Recovery Elevator | Stop Drinking, Start Recovering. | Alcohol, Addiction & Life In Sobriety

Today we have Dennis. He is 36 years old and lives near Vancouver, Canada. Dennis took his last drink on September 5th, 2025.   This episode is brought to you by:   Better Help – 10% off of your first month #sponsored Café RE – THE social app for sober people   There are some new alcohol-free options coming out. First is Wild AF created by Charlie Sheen and Luba Libations coming out of Wisconsin.   [03:20] Thoughts from Paul:   Paul shares with us an article about stress by Dr. Rebecca Harris   Most stress management advice gets it wrong. We're often told to focus inward and practice self-care like bubble baths, meditation and getting a massage. While these activities aren't harmful, they're missing something critical.   When we experience stress, our bodies release a cocktail of hormones. Most people focus on cortisol and adrenaline, but there's another key player: oxytocin. This is the connection chemical that is primed when we are stressed. Dr. Harris says that 58% of people stress out more when trying

Today we have Robyn. She is 49 years old from Columbia, SC and took her last drink on June 30th, 2020.   This episode brought to you by:   Better Help – 10% off of your first month #sponsored Soberlink – sign up and claim your $100 enrollment bonus   We are planting the seed early and inviting you to join us for our 7th annual Restore course coming January 2026. Registration opens Monday, December 1st.   [02:39] Thoughts from Paul:   We have all heard the word recovery, but what does that mean? And does it ever end? Paul recently came across a line he likes that says, "If substance use or drinking no longer interferes with your ability to live a productive and loving life, then recovery has been achieved."   Using the logic of this line, Paul shares with us several ways that we can see if recovery has been achieved. Maybe you'll have to (or get to) attend meetings or chats for the rest of your life or maybe your recovery has already been achieved. So now what?   A simple answer is don't go back to drinking b

Today we have Josh. He is 48 years old, from Sarasota, FL and took his last drink of alcohol on September 23rd, 2023.   This episode brought to you by:   Better Help – 10% off of your first month #sponsored Café RE – the social app for sober people.   This is the last week to sign up for Café RE during Sober October. For the next four days when you join, you will receive a free month!     [02:28] Thoughts from Paul:   Paul was having a talk with his good friend Dusty the other day and he mentioned that when he quit drinking, nothing got worse. Which leads us to the conclusion that everything got better?   This whole thing is complicated but also it isn't. We are sold a bundle of lies from big alcohol. It just takes time to get the message to all parts of us that when you quit drinking nothing will get worse. When you quit drinking, everything will get better. Finances improve, and we start to feel better about ourselves, just to name a few things.   The word alcohol in Arabic and other languages references al

Today we have Lauren. She is 44 years old from Arroyo Grande, CA and took her last drink on April 26th, 2021.   This episode brought to you by Better Help – 10% off of your first month #sponsored   Tonight, our four-week mindfulness course starts in Café RE at 7:30 EST. This is our fourth year doing the course and you’re going to learn a lot about how to sit with those thoughts in the head. Specifically, the ones that tell you it’s a good idea to drink and how to let them pass.   Paul’s next book Dolce Vita will be coming out soon. Once we have a launch date, you all will be the first to know.   [03:22] Thoughts from Paul:   Why the drinking? Well, the better question is why the excess drinking? Why do you drink before you meet up with friends and continue drinking afterwards? Why do you drink after you tell yourself you’re not drinking today? We may never 100% know why, but it’s a good idea to have a simplified mission statement that you tell yourself when you feel the urge to drink.   A key to recovery is

Today we have Sue. She is 54 years old from Stewartville, MN and she took her last drink of alcohol on May 9th, 2023.   This episode brought to you by:   Sober Link sign up and claim your $100 enrollment bonus   Next Monday, October 20th, we start our four-week mindfulness course in Café RE. It starts at 7:30pm Eastern and we hope to see you there!   [02:36] Thoughts from Paul:   Paul shares that while visiting his parents in Colorado, he lost his wallet at a park. Thankfully, a high school friend’s mom ended up being the one that found it. When he picked it up from her, she told him that her son is recently sober and gave Paul his phone number to reconnect.   Paul had recently tried to rejoin the fantasy football league he had previously been a part of and was denied re-entry. This brought up huge feelings of rejection reminiscent of his childhood. While on a retreat with his sober friend in Mexico, Paul found himself dwelling on the negative emotions when he caught himself looking at a beer a fellow diner w

