Latest / Unfiltered: Dare to Level Up / Lynn Zielasko Unfiltered — Episode 2: From Chimneys to Second Chances: Jeremy’s Recovery Journey

Transcript

Lynn Zielasko Unfiltered — Episode 2: From Chimneys to Second Chances: Jeremy’s Recovery Journey · Unfiltered: Dare to Level Up

• 0:03
  Speaker1: Welcome to Unfiltered, Dare to Level Up with Lynn Zalasco.
• 0:07
  Speaker1: We have real conversations about addiction, recovery, trauma,
• 0:10
  Speaker1: mindset, relationships, business, and leadership, and what it truly takes to
• 0:15
  Speaker1: become your strongest self.
• 0:17
  Speaker1: It's more than a podcast. It's a movement for healing, growth, and purpose.
• 0:21
  Speaker1: We're bridging the gap, bringing together people in recovery,
• 0:24
  Speaker1: entrepreneurs, business leaders,
• 0:26
  Speaker1: advocates, and change makers who believe awareness creates impact.
• 0:31
  Speaker1: Challenging you to rise above limitations, think bigger, lead stronger,
• 0:35
  Speaker1: and level up one decision at a time. No filters, no fluff.
• 0:39
  Speaker1: Just real conversations that create real change.
• 0:44
  Speaker1: All right. Here we go again. It's episode two, Unfiltered, Dare to Level Up
• 0:51
  Speaker1: with Lynn Zalasco. Are we ready for this?
• 0:54
  Speaker0: We're ready.
• 0:54
  Speaker1: I got Jeremy Williams with me. My buddy I met in recovery and pretty sure the
• 1:00
  Speaker1: first time we met was you came and listened to, it was a speaker meeting, I think.
• 1:08
  Speaker0: I think it was your one year. Was it your one year? Yeah, it was your one,
• 1:12
  Speaker0: it was your one year. It was your one year.
• 1:14
  Speaker1: Okay. Well, there we go then. So I must have had some inspiring words or something.
• 1:24
  Speaker1: I've invited you to, let's see, you've gone to the winning series with Keller Williams.
• 1:31
  Speaker1: I watched your graduation at Recovery Court.
• 1:36
  Speaker1: We're both what I would consider serial entrepreneurs.
• 1:41
  Speaker0: It just doesn't stop.
• 1:43
  Speaker1: It doesn't stop. And I need to put this closer to my face.
• 1:50
  Speaker0: Dang it.
• 1:53
  Speaker0: So we want three inches like right there.
• 1:56
  Speaker1: I gotta sit comfortably, but I gotta...
• 1:58
  Speaker0: Those trippy vocals.
• 1:59
  Speaker1: Damn it. Drippy vocals.
• 2:03
  Speaker0: You can hear like somebody's like a real voice like you never heard before.
• 2:08
  Speaker0: If they're that close? Yeah. That's so much better, dude. All right.
• 2:11
  Speaker0: If you can get it as close as possible, I can adjust.
• 2:17
  Speaker0: You want me to tighten that? Move it?
• 2:19
  Speaker1: No. You're good. Is that fine? Is that better? Yeah.
• 2:22
  Speaker0: All right. Okay, I'm going to stop recording on all three. Oh,
• 2:25
  Speaker0: my gosh. You're killing me. The producer.
• 2:30
  Speaker1: Fucking chance.
• 2:32
  Speaker0: I want to make sure it's good. Okay. And then a clap after this.
• 2:43
  Speaker0: Clap on, clap off.
• 2:47
  Speaker1: We're ready are you ready i'm ready this is episode two unfiltered dare to level
• 2:53
  Speaker1: up with lynn's alasko i'm sitting here with my buddy jeremy williams and uh
• 2:59
  Speaker1: well this is the second time we're saying this but um
• 3:02
  Speaker1: you met me you first i first met you at my um one year speaker meeting maybe
• 3:08
  Speaker1: something like that i don't know what i was doing but it was at uh
• 3:13
  Speaker1: what is it called I can't even remember that.
• 3:16
  Speaker0: I was over there on Baker. Yeah, 18th and Baker. Somebody told me about you.
• 3:19
  Speaker0: They told me to go see you.
• 3:21
  Speaker1: Yeah, so I was a speaker. And then you've come to the winning series.
• 3:27
  Speaker1: You're tapping into my investor buddies. We're serial entrepreneurs,
• 3:32
  Speaker1: business owners, recovery.
• 3:36
  Speaker1: I saw you graduate last year. It was just over a year ago, I feel like, from recovery court.
• 3:42
  Speaker1: And, you know, we're both just like, meh, in this forward motion,
• 3:47
  Speaker1: except for you're hanging off of chimneys and I'm housing people.
• 3:52
  Speaker1: So what does the life of Jeremy look like?
• 3:59
  Speaker0: It's full of gratitude. It's full of gratitude. you know um,
• 4:06
  Speaker0: you know where my recovery started was uh if it wasn't for drug court or uh,
• 4:11
  Speaker0: my for judge wilson for at that you know if it wasn't for that the recovery
• 4:17
  Speaker0: community to come together and and uh,
• 4:20
  Speaker0: and take me under their wings you know it wouldn't i wouldn't be where i'm at.
• 4:24
  Speaker1: You know what did your what's your life look like let's see you have kids yep
• 4:30
  Speaker1: are you from From Snohomish County?
• 4:33
  Speaker0: I'm from King County.
• 4:34
  Speaker1: Okay. So, Washington.
• 4:36
  Speaker0: Yep, Washington. Back and forth to, from Washington to Arizona.
• 4:41
  Speaker0: Lived in Arizona a majority of my life, 12 years.
• 4:45
  Speaker0: And so, uh, but it all started here.
• 4:51
  Speaker1: So, so, so tell me when, when that, that road took a turn, how long ago was
• 4:55
  Speaker1: that? What did that look like?
• 4:58
  Speaker0: Uh, I got complacent. I was sweeping chimneys.
