Who said dreams have to stay dreams? Join me as we delve into the journey of LB, a recovery warrior who dared to transform her dreams into reality by launching several sober living initiatives in Northern Colorado. Listen in as she recounts her battle with COVID-19 and how it forced her to confront herself and reassess her life.
We also get to hear LB's unique insights on how to make the most of our time by readjusting our perspective, prioritizing tasks, and maintaining authenticity in all our actions. Learn to embrace and utilize change as a stepping stone towards growth and extraordinary accomplishments. LB's narration of pursuing her dream while balancing a full-time job affirms that major life transitions need not be feared but embraced. Be sure to tune in for an enlightening journey of resilience and determination. You'll walk away feeling inspired to tackle your transitions head-on and turn your daydreams into your reality.
If you would like to connect with LB,
Instagram: @lb.burkhalter
You can also find her here: Facebook
Website: Recovered Humans
For over 50 years, Harmony Foundation has worked as a nonprofit to serve those seeking recovery from substance addictions. Our residential and intensive outpatient programs are in a collaborative and respectful treatment environment with multiple specialty tracks offering additional support. Our main campus is nestled on a 43-acre campus in the Rocky Mountains just outside of Estes Park, Colorado, that promotes physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. With one of the most robust alumni programs in the county, clients remain connected and empowered for a lifelong journey of recovery.
For more information about Harmony Foundation, please visit:
www.harmonyfoundationinc.com
Who said dreams have to stay dreams? Join me as we delve into the journey of LB, a recovery warrior who dared to transform her dreams into reality by launching several sober living initiatives in Northern Colorado. Listen in as she recounts her battle with COVID-19 and how it forced her to confront herself and reassess her life.
We also get to hear LB's unique insights on how to make the most of our time by readjusting our perspective, prioritizing tasks, and maintaining authenticity in all our actions. Learn to embrace and utilize change as a stepping stone towards growth and extraordinary accomplishments. LB's narration of pursuing her dream while balancing a full-time job affirms that major life transitions need not be feared but embraced. Be sure to tune in for an enlightening journey of resilience and determination. You'll walk away feeling inspired to tackle your transitions head-on and turn your daydreams into your reality.
If you would like to connect with LB,
Instagram: @lb.burkhalter
You can also find her here: Facebook
Website: Recovered Humans
For over 50 years, Harmony Foundation has worked as a nonprofit to serve those seeking recovery from substance addictions. Our residential and intensive outpatient programs are in a collaborative and respectful treatment environment with multiple specialty tracks offering additional support. Our main campus is nestled on a 43-acre campus in the Rocky Mountains just outside of Estes Park, Colorado, that promotes physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. With one of the most robust alumni programs in the county, clients remain connected and empowered for a lifelong journey of recovery.
For more information about Harmony Foundation, please visit:
www.harmonyfoundationinc.com
Hey, hey, welcome to season two, episode 18 of Monday State of Mind, brought to you by Harmony Foundation. My name is Michael Mausel and I am your host. Welcome back, welcome back, or welcome to any new listeners, veterans of the podcast, you are in for a treat today, so check it. We kicked off talking about major life transitions. This is a topic that is so important for all of us to look at, for a lot of us to even be like, wow, how did I get through this? And it's not even about getting through it, it's growing through it. And also the guests that I have teed up for this. They're going to make you be like, wow, you're going to turn the impossible to the possible. And it is the coolest thing when you can get people on a podcast that have gone through some pretty incredible things in their life and actually make them sit with you and be like, okay, so I know you did all this really incredible work, but like, how did you do it? What is your? Why? How did you make this happen?
Speaker 1:So this amazing human that's with me today, today, she is somebody that I had on season one a few times and I will say that the last episode that we recorded towards the end of season one. It is one of the most listened to episodes ever that we have and obviously there's a reason behind it, because it's LB baby. I am so excited that she is back. A lot has happened for LB in her life over the last year and a half ish maybe even two years and that's why she's here.
Speaker 1:You guys, I even told LB before we hit record. I was like getting goosebumps and I was like you're probably going to make me cry on this podcast, because just being able to talk through what she has done as it pertains to major life transitions is phenomenal and it's going to blow your mind and I hope that you leave this episode feeling inspired and deciding that you know, if you have that thing that you've been dying to do, that you're like I don't know if I can do it, you go out and you do it. And so, dude, okay, lb, bestie, what is going on?
