Trafficking Month and both of them being survivors of trafficking I wanted to save this episode for last for January. They were both trafficked together by multiple people for years in the Columbus, Ohio area. We talk a lot about their traffickers and how tho...

Abbey has been clean and sober now for a few years, but it’s been a very long road! She was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. Her parents are still married to this day growing up never needing for anything as the youngest of three. She eventually found benzos after having a child and suffering postpartum depression. That began the rough and rocky road ahead. We talk about how she found sobriety i...

LC grew up in southern Alabama a lesbian girl. He had a young mother who did the best she could with two young girls. Unfortunately at one point LC ended up having a very abusive step father. The episode starts out with an extremely traumatic event from when he was 11 after coming forward about the abuse. Like all my episodes always go in knowing there’s probably some trigger warnings. He is doing...

Alex was born and raised up in the Great White North, Canada! She was a very gifted child that advanced thru school quick enough to graduate high school early and end up in college while most are learning how to drive. Everything she does is intense. Whether she is intense about her recovery now or was an intense drug addict alcoholic for many years. I’ve never said to a guest out right “ohhhh, yo...

Finally hit 100 episodes done! So I figure for number 100 I should give one of the craziest before and after to date. April definitely might have one of the most shocking before & after I have seen or had on the show in a while! We talk about how drugs would make her spin out of control very quickly. She was born and raised in NJ, so a Jersey girl. Like a lot of us, it can be toxic and we do have...

Mike has had a long career with drinking and drugging while working in advertising. He has also been able to use his creative side in sobriety to start a website to spread peoples stories. He has a unique experience in living in the two (self proclaimed) weirdest cities in our country, Austin and Portland. If you’ve seen Mad Men you know how the drinks flow working in advertising. You can learn mo...

Vinny or as he’s known as “Skinny Vinny” is the definition of living his wildest dreams ever since getting sober! You may have already heard him on Dopey, well multiple times he’s been a guest there! After spending a few years homeless in Connecticut he found himself bouncing around rehabs in LA until one finally stuck. We talk a lot about his journey in addiction, but also how he ended up making...

This is one of the first times in 5 years that Courtney sat down and told her story in long form the way we do! We definitely cover a lot from how she grew up in Alberta, Canada province with her fathers side of the family being indigenous to their land. Which, anyone who knows whats been happening lately in Canada knows how part of this story could go. She has a child now and been sober 5 years a...

In December 2020 Nathan was 20% away from being disabled which led to a big operation and immediate rehab for drugs and alcohol. He works a solid program now and just last month celebrated one year clean and sober! He is the third guest I’ve had on the show from the UK and the first guy, the stories from over there some wild ones. He spent a lot of his addiction years being a DJ around Cardiff and...

Krissi is a great friend to the show making her third appearance after telling her story the first time and doing a panel episode with the girls from Ohio is back with a vengeance to discuss her new blog that is based off her old journal entries through the years of different relationships and different times battling sobriety and active addiction. We go off on many rants as per usual whenever we...

Mike Fiore is a great friend and I couldn’t think of a better way to start of season 2 and 2022 with someone as motivating as he is! Mikes been on the show before back around thanksgiving. Actually, we recorded his first appearance two days before and he was telling me how his mom wasn’t doing good then. Unfortunately on thanksgiving his mom did pass. This time around I wanted to get the audience...

It is the season 1 finale and end of 2021! I can’t believe this is the 37th straight episode I’ve released in a row. You won’t have to wait long for new episodes rolling January 3rd! Laurie is a fellow sober podcaster with an amazing platform! Her YouTube channel is linked below as well. She’s coming up on almost a dozen years of continuous sobriety in February! We talk about her podcast and how s...

Emily has been doing amazing things with her social media pages of Happy Sober Free! The links are below for her socials, but she also incorporates yoga into her recovery! I was pleasantly surprised that she is yet another Wisconsin born and raised guest. In fact is friends in recovery with Travis Sackett who has been on the show twice now and the author of “My Life with Karma” Don’t forget to che...

Jewels has been sober for a few years and is also a podcast host! Her podcast named grabbed my attention on social media right away because I love the show How I Met Your Mother! Her and her mom have both had struggles with sobriety and we get into her history and how she got sober and why it’s working for her today! She’s a born and raised Philly girl which is my first, which is kind of weird sin...

I think the name kind of gives this episode away, but all three guests have been on the show before and all are from Ohio! The episode starts out with Ashlee and myself chatting while waiting for others to join. Krissi then joins then Nicole. Somewhere between Krissi and Nicole we lost video so if watching this just know when a few min in when the video goes to still images it will stay that way....

Christa recently celebrated three years with no drugs and alcohol! Even more exciting new news is that she is also expecting her first baby! We do talk about how she grew up in foster care after being born to a parent addicted to drugs. She also hosts her own podcast and posts about her sobriety on her Instagram.. both are linked below to listen to her podcast or follow her social media! Christa P...

I met Mel on her first recovery tiktok page. I say first because shortly after we recorded this episode her page was taken down and she has since started up a new one. So the link below is for her new page she recently started telling her story again there! She spent years being stuck in trafficking in Ontario Canada. I was surprised to learn that prostitution is legal in Canada, it’s the traffick...

Jeff Vickers is a good friend to the show an author of his first book, Sober Slogans, which the link can be found below! He is also now the host of his own show “Pardon My Reach” on the Recovery Revolution pages ran by previous guest and author JR Weaver. This episode is basically like listening in on two alcoholics talking about movies, tv and of course with the central theme of this whole hour i...

Gillian Tietz is the host of the Sober Powered podcast and works as a biochemist in the Boston area. When she quit drinking in 2019, she dedicated herself to learning about alcohol's influence on the brain and how it can cause addiction. She used that knowledge to free herself from the shame she had about being unable to control her drinking. Today, she educates and empowers others to assess their...