• 5:02
  Speaker0: Uh, I was working, well, back up. Well, I was working for a company and I,
• 5:07
  Speaker0: um, worked for this old man for 11 years.
• 5:10
  Speaker0: And, uh, you know, I got complacent. I thought that I didn't know anything about
• 5:15
  Speaker0: recovery, didn't know what direction I was heading.
• 5:19
  Speaker0: And so I started doing drugs and drinking.
• 5:22
  Speaker1: How old were you?
• 5:24
  Speaker0: I was 27,
• 5:28
  Speaker0: 28.
• 5:30
  Speaker1: Okay. So it wasn't like you were...
• 5:32
  Speaker0: But I was in and out of prison prior to that. Oh. So my drugs...
• 5:36
  Speaker0: What did that look like? That was...
• 5:39
  Speaker1: Now it's juicy.
• 5:40
  Speaker0: Yeah. That was in and out. I've been in and out of prison three different times.
• 5:46
  Speaker1: What's the longest? What were the lengths of time?
• 5:49
  Speaker0: So it was two years, two and a half years, and three years. Dang.
• 5:53
  Speaker0: And that's just prison time. That's not county time.
• 5:57
  Speaker1: That's almost eight years behind bars.
• 6:01
  Speaker0: You know, it was a lot of time, you know.
• 6:04
  Speaker1: Do you mind sharing what endeavors brought you to that situation?
• 6:10
  Speaker1: That states. And if you don't want to, it's okay.
• 6:14
  Speaker0: I think that it was, I thought that I was in love. So then it just.
• 6:20
  Speaker1: That brought you to prison.
• 6:21
  Speaker0: Yeah, that brought me to prison.
• 6:23
  Speaker1: Oh, well.
• 6:23
  Speaker0: Yeah.
• 6:25
  Speaker1: I feel like we need to dig a little deeper.
• 6:29
  Speaker0: It wasn't trauma.
• 6:31
  Speaker1: I mean, maybe it was trauma. It was traumatizing. Blinded by love. Traumatizing.
• 6:36
  Speaker0: Yeah, for sure. I think,
• 6:41
  Speaker0: that I've been raised around that lifestyle, the biker lifestyle.
• 6:46
  Speaker0: So I think that drugs and fast women and all that was just a part of my lifestyle.
• 6:53
  Speaker0: Growing up ever since I was little, my mom and dad, they rode Harleys,
• 6:58
  Speaker0: and then that's all they did was party.
• 7:02
  Speaker0: And my mom still to this day, she still wants to just party.
• 7:07
  Speaker0: and um and i see that that that's she's old she's really old you know it's like
• 7:13
  Speaker0: one of those things where like he just die hard she does not want to stop you know,
• 7:19
  Speaker0: and uh but yeah um living that lifestyle was,
• 7:27
  Speaker0: Yeah. Sucked.
• 7:29
  Speaker1: So prison, prison, prison.
• 7:32
  Speaker0: Then? Then I had a daughter.
• 7:34
  Speaker1: Okay.
• 7:34
  Speaker0: And then that's what saved my life for a little while. I was clean for 12 years.
• 7:40
  Speaker0: And then I, like I was saying, I got complacent thinking that I can just do
• 7:44
  Speaker0: a little bit of dope here and there, a little drugs.
• 7:47
  Speaker0: And then it turned into every day. And then it turned into us getting homeless
• 7:52
  Speaker0: and living on the streets, living behind a church.
• 7:55
  Speaker1: What does us mean?
• 7:57
  Speaker0: Me and my whole family your whole family my whole family we lived in a box truck,
• 8:01
  Speaker0: behind a church for a year they had to kick me out off the property they actually
• 8:06
  Speaker0: let us live there plug in our extension cord to have power for the kids to have heat you know um.
• 8:13
  Speaker1: And so who was living in this box
• 8:14
  Speaker0: Truck me my three kids and my wife at the time.
• 8:20
  Speaker1: Wow yeah for how long did you do that
• 8:23
  Speaker0: For a year.
• 8:25
  Speaker1: And was that in
• 8:25
  Speaker0: Washington yeah that was in washington it was on 99 yeah.
• 8:31
  Speaker1: Okay and how long ago was that
• 8:33
  Speaker0: Uh so it's probably been uh i've been clean three years so it's probably been,
• 8:39
  Speaker0: uh like eight years seven eight years ago how.
• 8:42
  Speaker1: Old were your kids
• 8:43
  Speaker0: Oh my kids they ranged from 9 to 16.
• 8:51
  Speaker0: You know, and it was...
• 8:55
  Speaker1: Yeah. That's how old they are now or that's how old they were then?
• 8:58
  Speaker0: No, that's how old they were then.
• 8:59
  Speaker1: Okay.
• 9:01
  Speaker0: Now they're like 16, 21, and 23, 24.
• 9:09
  Speaker1: Do they live here?
• 9:10
  Speaker0: They're in Alabama.
• 9:11
  Speaker1: Alabama.
• 9:13
  Speaker0: Yeah. They decided to leave here because I was still in my active addiction.
• 9:19
  Speaker0: So they left here and went to live in Alabama.
• 9:23
  Speaker0: Left me here while I was homeless.
• 9:26
  Speaker1: Was your wife using yeah is she still using nope
• 9:30
  Speaker0: That's good still clean yep then i took off from here and went over there and uh,
• 9:37
  Speaker0: packed up and thought that going over there was going to be uh it was going
• 9:42
  Speaker0: to solve all my problems you know go be with family and then i get over there
• 9:46
  Speaker0: and i start drinking and start doing drugs again and the problem just followed me.
• 9:52
  Speaker1: Oh you mean it doesn't just stop
• 9:53
  Speaker1: where you where you leave it it travels problems travel I can't imagine
• 9:59
  Speaker0: Yeah no,
• 10:03
  Speaker0: but yeah that's uh and then I had had to come back here you know uh traveled
• 10:08
  Speaker0: back home and then I started a business and then yeah.
• 10:17
  Speaker1: When did you start the business?
• 10:19
  Speaker0: I started the business while I was in recovery court.