Speaker 2:Oh man, I don't even remember the last time that we recorded a podcast. I'm just really excited to be back here and I appreciate you like being patient with me and finding the time for me to get back here. I'm just really excited to talk about major life transitions in recovery.
Speaker 1:You have no idea how long it took me to get her back here, and she's going to tell you why. Because she's been in such incredible transitions and also transitions that are now successes and they are integrated into her life. And so she has been able to. Not only does she work a full time full full time job as a director of business development, admissions alumni all the things for Red Rock Recovery. What has happened for LB on top of this full time job is she has been able to fulfill a dream of hers and make recovered humans a thing. It's not just a slogan, it is a thing, and it is turned into very successful sober livings up in Northern Colorado.
Speaker 1:And talk about transition, right, who would have ever thought that you working a full time job that you are already passionate about because it's in recovery, and you've always talked about opening a sober living. You've always talked about being expansive in that space. And what was it for you that you finally decided to pull the trigger? You're like you know what, I know I'm busy, as all get out, there's never going to be the right time. What was that for you?
Speaker 2:I'm someone that does best under like extreme amounts of pressure. I think quickly, I multitask and that's how I best execute. I definitely think part of it is my creative brain to kind of escape from like everyday monotony. I like to daydream, and ideation is one of my top skills and it was during COVID. I had so much time in the house and alone and working nonstop because I had no work life boundaries During COVID, because I was just like working nonstop at home and because I love what I do right, so I'm like not going to stop doing it. And then I got sick. So I got sick with COVID.
Speaker 2:Most of the world knows this is back in 2020. 2020. Yeah, and a lot of people know I've been like very vocal about like how sick I got and how long that lasted for me. I live with some of those things to this day. So it was first major life transition was kind of there for me.
Speaker 2:It was like I had this very full life in recovery. I was very active, working out all the time, working all the time, da, da, da, da, da. And then got like wham sick, sick for a very long time, and so I had to kind of sit with myself and it was like, well, if I can't fulfill a lot of these areas with, like physical exercise and exertion and like being around people and in the community, then let me continue daydreaming on like what I want to do. And so I started writing policies and procedures, and a lot of that stuff can be really scary because you're like, wow, this is a lot. This is a lot that I'm putting on paper that I now have to execute. But that's how it is for me. I need a plan. I need to daydream and then I have to put it into action, so like creating a policy, creating a strategy about how I was going to make this happen.
Speaker 2:And I was terrified, I'm not going to lie, I was terrified. And it was like, all at once, I got really very, very hit with a lot of different things. I went to work for Red Rock after you know the place I was working for closed, which, wildly enough, I had a dream about them last night. That's crazy. They were still open. Anyway, full moon, it's cause of full moon.
Speaker 2:Full moon energy has been wild. You know. It was like I had this major life shift of like going to work for this place I'd love for a really long time I was really excited about. And then I also kind of came on with the explanation of, hey, I've always had this dream and I'm in the process of making it a reality. Are you guys cool with that? And they kind of said we'll support you however we need to. So I had the support I needed from my work environment. I had the boundaries in my own life of like keeping those things separate and I figured out how to compartmentalize. And it was like I know I can make these things happen and so I did.
Speaker 2:But I will tell you, there was a lot of fear for a really long time Will I be good enough? Will I fail at this? Will I lose my entire life savings in this? I mean, I think most people that open, sober livings and stuff know that you can't just like walk into the bank and ask for a business loan for that. You know it's very difficult.
Speaker 2:And so I had, like mine and my partner's, entire life savings and we were like this is how we do it and we just like have to say yes. And so we were like, looking, looking, looking, looking for houses to open the first one and we knew we wanted to be out of Denver. Denver has a lot of fantastic resources and we wanted to go to areas, you know, that didn't have resources for women, so that's scary. Also, you know, you're going to a rural area where recovery is not on everybody's top of mind and it was kind of that constant daily reminder of like, no matter how many doors get slammed in my face, I cannot stop. No matter how many people say I love what you're doing, but like, not in my house, I cannot stop.
Speaker 2:I told Michael earlier I was like you know, you're going to hear me say this a lot like the hustle is always worth the outcome, because when you're looking at doing something big, of course there's going to be a lot of fear in it. There's going to be fear of failure, there's going to be fear of insecurity, there's going to be fear of will people, even like me, will people trust me? You know, I mean I thought that stuff rapid fire every single day and at the end of every one of those thoughts, if I pause for five seconds, will I save a life. Yes, I will, and that negates all fear. Yeah, one life is worth it.
