The Recovered Life Show | Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Podcast

(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) And the big question that I read when

I looked at all these articles is I

said, are they saying that alcoholics can safely

drink again, after a period of time?

Is that what they're saying?

Because when I read the articles from Brad

Pitt and the responses that the journalists have,

they're just looking at it like it's a

lifestyle thing.

Is what they're really saying is the question

that they're really asking is, hey, you can

drink again, because now you know better.

You're listening to the Recovered Life Show, the

show that helps people in recovery live their

best recovered lives.

So friends, unless you've been living under a

rock, and don't read any online news or

see a tabloid at a grocery store, you

might not know that Brad Pitt after seven

years of sobriety, has decided to drink again.

I want to talk about it in this

episode.

First off, I want to say I don't

know Brad Pitt.

From I enjoy Brad Pitt's movies.

And anything that I'm going to say here

is not a personal attack on Brad Pitt,

from people that I have known, and that

know him and from what I read seems

like a lovely person.

And seems like a fellow alcoholic.

And the little history of this, by the

way, if you don't know this, he announced

in a news interview that he was no

longer sober after seven years of continuous sobriety.

Now he had claimed, according to these news

articles, that he was drinking again, that it

was a choice he was drinking again, it

didn't seem like one day he woke up

drank, and it was a conscious decision, it

seems like.

And it's really interesting.

And why I want to do this episode

is because I have a lot of empathy

for Brad Pitt.

Because I could see and I see on

a daily basis, people that are in recovery,

make this decision.

And for those of you who are listening

to this and are not in recovery, I

totally understand the thought process that you would

make with us.

And that Brad would make with us.

Look, I'm not the same person as I

was seven years ago.

I don't have the same people around me.

Maybe your metabolism has changed.

Everything is different.

And you've learned so much in your recovery

journey.

But what we find, and I hope this

isn't the case with Brad.

But what we find is all that knowledge

that we learned and gathered in recovery doesn't

help us when we begin to drink again.

And having lived and worked in Hollywood for

quite some time, I see this quite frequently.

And I don't know if it was a

people that were around him.

I don't know if it was inner dialogue,

a maybe not being able to stay into

the consciousness and work, whatever kind of recovery

program he had.

But he's out drinking again.

And I see the thought process with this.

I mean, I'm gonna be honest with you,

somebody who's been sober for decades.

I think it's only normal.

And I've had this thought.

It's like my life was totally different than

it wasn't.

But I look around for people who have

gone down this path.

And it sounds logical.

It does.

It sounds like they've gone down this path.

And within a week, a month, a year,

they're worse off than when they first came

into recovery.

And I just don't see it working.

But the most shocking thing out of all

of this is not that another celebrity has

decided that they're no longer gonna stay sober.

The shocking thing about this, about the Brad

Pitt story is the response the media is

having to it.

And they're acting like this is just a

lifestyle change.

I used to eat Twinkies.

But then I found out that Twinkies, you

know, put an extra pound or two on

me.

I don't want to eat Twinkies anymore.

So I stopped eating Twinkies.

But now I might have one or two.

I find if you're an alcoholic, drinking alcohol

doesn't work like that.

Just doesn't work like that.

And the big question that I read when

I when I looked at all these articles

is I said, Are they saying that alcoholics

can safely drink again, after a period of

time?

Is that what they're saying?

Because when I read the articles for Brad

Pitt and the responses that the journalists have,

they're just looking at it like it's a

lifestyle thing.

Is what they're really saying is the question

that they're really asking is, Hey, you can

drink again, because now you know better.

Is that what they're saying?

Because that's what it seems like they're saying.

And the and the big question would be,

can you drink safely?

Is this something we're seeing?

And by the way, I always said, I

am not so attached to being an alcoholic

in recovery, that if, for whatever reason, people

could drink normally after being an alcoholic for

a period of their life, that I would

be so attached to it that I couldn't

give it up.

I just don't see it.

And I was so baffled by this actually

went on Tick Tock Live.

We had hundreds of people in there.

I called some friends and I said, Am

I reading this?

Are they is the inference with this?

That they're saying that once an alcoholic doesn't

mean that you're going to always be an

alcoholic.

And people took away the same thing.

And this makes me wonder what happens to

people that are not like Brad that don't

have the resources around that maybe been sober

for a year.

And they hear, well, you know what, I

know better now.

So the next time I drink, I'm not

going to drink like that anymore.

And is that true?

I always say, is that true?

Is it true?

And I don't see it.

Let me tell you what I see.

I see people that I know that have

been sober 20-25 years, sometimes more, that

within a week, a month, are so back

to being functional and unfunctional alcoholics again, so

quickly, that within a year, their life is

spiraled out.

I see people who have been addicted to

multiple substances, and decide they're no longer going

to drink, but they're going to do something

else.

And they end up doing that they get

obsessed with it, and they slowly brown out

of their life.

That's what I see.

I don't see people who drank, were alcoholics,

were doing the thing, went back out, and

it worked for them.

I just don't see it.

And I'm sure I'm going to get comments

on this episode of the podcast, that, yes,

I am that one magical person.

I am that one magical person that can

do it.

But I don't see it.

I don't see the magical people.

And it's not that I'm not looking for

it.

I'm open.

I'm open.

So I had to ask myself a question,

a question that Brad Pitt brought up for

me.

Can alcoholics ever safely drink alcohol again?

And I thought about it.

I really did.

Not thinking about it like I want to

go out and try it.

No, thank you for me.

No, thank you.

But I thought about it.

And I thought about it really hard.

And really like, is this some sort of

belief we have that's not true?

That somehow we can never drink again?

Listen, I know the podcasters and the tick

tockers.

And if you're a sucker, if you think

a spiritual solution is going to solve the

alcohol and drug problem, I know all of

these.

I see all of these.

And they're saying, yes, it's not a relapse.

You're not really drinking again, if you can

control it this way.

But then I read these articles, these follow

up articles, and he's saying, well, I got

to like manage it one or two.

Well, that's alcoholism.

In my opinion, that's alcoholism.

If you have to manage it, that's alcoholism.

I don't know non-alcoholics who sit run

around trying to manage their drinking.

I just I don't.

Maybe I need more non-alcoholic friends.

I just don't see that either.

I don't see my friends who are non

-alcoholic trying to manage their alcohol.

I don't.

That's a very alcoholic thing to do.

So here's my question to you guys, and

why I wanted to do this podcast, this

episode.

Is this an old belief?

Do we really get to a point where

we know so much we've gathered so much

information about ourselves, so much information about drinking

so much information about our bodies and health,

that we can just drink like our fellows.

I don't see it.

I don't see it happening to anyone I

know.

I've never seen it happen in recovery.

I've never seen it happen to people that

were in a recovery program, not in a

recovery program.

All I see are people in various levels

that make that decision of being trapped, trapped,

managing it at best.

And the real takeaway from this is, if

we could drink like our fellows, would we

even want to?

Because for most alcoholics in recovery, I don't

see the desire to drink like our fellows

anyway.

So Brad, I wish you the best.

I truly, from the bottom of my heart,

I hope maybe you are that one person

that can figure out how to do this.

But for me, today, in this moment, I

think I'm going to choose to believe once

an alcoholic, always an alcoholic.