Breaking Free: The Dopamine Reset

Have you ever caught yourself mindlessly scrolling your phone, finishing an entire bag of chips without noticing, or having "just one more" drink that turned into several? You're not alone, and it's not entirely your fault.

Our brains are wired for reward, and modern life is designed to exploit this vulnerability. Whether it's sugar, alcohol, social media, or any quick-hit pleasure, they all trigger the same dopamine pathways – creating cycles of anticipation, temporary satisfaction, inevitable crash, and renewed craving. This podcast explores how these patterns silently shape our lives, one small choice at a time, until we find ourselves trapped in behaviors we never consciously chose.

But breaking free is possible. True recovery goes beyond simple abstinence to address the underlying reasons we reach for these escapes in the first place. What pain are you numbing? What void are you trying to fill? Through establishing daily non-negotiables – consistent practices that ground your day and create a framework for healthier choices – you can begin rewiring your brain's reward system. Physical movement, nutritious eating, mindful consumption of information, and regular connection with supportive communities gradually restore natural dopamine balance, making it easier to find satisfaction in meaningful activities rather than quick fixes.

Most importantly, this journey thrives in community, not isolation. "Addiction thrives when it's alone. Recovery thrives in connection." By keeping promises to yourself and building integrity through small daily choices, you create a life where artificial highs feel unnecessary compared to the deeper satisfaction of living authentically. The question becomes not "How do I avoid my addiction?" but "How do I build a life I don't want to escape from?" Listen in to discover how you can transform recovery from a series of deprivations into a journey of creation – crafting a life that truly satisfies your deepest needs.

Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if this episode resonated with you. Your feedback helps others find their way to this message when they need it most.

Chapters

• 0:00 The Dopamine Trap
• 5:40 Understanding the Dopamine Loop
• 9:14 Structure as Freedom, Not Prison
• 13:24 Feed Your Mind, Clear Your Body
• 18:01 Connection Over Isolation
• 21:10 Keeping Promises to Yourself
• 24:27 Making Better Choices Every Day

Transcript

Corey Berrier: 1:00

Welcome to the Successful Life Podcast. I'm your host, Corey Berrier, and today we're talking about rewiring the reward, escaping the dopamine trap, and building the life you crave. So right now, as you listen, you might notice you've been reaching for something lately. Maybe it's food, maybe it's alcohol, maybe it's your phone, or maybe it's all of them. You even wake up one day, addicted to any of these things that happen. One choice at a time, one little escape at a time, until the escape became your life.

Corey Berrier: 1:49

And it happens to all of us. You know overeating, drinking, drugs, porn, endless scrolling. It's the same dopamine circuit. It hits the exact same circuits. All of them hit the same circuits. And as you realize how much these moments have cost you, you can start to imagine what happens when you break the loop. This is the numbness beneath the noise. Think of the last time you reach for it. Whatever that thing is. You might remember the taste, the buzz, the distraction, but if you look just a little bit closer, you'll remember the emptiness that came out of it.

Corey Berrier: 2:40

Listen, we've all doom-scrolled for an hour and looked up and said what the hell just happened. I'm sure a lot of us have sat in a bar for two hours and didn't know what had happened. Or maybe you sat in front of the television or maybe with your phone and scrolled while you ate a whole bag of potato chips. Right, these things are easy, they're simple things that we overlook. So if you think about, if you look at your screen at 2 am, it keeps you up at night. It keeps you up at night. And if you feel fat after you've eaten that bag of potato chips, that's a real feeling. Or if you get to the point where you drink too much and you're dizzy or you're spinning, those are all real feelings, but you don't realize they're happening until it's already done. Feelings, but you don't realize they're happening until it's already done. And you can notice that, no matter how many times you try it, never really. It never really gives you what you're looking for. Does it? I don't think so. You just think it does. Or better, yet maybe you're just so potentially unconscious that you don't even realize it's happening. And if you really think about that, that's a pretty scary thing. Imagine if you've been driving for a while. If you remember when you were 16 years old, you looked at around every corner, you looked at every stop sign. Now you probably can't name one single thing that you saw going to work because you're on autopilot, just like you are with the phone or the drink or the food. It's the same thing. Your brain is essentially hijacked. You know, your brain doesn't care if the hit comes from whiskey or a cupcake or Instagram or sex. Your brain just wants that dopamine spike.

