Supernaut
Supernaut is a podcast about spirituality, sobriety, and the spectrum of self. Hosted by Beth Kelling, this show explores what it means to seek clarity, connection, and personal truth in a world that rarely slows down.
Since beginning her sobriety journey in 2020, Beth has been diving deeper into spiritual practices, emotional honesty, and all the beautiful, messy layers of identity.
Each episode opens the door to conversations about healing, growth, creativity, intuition, and everything in between — because who we are isn’t fixed, it’s a spectrum.
Beth will be joined by guests who share their own stories, perspectives, and spiritual paths — offering insight, inspiration, and the occasional cosmic detour.
Whether you’re sober-curious, spiritually inclined, or just looking to feel a little more human, you’re in the right place
Supernaut
Sunshine, Lollipops, and Sobriety: Tyler Plasek Shares His Story
What happens when the life of the party decides to stop drinking? Tyler Plasek joins us to share his remarkable journey through one year of sobriety, challenging the notion that you need a dramatic rock bottom moment to make a positive change.
Known as the wild, entertaining personality on his former podcast "On Tap With The Boiz," Tyler built much of his identity around drinking. From teenage parties in rural Minnesota to college shenanigans (which he calls "the most expensive vacation of my life") to being the guy who always brought extra pants to weddings because he'd rip them while dancing, alcohol was central to his social persona.
Tyler's path to sobriety wasn't triggered by a catastrophic event but rather a growing sense that something needed to change. His candid discussion about crippling anxiety while drinking—spending entire weeks convinced his closest friends were angry with him—reveals the hidden mental toll that often goes unaddressed. "I don't know if I'd call it rock bottom. I think I could have got lower, but it was time for a change," he reflects.
The transformation in Tyler's life has been profound. As the youngest foreman at his construction company, he now feels "way sharper" at work. His anxiety has dramatically improved. He still enjoys karaoke and socializing with friends who drink, but has discovered which relationships were based solely on alcohol versus deeper connections. Perhaps most importantly, he's found that stepping away from alcohol hasn't diminished his identity but has instead allowed him to discover who he truly is beyond the bottle.
Whether you're questioning your own relationship with alcohol or supporting someone who is, Tyler's journey offers a refreshing perspective on what sobriety can look like without drama or deprivation. As he aptly puts it: "If you're thinking about quitting, it must be kind of important. So just try it. What's the worst that could happen?"
0:00 Meet Tyler Plasek
4:38 On Tap Podcast
8:32 The Drinking Journey Begins
15:25 Finding Sobriety and Identity
26:34 Building a House and Strong Friendships
36:00 Life After One Year Sober
43:19 Passion, Purpose, and Future Plans
This is Supernaught. My name is Beth Kelling and I'm going to talk about spirituality, sobriety and the spectrum of self. I've loved talking about spirituality for as long as I can remember and I've been on a sobriety journey since 2020. The more I talk about sobriety, the stronger I become. The more I explore spirituality, the more fulfilled I feel. This is a space for stories and for the moments where struggle meets transformation. This is Supernaught. Welcome, tyler Plasek.
Speaker 2:How are you? Thank you for having me. I'm doing great.
Speaker 1:Good. What song did you just pick for us to listen to?
Speaker 2:Sunshine, lollipops and Rainbows Just fun, very upbeat. It's kind of been my motto for this year, my work season. Every year I kind of have a different song that I listen to and uh, plus, it's pretty short. So when you asked me what song to uh pick, I could have just uh came out here with Freebird and knock out half the podcast a lot of time slot. But uh, it's just a good, good vibe and uh, I just enjoy the song. It's uh makes you happy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I loved it. I had never heard it before, but she also sings that song you Don't Own Me.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I knew that one, so I'm like adding both of these to my queue right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Amazing.
Speaker 2:A heavily sampled song in today's new music. I guess, like you Don't Own Me, there's a rap song that samples it and stuff. Yeah, maybe not your vibe, I guess as well, but yeah, also a generic vibe old music.
Speaker 1:I like old stuff, so did your parents listen to a lot of music not really, I guess, but where did you get into older music then?
Speaker 2:I got bored at work. I guess you know same radio stations over and over and you start getting uh deep in the rabbit hole of Spotify, I guess.
Speaker 1:Yeah, awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm big into Polka right now. Really I have been for years, but I don't know if I'd say big. But every day there's a radio station down south at 1 to 3 o'clock is Polka break and that's my vibe, so yeah.
Speaker 1:That's fun.
Speaker 2:I get around.
Speaker 1:So we had never met until today, but I feel like I kind of know you because I've been watching episodes of a podcast that you started in 2020 on Tap With the Boys. So it's funny to watch somebody on TV so much where you feel like you know them and then you don't know them, but I feel like I do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I guess I've put myself out there a lot over the years and where, uh, be completely transparent with everybody, I guess through through everything. So there's a lot of people I run into that feel like they know me like a friend, that can mess with me, like a friend where it's like, hey, I don't know you like that.
Speaker 1:So yeah, does it get offensive?
Speaker 2:It has a couple of times where, yeah, I've gotten angry. You know a little bit, but you know cause. You joke around with your friends but yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, interesting, yeah, so, um, we have a mutual friend, cody, who you started the podcast with, and I asked him this morning um anything I should ask you. So he's given me lots of ideas and lots of dirt. It's going to be fun. Um, like, he said that you guys hated each other from age seven to high school. And I asked him like, was it like hostile or aggressive? Like how, what's this hatred? And he's like, well, no, I call them Tyler Plastic because it's plastic. But like, how, how other ways did you hate each other?