• 10:22
  Speaker1: Okay.
• 10:22
  Speaker0: In drug court.
• 10:23
  Speaker1: So you skipped a little bit of your story. Did you get a little nudge from the judge?
• 10:31
  Speaker0: Yeah, a little nudge from the judge. Yeah, that's right.
• 10:34
  Speaker1: So this wasn't prison, but this was...
• 10:36
  Speaker0: I was looking at 60 months.
• 10:38
  Speaker1: Oh, well, there's a little bit of time.
• 10:39
  Speaker0: Yeah, that's a big nudge. Yeah? Yeah, for sure.
• 10:42
  Speaker1: So they said, well, you could take this opportunity...
• 10:45
  Speaker0: And do drug court. or you can take 60 months and go back to prison.
• 10:52
  Speaker1: What were we what were we going back to prison for potentially
• 10:55
  Speaker0: It was violating a no contact order with 60 months with my ex-wife wow yeah the for 60 months yes,
• 11:08
  Speaker0: Because I've violated it before in the past.
• 11:11
  Speaker1: So, to those out there, don't violate your no contact order.
• 11:16
  Speaker1: Because that will put you behind bars for 60 months or more.
• 11:20
  Speaker0: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:23
  Speaker0: That's the statutory maximum. Golly, okay. Just because of my point system. And from being back.
• 11:29
  Speaker1: Oh, because you had points.
• 11:31
  Speaker0: Points and priors, I've been to prison twice over.
• 11:33
  Speaker1: Okay.
• 11:34
  Speaker0: From two separate women.
• 11:36
  Speaker1: Women? Yeah. Sounds like that's a problem.
• 11:39
  Speaker0: Sounds like.
• 11:44
  Speaker1: Not from trauma, from women.
• 11:45
  Speaker0: From women.
• 11:46
  Speaker1: Traumatic experiences. Yeah.
• 11:51
  Speaker1: So you go to recovery court.
• 11:56
  Speaker1: And then what happens? Did you have some sort of spiritual awakening?
• 12:01
  Speaker1: Did somebody hit you over the head with a two by four? What did that look like
• 12:04
  Speaker1: for Jeremy? Because Jeremy was homeless. And now Jeremy's.
• 12:11
  Speaker0: I think that it was, I didn't want to get cleaned. I wasn't ready.
• 12:14
  Speaker0: I wasn't, it was one of those things where I can either go do the time,
• 12:20
  Speaker0: which I didn't mind doing the time because I've done plenty of time.
• 12:23
  Speaker0: It was about my family.
• 12:25
  Speaker1: You were willing to just go and sit for five years.
• 12:28
  Speaker0: I was willing to go and sit for five years. Yeah.
• 12:32
  Speaker1: Okay. Yeah. Now looking back at that.
• 12:37
  Speaker1: Would you, are you glad you didn't take that route?
• 12:40
  Speaker0: I'm glad that I didn't take that route. You know, there was,
• 12:43
  Speaker0: there was a couple of times where going through drug court with Judge Wilson,
• 12:47
  Speaker0: he was, he'd violate me because he felt like I was doing too much because I'm
• 12:52
  Speaker0: trying to do all the things in recovery.
• 12:54
  Speaker1: Oh, I might be an addict.
• 12:56
  Speaker0: Yeah, that's exactly it. We want it now, now, now.
• 13:01
  Speaker0: Yes, all the things. And so he puts me in jail, you know, for a violation,
• 13:06
  Speaker0: for being late or, and then, you know, they give you stipulated agreements.
• 13:11
  Speaker0: And, like, I thought that, like, being in a clean and sober house,
• 13:15
  Speaker0: I can be the house manager. And I was trying to do everything in recovery, right?
• 13:19
  Speaker0: And that's when Judge Wilson was like, you're just doing too much,
• 13:23
  Speaker0: you know. But it's my energy, and it's just that that's where I'm at. I can't stop.
• 13:28
  Speaker1: Believe me. I hear you.
• 13:30
  Speaker0: You know and some people for some people it's too much and i and like,
• 13:36
  Speaker0: i don't sometimes don't know how to tame it down and i guess going to jail he
• 13:39
  Speaker0: tamed it down a little bit you know,
• 13:42
  Speaker0: um i got out i i decided to not take that manager position i had to and you
• 13:49
  Speaker0: know the first thing when i when i decided not to take the manager position
• 13:53
  Speaker0: and get out of that clean and sober house,
• 13:56
  Speaker0: and take his suggestion he had he handed me a rock that said willingness you
• 14:02
  Speaker0: know so i was it's the willingness that that really uh,
• 14:07
  Speaker0: that put i that i put in the effort you know and it was it was cool you know
• 14:12
  Speaker0: um i needed that it kind of gave me a humbling experience you know.
• 14:18
  Speaker1: Yeah. A lot of people in Snohomish County know who Judge Wilson is.
• 14:21
  Speaker1: And if you've been in recovery court, he retired last year, but he's kind of
• 14:26
  Speaker1: an icon in Snohomish County.
• 14:28
  Speaker1: And, you know, there's a lot of people that love Judge Wilson and he's done
• 14:33
  Speaker1: some amazing things. So, yeah.
• 14:37
  Speaker0: He's definitely for the recovery community.
• 14:39
  Speaker1: He is for the recovery community, and we need judges like that.
• 14:43
  Speaker1: We need the support of people in those positions that understand the mind of
• 14:50
  Speaker1: an addict and the support
• 14:55
  Speaker1: and the accountability and having someone in that position that lived that life, you know,
• 15:03
  Speaker1: I think makes a huge difference.
• 15:04
  Speaker0: For sure. He would come down to your level, you know, when you have a conversation
• 15:09
  Speaker0: with you, you know, like he would take off his robe.
• 15:13
  Speaker0: And that's the thing about him.
• 15:16
  Speaker0: He wanted you to feel like he didn't want you to feel like he's above you or
• 15:20
  Speaker0: any of that, like whether he's sanctioning you for something.
