76: Why Smart, Successful People Still Struggle With Addiction

Success can be a quiet trigger. When life improves, it’s easy to think the risk is gone—but that’s often when relapse risk increases. We explain why and share simple, repeatable practices that protect clarity and keep ego in check.

Addiction doesn’t fit one profile; it affects high achievers as much as anyone. External wins can’t fill internal emptiness. Lasting stability comes from spiritual grounding, strong community, and disciplined recovery habits.

If you look fine on the outside but feel complacency creeping in, this conversation offers practical tools and perspective. Keep the main thing the main thing. We’re recovering—not recovered.

Helpful Links:
Learn more about Restore Detox Centers
Filling the Void book by Steven T. Ginsburg
Overcoming the Fear and Lies of Addiction e-book
How to Love and Set Boundaries Without Enabling Addiction e-book
Call Us for Addiction Recovery:  1-800-982-5530

DISCLAIMER:
Welcome to the Addiction Recovery podcast, brought to you by Restore Detox Centers. We are dedicated to providing valuable and insightful information on addiction recovery. However, it is essential to understand that the content shared in this podcast is intended for educational purposes only. While we strive to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information presented, we cannot guarantee its completeness or suitability for individual circumstances. The topics discussed in this podcast are based on general knowledge and should not be considered a substitute for professional advice or treatment.

It is important to note that the views and opinions expressed by the podcast hosts, guests, or contributors are their own and may not necessarily reflect the views of Restore Detox Centers. We strongly advise listeners to consult with qualified professionals, such as addiction counselors, therapists, or medical practitioners, before making any decisions or taking any actions based on the information provided in this podcast. Please be aware that listening to this podcast does not establish a client-provider relationship with Restore Detox Centers.

Transcript

Level-Set: Addiction Knows No Status

Steven Ginsburg 0:00

It's an equal opportunist. Addiction and alcoholism is an equal opportunist offender. It's everyone from the penthouse to the outhouse.

Steve Coughran 0:10

This is the Addiction Recovery Podcast with Steven T. Ginsburg, founder of Restore Detox Centers in Sunny California. Enjoy your experience. Steven, someone can be very successful in business, in their personal life. They have a beautiful home. They have a beautiful family. Everything's going great for them, but they still tend to fall into the trap of addiction. Why does that happen? Because I know back in the day you found yourself in a very similar spot. You were successful. You had the career, you had the car, you had the nice place, but still you fell victim to it as well. So talk to me a little bit about this.

Steven Ginsburg 0:51

Steve, thank you. Such an imperative talking point. And I love when we get to approach topics like this. And something I discuss often as a cautionary tale when it comes to prelapse and relapse. You know, we make our way into recovery, we start to live and learn that first step. We start to embrace and accept this course that we're on, and we start to look better and sound better and feel better and do better, and things at home are better, and love is better, and work is better, and money is better. And the very thing or things that brought the better, that's what starts to get neglected and negated, and the trappings of the promises. We become victims of the success. And this isn't a prosperity gospel moment for recovery, but things naturally improve. There's an arc of improvement when we have clarity. And what has brought that arc of improvement through clarity, that's what too often starts to get neglected and negated. And the goal here, and I'm going to turn it back over to you in one second, is the better it's going, the more we should intentionally continue to do and provide where our recovery and our discovery and recovery is concerned.

Steve Coughran 2:05

Go deeper into that because that's really interesting. Better things are going, the more successful you are, the more you need to double down on the action steps that you constantly talk about. Amen. So absolutely. It seems kind of counterintuitive. Like things are going well. Maybe you started to overcome this addiction struggle, right?