Speaker 2:So no, it's not. He says we hated each other. I thought he was cool, I thought I liked him, and then I find out he hated me. You know, I was like yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, you ended up being the best man in his wedding, so yeah, we grew very close in like seventh grade.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, going on like 20 years of knowing the guy from a kid through church is actually how I met him. So yeah, it's pretty cool yeah.
Speaker 1:So confirmation you never hated him, it was all him doing the hate.
Speaker 2:I don't remember it. Yeah, I don't think I hated him, it was him. So that's on him.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's funny. Yeah, so your guys' podcast was a lot of drinking. You just that was. How did you guys decide to start to do it? How did you guys decide to start to do it?
Speaker 2:Well, covid was starting and we'd get together and drink at the bar and say stupid stuff. Why not record it? That's kind of how I feel like most podcast visions start is why don't we just record what we say? Everybody else does it and makes money off of it. So that's how it started. And then COVID was happening, so we all got couldn't go to the bars. So every week we'd go to his house and he had a bar in his basement and we just drank there and recorded it. And it was a time that we hung out when nobody could leave their houses. So and it actually resonated with a lot of people because they couldn't go see their friends. So they listened and felt like they were with their friends and hanging out.
Speaker 2:So yeah, 100, it was genius yeah, I thought, I thought it was a great time, good phase of my life, you know, and you say phase because you move into the next one, yeah, so yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So lots of drinking, and now you recently just made it a year with no alcohol yeah, yeah, you're in three weeks.
Speaker 2:I think now yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, you just start from the beginning-ish of your drinking journey.
Speaker 2:Oh, probably I mean 15, you know, yeah, I mean that's, I guess, rural Minnesota, and I guess I can't speak for the whole country, but at a young age it's like there's nothing else to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's nothing. There's nothing up, I, I guess, in this neck of the woods that to do other than you know hanging with your friends and drink, I guess, unless if you know you need to find different hobbies and different things to consume your time and enjoy. So, yeah, 15 and just went after it pretty much after that, especially in college, and I mean that's where me and Cody got really close as we went to the same college together.
Speaker 2:So every day that you called it the most expensive vacation year yeah vacation of your life, yeah, and I still wouldn't, I wouldn't take it back. I mean it was a great time in my life, I had a blast, met a lot of great people. But yeah, I gave up after a semester and just literally just drank through the second semester.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so why did you decide to quit drinking?
Speaker 2:You know, I don't know if I'd call it rock bottom. I think I could have got lower, but it was time for a change. I guess I do big changes in my life. Whenever I decide I'm going to do something, I feel like I really go for it. I guess so like I had one relationship end and I feel like I really go for it. I guess so like I had one relationship end and two weeks later I listed my house for sale and said I was going to build a new house. Like, just go for it.
Speaker 1:I guess so a lot of girls dye their hair another color when they have a breakup. But you're like I'm going to build a house, yeah Well it's turned out in my favor.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, blue hair might not look good on me, but a new house does, I guess.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, definitely. Um, so, yeah you. Just from the episodes that I've watched, it just seems like you were the wild one of the group, and so was I. I feel like I was the most obnoxious, always falling off the bar, yelling profanities, just you know, doing whatever I could to be entertaining and um. Another similarity I um you and I have is today I was watching an episode. You were talking about being at a wedding and you had a couple extra pairs of pants in your car because you would blow them out.
Speaker 1:And I had to carry extra pairs of pants in my car because I would violently puke every time I drank and pee my pants okay, so like I lived a couple blocks from the bar that I'd always go to and I'd always have to go home to change and at one point it's like I'm just going to carry the pants in my car and then at one I remember one night even bringing them and throwing them in the bartender. I'm like I'm going to need these in a couple hours. Keep them safe for me. Just yourself, yeah so you would like rip them, because you're just like getting.
Speaker 2:I was conscious no, I was dancing. Yeah, okay, I'm known for the pop lock and drop it, you know. So I get down at some weddings weddings for sure. You know just the vibe, I guess. Uh, you were talking and that was my whole role in the podcast. I feel like and I probably made it my it was my by my own doing, where I'm the guy that just gets belligerently drunk on every episode and says stupid things. I guess a good thing that you don't have that I do is 200 hours of it recorded of me doing these things, where when I first started that podcast, my parents would always tell me that you know, be careful what you do and stuff, cause you know it could come back and stuff. And I don't think it's going to come back because it's part of my life, but I could listen to some old episodes and be pretty embarrassed about myself, you know so. But it's growth and knowing where he came from, you know, if you forget your past, you're bound to repeat it.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I know what you're saying, but I do like wish that I could take a shot of something so bad before I'm recording, because I like have such anxiety.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But like so, at least when you started you got to have that crutch, but I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like even right now. I mean I haven't recorded in a while, but I definitely got a lot of anxiety right now. I struggle from anxiety pretty good and I've been doing really good, but, yeah, getting some right now.
Speaker 1:Do you think that's why you drank like in high? Like I didn't hear the term anxiety until I was 24, 25,? I'm 39 right now, so a while ago and I remember just being like I don't have anxiety. And then when, like, I started slowing down drinking, I was like, oh, I have extreme anxiety. Have I had it forever and that's why I drink so much?
