Three Tips to Staying Stopped with Gambling, Addiction

Staying stopped is the elusive question, and we go straight at it: lots of people can quit for a stretch, but lasting recovery takes a foundation that doesn’t crack the moment life gets stressful. We talk about why “white-knuckling it” fades, why fear-based thinking keeps you stuck, and what actually helps you live with real peace instead of constant anxiety.\n\nWe break down three pillars that shape how you live day to day: character, emotional intelligence, and spiritual foundation. Character means getting clear on what you believe in and who you want to be, values like honesty, hope, courage, and discipline. Emotional intelligence means knowing what you feel in real time and being able to say it out loud so you can choose a healthy response. Spiritual grounding means connecting to God or a higher power, paying attention to who’s in your circle, and letting support and meaning do their work.\n\nWe also connect recovery to the practical parts of life that keep you steady: relationships, mental health, physical health, finances, and goals you can act on today. When you know who you are and where you’re going, distractions and detours get easier to spot and easier to correct.\n\nIf you want a clearer relapse prevention plan and a stronger sobriety mindset, listen now, share this with someone who needs it, and subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next. After you listen, what’s one value you want to lead with this week?

Transcript

The Hard Part Is Staying Stopped\n

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Staying stumped. That is always the elusive question.

Recovery Mindset And Free Resources\n

SPEAKER_00 0:08

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, relationships, your job, business, school, just work. And to love unconditionally, just put much more love out there and watch much more love return to you. Now, keep encouraging people to go to the website lifeiswonderful. I repeat, free. This is a way to jumpstart your recovery. What you can do today, get that natural dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, oxytocin. Change the neuroplasticity in your brain. Change the way you start thinking and healing. Now, we always 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.

Why Stopping Is Not Enough\n

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Staying stopped. That is always the elusive question because a lot of people can stop. A lot of us have tried on our own, and we have been successful for maybe a few days, a few weeks, even, even maybe a year or two. But if you don't set the true foundation, you are not going to know where you're headed. Because in the end, one thing is even if you get in and you find your purpose, you've got to be very clear about your character, about your emotional intelligence, and about your spiritual foundation. Those three things will dictate how you live in life. Because

Character And Purpose As The Foundation\n

SPEAKER_00 2:03

ultimately, you want to have peace. You want to just live where you're not afraid of anything. You don't have this fear. You don't have this overwhelming anxiety, or you go into these deep depressions. The thing is, is you've always got to have the clarity of who you are and what you feel and what you believe. That has always

Peace Over Fear Anxiety And Depression\n

SPEAKER_00 2:35

been the case. A lot of people say, well, if you relapse a lot, you just got to go back and understand that you're powerless over drinking or gambling or drugging. No, it's important to understand what those can do to you. But in the end, keep saying that, you would have much higher recovery rates in 12-step programs. You don't, because there is no psychological evidence that states that you are going to change who you are

Moving From Powerless To Powerful\n

SPEAKER_00 3:11

by going towards a negative. A negative means I am powerless over alcohol, I will not drink again, I will not gamble again, I will not drug again. No, you change your life when you realize your own value, how powerful you are, that nothing can stop

Naming Feelings And Self Regulation\n

SPEAKER_00 3:32

you. But that only happens is if you fully truly look at your character. What do you believe in? Honesty, hope, courage, discipline. Do you know what you are feeling at this moment? Can you say right now? I I mean, how do I feel right now? I'm feeling relaxed. I'm feeling anxious, just about some business. Little bit of anxious about my upcoming TED Talk here in six days, but in reality, I feel confident because I have written an excellent speech and I have practiced it and I know it. I feel powerful. I feel like this is going to be one of my days, June 14th. But in the end, I know exactly how I feel. And if I feel, let's say, any anxiety or nervousness or feeling sometimes a little bit overwhelmed about what's going on in terms of business, I can just state it, talk to people, get into what I need to do, whether that's music or workout, whatever I need to do to get out of it.

Spiritual Grounding And Your Circle\n

SPEAKER_00 4:48

And also to be very clear on who and what you believe in. I believe in my higher power, I believe in God, I believe in the great mystery. I know that he flows through my blood, and there are so many people that love me, validate me, support me, appreciate me. And I can actually see it right now this coming week, and how many people want to come watch me pay money to see me on stage? So I know I know God works in my life, He brings wonderful people in my life, and I constantly looking at who's in my current circle. And right now, even some new people, like that are some of these uh other TEDx speakers. That is what I am talking about, is that you've got to be clear on who you are and where you're

Goals Daily Actions And Real Joy\n

SPEAKER_00 5:43

going. Because if you know who you are and you know where you're going, nothing, nothing can take you off. Yeah, you can maybe get involved in, let's say, some Netflix series, or let's say you spend too much time on social media, or you do something else that's not, you know, gonna take you to your goals. Like I always say, I am very clear on my goals and what I want. And so I can look at it and go, okay, this is what I need to do today. This is what I need to do to improve my life. And that's gonna bring me joy and peace. Everything is always about joy and peace on how loving myself and loving others, building that oxytocin, building those relationships, but also having clear goals on what I'm going to do. What is my value to this world? And I know my value is about recovery, it's about speaking, it's about sharing, whether it's podcast, whether it's writing, and that is going to take me to the next level because that's where I'm going. I'm going because I'm very clear of who I am and what I want, and I know the beauty of what life has in store for me. So I understand that is how you stay stopped. And I will repeat this. Uh this is what we need to do.

The Full Recovery Stack And Next Steps\n

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Focus on your character, change your character, get training on how to build emotional intelligence and know how to feel each day, and always develop your spiritual life and getting closer to your God higher power. Then you're also going to be working on relationships. You're also going to be working on your health, your mental health, your physical health. You're also going to be working on your job or your money or your finances. You're also going to be working on your goals, on whether it's travel, whether it's uh family goals, social goals. You're going to always, you put all that together. Man, you put that all together. And nothing, nothing stops you. So I encourage everyone to do that. Get in touch with me. I have a character course, Strong Leader, Strong Character. I have a podcast that's free, so the course costs less than a hundred bucks. Podcast is free, scorecard is free. I just have so much valuable information out there, so then you can live your best life. Till next week. Life is wonderful.