Speaker 1:Dude, dude, lb, I love that you touched on fear, because I feel like there are so many people that are going to listen to this that are like fear is what keeps them from pursuing a passion, a purpose, and you went through it, lb, like you walked through it, and so I would love it if you would touch on. You felt the fear and you did it anyways.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it started to become so big in my mind that I had to take action and I knew I would have disappointed myself and regretted it for the rest of my life had I not gone forward with this passion project. That's now become like its own community and it gets taken on its own life. Recovery, sobriety in this work is my normal, because I made it that and when I went to people like you and when I went to people like like Brian Tierney that you've had on this podcast before, the people in my life that I knew would be honest with me would hold me accountable through moments that were difficult, when I came to you guys and like ran this stuff by you and sometimes it was so big for me to even like put it into, like this is kind of what I want to do. I know this might sound crazy, but like I'm doing this and you guys always gave me reassurance and support and you were the first ones that were like, if you need help, call on me. If you need help just like cleaning, organizing, building furniture, call on me. I even had people that were like, if you need reminders to go eat dinner and take time for yourself, I'll take you and like that's what this community does.
Speaker 2:So, in having that reassurance from all of you and knowing my own passion and motivations were true and my intentions you know we're so mission driven I knew I couldn't fail. And the universe kept giving me signs, you know like things would fall into my lap. I would be like at the end of my rope, with frustration with, with normies that don't understand our world, or I really have to like sit back and let it go and like give it up and then something would be delivered, which are the promises that are being fulfilled in my life every day because of the work that I've put in into my recovery program. And when the universe keeps like delivering things like that, then I know I'm on the right track and I can't deny that this is like what I'm supposed to do.
Speaker 1:In this transition. What she is communicating Any of you can do it, and I just want to make that very clear it's just about LB is a normal human being that just has an insane amount of purpose. And when you allow purpose to drive you, what I believe, what I hear you say, I'll be. What seems like something that isn't possible becomes so possible because you go after it with so much conviction. And so even in the hustle, because, like I said, the lady hustles. You guys, I don't know if you know this about like she hustles so even in the hustle, because people are probably like, well, how long did this last? Like how long did the hustle and the grind last? Even in the hustle there is a light right and she's like it's still going, you know, but even in the hustle there are. You have your moments right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, moments where I'm overwhelmed or moments where overwhelmed.
Speaker 1:and then also moments where you're like you know what? It's only as hard as you make it. It's what we tell ourselves. Because if LB were to say to herself I have a full time job, I oversee a ton of employees, I have two sober livings not just one, you guys, but to and overseas house managers but also has employees, I would love it if you know you could speak to the simple fact of yeah, it is a lot, but it's how you choose to look at it, that you also do create space, for you have moments of a long time. You have moments where you are able to breathe and take time. How does that happen for you? How do you do that?
Speaker 2:I make it happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah you have to make it happen. I have days where you want to pull your hair out because everything feels so overwhelming. But if I keep saying that it's overwhelming, it's going to become more overwhelming. If I keep saying that I'm terrified, that I'm not going to do well at this thing, that I won't. It's all about shifting perspective. And how many times do we come across people or do it ourselves where it's like, oh, I'm just too busy today, I'm just too busy, I'm just too busy. And it goes back to that simple mind shift of my too busy. Or am I making excuses?
Speaker 1:Oh, can you say that again? Say for the people in the back.
Speaker 2:Am I too busy or am I making excuses? Am I too busy or did I accidentally spent three hours on Instagram today? There are a lot of human beings, me being one of them. Yeah, they be very guilty of not using time wisely, not prioritizing things, and if you're not making space for these hours being devoted to this job, these hours being devoted to this organization, these four hours a month being devoted to T pass, which is a nonprofit Michael and I work with, these four hours a month being devoted to Colorado artist and recovery, which is another nonprofit we work with, if I didn't divide my time up like that, I would not be productive. I would not be the person sitting before you today, and if I constantly made excuses and told myself that I was overwhelmed, that I was too busy and I couldn't make space, that I never would.
