Fog Lifted: Life After Gambling And Drugs, Listen as Al Talks about The Steps and Recovery

What if quitting your first addiction doesn’t free you—but quitting your last escape does? We sit down with Al, a dual-addict in long-term recovery  to trace the surprising path from drugs to gambling to genuine peace. His story reveals a pattern many of us know too well: remove one behavior and the restlessness finds a new outlet. The fog finally lifts when you stop negotiating with the next rush and start building a life you don’t want to lose.

We dig into the practical tools that make that shift real. Al shares why Step Three became his pivot from control to trust, and how “living the steps” beats treating them like a checklist. We talk anger as a message rather than a flaw, how emotional literacy outperforms willpower, and why you can’t outthink pain but you can outgrow it. For those navigating dual recovery, Al explains the power of multiple fellowships—how GA and NA each deliver language and community that the other can’t. The result is a broader toolkit, clearer mirrors, and more honest accountability.

This conversation also celebrates the rewards that keep recovery sticky. Al swapped betting slips for scuba in the Galapagos, night dives that feel like meditation, and the quiet thrill of antiquing and launching an auction company. We explore natural dopamine through purpose, connection, and adventure, alongside the simple math that keeps him steady: consequences outweigh any fleeting high. If you’re seeking a path from white-knuckling to a life that feels wide open, this story offers both hope and a roadmap.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with someone who needs a lift, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway—we read every one.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Recovery Mindset
• 0:45 Free Scorecard And Brain Chemistry
• 1:20 Meet Al: Antiquing And Freedom
• 2:07 Dual Addictions And The Fog Lifting
• 3:13 Gambling As The Primary Escape
• 4:10 Benefits Of Multiple Fellowships
• 5:57 Why The Steps Matter
• 7:00 Emotions, Anger, And Step Three
• 8:15 Understanding Over Being Understood
• 8:59 Best Life: Purpose And Hobbies
• 10:20 Scuba, Meditation, And Peace
• 12:02 Choosing Community And Consequences
• 13:15 Closing Gratitude

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:03

Here we are talking about recovery with a dual addict just like me. Welcome again to another episode of the 1% in recovery podcast, where we encourage you to laugh every day. Work hard. Work hard in recovery. Work hard in your relationships, work hard in your business, job, school. Just work. And to love unconditionally. Remember, put much more love out there and watch much more love return. We like to say recovery is beautiful. Your EQ is your IQ, and you cannot outthink an emotional issue. Now we encourage people to do is go to the website lifeiswonderful.love L O V E, download the free, I will repeat, the free recovery growth scorecard, where you can jumpstart your recovery so you can put in natural, find out natural ways to get dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, oxytocin. So you start changing that neuroplasticity in your brain. Understanding on how to start feeling better. Now let's jump in to this week's episode. Al, how are you feeling today? Great. Really good. Tell people, I know one thing. Tell people one thing you actually love.

SPEAKER_01: 1:31

I love antiquing. I like just uh everything has just opened up for me in the last 28 years.

SPEAKER_00: 1:39

Anything specific? Is there like been one piece in antiquing that really is either something that you went after or eventually you just found?

SPEAKER_01: 1:48

Well, I actually I actually started an auction company, which I always wanted to start, which I couldn't do before. I was so tied up into the addiction it wouldn't allow me to. So now I'm free to do it.

SPEAKER_00: 2:00

That's wonderful. So let's jump in. I always like to just get into the questions. You are like me. I battled alcohol and gambling, you battled more drugs and gambling. 42 years since the last time you put a drug in your body, 28 years since you've last gambled. Can you tell the audience any difference in either the 12-step rooms or just in recovery on what has kind of happened over these years?

SPEAKER_01: 2:34

Yeah, all of a sudden the fog has lifted. You know, before I was an addiction, I was always escaping, I was always unhappy. So I was either doing drugs. Once I quit the drugs, I still gambled. I was still the same person. I was still very unhappy. It wasn't until I quit the drug the gambling that my life really picked up.