Speaker 2:yeah, where you just like social anxiety, where when I go out and be social, I just drink and it cuts it out. You know that maybe that's what, what happened, and I I feel like anxiety has become such a mainstream term nowadays, but it's also more known now, where there's a good name for it, I guess, of what's going on. But when I was a kid, my, my mom also has bad anxiety, and when I was a kid, it was always she was taking her happy pills as well. You know, I never knew it as anxiety, but yeah, that's what it was, just to help it out, I guess so. But yeah, definitely good crutch, yeah, yeah, right now it's just, uh, nicotine and caffeine, you know so, which doesn't do a whole lot for anxiety, but yeah.
Speaker 1:So you said so. You were the entertaining one on the podcast, in the podcast world and in outside of that, just with your friends. Did quitting drinking feel like you were letting people down because that's? What I did, yeah, yeah like what was the identity crisis like for you? Or did you have one?
Speaker 2:because I did yeah, I mean, it was definitely really hard to go out and uh, I guess, and be sociable. But, um, especially when you really find out, like certain friends, that you can only hang out with if you're drinking, because if you're sober around them you're like man, I don't know if I really enjoy being around you and also that's all they do. But I'm completely fine with being sober around my drunk friends now and sober cabbing and everything like that. But I guess you just kind of find out initially who you're friends with, because you run into them at the bar and it's a good time, and then the friends that pop in randomly or call you after work and stuff and just to shoot the shit or whatever. So sorry, do you swear on this?
Speaker 1:yeah, okay, that wasn't that heavy anyway, so but yeah um, yeah, so you had said on an episode that you still go out for fish fries and karaoke, was that it?
Speaker 2:well, that's one thing about not drinking. Is you go to the bar now and all there is to do is eat and pull tabs? You know you get other things if I'm gonna be there, you know but you still do karaoke.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sober, that's cool. I can't do karaoke drunk, so that's cool.
Speaker 2:So, like even when we're talking about anxiety, I do get like an adrenaline rush from awkwardness, especially when we go out and like getting after karaoke and knowing that I'm never going to see these people, like we'll go down to Blaine to the old Piper phenomenal karaoke and just great vibes. But I don't care, like, what people think. So we just go kind of crazy. Even when I'm sober, just have a great time, good vibes, I get great friends, so it's hard to not have a great time.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's so great. I never thought of that of uncomfortability being a adrenaline rush.
Speaker 2:If you fight through it for sure, If you're uncomfortable and you just fight through it.
Speaker 1:It might be another one of my addictions, oh no.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love adrenaline, I guess. Yeah, doing stupid stuff, I suppose yeah.
Speaker 1:And then Cody had said, or you said, you like to go out, but you don't like to stay out. And I felt that because it's hard to stay out, and Cody said, oh, I think it's because we're getting older. And I'm like, yeah, but also there's just something about alcohol that gives you energy. I mean, I know it's not a stimulant and it's a depressant, but when I'm out and everybody's like having a blast and I'm getting so tired, I mean we're the same age and I'm on and everybody's like having a blast and I'm getting so tired, and I mean we're the same age and I'm like if I had alcohol I'd be like talkative, and and then when you're just sitting there, you know it's 11, 1130. It's like I just really want to go home.
Speaker 2:And plus, uh, you're sober and you see where the night is going, Like where it's only going to go downhill. If I stay out like we already hit the peak you might as well get out at the peak. You know so, because, yeah, nothing really good happens after midnight or something you know. So sure, there's a couple nights, but when I bartended in Knavec County.
Speaker 1:I think that you can legally stay open till two, but we only the bar I worked at only had a license to stay open till one and everybody was like let's change that, and I'm like so much, so many bad things will happen yeah try to jam more drinks in last minute.
Speaker 2:You know you're by 1 o'clock already belligerent, where what's the point of going more? But yeah, and then you just get tired. I mean vodka. Red Bulls will keep you up all night if you want to, but yeah, Ruins your next day. Your tonight's fun is borrowing tomorrow's time, or something like that, isn't that one?
Speaker 1:of them. Yeah, that's so true.
Speaker 2:That's another phenomenal thing about sobriety is I'm so much more productive on Saturdays, and especially Sundays, like, yeah, I can tell people, yeah, I'll meet you at 7 am. Never an issue, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so yeah, definitely, oh yeah, back to the wedding. I had multiple people tell me at their weddings that they didn't want me to drink until, like, their grandparents left or a certain time at night. Did anybody ever ask you like don't drink at this event, or anything like that?
Speaker 2:I feel like I was always pretty good about pacing myself. You know I was kind of a marathon runner I guess. But I definitely have friends that are at weddings that were told, you know, no drinking until after the ceremony and stuff like that. Because it's a quick progression, I guess I've always. I'm a very large person so I guess I have a good tolerance. So it's one thing going for me where you know I could have 15 beers before really feeling anything. So I don't nobody ever told me not to drink before something, I guess.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, that's good you could keep it so in control, Because, yeah, I mean wild stuff like shotgunning a beer in two seconds.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And inhaling beer. I watched that episode.
Speaker 2:Oh, the vaporizing liquor, or the tequila yeah, rumple mints yeah.
Speaker 1:How many times did you do that?
Speaker 2:Three times, I think yeah.
Speaker 1:Did you feel drunk right away?
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:That's wild.
Speaker 2:And I mean.
Speaker 1:I probably would have done that when I was 20. Like, oh, no calories, let's do it, but did it feel, were you like this is crossing a line.