Corey Berrier: 4:58

Let me dive into what the kind of the dopamine loop looks like. It's anticipation. If you're a drug addict, it's that anticipation before you go and pick up the drugs, like you can almost feel the high before you ever get there. And then you get the hit Boom, and now you're high. What comes next? Crash, just like you ran into a wall.

Corey Berrier: 5:28

And then the fourth part of that is the craving. Now, this is the same thing if you're going out to get dessert, if you're going out to get ice cream, if you're going to go out to get whatever your favorite sweet food is. It's the same thing, right? You anticipate the experience and you say it's an experience, but really it's a hit of dopamine. You get the ice cream, you eat it, oh, it's so good. Five minutes it's gone. Or, if you're me, two minutes. Then an hour later you crash and then you're looking for something else to fill that void. And the more you feed it, the more it demands. You know you've seen yourself promise just one more drink and then you watch it turn into another one, and another one, and another one. But what if you learned? What if you learned how to give your brain something deeper, something it didn't want to run from? Imagine that you know sobriety is really just the doorway, and that could be sobriety from food, alcohol, weed, drugs, sex, social media. It's just the doorway and stopping is powerful. And it is the first step. Right, you got to stop doing the thing that you're doing. In order to recover, it's necessary that you have to stop that thing, but stopping is just the key. The life you really want is on the other side of that door. So you got to stick the key in and open the door.

Corey Berrier: 7:17

And quitting a substance, any of those things that I've named it doesn't remove the reason that you used it. Unfortunately, I thought for sure it was just about quitting the drink, or it was just about putting down the sugar, or it was just about not having sex with multiple people not necessarily me. I'm just giving you an example. There was a time when I was a bit more promiscuous, but not these days. So you got to think about why you're doing these things. What are you running from? What are you numbing out from? And here's the deal the moment that you see this clearly, you can step through that doorway and start building something better. But you got to put the substance down first and then step through the doorway.

Corey Berrier: 8:14

You can't get to recovery just by quitting. Trust me, I tried that. You know, today I haven't drank in 16 years today, but I didn't say sober that whole time. I just didn't drink. And there's a big difference in being in recovery and just not drinking. I was just as nuts when I wasn't drinking than I was when I was drinking, and that sounds nuts to some people, but it's the God's honest truth. I made the same stupid decisions, I justified things the exact same way, and I also didn't have a program of recovery at that moment. I was just a dry drunk, and so I needed structure, I needed structure. I needed structure that would hold me together. Right.

Corey Berrier: 9:08

Structure isn't a prison, it's really the scaffolding, for freedom is the best way I can put it, because there's a level of freedom that comes with being able to rely on somebody else for answers. Maybe that you don't know. Maybe it's a situation where you rely on that higher power, like I do, and those things allow me to feel free today. I have some daily non-negotiables and I go to several at minimum three recovery meetings a week. I send out a gratitude list every day. I work out every single day and I pay attention to my nutrition every day. I do my best to not doom scroll. I don't watch reels specifically because I get sucked in, just like you do. So just imagine waking up every day knowing exactly what today will include, because that's how I start my day and it feels like I'm in a safe place in that plan.

Corey Berrier: 11:09

And discipline and structure is the thing that makes sure you don't have to keep starting over. Whether it be any of those vices that I mentioned. Starting over is a nightmare, you know, for no other reason than not wanting to start over Just if you put a little bit of structure and discipline in your life and I'm not saying it's easy, but it is doable. If I can do it, anybody can do it. So the other thing that I do is I feed my mind. So the other thing that I do is I feed my mind and feeding my mind. Instead of feeding it, I feed my mind with good stuff. I feed my mind with books and podcasts and you know it's very fulfilling to know that I would much rather learn something than I would doom scroll or watch a funny video.

