Alcoholic Larry finds Recovery, Purpose, Podcasting and Batman Legos

Curious about how a passion for Batman Legos could play a crucial role in alcohol recovery? Meet Larry, our remarkable guest, who courageously shares his personal journey of overcoming an 11-year battle with alcohol addiction. Larry opens up about his life-changing decision to embrace sobriety in November 2014 and how rediscovering joy through his beloved hobby has been a beacon of light in his path to reclaiming control. We talk about the transformative power of working hard across various facets of life—relationships, personal goals, and beyond—and how these efforts can lead to a more fulfilling existence. 

In this episode, we touch on the societal pressures that come with choosing sobriety and the importance of respecting each person's individual recovery journey. Larry’s story inspires us to value our well-being above all else and highlights how reaching out for support can yield unexpectedly powerful results. We emphasize the abundance of educational resources and supportive communities available to guide and uplift those on similar journeys. Let Larry’s experiences remind you that with the right mindset and support system, living a life filled with purpose and joy is within reach.

Chapters

• 0:02 Alcohol Recovery and Finding Purpose
• 13:04 Seeking Support for Recovery and Growth

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Oh, today's going to be a special episode. We are going to be talking about alcohol recovery and all the wonderful things about finding a purpose. Welcome again to another episode of the 1% in Recovery podcast, where we encourage you to laugh every day, to work hard. Work hard in recovery, work hard in your relationships, work hard in your job, business, school, whatever it is Just work. And to love unconditionally. Just put more love out there and watch all that love return. Look, because recovery is beautiful. Your EQ is your IQ and you cannot outthink an emotional issue. What I encourage people to do is to join the Facebook group Recovery Freedom Circle. Within that, we talk about the recovery, the steps, living your best life, something inspirational, any types of questions, and we all get to share. Everybody has a voice. So join the Recovery Freedom Circle and just be a part of a community that really just wants you to live your best life. Today we have a special guest Larry, how are you doing?

Speaker 2: 1:12

Doing fine. Thanks so much for having me.

Speaker 1: 1:15

Okay, larry, tell the audience one thing you love.

Speaker 2: 1:20

Are we talking anything like food or hobbies or anything? Okay, well, not a lot of people know this, but I love Legos, specifically Batman Legos, like Batman Lego sets, like the Batwing from the 1989 movie or the Batmobile or anything that's a large build like that. I just love them. It's just a lot of fun for me and it's a great distraction from everyday life. Love them. It's just a lot of fun for me to and it's a great distraction from everyday life. I just open up my Batman Lego kit and I just start building and it just takes all my worries and all my concerns away.

Speaker 1: 1:52

Well, I believe that's one thing you got to find things that you love, especially when you're not doing an addiction. Just be honest with yourself. If you love Legos, do anything Lego related, tell the audience. Have you ever been to one of those Lego festivals conferences? I know that they're out there?

Speaker 2: 2:11

Yeah, they are out there, and there was actually one in Dallas just a few weeks back that I had planned to go to, but a lot of times plans fall through. So I've watched so many of them on YouTube. I'm dying to go to one. We do have a Legoland here in Dallas and I have been there, but I have yet to go to a brick convention or a Lego convention. I just love it. I would love the idea of going and checking all those out in person.

Speaker 1: 2:33

I love when people share about something that means so much to them, because you never know who on the audience can say Larry, I also love Legos, I want to join you. You never know who else out there has that same hobby, same love. Yep.

Speaker 2: 2:49

It's crazy.

Speaker 1: 2:51

Let's just jump in straight into the questions. Okay, Question number one what does recovery mean to you?

Speaker 2: 2:59

I mean just real. Simply, recovery to me means getting my life back. It's being able to function in everyday society. It's being able to build my business. It's being able to interact with someone and not have to worry about breaking out into a sweat because you need that next shot. It's being able to engage with someone without fear of having an anxiety or a panic attack. And for me especially, it means being able to drive, because at the end of my alcoholism cycle there we'll call it I couldn't even drive. I couldn't even get on a highway. If I got on a highway, I instantly got the worst panic attack that would make me have to pull off of the road. So for me, it's just. It's getting back control of your life and not having to operate on a cycle of feeding that addiction in order to continue functioning.