Speaker 2:Well, it looks sketchy. I mean, there's a big difference between a person holding a beer and another person with a bicycle pump and a wine bottle, vaporizing alcohol and sucking it with a straw. Yeah, exactly, it looks like we're doing hard drugs over here and it's pretty dangerous too. When you look at the, I guess Google, a quick Google search is. You know, when you puke from drinking, your body is saying hey, I can't handle anymore. Well, if you put it straight into your lungs, you can't puke it up, you're in so, but yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm glad that didn't become a big thing.
Speaker 2:You did a lot of research.
Speaker 1:Yeah or did.
Speaker 2:Cody just tell you a lot of stories.
Speaker 1:No, I watched a lot. It's wild. I started watching episodes in September and randomly met Cody in October. It was like this beautiful, weird coincidence.
Speaker 2:Really it was so weird, so you found it organically.
Speaker 1:Yep, um, I knew a girl, angie, from Pine city that told me about it and started listening and yeah, then just ran.
Speaker 2:It was very random how I met Jacob is is yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, jake's great. That's pretty cool, pretty crazy. How, yeah, everything always aligns, I guess, but especially from a sober standpoint for you to find it and stuff is pretty crazy. But, yeah, digging up a lot of old memories, yeah, but also, yeah, the change, changing of times and sunshine and lollipops coming in.
Speaker 1:So, was there a specific person or thing that helped you the most in making that decision to quit? Because even just making the decision, like was it to go a year, Was that the goal? Is the goal? Are you going to keep going?
Speaker 2:When I initially started, it was I was going to I need to take a break until my birthday. When I initially started, I was going to need to take a break until my birthday. And then I was like, hey, which was two months, I'm like I'm going to go for six months, Then I'm going to go for three months, then 100 days, and well, I'm already here.
Speaker 1:You just kept feeling better and better yeah it's just like I don't miss it.
Speaker 2:After the first two months, I like have dreams that I get drunk, but then the end of the dream is always oh shit, I'm back to zero. You know a big thing, a huge thing that helped me, if if people watching or like thinking about quitting. A huge thing that helped me is I instantly, the first day, downloaded an app that every day, like made you check in, tells you how long you've been sober, milestones, shows you the number, and yeah, then it just kept me motivated seeing that number every day. You know it was a little bit different, because it's like, yeah, this could just go to zero, you know. So it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:I've had dreams too, and it is a horrible feeling like that. I just lost all my progress Kind of like I just did on Duolingo. I was at 350 days of Spanish Duolingo.
Speaker 2:Oh really.
Speaker 1:And I lost that and now like to start back up again. It's so hard, yeah, um, how long had you been thinking or considering taking a break?
Speaker 2:Um, I guess, I mean there was always just like. There'd always be those nights that it's like oh, I'm not going to, I'm not going to drink again, and then next week, you know, or summer, or oh it's, it's always comes down to well, it's this person's birthday this weekend, so I have to drink, or it's the Pine County fair, so you know you got to drink, or it's a wedding, or you know, there's always something going on where you're like, well, like the weekend after that. You know it's usually how it goes, but you just just gotta go for it. I guess.
Speaker 2:And and I mean I just spiraled, I guess, just with anxiety. I mean my anxiety was nuts, where I'd be in my head all week thinking that Cody is is mad at me, or my closest friends are super mad at me because I did something wrong. And then that Saturday they text me and I'm like, hey, dude, are you mad at me? No, what's wrong? And I just went all week freaking out to myself, thinking that I ruined a friendship or something. You know, I never did anything, yeah.
Speaker 1:How long did that last for?
Speaker 2:Like where that would happen. Yeah, I guess years, you know.
Speaker 1:Oh, while you were still drinking. Yeah the anxiety.
Speaker 2:The anxiety? Yeah, it was crippling, you know you don't want to leave the house yeah same for me.
Speaker 1:I feel like no big, huge event happened, but I was just so sick of waking up. And same thing. I think people were mad at me or I said something stupid because I blacked out. Did you black out?
Speaker 2:I black out all the time. Yeah, yeah. So it's like what happened when I don't remember yeah.
Speaker 1:Sometimes after just a few drinks. And I remember hearing somebody on a podcast say that if you're drinking at a certain speed or like mixing it up, your brain knows, like we know where this is going. So we're just going to stop recording now to save some energy, and that's why sometimes I would black out after three four drinks yeah and I used to. You know, I guess, yeah, I've never heard that science that's yeah pretty crazy. Supposedly the brain is like we know where this is going.
Speaker 2:We're gonna take a break well, I can see that repetition. Yeah, yeah, same thing over and over again so did the anxiety stop instantly no, no, but like I said, I've always been, I guess, an anxious person, but it definitely helped for sure, like this way sharper minded too, like this year of work. Well, I came sober the day after my safety meeting last year to go back to work and you know, I feel way sharper this year and like just really just on it, I guess, able to make quick decisions and stuff at work.
Speaker 1:Especially Monday mornings.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Man, there's a couple nights of let's go to a concert on a Wednesday, you know you get three hours of sleep and you sober up on the drive into work and, yeah, hard to make a decision then, for sure yeah, and especially the right one, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you're the youngest foreman at your company that they've ever had.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Initially we just got two new foremans this year that are the same age as me. Oh, that's exciting yeah expanded a lot this year.
