Episode 285: Magnify Maggie

Although of different generations, Host John Sheldon and his guest on this episode of Beyond Belief Sobriety find commonality both in the loss of a loved one to suicide and their perspectives on recovery. Maggie Jenson, an alternative recovery coach, shares the journey and vision behind her remarkable Magnify Digital Rehabilitation Program, including the traumatic past she overcame through positivity and empowerment. “Recovery isn’t about shaming yourself,” she says. “It’s about recovering things that you love so much that (alcohol) doesn’t have the power over you that you once believed.”

You’ll learn about how Maggie found her way to mental and physical health through a combination of modalities and an emphasis on self-awareness. Her platform offers innovative educational modules, a knowledge bank of video resources, nutritional and physical fitness coaching and an active online community for support and accountability. A non-judgmental, non-religious, science-driven orientation infuses every aspect of the Magnify Digital Rehabilitation Program, which also embraces the concepts of harm reduction and Alcohol Use Disorder on a spectrum. With her positive mindset, Maggie doesn’t want recovery to be all about abstaining from a substance we fear. Instead? She’s inviting us to celebrate the things we love and reconnect with an identity that is “free and powerful and driven and healthy.”

To explore more of Maggie’s work and hear her inspirational message, visit her many social media channels (links below). Or schedule a discovery call here.

Key Takeaways

• A dad in the military and a mom who was a teacher. It looked like an idyllic Midwestern life, but was profoundly shaped by alcoholism.
• Despite all the research she’d read and an early introduction to AlAnon, Maggie turned to alcohol for relief after her brother committed suicide at 14, in much the same way, at 21, John started self-medicating following his mother’s suicide.
• Maggie attributes her ultimate recovery and success in life to her dad, who stepped in with love and acceptance that offset her mother’s toxic anger. Still, the blueprint was set and it would be 15 years of addiction before she found a way out.
• Life hurts. Depression. A traumatic history. Maggie looked to anything other than alcohol as the source of her problems.
• The 2018 loss of her cherished father in a motorcycle accident drove Maggie deeper into an addiction fueled by loss after loss, alienation and detachment.
• Doing Something Different: Tuning in to what “little Maggie” had once loved (fitness, studying, reading, public speaking) opened a window on fun and engagement that gradually replaced her thoughts about alcohol.
• Maggie’s recovery was built on developing an identity totally apart from alcohol – one that was self-soothing and self-sustaining without substances.
• Painting alcohol as a target gives our brains something on which to fixate rather than a positive, empowering direction in which to go.
• Neutralizing alcohol is the starting point for shifting away from rumination, shame, guilt and compulsion.
• Scientific research is establishing that Alcohol Use Disorder exists on a spectrum, which means there is a spectrum of ways in which to respond.
• Black and White Thinking: No one is served by extreme labels that shut down people who would otherwise be open to exploring sobriety.
• Harm Reduction: Moderation is incremental and can be a viable alternative to total abstinence.
• Recovery as a process of change – not a tool dedicated exclusively to sobriety.
• What is the opposite of addiction? For Maggie, it’s freedom and health. It’s living as someone recovered, fully alive and engaged.