Gambling causes Trauma, PTSD which needs to be Healed through Recovery and Rebirth

A recovery weekend can look ordinary from the outside, but it can hit like a reset on the inside. We’re talking about a Day of Recovery in Dallas and what happens when people who usually meet online finally share a room, a meal, a few laughs, and the kind of honesty you can’t fake. The takeaway is simple and hard at the same time: connection is not a bonus in addiction recovery, it’s the engine. When we feel “Fort Worth it” in our bones, we stop hiding, start listening, and remember we’re allowed to enjoy life again. 

We dig into why emotional sobriety matters as much as staying abstinent. Your EQ is your IQ, and you can’t outthink an emotional issue, so recovery has to include reflection, spirituality, and real relationships. We connect that to stress management, mental health, and daily decisions about money, health, and social life. When you know who you are and what you want, stress loses leverage, and peace becomes something you can actually practice. 

We also keep it real about what these events feel like day to day: travel, routines, good food, and the surprising relief of being around people who get it. If you’ve been on the fence about a 12-step meeting, a recovery retreat, or a Day of Reflection, let this be your nudge. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs encouragement, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

Transcript

Welcome And Recovery Mindset

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Day of recovery. What happens in a day of recovery? 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, just work. And to love unconditionally, put much more love out there and watch much, much more love return to you. Remember, recovery is beautiful. Your EQ is your IQ, and you cannot outthink an emotional issue. Now, let's jump into this week's episode. Day of recovery. Actually took place in Dallas. And what their slogan is you are Fort Worth It. I love that sign because you are worth it. Each day allows you to connect spiritually and emotionally. And there are a lot of these days of recovery, days of reflection in 12-step meetings. This one was gambling. And most of the people actually meet up at this meeting online. Even though there's other people invited, whether you lived or especially in Texas, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Houston. A lot of people at that meeting, even though they meet most of the time, majority they connect online virtually. You know, certain groups of them, you know, live in these other cities. But when they do meet up, what I found out is they are super, super connected. And that's what you want from any club. You'll see clubs of alcoholics, um, you know, the home club, or you'll see certain groups meetings that are really super connected. And I found that this online group is super connected. The way they embraced each other on Friday night, spent the whole day Saturday, Saturday night, it is a celebration of life. Like we talk about on what I talk about, life is wonderful, the whole life is wonderful. As well as any other thing that I try to put out, that you finally come out of the addiction. You are ready to embrace life. You are embrace yourself, your self-worth, your self-knowledge, your goals, your dreams, as well as just get interconnected not only with yourself, connected with people in recovery, but also when you go back, connected with your own families, and how you're bringing each person up and how you're allowing them to live their best life. That is the beauty what I saw yesterday at the day of recovery. I've also seen it at specific religions. I grew up Catholic. I've seen these Catholic days of reflection where you go to, let's say, a church or uh a retreat center and they have certain either speakers, meals, activities to just stay connected because it essentially that is who we are. If we truly understand ourselves emotionally and spiritually, we will do better, we will do well in life, because that is ultimately what's going to drive us. Once we feel connected to ourselves, we connect it to everybody else that we love, and we're connected with our higher power, we're connected with God, you have a certain sense of serenity, a certain sense of peace and calm. And that is what everybody truly wants. To just be able to enjoy life. Because, like they say, stress kills. You have to eliminate stress from your life. And the key thing is, is knowing who you are and what you want in life, that will eliminate stress. And then you're able to deal with things like make money, uh, your own body, your health, as well as your other social interactions that will bring you a certain amount of peace. So I encourage people to go to these days of recovery, connect, because you will then just feel like you're a part of something. And on top of that, you get to learn more about yourself. Now, I was invited because I was the keynote speaker, uh, but I realized that it would have been just as much fun if I went there just to listen to the other speakers, listen to another person tell their story, be the keynote. And that would have been just as enlightening. You know, I started the day yesterday at the hotel, jumping in the pool, swimming some, did a quick workout, and then met up with a buddy for college buddy, fraternity buddy, uh for breakfast. He lives in Dallas, grew up in Dallas, has a lot of connections in Dallas, went to his country club, oversaw the ninth green, eating fresh fruit, grapefruit juice, uh, egg sandwich on an English muffin, and just being around, you know, a scenic uh setting for breakfast on a terrace. You know, nothing like a good green golf course. And they're playing the music of the masters, it kind of gets you going in the right direction. But then going to and spending time with a bunch of gamblers in recovery, many of whom I did not know, a few that I knew from Houston. But it was just spent the whole day and then exploring things even after the day of recovery. Me and a guy went to a couple food spots, getting some Korean uh fusion food, uh, getting some type of uh Ube soft serve, you know, just different types of connection, and then celebrating with the big group at Celebration Restaurant, which is just good old southern cooking. And then just being able to just uh come back to Houston. And you know, today was more about partly about travel, driving back, uh, and another part, and of course, I'd I go up, I went up and I came back, obviously, with my hundred-pound dog, Creed. So I got to, you know, wasn't completely alone, but you know, it's always fun to have a travel companion. And you came to come back here, record uh podcast episode, uh, and then also uh just do other types of work, you know, do a workout here uh later. But I encourage people to do these days of recovery because it helps you connect with yourself, connect with others. And that is the essential, an essential piece of recovery. Being connected, as well as repetition, or whether it's about doing the work, but always think about things that'll move you forward in your own recovery. And with that, we are going to conclude this episode of the 1% in recovery.