No Laurels In Sobriety

Steven Ginsburg 2:26

You move past it. I mean, listen, it that's a very that's a that's a trick box. That's a slippery soap. You know, uh drugs and alcohol are what? A subtle foe. Cunning, baffling, powerful, persistent, patient. Listen, like there's no room for complacency. There are no laurels for me, for us. I always do me, then I get licensed to some degree to do we. There's no laurels to be rested on. I see men and women that I respect 30, 40, 50 years. Where are they? They're at a meeting. What are they doing? Following their sponsor's lead. What else are they doing? They're providing service, they've got that conception of a power grid in themselves. We are earning a daily remission and reprieve. And when we start to earn other things like career success, like relationship success, like peace of mind and serenity, that's not licensure and a green light to start neglecting the very thing that brought those elements. Actually, to the contrary, we need to lean in and up our game and raise our bar to protect home base. We are recovering, we are not recovered. We are getting well, we are not well. When I take my dirt nap, I will be done a day at a time with my recovery.

Shattering The Addict Stereotype

Steve Coughran 3:46

Well, I mean, it's interesting because when you see things on TV, right, or you just have that stereotype in your mind of the addict. Somebody's dirty on the street, right? They're ripped jeans, their hair is all disheveled, and they they're living in a box, right? Um, I think there's this big myth out there that addiction only affects those who are reckless and irresponsible. But, you know, as you and I have talked about, when I go up to the house, yes, sir. You see these people, they're normal. They're like me and you know, they look like us, right? They're just normal looking people. And we're like them, right? We're like them, yeah. And so let's talk about this myth that addiction is only for the irresponsible and the reckless, because successful people, they may look like they have it all together, but I'm sure you have a lot more exposure to this because you get to see like the deep dark side of people that look like they they have everything going for them, brother.

Stress, Chaos, And Real-Time Inventory

Steven Ginsburg 4:44

Uh, you're you're just spot on, and you've the cool the great part about these times with you is you have been there, you have been up to restore at the table alongside me with the community, with the team. So it's this is boots on the ground, factual-based conversation, which I love about what we're blessed to do. It's an equal opportunist addiction and alcoholism is an equal opportunist offender. It's everyone from the penthouse to the outhouse, everyone from the insane asylum to the black tie ball, they are all fair game and they will be. You know, and of course, we are sacred with anonymity. I mean, we've had some unbelievable, remarkable executives, professionals, doctors, lawyers, executives from sports teams, people in the entertainment world, every walk of life you can imagine. We're right up there in the beds and in the seats at restore. And that's just fine. We put our pants on the same way, we hit our knees the same way when we pray, and this disease causes that unmanageability and leaves chaos and too often death to every one of us, no matter how many commas, zeros, degrees, or acumen follow us. It's an equal opportunist.

Steve Coughran 6:02

So, with that, everything that you just said, do you do you see that people use addiction or they fall into addiction because they're using some type of substance or some type of mechanism to get this dopamine hit, this dopamine rush, because they're under extreme stress, or maybe there's pressure to achieve, or there's just they need an emotional escape because life is just really hard. Raising kids are hard, taking care of the household's hard, growing a business is hard. Um, what do you see there?

Steven Ginsburg 6:37

You know, listen, sometimes for my genetic makeup, and I view my genetic makeup as addict alcoholic, I am more at home in chaos. Like, meaning when it's when it's all over the place and going fast and it's a mile a minute and the plates are spinning, that turns me on. That's fine. The energy and the fluidity and all of that excitement that can all be there, but there doesn't have to be workaholism behind that. There doesn't have to be alcoholism behind that. There doesn't have to be drug addiction behind that, there doesn't have to be raging codependency behind that. There can be balance and there can be peace and there can be rest and there can be ongoing, you know, real-time inventory. There's an acronym my sponsee, Sean, came up with that I love RTI, real-time inventory. How am I doing? What am I doing? Where am I at? With what? Everything. And it's okay for things to be okay. And that becomes one of the more important things for me to broach and for us to broach at restore. And I'm going to use you as an example, although none of this applies to you, which is fabulous. Like if I have someone with your level of acumen and intelligence, I have to have really intentional methodical conversations. So on a linear basis, conceptually, that road to recovery can make sense and add up. Okay.

