Episode 48: With Brett- “The Blank Spot, the Breakthrough, and the Birth of Real Recovery”

This week, we sit down with Brett — a man whose story shows that sobriety isn’t built on self-knowledge or “doing recovery perfectly,” but on brutal honesty, spiritual awakening, and the willingness to try again after the fall.

Brett will celebrate 8 years sober this January, but his journey wasn’t a straight line. Before this chapter of long-term recovery, he had 22 months sober, doing all the “right things” on paper — meetings, program work, connection. And yet, a single unguarded thought — a mental blank spot — led him into a sudden three-day relapse that changed everything.

He talks about how he’s always known he was an addict. Self-knowledge was never the issue. He knew drugs and alcohol would eventually destroy him… and still, he relapsed over and over. The true struggle was his relationship with a Higher Power — a theme that shows up at every turn in his story. He was drawn to his first sponsor because the man was agnostic, which allowed Brett to question, explore, and slowly form his own understanding of something greater than himself. Looking back, every relapse was tied to a spiritual disconnect, dishonesty with himself, and the people he surrounded himself with.

Brett opens up about going to his first treatment center knowing he could never safely use again, yet still being unable to stay sober. He contrasts that with his 22-month relapse: a moment where, despite doing the work, he picked up — and immediately realized that the drugs no longer numbed anything. For the first time, he wanted sobriety more than the high.

When his girlfriend at the time — now his wife, Samantha — found the heroin, she confronted him head-on and took him straight to detox. When he got out, she told him: We’re doing 90 meetings in 90 days. And she did it with him.

Brett reflects deeply on how the Salvation Army’s six-month program cracked him open spiritually in a way nothing else had. It was uncomfortable, structured, and challenging — but it’s where he finally found a Higher Power that made sense to him. After leaving the program, through his sponsor, he met Samantha. Everyone said they’d take each other out… and instead, they built a family grounded in recovery, honesty, and spiritual growth. Today they are married, raising two beautiful daughters, and living the kind of life Brett once thought was impossible for him.

Brett’s story is a powerful reminder that relapse doesn’t disqualify anyone from long-term sobriety — and that the real miracle happens when the ego breaks, the heart opens, and a Higher Power finally fits.