• 15:23
  Speaker0: It's because of your own choices and what you're doing to be late.
• 15:28
  Speaker0: Or like, and sometimes we didn't understand that at the time,
• 15:31
  Speaker0: you know, why he was doing what he was doing, but it all makes sense in the end.
• 15:36
  Speaker0: After you graduate and you have, after you go through the whole process of all
• 15:40
  Speaker0: these phases are there for a reason, you know, we have all these phases in life.
• 15:45
  Speaker1: Right.
• 15:46
  Speaker0: And, and I think that what they are doing is, is spot on, you know,
• 15:51
  Speaker0: they're saving lives, you know? Yeah.
• 15:54
  Speaker1: Well, I mean, it's important for people to walk shoulder to shoulder, you know,
• 15:59
  Speaker1: and not judging people in, you know, if they're in recovery court or whatever
• 16:05
  Speaker1: it is, you know, addicts on the street, whatever we, you know,
• 16:09
  Speaker1: getting down to people's level and,
• 16:12
  Speaker1: you know, showing people that we care and support and support.
• 16:17
  Speaker0: It's the empathy for one another you know.
• 16:19
  Speaker1: So yeah empathy and compassion yeah yeah yeah it's it's super important so you
• 16:25
  Speaker1: graduate you got your passport i remember that i feel like i
• 16:29
  Speaker0: May if it wasn't for you i wouldn't have my passport yes,
• 16:33
  Speaker0: for sure for sure for sure you were put you actually that's what i love about
• 16:38
  Speaker0: you you do push and push and push and you're like
• 16:42
  Speaker0: well you need to do this well you need to do that well you need to do this and
• 16:45
  Speaker0: like i got frustrated at first but i was like okay if i didn't do all those
• 16:49
  Speaker0: things that that you asked me that you that you said that i needed to do
• 16:53
  Speaker0: like i needed to call and get the the appointment and this and that and i was
• 16:57
  Speaker0: like yeah yeah no i'm good you know like but then i was like do i want really
• 17:01
  Speaker0: want to go to mexico i'm like i've been thinking about mexico the whole year
• 17:06
  Speaker0: and i was like when i graduate i'm going to mexico so like as soon as i graduated
• 17:09
  Speaker0: i went to mexico yeah and like i've been back there literally four times back
• 17:13
  Speaker0: to our condo and like it's,
• 17:16
  Speaker0: it's where i find peace and like my serenity and like um i cannot get enough of it you know,
• 17:24
  Speaker0: uh so it's just it's my go-to spot you know we all have to have a place where
• 17:30
  Speaker0: we get grounded and that's where i get grounded,
• 17:33
  Speaker0: you know that my leaves your leaves my leaves yeah it'd be like leave me cool
• 17:38
  Speaker0: leave me alone leave me alone.
• 17:42
  Speaker1: Right so so i know that you you're you're very tuned into your recovery and
• 17:47
  Speaker1: you go to a na na na and every morning what does your routine look like
• 17:55
  Speaker0: So my room my morning routine uh i have so i have to meditate in the morning
• 17:59
  Speaker0: i have to have like quiet meditation and my stoic like i have i put the stoic on the TV and like.
• 18:07
  Speaker1: Uh, what is stoic?
• 18:08
  Speaker0: Stoic. Stoic philosophy is like, um, Greek mythology, you know, Marcus Aurelius.
• 18:15
  Speaker0: Um, and, and like there, um,
• 18:20
  Speaker0: it just helps you for me for the last three almost three years in recovery i've
• 18:26
  Speaker0: had to have it every single day to where um it's like it's it's a habit i have to put it on um so it's,
• 18:35
  Speaker0: it's kind of hard to explain it's stoic philosophy.
• 18:38
  Speaker1: Just people talking
• 18:39
  Speaker0: About it's well it's just a it's a mon it's kind of a monotone when he talks but it's,
• 18:46
  Speaker0: uh it's not just talking about like your life experiences of like how to handle
• 18:51
  Speaker0: things in life it's um gives you different perspectives on on like how you see things how you do things,
• 19:00
  Speaker0: uh all in general you know it encompasses everything that we're doing in life
• 19:04
  Speaker0: and how to help direct you in the right direction how.
• 19:08
  Speaker1: What turned you on to that
• 19:10
  Speaker0: I don't you know what um i think that when i got when i was in treatment somebody
• 19:16
  Speaker0: said something about it and then i got out and like it's been
• 19:20
  Speaker0: it's literally been on my tv every day since i've gotten out of treatment like
• 19:25
  Speaker0: even when i went into treatment the only reason why i bought a tv was for my stoic listening,
• 19:29
  Speaker0: and like that's what's helped me um,
• 19:33
  Speaker0: that's been my accountability partner you know what i mean like in the mornings
• 19:37
  Speaker0: and it helps me set my intentions for the day um i'll sit there and take notes
• 19:42
  Speaker0: on my calendar and then like and I'll just like,
• 19:47
  Speaker0: I'll just sit there and meditate on things that I know that I need to take care of throughout the week.
• 19:51
  Speaker1: How long do you do that for?
• 19:54
  Speaker0: Sometimes I do it for like two, three hours.
• 19:56
  Speaker1: Really?
• 19:56
  Speaker0: Yeah.
• 19:57
  Speaker1: Wow.
• 19:57
  Speaker0: Yeah, for real. Okay. But if I know I need to be at a job, like I won't make
• 20:03
  Speaker0: sure that I'm at a job by nine o'clock, but I'm usually up pretty early.
• 20:09
  Speaker0: And like, that's when it starts. Like I'll sit there and just,
• 20:13
  Speaker0: I need the meditation. It's the only thing that gives me a sense of it.
• 20:17
  Speaker1: I remember when I first got sober and my sponsor said, you need to pray and meditate.
• 20:26
  Speaker1: And I was like, I can't do that.
• 20:29
  Speaker1: And I literally would start, it was a YouTube, she would send me a text message
• 20:34
  Speaker1: and it would be a three minute meditation. And I was like, there's no way I
• 20:39
  Speaker1: can sit here for three minutes and listen.