Speaker 1:But you'll always be the first.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and the longest I've been there for. Well, for 10 years now. So there's a couple people that have been there longer than me, but it's like 19 years, they're close to retirement and stuff. But it's like 19 years, they're close to retirement and stuff, but it's pretty, it's really cool.
Speaker 1:When did you become foreman?
Speaker 2:while you're still 24 yeah, my 24th birthday.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, yeah, okay so um which is pretty crazy to me, because even when I became foreman, everybody is was 50, you know, 50 plus. So it's pretty wild, like how am I supposed to tell these guys what to do? And these guys have been doing it for 30 years, you know. And then you realize that they all had the, had the choice, but they were smart enough not to take it. You know, even if I'd go back and be like I just stay an operator, it's way less stress, stress, but yeah, pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is cool.
Speaker 2:I was just filling time until you seen something yeah.
Speaker 1:Did you okay. So it's been a year and a couple weeks, mm-hmm, and what's the plan? How long do you think?
Speaker 2:I don't really know 's still. Well, my big thing is, uh, my best friend tucker, since second grade I I now my joke is his bachelor party, I'll drink again because he got married five years ago. One of he, uh, he had twins and so they got married for insurance reasons and stuff and they said they were going to have a ceremony or whatever and it never happened. So that's the thing where it's like, yeah, I'll drink at his bachelorette party, but it's because it's never going to happen, you know.
Speaker 1:Oh, so that's a good joke Well it could happen.
Speaker 2:but after you're married for five years and kids and stuff, where are you going to find all this money to actually have a ceremony? And you know it's hard to commit to that and it also puts it on him to do it, you know.
Speaker 1:Because I want to say a speech at his wedding. Yeah, so then you'll just have one drink, or you think you'll drink drink.
Speaker 2:I think I would be good at pacing myself. Now, you know, especially by that point where you know I understand that I don't need it. I think as long as you have changed your identity enough, you can do it in a healthy way. Yeah, and just, I've always been kind of jealous of our mutual friend Cody. He's so good at pacing himself. He never has done anything stupid. I mean, yeah, it's crazy, he's just good at it. Self-control is unmatched.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I didn't get that, jane. Yeah, cause your parents didn't drink, didn't smoke. So where do you think the urge for you came from?
Speaker 2:Probably fitting in socially. You know where uh just trying to uh make friends and then, oh, my friends are starting to do this, so I'm going to do this and yeah, just fitting in. I think it was just probably just trying to have friends.
Speaker 1:Yeah, last summer, when I was still drinking like once a month maybe, um, I went to the threshing, show up in walk on or where is that, I'm not sure where it is, but um, and I wasn't going to drink, the whole day just hanging out and everything was going fine, I was having fun, the sun was out, but for some reason I decided to just have one drink. And it was like you talked about aura earlier. The aura of me changed where, like all of a sudden, people were coming up to me like after a half of a drink drink because I was just putting off better energy of like happy and you know and um, what was the point of that story?
Speaker 2:you put a coin in the. What did I say? Put a coin in the pony or whatever, where you know you're. You're going now after the half a drink. Everybody knew it's on yeah.
Speaker 1:So it's just like going like yeah, and then ended up drinking too much and um, what story did you tell right before that that made me bring that?
Speaker 2:up? Not sure, but I was going to ask how long have you been sober, because you said that was last summer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so for the last couple of years I've just been drinking every couple months. Well, I went a year and then since then every couple months.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And now, since March, when I was in Iceland, that'll be my last.
Speaker 2:I truly believe that'll be my last drink ever. Is Iceland incredible? I bet it is. That'd be awesome.
Speaker 1:Never been over there yeah, it's wonderful, gotta go. I would say, go in the summer if you're only gonna go once winter was great northern lights were great, but yeah, um, there's a lot more hiking, a lot more green grass things you can green grass things you can do.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, things you definitely know in the industry you're in is no vacations in the summer, I guess for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah right, For sure, yeah Right. So I hope in 30, 40 years I can go in the summer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Retirement, yeah, yeah, retirement.
Speaker 1:Yeah, has there ever been any times where you were really close in the last year to quitting?
Speaker 2:Quitting, quitting, quitting, quitting, quitting. I don't really think so, like not super close. No, because I just had my mindset. I feel like, like I said, when I go for it, I just go for it and I don't want to like. I mean, after you bringing up all the old podcasts and stuff, it definitely seems bad, but in my head I'm like everybody that drinks is like you know, I can drink when I, I can quit when I want to quit. You know everybody says that, but then they find out that it's not that easy to. But I guess I set my mind to it and I feel like it just, you just commit, you know yeah, it sounds like you are that type of person and you were California sober.
Speaker 1:You said for the first half yeah, that was smoking weed and now smoking weed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the anxiety with that as well.
Speaker 1:You know paranoia, yeah so do you think you'll ever go back? I?
Speaker 2:don't know. You know there's different, different phases, you know, I guess I'm in this one right now. So, who knows, maybe we'll pick up meth next. Who knows, you know? Yeah, that's a joke joke.
Speaker 1:But um has time slowed down for you at all? Because my one year that I went it was like time was a little bit slower. Oh In a good way.