SPEAKER_00: 2:55

And did when you stop drinking, because when I stopped drinking, my gambling accelerated. Was that similar to you when you stopped doing drugs and you ended up was your obviously your bigger escape was gambling? Did your gambling increase in over that decade?

SPEAKER_01: 3:12

Absolutely. Gambling was my drug of choice. I had lost more money after I quit drugs than before when I was gambling. Because that's all I did. It was the same thing.

SPEAKER_00: 3:24

Yeah, and I always like to, you know, just for uh statistical reasons. I tell, you know, everyone knows that I was a mainly a sports better, but I, you know, I like to dabble in horses or roulette if I ended up in Vegas. What was your gambling choice? I love horse racing. That was your number. Loved it. Yeah, because you actually you went to actually the derby. You did a lot of things around uh horses. And after horse racing, you did sports betting casinos too? I did a lot of sports betting, casinos, okay, poker. But now you see uh now that you said that the the the fog has lifted, is there something within recovery over these now you had 28 years, did it take a while for recovery to make sense?

SPEAKER_01: 4:16

Actually, when I quit the gambling, I was so excited, and it's I hate to say this, it sounds like I'm bragging, but it's been easy for me because I'm just I'm much happier now. It's just so much easier. And you know, I have a lot of stuff I was trying to get gambling, and I I've got it now without yeah, you got stuck in the dream world of a gambler. I was in the dream, yeah. Now I've got everything. I mean, I wouldn't want to, I mean, it's just it's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_00: 4:44

Now, one thing I I tell people, you know, I ended up almost like with a head start when I walked into uh 12-step rooms for gambling. Probably you were the same way. Since you had already been to other meetings, when you walked in and you started to deal with the gambling combo book or some things, did you find that that was also a benefit of having two pro because it sometimes I felt like, why do I have to go to two programs? But in the end, I'm glad I had more friends in recovery in all different ways, and then just more literature and just more just more uh resources to get it. Did you find that helpful too?

SPEAKER_01: 5:30

Yes. And the people in GA could relate, I could relate to where each addiction I could relate to the people in the program. I mean, people in the uh, I went to Narcotics Anonymous, which I still do, they didn't understand the gambling, and vice versa. It's just like when I go to Gamblers Anonymous, they don't understand why I can't just have one drink or one drug. Yeah. So it's this, you know.

SPEAKER_00: 5:57

Okay, let's jump into question two. You know, I talk a lot about the steps. I believe in the steps. What do you say to people who say, why should I work the steps, or I don't quite get the steps, or do I need to work the steps to really get recovery? What do you say?

SPEAKER_01: 6:17

I say yes, because I all of a sudden I'm in this new world of, you know, where I should be, and I don't even know what I'm doing. The steps are a real guideline. What I like to say is I like living the steps. Not so much working them, you have to work them, but living it day to day. There's a lot to it. And I use them a lot, you know. I've I have a bad temper, and once in a while that goes off, and I go to the steps, you know, I try to turn it over, and you know, it's living it.

SPEAKER_00: 6:48

When you say bad temper, because I I believe, you know, even after like both of us have, you know, 25 plus years, you know, we can still get angry, but isn't that really truly just some type of emotional response? And it comes out as anger that, you know, we're trying to still deal with our, you know, because we're you're still going to deal with emotions. Do you feel like you obviously have a better control of your emotions now?

SPEAKER_01: 7:16

Absolutely. You know, the anger actually comes out, there's something inside that's bothering me, and that's what's causing anger. It's not so much I'm mad at whatever I'm doing, it's just that there's something, and that's how I release that unhappiness with that anger. And that's one thing I do with the steps. I go back and look at what I did and learn from that, and it helps me going forward.

SPEAKER_00: 7:39

Well, let's just let's just finish up this question on that. Do you have a favorite step, or was there one step that was pivotal in just accelerating your growth?

SPEAKER_01: 7:50

I think step three, turning my will and my life over. Because my way never works, and I'm seems to be very unhappy. The other way is the way to go. It's always worked when I turn it over.