• 20:41
  Speaker1: There's no way. And I finally, like, I started working myself up from three
• 20:46
  Speaker1: minutes to five minutes to 10 minutes to 15. It took, but it took,
• 20:50
  Speaker1: like, two years, you know?
• 20:53
  Speaker1: Like, and now I'm, like, 15 minutes and I'm good.
• 20:57
  Speaker1: If it goes further than that, I'm sleeping. I'll fall, and I'll fall back asleep,
• 21:02
  Speaker1: you know? And so, but two to three hours.
• 21:05
  Speaker0: Do you go to quiet mode? Like, it's not that I'm, like, in, like,
• 21:08
  Speaker0: I'll close my eyes and, like, I need to lay there and listen to it.
• 21:11
  Speaker0: Like, uh, my meditation is like, um, like not, it's not like one of those like
• 21:17
  Speaker0: that. Like, you know, do you sit, do you sit there and like.
• 21:20
  Speaker1: It's a guided meditation.
• 21:21
  Speaker0: Yeah.
• 21:22
  Speaker1: I have to have a guided meditation because if I don't have somebody like talking to me,
• 21:26
  Speaker0: Then I'm, and that's what my stoic is.
• 21:30
  Speaker0: The stoic is my guided meditation when it's on the TV. That's the only thing
• 21:35
  Speaker0: I like to put on my TV. Like I'll, I'll be, I'll have it on all day, even for my dog. Yeah.
• 21:42
  Speaker1: Okay, so you got your meditation, and then you write stuff down,
• 21:45
  Speaker1: and then you go do your day.
• 21:48
  Speaker0: Yep. Yep, set my intentions for the day or go load up and get ready to go do a job.
• 21:55
  Speaker1: So you started a few businesses in the last year.
• 22:00
  Speaker0: I have.
• 22:01
  Speaker1: So what do those businesses look like?
• 22:03
  Speaker0: So actually, I'm going in my third year on Homestone and Masonry for the chimneys.
• 22:10
  Speaker0: um the two dudes junkin was just a side gig you know i was just thinking you
• 22:15
  Speaker0: know somebody need help hauling junk or since i had the dump truck um and that's
• 22:20
  Speaker0: only been gone for about six months seven months,
• 22:24
  Speaker0: maybe they're about not really it's it's it wasn't supposed to be a full-time
• 22:29
  Speaker0: thing but it's turning into more demolition,
• 22:32
  Speaker0: and then um then the window washing company that just got started a month ago,
• 22:38
  Speaker0: um that thing i didn't plan on starting that you know and so i went and bought
• 22:42
  Speaker0: a bunch of equipment and started started that company down in arizona and it's just it's,
• 22:48
  Speaker0: already taken off you know 33 airbnbs and then they're adding 13 more,
• 22:54
  Speaker0: and i got i got the call like an hour before i uh,
• 22:58
  Speaker0: was heading home here to handle my masonry jobs and uh the guy was like yeah
• 23:03
  Speaker0: we want you to do all of them and I'm like whoa I wish you would have told me
• 23:07
  Speaker0: like an hour or two before I would have canceled my flight you know said I was
• 23:11
  Speaker0: already on about ready to get on the plane,
• 23:14
  Speaker0: but that's that's how that business is rolling and it's,
• 23:19
  Speaker0: Not there yet, but it's been pretty successful.
• 23:24
  Speaker1: Lots of things, lots of irons in the fire. Yeah. Do you ever get overwhelmed?
• 23:30
  Speaker0: No.
• 23:31
  Speaker1: Do you ever feel like you have burnout?
• 23:34
  Speaker0: I've been trying to learn to balance. Like, you know, that's that key word is balance things, right?
• 23:38
  Speaker0: And so I've been trying to balance. Like, when I do my meditation,
• 23:43
  Speaker0: that helps me balance things.
• 23:45
  Speaker0: you know like it just it sets me into some clarity and like I I'm not necessarily
• 23:53
  Speaker0: burnt out like the maybe it's a burnout in the masonry department you know because like,
• 23:59
  Speaker0: it's like I've been doing chimneys for 16 years and I'm like that's why I want
• 24:04
  Speaker0: to do other things you know and so maybe there is a little bit yeah maybe there
• 24:08
  Speaker0: might not necessarily burn out because I love educating people on the fact of
• 24:12
  Speaker0: the safety of their chimney,
• 24:14
  Speaker0: you know and like it's not about getting the work from them it's about like
• 24:18
  Speaker0: letting making sure that them and
• 24:20
  Speaker0: their family is safe you know and that's where i get um a peace of mind,
• 24:26
  Speaker0: Because I'm the last one to touch your chimney. And like if you burn your house down, I'm liable.
• 24:31
  Speaker1: I mean, and around here, there's a lot of old houses and there's a lot of chimneys.
• 24:35
  Speaker1: And the newer houses don't have chimneys, but there's a lot of old ones.
• 24:39
  Speaker1: And yeah, I mean, and that's, you know, I've referred clients,
• 24:44
  Speaker1: give them your number for their houses around here because it is important.
• 24:49
  Speaker0: Everything vents through your chimney, you know. So say you're venting your
• 24:52
  Speaker0: furnace and it's not venting properly. You can get carbon monoxide.
• 24:55
  Speaker0: You can go to sleep and not wake up.
• 24:57
  Speaker0: Yeah. You can get carbon monoxide poisoning.
• 25:00
  Speaker1: You know? Is that what those little white things are for that you put?
• 25:05
  Speaker1: I mean, as a real estate agent, obviously. But sometimes I'm like,
• 25:08
  Speaker1: why do we have to have these? There's no gas. There's no this.
• 25:11
  Speaker1: There's no that. Doesn't make any sense. Right. You know?
• 25:14
  Speaker0: It's a silent killer.
• 25:15
  Speaker1: CO, CO2?
• 25:18
  Speaker0: CO? It's a CO2 carbon monoxide detector.