Today we have Camille. She's 36 years old, from Coeur d 'Alene, Idaho, and she took her last drink on August 22nd, 2024.   This episode brought to you by Better Help – 10% off of your first month #sponsored   Café RE   [04:26] Paul introduces Camille:   Corrine is 36 years old and lives in Coeur d’Alene, ID with her husband and two young children. For fun they enjoy spending time with friends in their community and spending time outside.   Camille says her father got sober when he was 24 and while growing up, she wasn’t told that she couldn’t drink but her dad gave her things to look out for. She experimented with alcohol in her teens while partying with friends. When she was 18, she began to be very active with church and started dating her now husband.   Camille and her husband got married when she was 21 and she says her drinking ramped up in her mid-twenties. They enjoyed hosting get-togethers with friends and neighbors. Camille says that over time she began to lose the “on/off switch”. She and her husba

Today we have Mike. He is 50 years old and from Cleveland, OH and he took his last drink on August 9th, 2022.   This episode brought to you by:   Better Help – 10% off of your first month #sponsored Exact Nature – 20% off your order with code RE20   We offer a free month in Café RE once per year. Starting this Wednesday October 1st, and if you sign up for Café RE during the month of October, you get a free month.   [02:59] Thoughts from Paul:   Paul shares with us that he recently heard a song by Cameron Whitcomb called “Quitter”, and it’s about his journey into sobriety.   One line says  - “The hardest part of getting clean are all the damn philosophies telling me how this is supposed to work.”   We all want a manual and a clear pathway to healing. A set sequence of steps. And yes, there are The 12 Steps that have helped many. But not all. Paul believes that there isn’t a manual by design. Recovery is all about recovering you and figuring out what makes you function optimally. Discovering what makes you happ

Today we have Emily. She is 28 years old from Denver, CO and she took her last drink on April 25th, 2025.   This episode brought to you by: Better Help – 10% off of your first month #sponsored Exact Nature – 20% off your order with code RE20   Starting Wednesday, October 1st, if you sign up for Café RE you get a free month! Café RE is our alcohol-free community who recently got non-profit status and we’re all about having fun and kicking ass without alcohol.   [03:45] Thoughts from Paul:   Paul has said many times that quitting drinking was the hardest thing he has ever done, but that’s not true. Today he shares with us 20 things that are harder than quitting drinking.   This is the short list of what is harder than quitting drinking and Paul feels that it can all be summarized with this:   Continuing to poison yourself with alcohol is harder than quitting drinking and that’s exactly how we have to frame it. Regularly ingesting poison takes a bigger toll on your overall health than quitting drinking.   [10:14

Today we have Ty. She is 76 years old, lives in Bozeman, MT and she took her last drink on March 8th, 2008.   This episode brought to you by: Better Help – 10% off of your first month #sponsored Café RE – THE social app for sober people.   [04:21] Thoughts from Paul:   Paul tells us that every time he goes into a retreat or event with RE, he asks the universe to send us a (safe) wildlife encounter. This past retreat in Bozeman was no different.  This time, it showed up in the form of a bald eagle while we were spending time at the lake pavilion. After it flew in, it perched on a lone pine tree branch about 50 yards away from us where we admired it’s beauty and Ty, an avid birder, shared some facts about the bald eagle with the group.     Paul shared that while editing the interview he did with Ty, he noticed some background noise. Normally, he does his best to avoid this, but this time he welcomed it. You will hear in the background the sound of birds. He says it was if the universe sent the birds to support

Today we have David. He is 51 years old, lives in Pinson, TN and took his last drink of alcohol on December 23rd, 2024.   This episode brought to you by: Better Help – 10% off of your first month #sponsored Exact Nature – 20% off your order with code RE20   We have a great lineup of events and courses coming to Recovery Elevator. A mindfulness course is coming up in October, then Dry January as well as a beginner ukelele course are happening in January. In February we have our first AF Songwriting course and later in the month our weeklong sober travel trip to Costa Rica.   [03:11] Thoughts from Paul:   In today’s intro Paul shares with us some statements he heard from Steven Glover (aka Steve-O from Jackass) who celebrates 17 years in recovery this year. Steve-O said that alcoholics are in a sense lucky because unlike other diseases where the best one can hope for is to return to a pre-illness state, when addicts and alcoholics treat their disease, they have the potential to become better versions of themsel