Corey Berrier: 12:08

Now don't get me wrong. Sometimes I enjoy that distraction and I think it's healthy to do that occasionally, but every scroll is a micro hit. Every hit is like a micro distraction from where you're meant to be and sometimes you need that distraction, but a lot of times it sucks you in. You're meant to be and sometimes you need that distraction, but a lot of times it sucks you in. And some of the things that I replace social media doom scrolling with is, like I said before, podcasts, whether it be about business or sales or recovery or audiobooks. I don't do a lot of actual reading, but I do listen to a ton of audiobooks and you might even start to notice that you feel different after learning than you do after scrolling. I know I do. I feel so much different. I feel smarter, believe it or not, whether I am or not, that's a whole different story, but I certainly feel smarter if I'm not scrolling social media. And one of the things that I like to do.

Corey Berrier: 13:04

I'm currently doing carnivore diet. I think I'm about three months in and it's mind blowing how clear I am every day, how clear my body feels, how clear my body feels. And your mind can only be as clear as the body it lives in. And so if you're putting junk in your body alcohol, drugs, sex, food, you know, what do you think your brain, how do you think your brain is going to react to those things? Or weed, it's not good. Garbage in, garbage out, it's just like. You know, we've all heard that, but it's the truth. And then if you have to look in the mirror and you go God, dang it, dude, I just can't lose weight, but yet I ate a bag of potato chips last night, or 14 cupcakes. Yeah well, you're putting crap in your body. That's not what you're supposed to be putting in your body.

Corey Berrier: 14:03

Listen, the food industry don't even be started. You know they're the rapacious creditor at this point. They're the people that just want your soul. Um, and quite honestly, they have it for most people. You know that's the reason you can only eat. You can't eat but one potato chip. There's a freaking reason for that, and that reason is so. They've designed these products for you to continue to consume them. Alcohol, potato chips, cake, sugars, sugars in every damn thing. It's ridiculous, it's nuts. It should be illegal, to be honest.

Corey Berrier: 14:43

So get out in the morning air and breathe. You know, breathe some fresh air. It makes such a difference in how you think. You know the way your muscles feel after you do a hard lift and you know that ache, especially that first week or two, is tough. But you know for sure you're making progress. It makes all the difference in the world. But you just got to start in the world. But you just got to start and you know the light's brighter outside because you're thinking clearer. And as you, you know, as you take care of your body, you'll find your mind thinking you in ways that you never really expected.

Corey Berrier: 15:36

But you have to look out for triggers and use those triggers. As a teacher, every craving is a clue. If you follow it and when you follow it, you find the wound right. You find what you're really trying to cover up. And this is deep shit and I don't expect everybody to understand what I'm saying, but believe me, this is all my experience with all those things I listed.

Corey Berrier: 16:14

So the next time that you feel an urge, instead of reaching for that old thing, whatever it is, just take a deep breath. Get curious about why you're reaching for that thing. Are you bored? Are you in pain? Are you lonely? All of those things make us grab for things that we don't really want. Don't really want and so, listen, one of the most, one of the times that I had the worst, the worst times that I had, were when I was isolated. You know, isolated. The opposite of isolation is connection, and today connection over isolation beats every single time. Addiction thrives when it's alone and recovery thrives in connection.

Corey Berrier: 17:14

So visualize this for a second the circle of a recovery meeting, the shared nod. When you see someone who's been there, let people in, speak up. Even when you want to hide, that's the time you want to say or you want to introduce yourself. Almost said something I shouldn't have, so you just got to let people in. Said something I shouldn't have, so you just got to let people in. And the times that you don't want to let people in is probably the time that you should and you're not going to be judged. You know there's a time and a place to let people in, and there's certain people that you want to let in. But when you're in the recovery community, that's the place. You're not going to go to your boss and say, hey, I'm struggling, that's probably not the right time. But when you're surrounded with a community of people that are like-minded, that have the same goals, that are striving to do the same thing and God only knows they've been exactly where you are that's the guy you need to talk to, or the woman you need to talk to.