• 25:24
  Speaker1: Yeah.
• 25:25
  Speaker0: That's why they require all.
• 25:27
  Speaker1: My houses have them
• 25:28
  Speaker0: Yeah,
• 25:33
  Speaker0: yeah it's been so far this journey has been um has been a good journey.
• 25:38
  Speaker1: What do you think is different about your life now than say 10 years ago
• 25:46
  Speaker0: Uh what's different is my mindset you know like my drive my drive has always been there but I didn't,
• 25:55
  Speaker0: i didn't have the tools that i have today,
• 25:59
  Speaker0: in recovery like there's you know all those little cliches you know those little,
• 26:04
  Speaker0: sayings you know trust the process or like if you're if you if you're in the
• 26:08
  Speaker0: barber shop right you sit in the barber shop long enough you're going to get
• 26:11
  Speaker0: a haircut all those little cliches it's not just the cliches they're the truth
• 26:15
  Speaker0: so going through recovery all those things,
• 26:19
  Speaker0: like i'll be somewhere and i'm like okay you start feeling in your gut you're
• 26:23
  Speaker0: like i gotta go right you're like i don't i can't be here i don't want to be
• 26:26
  Speaker0: here like you know you got to turn an about face and so i think that that's
• 26:30
  Speaker0: what's helped me and my recovery is all those little,
• 26:34
  Speaker0: cliches of truth.
• 26:35
  Speaker1: Do you find yourself in situations now that you got to get out of there or well
• 26:42
  Speaker0: Not necessarily that i got to get out of there but when like you know my family
• 26:46
  Speaker0: still drinks you know um and i start getting this knot in my stomach knowing
• 26:51
  Speaker0: that like it doesn't that's all it takes is a drink.
• 26:54
  Speaker0: Like I keep, I try to justify in my head, I'm thinking, okay,
• 26:57
  Speaker0: maybe I can just take one drink, you know, like it's fine. I can socialize with
• 27:00
  Speaker0: my brother or my mom or like, and it, and it's not, it's not.
• 27:06
  Speaker0: Yeah. You know, that one drink is going to lead to, to other things that,
• 27:10
  Speaker0: that I don't want to go. I don't want to go down that road. So like,
• 27:13
  Speaker0: I don't forget where I came from 100%.
• 27:16
  Speaker0: And that's what we need to continue to keep doing is keep thinking in our head
• 27:20
  Speaker0: like do you want to be homeless again because it doesn't take very long all
• 27:23
  Speaker0: it takes is in a in a month's time frame i seen my little brother,
• 27:30
  Speaker0: go from having everything that he needed and wanted and and and he's loved and
• 27:34
  Speaker0: cared for and and and taken care of,
• 27:37
  Speaker0: within a month maybe a month and a half,
• 27:40
  Speaker0: everything lost everything you know what i mean and it's just it sucks you know because it hurts.
• 27:48
  Speaker1: Yeah yeah I mean it's yeah we have to
• 27:55
  Speaker1: I don't know. Life is, um,
• 28:02
  Speaker1: My meeting, my meeting is tonight and, um,
• 28:06
  Speaker1: every Wednesday I go to my home group, you know, and we, we,
• 28:10
  Speaker1: we do our talk in a circle and, you know, I mean, people sometimes they make
• 28:15
  Speaker1: fun of our meetings or whatever, but those are important.
• 28:19
  Speaker1: And having that part of my life you know and not getting complacent because i feel like
• 28:28
  Speaker1: getting complacent is just the rabbit hole that we just it gets deep fast you
• 28:34
  Speaker1: know or or the bucket bucket you know you have a bad day
• 28:39
  Speaker1: and and that bucket bucket gets deep fast you know and it's like i don't even
• 28:43
  Speaker1: care and i'm just gonna go do
• 28:44
  Speaker1: this and what does it matter anyway and and then boom you're you're just
• 28:49
  Speaker1: right back to the same shit.
• 28:53
  Speaker1: And it's like, you know, we are one freaking decision away from...
• 29:01
  Speaker1: a bad decision. You know, we're one decision away from burning our life down.
• 29:05
  Speaker1: We are one, one decision away from a dumpster fire.
• 29:09
  Speaker1: And, you know, I had so many dumpster fires in my life. I am so done with dumpster
• 29:14
  Speaker1: fires. I don't, I don't ever want to deal with that again.
• 29:17
  Speaker1: I just don't, I don't, you know?
• 29:19
  Speaker0: Yeah.
• 29:21
  Speaker1: I mean, it's just, you know, it's crazy how quickly things change.
• 29:25
  Speaker0: And, um, when you're doing the next right thing.
• 29:27
  Speaker1: But I mean, and that's the same way, right? It's want they can quickly change
• 29:32
  Speaker1: into an amazing life or they can quickly change into
• 29:37
  Speaker1: going to hell in a handbasket yeah just like that and and that's you know i think that
• 29:45
  Speaker1: you know with we have almost the same amount of sobriety time and um
• 29:51
  Speaker1: you know the things that we have been able to do as as entrepreneurs and you
• 29:55
  Speaker1: know i've been a real estate agent for 21 years but i started kennedy's place
• 30:00
  Speaker1: and in two and a half years i went from
• 30:05
  Speaker1: what's a recovery house to now we have 22 recovery houses with 107 that's
• 30:09
  Speaker0: Amazing it is so amazing.
• 30:12
  Speaker1: Right i mean it's like when you clear your mind and the fog lifts, anything is possible.
• 30:21
  Speaker1: And I wish that more people would, you know, find a belief in that,
• 30:26
  Speaker1: that you don't have to live your life numb. You don't have to stay that way.
• 30:32
  Speaker1: It's, you know, it's a, it's a path. And it's hard to think.
• 30:38
  Speaker1: I never thought for something that I didn't think I could live a day without drinking to, you know,
• 30:46
  Speaker1: there's so much possibility there's so many amazing things in life there's you
• 30:51
  Speaker1: know to be i mean i'm getting married in like i don't know 80 days or something like that
• 30:56
  Speaker0: Oh yeah thanks for the.