Speaker 1: 3:48

Oh, 100%. And you know this podcast is about alcoholics and gamblers finding success and finding recovery. But I want people to get a little bit of a background. So, larry, his main addiction was alcohol. Little bit of a background. So, larry, his main addiction was alcohol and he went to treatment, was in treatment for seven weeks, but now that he got out of treatment he's not one of those who actually went to meetings. Everybody has their own journey, but I want people to understand is how long did you drink? And then how long has it been since your last drink?

Speaker 2: 4:27

I would say I started drinking around late 2000,. Maybe early 2001,. But started really drinking probably closer to 2003,. 2004,. Like from an addiction and excess perspective, because prior to that I didn't drink at all. And then I drank there from, we'll say, 2001 up until around November. Well, when I went in, it was November. 13th of 2014 is when I went into treatment. I drank for what 11 years, something like that. That was my last drink was when I went in recovery.

Speaker 1: 5:01

I see that's going to actually lead into the other questions. So a drinking career of over 10 years, 11 years, even though he started a little few couple years as almost like ramping up as your tolerance goes up, just like all addiction. You start small and it just gets a little bit bigger and a little bit bigger and a little bit bigger, and then it's been 10 years. So we want to jump into question two. Question two really talks about because everybody seems interested on why people don't drink, like it really matters. You know people always say let me deal with me, let me see what types of drinks and food I put into my body. But that question always comes up when people stop drinking, for whatever the reason. How do you feel when people ask you why aren't you drinking? Or why are you? What happened? Because everybody drinks, because everybody drinks at weddings, funerals, marriage, graduations, job promotions, breakups Everyone seems to have some alcohol need and they don't. So how do you feel when people just get into your business and start asking you it's like, why aren't you drinking?

Speaker 2: 6:19

Well, for one, I hate it when people ask me why I'm not drinking, because I agree with you that you tend to your backyard, I'll tend to mine. If I don't want to drink it, that's on me. But it can be difficult to continually tell that story and to continually confess, yes, I was an alcoholic and no, now I'm not, and now I don't drink because it's a choice that I'm making. So I finally learned a little trick that keeps that question from being asked, and I was at an event one time and I saw someone else that I know that was in recovery or they no longer drank, and they had got tired of this question as well. So what they ended up doing was they would take a glass and they would get a soda water or a Pellegrino or maybe a Topo Chico or whatever your brand of sparkling water would be, and they put that in a wine glass and it looks like they're drinking.

Speaker 2: 7:10

So now nobody asks that question and you can focus on the matter at hand. So that's what I ended up starting to do, because a lot of the I don't do a whole lot of socializing, but the socializing I do is business related. So what ends up happening is that I don't want those questions coming up because I've got other things that I want to discuss. So I found that using the soda water or the sparkling water eliminates that question and you can focus on just building relationships and engaging with people in the community.

Speaker 1: 7:43

There you go. So stop asking, because I always tell people look my favorite drinks water. You know, sometimes I agree with Larry, sometimes I just have a Coke, because you never know what's inside a Coke. It could be rum, it could be nothing, and people kind of let it go. But in reality this is just like FYI, for people it's not that big of a deal. I just prefer not having a Coke. Okay, let's just jump into question number three. Okay, let's just jump into question number three. You know, a lot of times people don't understand is what is kind of going on either in the addiction or in recovery. So I want people to really understand you without alcohol, compared to the feelings of the 10, 11, 12 years with alcohol.

Speaker 2: 8:42

Yeah, I mean with the alcohol I felt trapped, I felt desperate. I felt like it was pointless because I didn't see an end to it. It was pointless because I didn't see an end to it. I didn't know how to break that cycle of alcoholism. I didn't know how to regain my life.