Speaker 1:I really feel, lb, that that's the reason why so many people don't grow through major life transitions, or it's something they want to have happen for them. They're like I want to do this, but how committed are you? How stuck in fear are you going to be? Like, are you really going to let something that doesn't exist rule you? I think, like, recovery teaches us choices, and you've said some things that I love that is rooted in recovery. Like, just say yes, just say yes. Like, do it? Being able to look at your fear, being able to look at like you already got sober, that was a major life transition. You're already rooted in uncomfortability and rooted in transition, like, from sobriety. So it's like, take the tools you've already been gifted and catapult them into your life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and be authentic. That's such a huge part of who I am and my life. And be authentic and being authentic means sitting down and thinking about what my message has been to others this week or the type of energy I'm putting out there, and it's like am I being authentic in that? Am I putting things off because I just don't feel like doing it? Then say that, or do I need to be lazy today for self care? Say that being authentic is not showing up in the recovery space and trying to match everyone else's energy and I know you understand that, michael, because we talk about that all the time. Being authentic is a major shift in and of itself and I think a lot of people don't even understand what the word authenticity truly means. It's showing up as you are and being honest with where you're at mentally, physically, spiritually.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I feel like for you, when you have done these transitions and because you've chosen to show up exactly as you are. A lot of times when people try to have these major life transitions, they're like do I need to put on this face so that people will help me get there? Do I need to put on a facade so that people like me, whereas in, like you just said, recovery teaches us, being who you are is the greatest gift, and then, when you are who you are, the right people come around you and it's exhausting, right. Trying to think about how do I have to show up? It's like, just show up as you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you're taking care of and things fall into place. And that's where you have to trust, and trust is hard for people in recovery too. I didn't do this at a year sober. I didn't do this at two years sober three years. So I'm coming up on eight years in November. I didn't start making some of these gigantic shifts until I had these tools.
Speaker 1:I love that you said that, because it's sometimes it takes us a minute to arm ourselves with facts about ourselves and tools to be able to do what you've done. Lb. On days where you did feel overwhelmed, where you're like you know what, like I'm going to let overwhelm come into my space Maybe you wanted to cry and you wanted to hide and you wanted to give up and you're like I can't do this. When you had those moments of feeling like inadequate or not enough or like what the hell am I doing? What was it for you that you were able to be like? I can't do this to myself, I'm not going to self destruct. What were tools that you use from recovery or just in general, that you're like this is how you got out of the negative self talk.
Speaker 2:I started getting teary eyed when you were just even tea in that up, because my mind started like drifting to so many of those moments that I've had, especially over the last couple of years I mean, hell, yeah, the last eight years but in attempting to be successful and then becoming successful and needing to stay at that level so many times my mind will wander to I'm going to break down and cry. So I do. I do it. If my body is crying, it's going to cry because maybe I am overwhelmed or I have had a really tough day, and that's okay. I'm not a superhuman.
Speaker 2:I'm no different from anybody else in recovery. I just don't sit in that stuff for an extended period of time. I let it wash in, I let it wash over and I let it wash out. Yeah, if I'm feeling defeated, I let it wash through. If I'm feeling overwhelmed and crying, I'm going to cry. If I need to hide, I might hide. I make jokes about it. Often. It's like guys, if I disappear for two days, don't send an ambulance for a wellness check, I'm fine, I just need to disconnect.
Speaker 2:I have to connect for mental health reasons and that all boils down again to like authenticity, vulnerability and honesty and communicating with my community and other people that I surround myself with as to where I really am Bye in how I pull myself out of those moments especially. I do some of those usually alone or sometimes with Michael on an airplane, which is funny. A lot of what will then pull me out of those is I know what I need to do, and so I just have to take the action and do it. I like to keep it at the basics and keep it simple, which is I go to a meeting, I talk with others in recovery. I don't let my side of the story be the only side in my mind. I let someone else give me feedback and genuinely take that feedback, and then, when all else fails, all I have to do is remember my purpose and why I'm doing this.
Speaker 2:It goes back to my drive, and reason for this is I wanna give to women what I didn't have when I got sober, and I want women to know that, no matter what they've been through, no matter what they've done, no matter what life has thrown their way, that they can walk through it. They can walk through it gracefully, compassionately and kindly with other women, and that has been so huge for me to experience and to witness. I simply didn't have a lot of that when I got sober, because a lot of these resources didn't exist back then or they weren't readily available. You had to really seek them out, which is kind of like what I had to go do. But I wanted to make that available to people. And how could I not keep fighting when I see these women fighting every single day, when at work I get to witness people coming in at the very beginning that first day of surrender and watch them fight? I survived fentanyl. I survived overdose. I can survive fear.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now that you're on the other side, there is some stability with where you're at, with the lasting results of COVID. There's some stability with your sober livings and also now with Red Rock. When you look at what you have grown through in the last 14 months, what goes through your head of being like I did that, I did that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can do anything. Yeah, I know I can do anything, but I wouldn't have been able to do it without recovery first. I really, really wouldn't have been able to accomplish anything that I have without having a solid recovery foundation first. That's really important.