SPEAKER_00: 8:05

I hear you. One thing I always loved, I love the uh they do this more with the alcohol program when they talk about the St. Francis prayer, well, which everybody kind of knows, you know, in 12-step lit uh nomenclature, it's the 11-step prayer because it really talks, you know, to me what's very important is there's one line in there. It's better to understand than be understood. Because you know how as an addict, we're always trying to tell our side of the story, is why we ended up in this situation. You know, no one gives a shit. They really don't. But you know what? I've learned if if I try to understand you, Al, you're gonna be much more receptive to listen to me instead of me always going first. Um, do you want to just jump into? Let's jump into uh question three. I always like to tell people, you know, the real reason we do recovery, and this isn't about absence, it's not, you know, yeah, we need to stop the addiction. So then, like you said, I like, you know, you clear the fog so you can then start focusing on what we truly want. What does living your best life, or how does your best life, you mentioned a little bit about it in tiking here in the beginning. Tell us more of how wonderful your life is, or what living your best life means to you.

SPEAKER_01: 9:31

Well, I'll tell you, when I was using and doing the gambling, I mean, I was stuck in a prison. I was my hands were tied. I actually I remember when I quit back in 1983, I was bored. A lot of people come in because they're on the street. I was bored with the lifetime because I said, man, this is boring. This is all I do. Drugs and gambling. And I didn't have time for anything else. That's all I cared to do. Now I have everything that I, you know, I'm into so many things. And I know, and that's what causes or stops me from wanting to go back. I, you know, I don't want to be unhappy. I would never, if I go back, it's just I have to give up everything I have now. I'm into scuba diving, I travel, I started an auction company, you know, I keep myself busy.

SPEAKER_00: 10:19

Well, that's as you should. You're right. I mean, as you should. Well, why don't you just uh tell a couple tell a couple places where you went scuba diving that really kind of opened your eyes on the marvels of the world.

SPEAKER_01: 10:34

Well, I love going to the Galapagos, as you know. I'm trying to get you to go there, so I've been trying forever. And uh it's just it's unbelievable. What do you see at the you told me you see hammerheads? Hammerheads, whale sharks, and you know, when you're underwater, it's so peaceful. You can almost have a meeting with yourself. I just know at times I'm under there and I can just do a lot of thinking under there. Like almost like meditating. It is like a meditation.

SPEAKER_00: 10:59

Yeah, I always say some of the best way, if you truly want to understand silence, do a night dive, turn off your light. It's pitch black, you're about 10 feet under the water, and you can't hear anything. I don't know. Uh have you experienced uh those night dives? I've done that. I've turned the light off. It's great.

SPEAKER_01: 11:26

It's it is to completely surreal, correct? Yeah, you can really see what it's like, and just it's it's just unbelievable. And these are the things I don't want to give up. If I go back to using or gambling, I've got to give all this up. I just enjoy this so much better than that by far. You know, uh I didn't really enjoy that, but you know.

SPEAKER_00: 11:45

Right. And you get also to meet, you you hang out around people that just want to be healthy, want to just do the next right thing. They're not always trying to scam or up to something. And that was always the thing, you know. Because when you're gambling, the people that you associate gambling or drugging, there's always a story of how I can get my next high, how I can get a little extra money to bet. It's always some BS. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_01: 12:12

It's just another world completely.

SPEAKER_00: 12:14

And now you find people that just want to go, oh, tell me about your latest antiquing auction or your last scuba trip. Or, you know, people ask me, go, how's your podcast coming? You know, it's just wonderful to be around people that want to see you succeed. Well, any last words on could be helpful for people in recovery, you know, that maybe just starting out or they're struggling with the steps. Any any words?

SPEAKER_01: 12:44

Well, the main reason I'm here and I haven't I don't use or gamble anymore are because of the consequences. That's the main reason. I think of that all the time. You know, I would be lying to you if I said I wouldn't like to have a couple drinks right now. I love that feeling, but the consequences outweigh the pleasure by so far. That's why I don't do that. Same way with gambling. The consequences.

SPEAKER_00: 13:08

Okay. Excellent. All right. With that, we are gonna conclude this episode of the 1% in recovery podcast.

SPEAKER_01: 13:20

Thank you.