Speaker 2: 8:56

But after I went to treatment it became fairly apparent, and a lot of it too, I think, was just a breaking of the habits. I was in a habit of going to work every day and then, as soon as I get home, getting that shot and then getting that shot, and then getting that shot, and before I know it I'm through half a handle. And that was just every day. And it got worse and worse, and worse and worse and I didn't see a way out of that. But when I went into treatment, you know I was originally only scheduled to go for six weeks, but at the end of the six weeks my wife came and got me and she took me to a little bistro for lunch and we were hanging out and honestly, I was a little shocked at being in society and trying to reacclimate myself to living in a sober environment, and it was super, super scary and I didn't feel like I was ready to go.

Speaker 2: 9:46

So I ended up extending my stay for another week and I don't really know what that week did, but it got me ready to go. I think I was able to reconcile, maybe, the experience I had at going to lunch and being able to step back out. So after seven weeks I came out and I mean for a few months, honestly, I was still a little lost. I didn't know exactly how life was going to go. I didn't go right back to work or anything like that. It was actually kind of cool because I still went right back to work for the same company that I worked for. They were super, super supportive. It was an amazing company and I can't appreciate them enough.

Speaker 2: 10:26

But eventually I was able to work my way back into society and as I got more and more sober and my body started to heal, my body started to recover, I started feeling free, I started feeling alive. I started feeling like, okay, I went through that decade or so of nonsense, but here I am with a fresh start and a fresh opportunity to really do anything that I wanted, and that's exactly what I did. You know, I went back to the office. And it's kind of interesting too, because when I went back to the office it wasn't the same. People knew where I had been, and whether they treated me differently or not, it sure felt like they did it might have couple of years after that I was able to jump out and divorce my W-2 and run my own business full time.

Speaker 2: 11:01

So that's been amazing and I know none of that would have happened if I was still stuck in that cycle and, honestly, I wouldn't even be having this conversation right now.

Speaker 1: 11:23

I know I wouldn't.

Speaker 2: 11:24

The day that I went to treatment, I knew this was the day Either I get help or I'm not going to see tomorrow, and for some reason I became coherent enough to make a phone call, and the people that I called jumped into action and got me where I needed to be.

Speaker 1: 11:40

So Ah see, those are the beauty. That's what. When I talk about miracles, that's like how somehow miracles do happen. But one last kind of quick little tidbit. You know people are always questioning that whole question Am I drinking too much? Am I at that point? I don't know. I really don't want to go to 12-step meetings, I don't want to go to treatment. I don't you investigate? Well, maybe you need to do something because, whatever, if you're asking that question, something needs to change, something needs to change. Do you have any words of encouragement? Because people say well, I don't want to be labeled the stigma. People are going to be asking me all these questions. Do you have any last words about is it okay to ask for help or why people don't ask for help? What can you say to those people who question their alcohol intake?

Speaker 2: 12:39

Yeah, I mean, if you are asking that question, I agree a hundred percent. If you're asking that question, it's time to reach out and get some help. Don't wait until you've sat on your couch for two weeks and drank yourself into nearly a coma before you reach out and get help. So is there a stigma? Are people going to look at you different? Probably yeah. Like I said when I went back to the office, I believe people treat me differently. But guess what? I'm here, I'm alive, so you go. Hey, do I care what people think? Or do I care that I have an opportunity to recover and live a full and fulfilling life? So that's your options. Somebody looks at me odd. Or I get to continue living or I die.

Speaker 1: 13:21

And, like you say, live your best life.

Speaker 2: 13:23

Yeah, and you end up living your best life. So if you're asking those questions, just talk to somebody. Talk to anybody. I'll tell you right now that there's no way that I would have been able to do what I did if I didn't have a strong support system. So, even though even people that I didn't think would support me came out of the woodworks to go, holy crap, this guy needs some help, and they were there to help me and I never would have done it without that help. So ask somebody, you'll be surprised at how many people will come and help lift you up and pull you out of that addiction.

Speaker 1: 13:53

Exactly. I always tell people there's so much help available in all types of ways, not only people, but also books, also podcasts, I mean there's so much information out there. So I want everybody to just live their best life, find their purpose and have those deep, meaningful, intimate relationships at all levels. With that we're going to conclude this episode of the 1% in Recovery podcast.