Speaker 2:It's been two years that I've been up North and, do you know, the very first thing I did my first night alone up here was I found the first AA meeting in downtown Loveland and I went to it Dude, that's what we do, you know and I walked in and I knew no one.
Speaker 2:It was that feeling of I felt like it was the first time I had walked in the rooms and I just did it and ripped the bandaid off and met that first person and then hung around outside and talked to people and it was like I'm meant to be here, yeah, and also being open to continuing to listen for signs that I'm doing the right thing, that I'm on the path that I'm supposed to be on, and if you just listen, you'll hear it. And whatever way that comes to you, for me it's usually like an overwhelming feeling that I get if I'm looking at the foothills or at the moon, because we had that super moon and all I could do was gasp at it after looking for our third sober living home that we're opening and having that moment of immense gratitude and that told me that I'm right where I need to be.
Speaker 1:The one thing I'd love to just finish off with is people always say and I hated it when people it hates strong word, but I hated hearing it because I think it was rooted in fear People in the rooms always told me, michael, like the only constant in life is change. Change is inevitable. Even from yesterday, I am different than today. Change, it is always happening, right, elby. So I used to think it was scary. Now, if that's the one thing that we know, change is the one constant. It's inevitable all the time. Why not get excited about it? Why not be like okay, if change is something that is just a part of our lives and I don't get to just sit and have everything be the exact same every day, instead of being afraid of it, what a gift change is. And like look what change, as the only constant, has done for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it'll wrap up everything that we really talked about. Yeah, change is going to happen regardless. It's all about shifting your perspective, being authentic in it, knowing what you need and how to get through it. Change is inevitable. That's always been like the tagline you know is change is inevitable. So how are you going to welcome it? Are you going to resist it? Are you going to flow with it? It'll change the game for you. You welcome the change and you flow with it.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, what a gift. Okay, so first, elbi, before we do close, if people want to find your sober living, if you want them to get in touch with you personally or sober livings, then we will put it all in the show notes. You guys, don't worry, it'll be below, but just go ahead and say it how do you want people to find you?
Speaker 2:The easiest way to find me is through social media. You know you can always go to at Elbi Burkhalter and I have links for everything that I'm a part of on social media. So you can find Red Rock Recovery Center through my profile. You can find recovered humans through my profile. You can find T-Pass through my profile and Colorado Artisan Recovery. Yeah, find me on Instagram or Facebook. I also respond to direct messages. So I will answer you, I promise. And if you don't have social media, you can find me through recoveredhumanscom.
Speaker 1:Ah, what a gift, elbi. I look at you and I'm like, just when I thought I was doing shit, I'm like, oh no, elbi, is sea rushing life, crushing, crushing life. And the coolest part about you is that if anybody were to meet you you guys, if you were to ever meet her or maybe some of you listening know her it's like you would never know that she does all of this because, again, there's a level of humility and just peace about you, because you're like this is what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm showing up. Heck, yeah, elbi, thank you.
Speaker 2:The hustle is worth the outcome. I have a quote to leave you with because I have it everywhere, and it's about transition and life change. When I was in treatment, my mom gave me a book and it was all about women's trauma, very exciting literature. But there was a quote in the front and it stuck with me from that moment forward and I'm pulling it up because I don't want to miss quote it. It's by a nine in and the quote is and the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud became more painful than the risk to bloom. And that quote has been true for me from that first week of sobriety to today. It's everything for me. It encompasses all transition, all difficult things to walk through, fear, mental health, recovery, professional life, personal life, relationships. That feeling of like being trapped and scared to change leads to nothing except that beautiful flower that would have bloomed dying.
Speaker 2:And so risk to remain like tight pent up and afraid is too painful. You got to just bloom.
Speaker 1:Amen, that is how we do. Another smashing episode of Monday State of Mind. Before we part ways, I want to remind all of you that help is available. If you or someone you know is in need of assistance, please reach out to the Harmony Foundation at 970-586-4491. Just remember that together we build better humans. All right, you guys, we'll see you next week.