Today we have Odette. She’s 37 years old, lives in San Diego, CA and she took her last drink 486 days ago.   This episode brought to you by: Better Help – 10% off of your first month #sponsored Exact Nature – 20% off your order with code RE20   Registration is open for our next retreat in Costa Rica. That’s February 21st – 28th, 2026 in Guanacaste, a Blue Zone. We are over halfway full, but we have seven spots left.   [03:09] Thoughts from Paul:   When 17 people send Paul an article in the span of 2-3 days, he knows it means something big just came out… and this one is big because it disarms one of the biggest reasons why it’s so hard to quit drinking: everyone else is drinking. Which is no longer true. Several publication released this article and here’s the link for the CBS article.   It says - only 54% of U.S. adults say they drink alcohol, a record low. There is a growing belief that even moderate alcohol consumption is a health risk which is 100% correct. In 2015 28% of Americans though this but now in

Today we have Justin. He is 40 years old and lives in Northern Ontario. He took his last drink on August 20th, 2023.   This episode brought to you by: Better Help – 10% off of your first month #sponsored Café RE – the social app for sober people   [04:03] Thoughts from Paul:   In our question for sobriety, we often ask ourselves why the drinking? Why can’t I stop? What’s the problem here?    Paul shares his experience with the 12 Steps of AA, more specifically, step 4 where you list all of your resentments. He filled an entire notebook for his fourth step and after reading this out loud to his sponsor, it became clear to him that he was at least 50% of every problem that he encountered or had been part of. The fourth step showed him the patterns, and the data was clear – he was the problem. The same is true for all of us.   It turns out, in a non-shaming way, you are the problem, and you are not the solution. This should be empowering because if you are the problem, you’re the only thing you can control. The

Today we have Amy. She is 41 years old and lives in Raleigh, NC. She took her last drink on December 12th, 2023.   This episode brought to you by: Better Help – 10% off of your first month #sponsored Exact Nature – use code RE20 to save 20% off of your order   October 2026 we have a new retreat we have yet to do. This is an in-person alcohol-free ukulele retreat taking place in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. There will be ukulele instruction in the mornings and Spanish immersion courses in the afternoon.   [02:01] Thoughts from Paul:   Addiction is disconnecting with the self and your fellow humans. More sobriety is connection with the self, your fellow humans and more. “I” equals illness, “we” equals wellness.   Quitting drinking is a perfect circle. Your drinking crisis is an opportunity for someone to help. Phrased with 12 step verbiage, your first step is someone else’s 12th step. And when you find your footing, you can then assist someone else in their drinking crisis.   When the soul is hurting, the healing o

Today we have Brian. He is 40 years old from Spring Hill, MA and he took his last drink of alcohol on July 16th, 2024.   This episode brought to you by: Better Help – 10% off of your first month #sponsored Exact Nature – 20% off your order with code RE20   Shout out to these alcohol-free brands for sponsoring our seventh Bozeman Retreat:   Athletic Brewing Sober Link - save 50% on a device Rise Up Coffee Better Rhodes – use code RECOV_EL_15 at checkout for 15% off Odyssey Elixirs   [03:25] Thoughts from Paul:   Paul shares with us Bill W., the founder of AA once shared letters back and forth with Swiss psychologist Carl Yung looking for feedback on the program he was creating. Perhaps the most important letter from Yung to Bill W. was a letter suggesting a spiritual solution was needed to overcome addiction. He was a firm believer that addiction has nothing to do with weakness but is a misdirected cry for wholeness.   Another viewpoint that Carl Yung gave us is to not ask why you want to quit drinking but

Today we have Lori. She is 58 years old from Vancouver, Canada. She took her last drink on February 21st, 2024.   This episode brought to you by: Better Help – 10% off of your first month #sponsored Café RE – the social app for sober people   [03:11] Thoughts from Paul:   Paul shares that his second book, Dolce Vita, is currently in the editing process and should be out by November this year. This was also the name of the bar he owned Spain when he was in his 20’s. The name is Italian for “the good life” which Paul once thought he could find at the bottom of a bottle. He began to notice that his Dolce Vita had an expiration date that would get shorter and shorter over time.   The thing Paul thought was delivering the dolce vita was slowly and methodically destroying any chance of having one. It wasn’t until he finally ditched the booze that the good life actually showed up. He learned that the sweetness wasn’t in escaping life, it was finally showing up for it.   The good life is right here in front of us al