The Inner Emptiness And Spiritual Solution

Steve Coughran 8:07

Interesting. I mean, you come across these high performers all the time, right? Often, very often, more often than not. Yes. So what is it? Because it seems like there would be like there's two sides of the the spectrum here. There's people that may be bored, and they're like, We have nothing to do. You want to go smoke some weed, you want to go drink, right? So, like you get bored, and then maybe you fall into these substance issues, and then maybe on the other side of the spectrum is just you're going so crazy, life is so hectic. Maybe there's trauma and you don't know how to cope with it, and you fall into addiction. It do you see it as those two extremes that really get people, or is it all over the place? Like you could be in the middle, just some mediocre average person doing daily life and fall into it, or is it more like you know, you're bored or you're like overly stressed?

Steven Ginsburg 9:05

Here's where I think that there's congruency between the two. Here's what I think is most important about so the answer is yes, but that's not enough for an answer. The congruent, but it is that's the real answer. Yes, okay, great. And what? And this the congruency between the two is this there's this unbelievable emptiness, and no amount of work and no amount of substance and no amount of anything can fill it up. Darn right. There, there it is, because it's an inside job, it's a spiritual malady, and work and and riches and treasures and accomplishments, and accolades, and substance that never fills up the emptiness. What fills up the emptiness and what actually satiates that drive is a connection with a power greater than ourself. The community that communally helps us understand the disease we suffer from in the meetings that work with the sponsor that work through the steps and service. That realm, that recipe fills it up from the inside out. That doesn't mean it's over, that doesn't mean it stops. Listen, many, many times I look outside to feel fulfilled, and very quickly I am pivoting because I serve a great God. And it's like, hey, bro, you're just off track. This just isn't going to be enough. And I get back to basics, and that's what I want to continue to convey and help people understand because that pre-lapse zone and that relapse zone comes so quickly and that drift is so subtle. We've got to continue to make sure and maintain the fact that the main thing is the main thing.

Steve Coughran 10:49

Okay, let's shift gears here. Your dad's a high performer, yes, successful in business, right?

Steven Ginsburg 10:55

Amazing.

Steve Coughran 10:55

Yes, yes, sir. Amazing person, amazing parents. And did you ever feel like there's this pressure to be a high performer or to have all your crap together just like your dad?

Steven Ginsburg 11:07

That's a great question. I didn't feel pressure to be like my dad, but I felt pressure because of what my dad was like. And I was like, man, this is like, look, I am a child of the king. Like my stock comes from Christ. But that was a lesson I found out the hard way through the gift of desperation. I started to have to understand that whether I pleased my father or not was okay. I had to please myself first. I had to take humble pride in my footwork first. I had to feel okay with myself first, and then I could go about the business of wondering andor worrying or enjoying the fact that, like, I hope my father is well pleased with me. Which by the way, focusing on those elements pleased my father inherently. That's when he has been and was proudest of me. Okay.

Steve Coughran 12:05

What about like when you're rock bottom or maybe okay? Let's not even go to rock bottom. Let's go before rock bottom.

Steven Ginsburg 12:13

Yeah.

Steve Coughran 12:13

You have the job, like the second time. You had the job, you're successful, right? And then all of a sudden you fall back into these bad habits and bad patterns. Did you feel like this pressure? Like, I'm a high performer, I have my stuff together. I'm not an addict. Did you feel like shame because there's that pressure on you? And did that shame lead you to be silent? Because I think there are a lot of high performers out there, CEOs, um, CFOs, executives of companies, founders, right? And yeah, and so they feel shame because they're like, I should have all my stuff together. And then they don't say anything, and then they just yeah, go down a terrible path.

Steven Ginsburg 12:55

That wasn't my journey. Like I was because listen, this is where I'm grateful for my journey. Because I suffer from what I suffer from, and because I was not participating in the elements that continue on this very day where you and I are talking, the elements that continue to give me my remission and my reprieve, I am participating in today. Because during that pre-lapse and relapse, I was not participating in those elements. It was a very long play, cry for help, which got louder and louder and louder, and which I was hopeful that was going to eventually help me to just die. That really was my goal. I'm not proud of that. That's just a fact. And so eventually that cry was heard and things continued to crumble, and I was right-sized and flattened because I served that great of a God. And then when I ultimately gave it all up, that's where I won the big battle and the big war. When I surrendered it all, and it's a very literal thing, and we're not going to get into all that now, but it still has to be said. When I surrendered it all, I was, for lack of a better term, no pun intended, restored and lifted to my feet by my heavenly father. And here we are today. Praise God. But you had to surrender, you had to surrender at all. I surrendered. I was uh but brother, I can the beat down might have been might as well been a minute ago, not 21 years plus ago. But I can feel like it was a moment ago, and I'm so grateful that I can. I'm not gonna lose sight of it today, just not today.