• 30:56
  Speaker1: Invite that's crazy well i haven't sent out i'm kind of busy
• 31:00
  Speaker0: Where we go where are you guys.
• 31:02
  Speaker1: Going um
• 31:06
  Speaker1: but i might need to send out some invitations yeah um but i don't you know and
• 31:12
  Speaker1: i might also be end up being the first my mom will hate it but if i'm the you
• 31:15
  Speaker1: know hey where I'm going to send you an email invite for, you know, my wedding invitation.
• 31:20
  Speaker1: She'll just be appalled, but she's old school.
• 31:24
  Speaker1: But I'm, you know, like there's so many amazing things. And like for the first
• 31:28
  Speaker1: time in my life, I have a sober relationship, you know, I have someone that
• 31:33
  Speaker1: walks shoulder to shoulder with me.
• 31:35
  Speaker1: I have people that surround me and my recovery family and like people who are
• 31:40
  Speaker1: like-minded, who are entrepreneurs, who, you know, want to continue to grow.
• 31:45
  Speaker1: And then And there's the people that, you know, I mean, I love my family and
• 31:49
  Speaker1: I love the people that I used to hang out with, but we're not the same. Yeah.
• 31:53
  Speaker1: And, you know, like I want to continue to grow. And I know some people are like,
• 31:58
  Speaker1: you are absolutely out of your mind.
• 32:00
  Speaker1: You are doing what? And how many houses do you have? And I'm like,
• 32:04
  Speaker1: is there somewhere, is there a manual that says that I have to stop?
• 32:07
  Speaker1: You know, like, should I take a day off?
• 32:11
  Speaker1: Sure. Is burnout a thing? Absolutely. You know? but i found my purpose
• 32:18
  Speaker0: Your growth has been substantial it's been substantial substantial yeah it's
• 32:23
  Speaker0: i remember from that first meeting of seeing you in that in that hall of your
• 32:28
  Speaker0: speaker meeting till now has just been like,
• 32:33
  Speaker0: i and i see you i watch you and i like i pay attention like and from the background
• 32:37
  Speaker0: you know what i mean but like i i love it i love everything that you've done
• 32:42
  Speaker0: and that you're doing and that you continue to keep doing it's uh and it's like,
• 32:48
  Speaker0: Oh man, it's so cool. I really do. Like you, you are doing really good and I,
• 32:53
  Speaker0: and I, and it's just, uh, I can't say enough, enough about it really is.
• 32:59
  Speaker0: Um, uh, I'm not going to get all emotional and shit, but like I'm getting emotional
• 33:05
  Speaker0: about it. Cause I like, I see that, like, I see the lives that you've saved
• 33:09
  Speaker0: and that you continue to keep saving.
• 33:11
  Speaker0: you know what i mean and you're trying and you're and you continue to keep giving
• 33:14
  Speaker0: people um another second chance or a third chance like letting them come back
• 33:19
  Speaker0: you know what i mean like hey just go to treatment or you just gotta like you're
• 33:23
  Speaker0: all about second chances.
• 33:24
  Speaker1: Well i mean that's what that's what recovery is is a second chance yeah
• 33:28
  Speaker0: And don't shoot the wounded right.
• 33:29
  Speaker1: No don't shoot you know but i'm not going to save you i'm not going to save
• 33:33
  Speaker1: your ass you got to save your own ass, but you've got to have the want and the
• 33:37
  Speaker1: will. I will create, I am creating an opportunity, right?
• 33:41
  Speaker1: So I'm, here's, here's an opportunity and I'm going to hand it to you and I'm
• 33:45
  Speaker1: going to help you get through it.
• 33:46
  Speaker1: If you're willing, you've got to be willing, you know, and, and there's a lot
• 33:51
  Speaker1: of people that are, and there's a lot of people that aren't,
• 33:53
  Speaker1: you know, and it's so scary for some people who cannot, you know, imagine a,
• 33:59
  Speaker1: living their lives sober, getting out of that hole, crawling out and,
• 34:06
  Speaker1: you know, looking around and, you know, being open and willing to create something new.
• 34:14
  Speaker1: I had, we had our manager meeting earlier, you were here, and my daughter,
• 34:20
  Speaker1: who's 31, is here, was here,
• 34:23
  Speaker1: and her dad has 36 days sober for the first time in his life, you know?
• 34:31
  Speaker1: And so I go around the room and I ask everyone, tell me something good today.
• 34:35
  Speaker1: And I asked her because she was here.
• 34:38
  Speaker1: And usually she's very soft-spoken and she doesn't have a lot to say.
• 34:45
  Speaker1: She's the opposite of me. She's more like her dad when it comes to speaking.
• 34:48
  Speaker1: But today she was very much, she was proud to say that for the first time in
• 34:54
  Speaker1: her life of 31 years that both of her parents are sober and that's amazing
• 35:02
  Speaker1: it's amazing and it feels good to be acknowledged for something that has been
• 35:06
  Speaker1: really hard for one you know but not only for for me but like watching her dad
• 35:14
  Speaker1: you know and and it's like those are the things you know We talk about the promises,
• 35:21
  Speaker1: and she now gets to experience one of the promises.
• 35:27
  Speaker1: And, you know, I want those things to continue to keep happening.
• 35:30
  Speaker0: That's the best part.
• 35:31
  Speaker1: Yeah, I mean, life isn't perfect. Life is not rainbow and sunshine and rainbows
• 35:36
  Speaker1: and roses and all that bullshit.
• 35:38
  Speaker1: It's life. And we have to get through, you know, the good, the bad,
• 35:44
  Speaker1: the happy, the sad, the hard,
• 35:48
  Speaker1: you know, those experiences are what create who we are and how we move forward
• 35:53
  Speaker1: and how we, you know, it's not, what do they say, it's not linear.
• 35:58
  Speaker1: We are up and down and sideways and back and forth and, you know, and it's.