Today we have Rachel. She is 48 years old and lives in Minneapolis, MN. She took her last drink on August 28th, 2018.   This episode brought to you by: Better Help – 10% off of your first month #sponsored Sober Link – learn more and save $50 off of a device     Come join us in beautiful Bozeman, Montana this August 6th – 10th for our annual flagship retreat. We have a few camping spots as well as a few spots left in the men’s cabin.   [02:50] Thoughts from Paul:   Healing can look a bit like a paradox and Paul shares several examples showing this. Tying this same idea into ditching the booze we can say that quitting drinking can make you feel more anxious at first, when it’s actually making you calmer in the long run. Quitting drinking can make you feel more emotional and raw when it’s actually making you more resilient. Sobriety can make you feel bored at first, but it’s actually clearing space for hobbies and adventures that you’ll deeply enjoy.   Healing can hurt at first, but look out, brighter days are

Today we have Thea. She is 55 years old from Madison, WI and took her last drink on February 10th, 2019   This episode brought to you by: Better Help – 10% off of your first month #sponsored Exact Nature – 20% off your order with code RE20   We have just a couple of cabin spots left for our upcoming retreat in Bozeman, Montana. This retreat is from August 6th through 10th.   Coming in January 2026, our AF Ukelele Course. Registration for that opens in December.   Also coming next year in October 2026, we will have an in-person ukelele retreat where we’re having Spanish instruction in the afternoons. This will be in Costa Rica. More information will be coming soon about that event.   [02:45] Thoughts from Paul:   On the journey into an alcohol-free life, it almost always consists of a chapter where we are trying to control the uncontrollable. But something takes place that we aren’t aware of and that’s that alcohol has become uncontrollable – and we haven’t realized it yet.   You might be asking yourself if yo

Today we have Ronnie. He is 41 years old from Kiowa, CO and took his last drink on June 1st, 2025.   This episode brought to you by: Better Help – 10% off of your first month #sponsored Café RE – the social app for sober people.   [03:17] Thoughts from Paul:   From the cavemen to the ancient Greeks, to modern humans, there’s always an apocalypse on the horizon. The apocalypse outside of us, we can’t control and there has never not been one. The only apocalypse you can control is the one caused by alcohol which is happening inside of you.   Paul reminds us that no matter how fearful the news programs and the politicians want you to be, we’ve never not had an external apocalypse looming and geological record will tell you the same.   Disconnect from all of the news and connect to yourself, others, nature, a ripe mango, a snuggle with a dog because you know what? We’re okay. Get yourself some time away from alcohol and you’re going to be very much okay.   [07:54] Paul introduces Ronnie:   Ronnie is 41 years old

Today we have Marcy. She’s 42 years old and lives in Seattle, WA. Marcy took her last drink on October 15th, 2020.   This episode brought to you by: Better Help – 10% off of your first month #sponsored Exact Nature – 20% off your order with code RE20   Paul just finished the rough draft of his second book entitled Dolce Vita, The Good Life and expects it to be released this September.   [00:00] Thoughts from Paul:   In a recent article presented on Newsbreak entitled Alcohol is Killing More Americans Today than 20 Years Ago, it shares that mortality from liver disease has increased significantly across most demographic groups in the US from 1999 to 2022. Death from liver disease went from 6.7 to 12.5 deaths per 100,000 people. The annual increase was higher among women than men, and young people showed “concerning trends”. And of course, minority populations are hit hardest.  American Indian and Alaska Native populations, faced the highest death rates. Those increased from about 25 to nearly 47 per 100,000

Today we have Marisa. She is 50 years old from Fairfax, VA and she took her last drink on March 17th, 2024.   This episode brought to you by: Better Help – 10% off of your first month #sponsored Exact Nature – 20% off your order with code RE20   Check out the upcoming Recovery Elevator Events:   August 6th – 10th – Bozeman Retreat – we have about 12 spots left October 4th – 14th – Peru January 2026 – Restore And much more coming in 2026!   [03:18] Intro summary:   You may be listening right now and feeling tired. Not just sleepy tired, but soul tired. This kind of tiredness comes from trying to clean up your inner world while the outer world feels like it’s run by toddlers having the world’s most expensive tantrum.   You're choosing consciousness while others choose chaos. You're picking love while others are picking fights. You're building your spiritual muscles while they're flexing bank accounts and crypto wallets.   This is a contradiction that we are living in and it’s hard to be sober, raw, real and au