Recovering Out Loud

ROL Productions
  • 4.6 (5)
  • Mental Health
  • Updated Weekly

Sobriety you can actually use — from someone who lived it twice. I'm Anthony. I got sober in 2015, relapsed after 7.5 years, and rebuilt from zero. Now I'm an addiction counsellor-in-training sharing what actually works in recovery — not theory, real tools. Every episode covers the real struggles of staying sober: emotional sobriety, relapse prevention, identity, people-pleasing, shame, trauma, mental health, and the messy middle nobody talks about. If you're newly sober, years in, or supporting someone you love — this is your space. New episodes every week. Follow so you never miss one.

  1. 9h ago

    Ego Is the Enemy | How Self-Centeredness Drives Relapse — and What Beats It

    The thing that almost killed me and the thing keeping me sober are the same voice: ego. In this solo episode I break down ego the way it actually shows up in recovery — not the loudmouth cliché, but the quiet self-centeredness underneath it. Ego has two faces that trade shifts: the top of the seesaw ("I've got this, the rules don't apply to me") and the bottom ("I'm the worst, nobody's been through what I've been through"). Grandiosity and self-pity are the same lie wearing different clothes — the lie that I'm the center of the story. I get into how ego keeps us sick: it's the bouncer at the door of help. Terminal uniqueness ("my situation is different, so I don't have to do the work"). Being right over being well. Comparison — measuring my insides against everyone else's outsides, the thief of joy. And the complacency trap, where the longer you're sober the quieter ego gets, until it whispers one won't hurt. I share the Jamaica story — two years sober, funnels on the beach, and the pause that let me play the tape all the way through. Then resentment and relapse: how ego keeps a ledger, charges interest, and builds the on-ramp back one justification at a time. (Yes, there's an elevator story.) The back half is the antidote — humility. Not humiliation, not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. Right-sizing. Asking for help before I'm on fire. Staying teachable. Service that inconveniences me. Getting honest with someone, because secrets keep you sick. The goal was never to kill the ego — recovery is an ego-deflating process. Start from zero every day, catch the voice a little quicker, and stop letting it drive the bus. If no one's told you yet today: I love you. And remember — recovery is simple, not easy. Book mentioned: Emotional Sobriety: The Next Frontier New Beginnings Recovery Home — this episode is supported by New Beginnings Recovery Home, a disclosed partner of the show. If you or someone you love needs a next step, DM the word HOME and we'll point you in the right direction. newbeginningsrecovery.ca

    Ego Is the Enemy | How Self-Centeredness Drives Relapse — and What Beats It

  2. 3d ago

    The Recovery Skills That Quietly Fixed the Rest of My Life

    The thing that kept me sober turned out to be the thing that made me better at being a person. Recovery isn't just about not using — it's a full retraining in how to be a human being. Most of us don't notice how many of those skills transfer until we're using them on a Tuesday at work. Today I walk through the six that followed me out the door of rehab and straight into a better life — not just financially, but in my relationships and how I show up. The 6 skills: The pause — the gap between an urge and your action, and how it grows the longer you stay soberHALT — hungry, angry, lonely, tired: scan your own state before you decide the problem is your marriageOne day at a time — shrinking the unit of time you're responsible for so the impossible becomes doableRigorous honesty — you can't stay sober on a foundation of secrets, and the honest version of you is more trustworthy than the polished oneAmends over apology — sorry is a sentence; an amends is a pattern changeAsking for help — the "I should handle this myself" voice is the same one that almost killed meThese aren't recovery hacks. They're life skills most people never get formally taught — school skips emotional regulation. Getting sober forced me to learn them under pressure. What a gift. Peer perspective only — this isn't medical or clinical advice. If you're struggling or in crisis, please reach out to someone you trust or a local support line. Which skill are you going to use this week? Tell me in the comments. This episode is supported by New Beginnings Recovery Home (newbeginningsrecovery.ca). If you or someone you love needs a supportive place to land go to their website

