In this moving Veterans Day episode of Ever Forward Radio, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Benjamin Forest opens up about his personal battle with depression, grief, and identity loss after 25 years of service — and how psychedelics became a catalyst for healing, love, and authentic living. He and Chase explore the mental-health crisis among veterans, the epidemic of loneliness and suppressed emotion in men, and how plant medicine, breathwork, and community can help reconnect us to meaning and purpose. Forest shares insights from his book Trip of a Lifetime: The Psychedelic Guide to Healing, Loving & Living, explaining that true recovery requires vulnerability, relational healing, and learning to open the heart — whether through psychedelics or other integrative practices.

Follow Ben @benjamin.forest.bliss

Follow Chase @chase_chewning

-----

00:00 – Introduction & U.S. mental-health statistics

02:22 – A cultural depression: loneliness, disconnection & anxiety

04:29 – Playing a role vs. discovering the authentic self

07:07 – The military, identity, and emotional suppression

10:30 – Masculinity, vulnerability, and the loneliness epidemic

13:00 – Grief, alcohol, and the cost of unprocessed emotion

15:30 – Healthy masculinity and belonging after service

18:00 – The biology of belonging & the need for community

20:10 – Losing identity and brotherhood after leaving the military

23:10 – Lessons learned from 25 years in uniform

24:30 – Healing, loving, and living: wounds and relational repair

27:30 – Learning to love well and open the heart

28:45 – Doing life "right" and rediscovering joy

31:00 – Psychedelics as heart-openers & catalysts for healing

34:30 – Veterans leading the way for psychedelic legalization

38:40 – Alternatives to psychedelics: breathwork & somatic therapy

44:00 – Integration: applying lessons after the trip

46:50 – The danger of ego, money, and misuse in plant-medicine circles

49:50 – Writing Trip of a Lifetime and lessons learned

54:30 – Advice to young service members: asking for help is strength

56:16 – What "Ever Forward" means to Benjamin Forest

-----

Episode resources:

• Watch and subscribe on YouTube
• Learn more about Benjamin