Fear drives behavior. Consequences from behavior. If you don't try, even a little bit, to address these fears, they will come back to get you. There's three fears, rational, irrational and primal. Knowing and understanding what your fears are and placing them in their proper categories is paramount. Identifying your fears doesn't make you weak. It helps you level out and see them for what they are and develop healthy coping mechanisms. When you find yourself fearful of something, you can now address it in a calm, non-reactive response like we used to. Manny V. dropped into the pod. Never disappoints, guy's an animal. He's got such an energy and feels so called to help others who've been where he's been. It was the day before the St. Patty's Day drink-a-thon so we had some Irish colored fun. It's also the 90's and we'll be rockin' the cyan and purple from now to 99.

The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one. We looked at the different types of fear that can plague someone in early recovery. We acknowledged that there's a difference between being afraid and having fear. Early in recovery, and in recovery in general, fear can drive behaviors if not kept in check. Identifying these fears and facing them head on is the only way to overcome your fears. Before we can do that, we have to be aware of what kind of fear we're experiencing so it doesn't manifest itself in a behavior, both consciously and subconsciously. We unpacked the different types of fear, rational, irrational and primal fear.

Tonight we focused on emotional regulation. So important for the addict in recovery to learn. It takes a while to develop new skills and coping mechanisms in the early stages of the recovery. The self-regulation of emotion or emotion regulation is the ability to respond to the ongoing demands of experience with the range of emotions in a manner that is socially tolerable and sufficiently flexible to permit spontaneous reactions as well as the ability to delay spontaneous reactions as needed. Copy and pasted that, no idea what it means but it sounds smart.

The team goes Back to the Future on episode 88. A little overdone, borderline obnoxious at times. Nicky joined us on the pod and the panel shared their most embarrassing stories they could think of while Tim fumbled around trying to troubleshoot the audio issues. Later, we then find out that he would've needed a passport as the issue resided in Saskatchewan where the whole country echos for some reason.

If we put as much energy that we put into getting high and or drunk into our recovery, the obsession can be lifted. Recovery brings its own pain. Especially in early recovery. The old adage, "no pain no gain" is very real in the recovery process. We can quickly forget the pain of active addiction. Keeping it green by going to meetings and being active in bettering your life and working a recovery program. Remember, the past is a place of reference not a place of residence. This perspective can make the pains that come in recovery tolerable and the gains even that much sweeter.

We had a great guest in studio night in Manny Vitale. Imagine going from upholding the law to living on the edge. That's the incredible journey of Manny Vitale, a former Detroit police officer and E.M.T., who battled addiction and found a new path in life. Manny shares his rollercoaster ride through alcoholism, drug addiction, and eventual recovery. Celebrated five years of sobriety on January 27th, Manny's story is a testament to resilience and the power of community. He's truly a miracle. Organs shutting down, an all inclusive, existential, 6 months to live diagnosis. Powerful story, when Manny told his mother about his prognosis, she said "nope, not happening". And she was right.

The gang touched on self care and its importance in early recovery. We went through the physical side of self care. We identified physical, emotional and mental self care categories. Moderation, as addicts, does not come easily. We're used to as much as we can as fast as we can as many times as we can. This is why overdose is something to be so cautious of in the early stages of recovery. Our tolerance has been cut in half, if not more than what we used to now that we've gotten clean. You think "Oh, I'll only just do a little, that won't hurt me..." famous last words right there. The paramount thing you can do for your physical well being in early recovery, is not to have a "just this once" moment. There is no more just this once. Even for seasoned addicts in the worst of their addiction even more so for the addict in the early stages of addiction recovery.

5 guys, burgers and fries tonight. No guest so the team just did their sobriety thing. We talked about airplanes crashing, anthems getting booed and how ridiculously cold it is where Jim chooses to live. Unreal -50° weather. Who voluntarily chooses to live in that. Those puck slapping maple suckers. We expanded on self care and how utterly crucial in early recovery. We also talked about rehab romances. Forget self care now, your new mate is now your higher power and hate to break it to you but they're as messed up as you. We look for distractions, especially in early recovery. We're vulnerable, exposed, defeated. We can make bad choices in that state and most do at least once. It'll end in a relapse. Most of the time it does just that. And if you're lucky, you make it back into recovery with a lesson learned. Not all get that chance so if you're a repeat offender, you might want to listen to what the message says. Admit you're powerless, start there.

We were blessed to have a guest on tonight with such a powerful story, reclaiming her sobriety after more than a decade of use. Lauren E. bravely came on the pod and we've got a new one friend. Just like that. That's how this thing works. Lauren shared how she struggled with different substances at different times in her life. She's done it all and she's seen it all. What a privilege it is to have her in the fold here. We tried a little game called "Think Think Think" (a old AA adage) and it's a cleverly done extremely sharp design whoever made it. It's kind of like Family Feud. Well, not kinda it basically is Family Feud.

We had a great guest on 82 here despite running our show during the 2nd half of the Super Bowl. Our biggest demographic are men aged 25-65 so we did our best to keep people up to date whilst getting their recovery on. Ronnie Jemison, with 15 months and 15 days clean and serene, shared his story. Raw, deep, impactful. And just like that, we have a new friend as our fellowship grows, that's how this works. We are all equals. It doesn't matter your age, race, identity, anything... addiction does not discriminate. This can be a tough life to navigate without being addicts so kudos to people like Ronnie. And tip of the cap to our trashclan as we all come from different backgrounds and different recovery experiences and our peeps donate their time to share the news, recovery is possible. It's not easy, but trust us it is possible.