• 36:04
  Speaker1: i just like to wake up every morning and remember what i did the day before
• 36:08
  Speaker0: For sure well this morning this morning i uh i told my daughter i was coming
• 36:13
  Speaker0: to see you and and be on this little podcast thing this little.
• 36:17
  Speaker1: Podcast this little podcast
• 36:19
  Speaker0: With the pink couch and uh and and she and i told her,
• 36:25
  Speaker0: i was i was gonna come share a little bit of my story and she's like i love
• 36:27
  Speaker0: stories and so she knows from where we've come from right and like she loves hearing stories about,
• 36:36
  Speaker0: us getting clean and sober or or and and our our travels and um that that made
• 36:43
  Speaker0: me feel real good because it's like,
• 36:46
  Speaker0: she's at 16 right and she knows that like our path of destruction is like a
• 36:52
  Speaker0: long path of destruction and where we're at today.
• 36:57
  Speaker0: And, you know, it's taken time for her to come around because of what I've put them through.
• 37:02
  Speaker0: But to hear her say that, it like felt good because she knows that like we've come a long way.
• 37:09
  Speaker1: Well, I mean, I don't know how old you were. I hate to say how old I am.
• 37:17
  Speaker1: Do I want to say how old I am? I'm 48. I got sober when I was 45.
• 37:22
  Speaker1: I started smoking when I was 11.
• 37:25
  Speaker1: I started drinking when I was
• 37:27
  Speaker1: 12. And I started smoking pot and all those other things when I was 13.
• 37:32
  Speaker1: Right? So that's a 30, how many years? 33 years?
• 37:37
  Speaker1: 34 years of substance abuse. That's a long time of putting things in my body
• 37:44
  Speaker1: and numbing and, you know, and so now I'm like a baby. I'm like a toddler,
• 37:49
  Speaker1: I guess. I'm three and a half.
• 37:51
  Speaker1: I'm three and a half years older, so I'm a toddler.
• 37:53
  Speaker1: Still a toddler. So I'm literally just running around getting my legs underneath me and, you know, um...
• 38:01
  Speaker1: I'm proud of what I've done. Proud of what you've done.
• 38:04
  Speaker0: Thank you.
• 38:05
  Speaker1: You know, I think we're doing some really cool things. Do you have any last minute thoughts?
• 38:14
  Speaker0: Just gratitude. Nothing but gratitude, you know, for the life that I get to
• 38:18
  Speaker0: live today and that what I keep building, you know, and like the relationships
• 38:25
  Speaker0: that I'm building on, they mean a lot to me.
• 38:28
  Speaker0: you know my friendships that i that i've established um uh they they feel good
• 38:33
  Speaker0: because they're authentic you know they're real people they're people that'll show up for you.
• 38:38
  Speaker1: God isn't that the truth
• 38:39
  Speaker0: Though it's awesome.
• 38:40
  Speaker1: When we're in addiction
• 38:42
  Speaker0: Nobody's where are they at yeah.
• 38:44
  Speaker1: Nobody got your
• 38:45
  Speaker0: Back where they at nowhere stealing your stuff yeah today i know that if i if
• 38:52
  Speaker0: i called anybody on my phone because i had to erase when i went to treatment
• 38:55
  Speaker0: i erased all the phone numbers I know today that if I go and scroll on my phone,
• 39:00
  Speaker0: any one of those people that I just can, almost anyone that I can pick,
• 39:05
  Speaker0: they will be right there.
• 39:06
  Speaker1: Yeah.
• 39:06
  Speaker0: You know, and they will,
• 39:10
  Speaker0: that's the best feeling. That I know that I worked that hard and everything
• 39:16
  Speaker0: that I've done and that we've done in our life right now, we've built that stability.
• 39:23
  Speaker1: Right. Stability, trust.
• 39:25
  Speaker0: Yep.
• 39:25
  Speaker1: Yeah. Yeah, and that group of people and that family and that, you know...
• 39:33
  Speaker1: The, the, the people that surround me are people that I can count on and that
• 39:39
  Speaker1: we, you know, we can count on those people. It's the people that,
• 39:42
  Speaker1: you know, it's, uh, it's an amazing life to have this life.
• 39:46
  Speaker0: It's awesome.
• 39:47
  Speaker1: I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm super, I'm glad that you say, you know, gratitude because
• 39:52
  Speaker1: that's what makes the world go around, you know?
• 39:56
  Speaker0: Well, on the last note, the cool thing about where I'm at today as well is the
• 40:02
  Speaker0: fact that I went and did an estimate the other day, and it was at a cop's house, right?
• 40:08
  Speaker1: Now, would you have done that a few years ago? No.
• 40:12
  Speaker0: I would have pulled up to his house and be like, I got to go.
• 40:14
  Speaker1: Yeah. Oh, no. Just kidding.
• 40:15
  Speaker0: See you later.
• 40:16
  Speaker1: I'm going to send that other guy.
• 40:18
  Speaker0: So when I shook his hand when I seen him when he came outside to introduce himself, I recognized him.
• 40:23
  Speaker0: and you know and these are the things that had he arrested you before I don't know,
• 40:29
  Speaker0: I know they've kicked me out of
• 40:30
  Speaker0: a trap no they've kicked me out of a trap house you know a couple of them,
• 40:35
  Speaker0: but you know to acknowledge their service and what they're and what they're
• 40:38
  Speaker0: doing in the community today like back then it was like I gotta run I gotta
• 40:44
  Speaker0: go you know what I mean get away from it but um today it's a whole different vibe,
• 40:49
  Speaker0: whole different vibe my life is just,
• 40:53
  Speaker0: Yeah, gratitude for sure.
• 40:55
  Speaker0: You know what I mean? And thank you.
• 40:57
  Speaker1: Yeah, thank you. Thanks for showing up and being on number two.
• 41:02
  Speaker0: I appreciate you.
• 41:03
  Speaker1: If this podcast resonated with you and you want to become part of this movement,
• 41:08
  Speaker1: click subscribe and write a brief review and give us a five-star rating.
• 41:13
  Speaker1: Welcome to Unfiltered.