Speaker 2:Especially looking at that number. Like the number went slower for sure, yeah, but you know you just stay so busy doing so many other things that time goes fast. You know, if you're just sitting around staring at a clock it goes a lot slower, you know. So just staying busy too, keeping your mind going, and it makes everything go a lot quicker. So I feel like it actually went a lot faster than what I thought it would. I was pretty blown away. That was already a year, but I keep myself pretty wound tight. It's either all gas, no brakes, or all or nothing for me. If I stop I'm just dead still and it's just falling into a hole. So I just got to keep going.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have lots of hobbies. You're into trucks, racing, modifying cars how important are those hobbies? And staying busy to your sobriety.
Speaker 2:I mean I feel like that's pretty loose. I mean I guess I'm very into I'm sure Cody told me totally I mean like racing. I guess I follow a lot of people that do race and I think it's fun and stuff. And even, like, I like my truck and working on things. Um, um, yeah, modifying things like, um, just building stupid stuff. You know, give you a welder and a couple of pieces of metal and just yeah, I built that. I built a rack on top of my Volkswagen Passat for a razor to go on top of it and then hauled a razor on top of my car. It was just fun. It's just a blast, yeah, so that's definitely important, especially without drinking, where you keep your mind doing other things. And then, like I said, I built my own place, so that was every moment I had, every dollar I had. So that was very important and that still is. It's just a nonstop thing. Owning a house never ends.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how long did it take when non-stop thing owning a house is never ends?
Speaker 2:yeah, how long did it take? When did you start? And you're still working on it. I mean, I really broke ground. Uh, it'd be two years and three months ago, four months ago. So yeah, I mean, and it's just a one bedroom, one and a half bath, you know, but it's a lot for one guy, you know. But a lot, of, a lot of help from friends and stuff, a lot through every process. But I don't like asking for help either, so, especially the little stuff, you know. So two hours after work takes a long time to build a house yeah, no kidding.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you put yourself in that uncomfortable situation and you do ask for help.
Speaker 2:Yeah, or they, they, they'll offer you know, cause they were all my friends were super interested in too, Like they wanted to be a part of it and help me. So, yeah, they come over and and knock it out.
Speaker 1:That sounds like you have great friends. You didn't?
Speaker 2:lose it. I have great friends, but you have lost some from not drinking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but not the close ones you know from not drinking, yeah, but not the close ones. You know, all these friends that I've had for, uh, we always hear that, like our core group of friends is extremely rare, where we've all been friends for 20 plus years, where you hear a lot of, it's pretty rare nowadays. I feel like and yeah, just, we just all grew up together and know everything about each other and everything is inside jokes and stuff. So it's really hard for new people to get into the group, so you kind of feel bad about that. But we just got our friends and that's how it is. You don't gain any or lose any, really, but yeah, and then, like Cody brought was bringing his kid out when we he only had one at the time I was building and you make it look like he's swinging a hammer and stuff and yeah, having them involved too in it, and yeah, it's just building, making memories.
Speaker 1:So yeah, so great. Um. Has anything surprised you about being sober?
Speaker 2:I thought magically there'd be like four thousand,000 in my bank account, because you know, you say how much money you save, but no matter how much money you make, you're going to spend it. So you just find other things to spend it on, you know, and for me I think it went into food.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I was going to say that you lost a hundred pounds.
Speaker 2:I was down 160.
Speaker 1:And now you're gaining it because your girlfriend yeah, my girlfriend's an incredible cook yeah, it's, it's insane everything she cooks. I just eat until I'm paralyzed, you know yeah, when did you lose it before you quit drinking? When you quit?
Speaker 2:before I quit drinking. It really started with just stress where I guess, uh, for myself, I just lose, lost my appetite. This was so it wasn't like a healthy way of losing weight. I literally just wasn't eating when, I guess, for myself, I just lost my appetite, so it wasn't like a healthy way of losing weight. I literally just wasn't eating Like one. I call it a snake meal. Just one big meal a day is all I'd eat. And then just I mean I walk like four miles a day at work, so you were trying to lose that.
Speaker 2:No, no, it's just my job.
Speaker 1:Oh, I see.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then I did work out for one winter. I was running pretty good and like taking snowmobiling seriously. That's a big hobby of mine that Cody left off with snowmobiling. I love snowmobiling out in the mountains and when I went out there I was extremely gassed. The first time I went out there I was 400 pounds and taking a shower and losing my breath. So the elevation change and so I was like I gotta, I gotta do something. So I was running and everything then went out west to Island Park, idaho. Got drunk after one night of riding and jumped off a balcony and broke my ankle so didn't go back to the gym after that. So yeah, memories stories, yeah, and everybody still messes with me about that. And I was like four years ago and even my manager now makes fun of me about that video me jumping off the balcony yeah, oh, cody sent me some videos.
Speaker 1:I don't know what that. Not that one though. Yeah, um, I gained weight when I quit drinking in that for that year, when I quit for a year because I just felt like I didn't have anything else to like. Replace it with like it sounds like you, replaced it with hobbies nicotine too, and okay, yeah you're gonna try and quit that soon.
Speaker 2:I don't know I really should. I know my girlfriend would like to, but at least I'm not smoking cigarettes, I guess, but yeah yeah, yeah, not on the radar right now.
Speaker 1:It's like one thing at a time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like you've got to have a vice, I suppose.
Speaker 1:And what healthy ones are out there, besides working out Religion or spirituality?
Speaker 2:If I could get on like I need to eat a head of lettuce a day, that would probably be good Something to fill the void.
Speaker 1:A competition for work. I want to do next spring is have everybody um timed eating a head of lettuce yeah, the lettuce club.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've seen. Yeah, I've seen that video.