Technique Over Force: The Jiu-Jitsu Analogy

Final Thoughts And Listener Invitation

Steve Coughran 14:26

But I'm sure some people don't want to surrender. This is the last thing I'll say it and sure wrap up. But it you know, you know, I I recently started doing jujitsu. And you know, I'm just uh I'm a rookie white belt, but it's interesting because if you're not familiar with jujitsu, rolling is the same thing as like wrestling. I don't know why they call it rolling, but it's like when you're just wrestling live and you're you're doing whatever moves you want on your partner, and so it's interesting because as a white belt, I have the opportunity to roll with blue belts, purple belts, brown belts, people who are way more experienced than me, right? They choke me, they submit me, they arm bar me, all this stuff. But some people, and I was just talking to my professor about this, and this includes me, they don't like losing. I don't like losing. So I will muscle my way through certain moves and through my sheer strength, not technique, through sheer strength, I will prevent myself from getting in a bad spot and maybe I'll win a certain position, but I really lost because I'm relying on my sheer strength instead of technique. And so there's a connection here because I'll go up against other people, and some they're okay with losing. They're just like, oh, I lost, no, no harm, no foul. I learned that, don't do that. Okay, I'm gonna not move to the right next time. All right, let's restart, right? And we just restart and it's playful. But some people are like, no, no, no, no, I'm not gonna lose, and I'm definitely not gonna lose to a white belt. So they'll just like they'll keep doing the same exact moves, same patterns, and they never progress, or the progression slows or stops, or right, or they just they'll fight their way through it to win a certain piece of it, but they're not learning. And so I relate this back to everything we talk about on this podcast because you're constantly talking about the technique, right? And which I relate to the actions, the steps, the big book, right? And you're like, okay, here's the proven path, here are the steps to take. That's the technique that I relate it back to jujitsu. Or you could just try to rely on sheer grit and heroics to just stay sober, which doesn't it doesn't work, right? I can't use strength all the time to win my matches, or I'm gonna hurt myself, or I'm gonna hurt my opponent because I'm just like muscling my way, you know. And so I also think that the other, you know, parable here, if you'll call it that, or metaphor, is you know, when we refuse to admit or surrender to your point, and we just like, nope, I got this, I'm gonna just keep fighting through it, or I'm not gonna submit, we stop. Our progression stops, and we find ourselves traps. Like, how do you see this?

Steven Ginsburg 17:14

Here's my take my takeaway from that is is a little more simple to quantify, and I like it because both elements that you shared lead to the same thing. It's the epitome of over and over again having the same patterns of behavior, but expecting what a different result. Right, it just never comes together, it just never works. See, it all it's so beautiful because it all relates. That is where recovery and recovery-based choices and sobriety affirming and life affirming choices are concerned. We can't continue to display those same patterns and habits. We can't keep muscling our way to it and expect different results. It all we always end up back in that area again where we have to let it all go. We have to admit that we're powerless over drugs and alcohol and everything else, and that our life had become and is unmanageable. And then that's it's it's amazing because amidst that journey, that's where we are granted some power.

Steve Coughran 18:11

Yeah, love it. Well said. All right. What are your thoughts? Email us at hello at restore detoxcenters.com. We'd love to hear your voice. We'd love to hear your thoughts, we'd love to hear your ideas. It could be about anything, things you're struggling with, things you're enjoying in life. It could be your recovery story. Maybe you have some ideas for me and Steven. We'd just love to hear from you. We'll be great to do another episode with you.

Steven Ginsburg 18:34

Steve, thank you so much for this. Uh, if you are out there, we want to hear from you on all things. Uh, we love you, we are for you. Everyone, have a safe and sober day.