Corey Berrier: 18:21

If you're a woman and you know the amount of integrity that comes from just speaking up and saying I'm struggling is the fastest way to like yourself and to keep the promises you make to yourself. You break more promises to yourself than anybody else. You wouldn't break as many promises to your best friend as you do to yourself, and that's the truth. Think about that. I'm sure you've gone to bed before with regret in your gut. No question about it, I know I have Now.

Corey Berrier: 19:08

Imagine lying down at night and knowing you did exactly what you said you would do today and feeling your breath breathing normally not, your heart rate's not racing because you forgot to do something or you lied to this person. And your pride your pride which will drag you straight down. There's a different kind of pride here. There's a pride in knowing you did the thing you said you were going to do. There's a pride in knowing that you kept your word to yourself. Just try to keep in your promises to yourself, man, because that's powerful stuff. So you know what, if your life wasn't about avoiding these things, avoiding the pain, but about actually creating a life of joy, can you even imagine that, waking up with energy, loving your reflection in the mirror, you know, moving through the day without needing a hit of whatever that thing is whatever that thing is, I mean can you see that and feel it Like? Step into it. Step into it now.

Corey Berrier: 20:34

But it's all about the choices that you make every morning. You know, when you open your eyes tomorrow, you'll have a choice. Do you want to feed the addiction or feed the recovery? That is 100% on you and it's 100% your choice. We all have choices. Nobody forced me to eat a donut. Nobody forced me to have another drink or have the first drink. Nobody forced me to smoke weed. Nobody forced me to doom scroll for two hours. That was a choice, and so if the choices that I make, I have to pay the consequences for that. So why do you want to pay the consequences? I got tired of paying the consequences.

Corey Berrier: 21:16

Personally, it was a pain in the ass to wake up, knowing you know, waking up with anxiety and knowing like I'm not sure what I did last night. Who do I need to apologize to? Whose feelings have I hurt? Who did I text? And I shouldn't have what I say to that person? You know, can you imagine waking up and not having those feelings of anxiety and fear?

Corey Berrier: 21:54

Well, if you're listening to this show, you've either made that choice or, hopefully, after this show, you will make that choice tomorrow. Just make a choice Today. I'm going to do what's right for me. I'm not going to care what anybody else thinks. I don't care what anybody else's opinion is. I'm going to do the right thing for me today and that's what I have to do.

Corey Berrier: 22:14

As selfish as that may sound, I have to make sure my oxygen mask is on. If the plane's going down or I can't help somebody else, it's the same difference. If you can survive addiction, you can survive discomfort, and if you can survive discomfort, you can build a life that makes dopamine hits feel cheap. So choose the thing today that tomorrow you'll thank yourself for. So I just want to ask you what are you going to do today?

Corey Berrier: 22:49

What are you going to do tomorrow morning? Are you going to choose to continue on this cycle of whatever the thing is you're abusing, or are you going to make a different decision? Are you going to put your shoes on and go walk outside and maybe listen to a book, while you're going to make a different decision? Are you going to put your shoes on and go walk outside and maybe listen to a book while you're outside? Or maybe, hell, take it a step further and go to the gym. Your body will thank you. Maybe not immediately. You're probably going to be a bit sore if you do anything you know, if you do a workout in the gym, but in two weeks that soreness is going to feel really good because you're going to start to change. And when you start to change, your body starts to change, your mind starts to change, and that's when I mean that's where it's at. That's where it's at At least, that's been where it's been for me and I would just encourage you look, make a better decision today.

Corey Berrier: 23:45

My goal here is to talk to you about things that I've done in my own life that have made my life significantly better, and the last thing I'll say is keep those promises to yourself, because there's nothing worse than waking up and saying, or going to bed and saying I'm going to the gym tomorrow and, knowing you're not going to the gym tomorrow, you wake up in a lie, and maybe you've been doing that for so long that you don't even see it. So keep your promises to yourself. Listen, thank you for listening. We'll see you next Friday. I appreciate it If you could leave us a review Apple Podcasts or Spotify either, or. I'm grateful for you and I appreciate you.