Speaker 1:You can put ranch on it if you want. That's going to take extra time and more volume yeah, extra pto for whoever gets it eaten the fastest. How cool would that be.
Speaker 2:I'd demolish that. Yeah, I'd put money on it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, you can come be the like presenter, I'll be the baseline.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, especially eating, and like you were talking about shotgunning in two seconds. When it comes to consuming things fast, I take great pride in it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah is fast, I take great pride in it yeah yeah, but too fast. But lettuce club lettuce club um. We talked about so many things like out of order that I wanted to talk about too and then I go off on a tangent and completely forget where we were. But that's how it goes all the time, right, yeah?
Speaker 1:When you were drinking, did the thought ever cross your mind that you would quit someday? Or did you think you would quit forever, because I just always thought I was going to drink forever. Never, until 2020, when. I quit drinking at home. Before that I was just like it's my life. I'm going to do it forever.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I guess I always had a thought in my mind of like you know, when I start a family or something I'll slow down because you know you kind of have to. You know. That's I guess what was in my mind. First job I was ever a foreman on, he came and helped me and after work had a seizure from withdrawals in his truck and I found him just and it was very traumatizing to me and it really sucked. So I backed off to I only drink on weekends, don't drink on weekdays, which is a start. But then it was just blacking out friday, saturday, you know, but with restraint.
Speaker 1:Then it's like, yeah, when you can have it, yeah yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 2:You know, save up your credits for the weekend, yeah, but yeah, so at least it made me feel like I could stop. You know, it's not like I had to drink every night or something so, but also, but also just like, yeah, you see reality a little bit, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what would you say to somebody that is thinking about quitting?
Speaker 2:If you're thinking about quitting your, I mean it must be kind of important. So just try it, just just do it. I guess, yeah, go for it. I mean, what's the worst that could happen from quitting drinking? I mean, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I don't think anybody ever for it.
Speaker 2:I mean, what's the worst that could happen from quitting drinking. I mean, yeah, I don't think anybody ever regrets it. No and I don't. Yeah, I don't see how something bad would happen, other than you know, if you're heavily addicted withdrawals and stuff. But it's a struggle because it's worth it, I guess. So, yeah, got to come out on the other side.
Speaker 1:But I'm glad to have you on here talking about it because I think I thought for so long so maybe other people think like if I hit rock bottom or if something happens I get a DWI or hurt myself, then I'll quit, but it's like you can do it without that. You can do it and you're proof.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm just extremely grateful I came out of it without a DUI and a bunch of big problems in my life where, um, like I was saying, I don't want to like be on here like I'm a huge, huge success story. But I definitely had a a problem that you know. You come out of it better. So, just try something new. But yeah, go for it. What's going to happen?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and you're so. You said that the Ziegler cat in Burnsville is like art, so to me that just shows how your job heavy equipment operator is such a passion for you and you love it so much Do you think that contributes to you being able to do this? Because you know it's pretty rare what you've done and I'm just trying to figure out what has contributed to the success of it and I think maybe being so passionate in what you do for a living could be.
Speaker 2:I think I guess I take passion in everything that I do, you know, and I'm I'm finding out that it is more rare in today's society. But yeah, I guess, when you put it, I just went to Ziegler in Burnsville last week and, yeah, the like steam engine dozer in the in the lobby is so cool. But, um, yeah, if you're passionate about things and it's fun or and seeing that, uh, seeing the progression and the milestones and stuff, so that's what made it the like I said on that app, the goals where you know you're going to hit three months and five days, you know you're going to hit a year, and it's like, and then it also like 3000 people are next for this goal and every goal it'd go from 15,000 people are next, 10,000 people are for this goal with you and it'd get lower and lower every goal and it's like this is harder to reach, you know. So I guess it's a competition, just like lettuce club. Yeah, it just.
Speaker 2:I guess I'm a competitive person. I don't really feel like I'm, but yeah, it's, it's fun, yeah, yeah, yeah, and I love my job. I got very lucky, yeah.
Speaker 1:And now I feel like anything that comes across your plate that you think is going to be hard, you're going to be like, no, if I can quit drinking and a world obsessed with it, I can do anything.
Speaker 2:That's a good point. Yeah, it definitely will show you some confidence in other milestones. Yeah, just like you said, a world like built around drinking, I guess they. It is a huge part of our society and a huge moneymaker and you know they. They tried to ban it with prohibition and it just it doesn't work.
Speaker 1:Once you legalize something, you can't go back and yeah, and it's a big part of society, so, but it's a huge poison where a lot of people don't really see it like that yeah, when, um, I read the book the easy way to quit drinking by alan carr and he really went into the psychological um reasoning why we are so fascinated with alcohol and how it is poison, I mean the first sips that you take, you know your mouth puckers up, no matter what age you are, no matter what it is. I mean it's not good tasting at first. And when you're a child, at some point, whether your parents drink or not, you're around adults who say, nope, you can't have that. When you're older, I mean so to a child it's it's like oh, this glorified thing that I can have someday. So once you can have it, you just like how could you?
Speaker 1:ever imagine that there was something evil about it. But he really gets into the evils of it and he believes that every person who drinks deep down secretly wants to quit. And I don't know if that's true or not. I know one or two people that are like really good at drinking, like they can drink every weekend. They're good at it. They might pee their pants once in a while, but they're good at it. So I'm not saying for sure everybody. There's always, um, an anomaly out there. But uh, that book helped me so much realize that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I guess I went through a lot of self I shouldn't say a lot maybe like three or four self-help books, just audible stuff, you know, when operating equipment got a lot of downtime, so podcasts and audio books.
