Beyond Sobriety Episode 177, March 31, 2020
Coach, speaker, and recovering addict, Jacob Evans, talks about surviving and thriving at the epicenter of the opioid addiction crisis and how getting clean is only half the battle. The pandemic sweeping the globe is similar to addiction in the sense that your race, income, religion, social status, political party… none of that matters to the virus or drugs.
“The addictive feeling to me was not giving a crap about what other people thought.” ~ Jacob Evans
Jacob was an intelligent, high-achiever who didn’t know what failure looked like, but he was aware of the empty, hollow feeling inside himself. Achievement after achievement, goal after goal, happiness was fleeting. It took a lot of substances to hide his awareness of his emptiness, let alone to attempt to fill that hole. No matter what he did, he felt it would never be good enough. The more aware of this cycle he became, the more drugs he would use.
Jacob details how he was able to try and stop so many drugs, but then he tried opiates. He couldn’t stop those. And since they made him no longer care about the hole inside, maybe it wasn’t worth stopping.
What proved to be a life-changing moment, was the impact of someone asking: Are you okay?
Topics and Questions Include:
- (1:32) How is the coronavirus affecting your life right now?
- (4:48) You call yourself a former high achiever, what does that mean?
- (7:51) When you were growing up, did your achievements feel good? Did they bring happiness?
- (11:28) When did you start using or drinking? Were you aware of your hole at the time?
- (15:16) Was your substance abuse covering up depression?
- (25:40) Were suicidal thoughts part of your experience?
- (32:44) Did your family have any idea you were an addict before you told them?
- (35:27) In your second year of law school, you decided to give up all substances that were not serving you. What prompted that?
- (45:07) Was getting sober as easy as making the decision?
- (54:58) Why Jacob does what he does.
- (57:46) Silence kills, and going the path of most resistance.
- (1:02:38) Does stopping to use bring the healing?
- (1:05:31) What are you looking forward to now?
- (1:11:24) What’s the best way to get in contact with you?
“Any place can help get you off drugs. The real trick is in helping you build enough self-confidence, self-worth, and self-discipline to never pick up again.” ~ Jacob Evans
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