Speaker 1:Specifically about not drinking or.
Speaker 2:No, just kind of self-help.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Do you remember the names of any of them? That helped a lot. Well, I guess can't hurt me.
Speaker 2:But David Goggins, that's where I got into running and stuff. But it's also maybe a very impressionable person where you know I go all in. You know I'm like, oh, I'm going to start running, yeah, and I did lose weight and stuff. But you and I sent that to my brother. I was all about it and he was like this is really good, but we should talk about some things in this book before you go all in.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, where this is unhealthy, don't. Yeah, don't be like this. But.
Speaker 1:I listened to it years ago, loved it, got me running and then I hadn't been running much and last fall I ran. I listened to 10 minutes of it when I was in the car with my son. He was listening to it, son, he was listening to it 10 minutes. I go run a 10k after not running for a couple months. Still this was like September, october. Still I have a strained hip flexor yeah something, david, yeah well, that guy's superhuman.
Speaker 2:I mean, he just pushes past all the boundaries. It makes it all mental, but you still have a body, right yeah but it's unmatched.
Speaker 1:Not his, oh yeah he, but it's unmatched.
Speaker 2:Apparently not his. Oh yeah, it's superhuman and just it's not good, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:But I should have my alarm clock, be David saying like, get the fuck up.
Speaker 2:Get out of bed. What are you doing? Who's carrying the boats?
Speaker 1:And he'd leave that voicemail to Joe Rogan like I don't care that it's your birthday, get the fuck up, get moving.
Speaker 2:Fuck up, get moving that would be pretty good. Yeah, yeah it's. It was a good book. It helped me a lot in that time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but then I just put myself back down.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, phases so you plan on having children someday.
Speaker 2:I'd love to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I really do what do you do right now that you hope that your children are doing when they're your age?
Speaker 2:Being passionate about whatever they do in life, hobbies and just anything. Just be passionate about it and find joy in what you do. I mean seeing people that are just miserable every day. They wake up and hate their job and that sucks. So just find something you love to do, I guess, and also share my passions with them. Yeah, especially as a. You know, when I get older and won't be able to do certain things like, yeah, you should do this because I wanted to do it, but I wasn't able to. But you also see parents that push their kids to try to be like a college athlete and they hate the sport, so don't want to do that either.
Speaker 1:That to be like a college athlete and they hate the sport, so don't want to do that either. So that's what my other podcast is about. That's what she said. It's about because I realized at a very young age that we work more than we do anything else, so, like I have to enjoy it. I can't stay at a job that I don't enjoy. Um, and yeah, luckily, my dad always pushed us to go off and do our own things and wasn't like you have to do this or you have to go to college, or you know. He was like whatever makes you happy and, yeah, I think that's helped me have a good life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that's changing a lot. It's changing now. But, like when I was in high school, it was you need to go to college or you're going to be worthless. That's what was ingrained. I mean, we had a couple of teachers that was. It was literally you're going to be nothing if you don't go to college. You have to go to college, and it's like college isn't for everybody.
Speaker 1:And that is changing, because multiple counselors at the school told my son when he graduated, college is kind of a waste, like they literally told them that.
Speaker 2:How many people graduate with political science degrees and stuff? I mean, how many political scientists are there? Yeah, and and now social media and stuff, everybody this the majority of people end with a business scholarship. Out of you know all my friends that went for engineering, I went for mechanical engineering. I didn't even get through a year of generals, but they all ended up with a business degree in the end and then they're all working construction, like I am now, but still paying the same debt where, yeah, and then I realized I come out of college and I just hop right into the trades union is incredible, and I'm making twice as much as what the teacher was that was telling me that I'm going to be worthless if I don't go to college.
Speaker 1:Right, well, what's this? There's so many different paths. And I'm so glad that that's being recognized now. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a different foreman at the company just went and talked, was invited to talk at school about the trades and union and stuff, so that was super cool. I was really happy he got to do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:What do you do that you hope your kids and your grandkids don't do when they're your age?
Speaker 2:Don't do drugs. I guess I mean that'd be the blanket statement.
Speaker 1:That you do right now.
Speaker 2:Oh, no, that I do right now so like you do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you do drugs. You do nicotine and caffeine. Those are drugs, true. Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, Mm-hmm yeah.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I guess, don't get a nicotine addiction and you'll never have an issue. Mm-hmm yeah.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm, well, cool. That's the last questions I like to leave guests with to ponder what do that you hope your grandkids do, and what?
Speaker 2:do you do that? You hope they don't do so. Anything else you'd like to share? You have a beautiful place here. Oh, I really like this. This is awesome well.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for coming. I was so excited, I had so many questions for you and you helped me understand a lot about your journey, and I hope that you come on again sometime.
Speaker 2:Yeah, why not? This was a good time and got very comfortable towards the end, so I'm happy I did it. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you too Thanks.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Addiction is affecting so many people that I know and love and I'm not always sure what to do about it, but talking helps. I want to hear your struggles and your triumphs. If you want to come on the show, please find the link below to our website to start the conversation of being a guest or to give me feedback and ideas of what you want to hear on topics of spirituality, sobriety and the self. I am nowhere near a professional. If you or someone you know needs help now, please call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357. It's free, confidential and available 24-7.