    The Recovery Skills That Quietly Fixed the Rest of My Life

  3. 5d ago

    The Consequences of My Addiction — 10 Lessons I Learned the Hard Way

    Money, cars, a house — all recoverable. Your health and your life aren't. That's one of ten lessons I pulled from the consequences of my addiction. Before I get into them: if you hear one of these and think "mine wasn't that bad" or "mine was worse" — stop comparing. Look for the similarities, not the differences. Our circumstances differ, but I know addiction, so I know what you're going through. After 11 years in and around recovery — a relapse at seven and a half years, and a year and a half back now — here's what the wreckage taught me: It always gets worse when I pick up. I'm the cautionary tale.Debt — and finding out shopping was a cross-addiction I still have to watchThe accidents: "I haven't done it yet" beats "I'd never do that"A health scare that showed me exactly where I was headedBeing homeless isn't fun — and how a lower bottom finally got me readyLosing jobs, and pointing the finger inwardJekyll and Hyde: I become a different person when I useHonesty is the best policy — especially when it costs meMaterial things come back. Health and life often don't.Accountability, forgiveness, and the family that isn't owed to mePeer perspective only — this isn't medical or clinical advice. If you're struggling or in crisis, please reach out to someone you trust or a local support line. Which lesson hit hardest? Tell me in the comments. This episode is supported by New Beginnings Recovery Home (newbeginningsrecovery.ca) — the same place I go to share my story with clients. If you or someone you love needs a supportive place to land, DM the word HOME and our automation will point you in the right direction. (Disclosed partnership.) Recovering Out Loud — Real stories.

    The Consequences of My Addiction — 10 Lessons I Learned the Hard Way

  4. Jul 28

    7 Unpopular Recovery Opinions I'll Probably Get Hate For

    Sober and bitter isn't recovery — it's the same disease in a suit. That's opinion #1, and there are six more. After 11 years in and around recovery — including a relapse at seven and a half years and a year and a half back — these are the takes I've landed on that don't always match the popular line. I'm not preaching them as fact. I'm open to being wrong, and I want to hear where you disagree. Peer perspective only — this isn't medical or clinical advice. If you're struggling or in crisis, reach out to someone you trust or a local support service. Which one poked a bruise? Tell me in the comments — agree, disagree, or the ones I missed. This episode is supported by New Beginnings Recovery Home (newbeginningsrecovery.ca). If you or someone you love needs a supportive place to land, DM the word HOME and our automation will point you in the right direction. Recovering Out Loud — Real stories.

    7 Unpopular Recovery Opinions I'll Probably Get Hate For

  5. Jul 23

    Your Feelings Are Real — But They're Not Reality | Emotional Sobriety

    Your feelings are real — but they're not reality. That's the line that reframed how I do recovery, and it's the heart of today's Borrowed Wisdom. I'm reading the highlight quotes from one of my favourite speaker tapes — Don M. on emotional sobriety — and adding my own lived-experience take. This one's about the crux of staying sober long-term: your feelings are valid, but they don't get to run the show. We get into: Creating space between a feeling and an action — including a near-miss with a Tesla in a downtown Toronto bike lane, and the one thing recovery gave me: the pauseThe "illness of superlatives" and all-or-nothing thinkingReframing addiction from the worst thing that ever happened to me into the greatest giftWhy "first thought wrong" keeps showing up disguised as common senseNot buying into resentment, and letting go of outcomes — trusting the author when I can't see the planRecovery as a doing program, not a thinking oneRock bottom as a decision I've got a world of control overThe one contrary action that separates the person who stays sober from the one who can'tIf you're struggling today, I hope one line in here lands for you. You're not as stuck as your brain is telling you. Peer perspective only — this isn't medical or clinical advice. If you're in crisis or need real help, reach out to someone you trust or a local support service. New here? Start with the pinned "Best place to start" episode on the show page. This episode is supported by New Beginnings Recovery Home (newbeginningsrecovery.ca). If you or someone you love needs a supportive place to land, DM the word HOME and our automation will point you in the right direction. (Disclosed partnership.) Recovering Out Loud — Real stories.

    Your Feelings Are Real — But They're Not Reality | Emotional Sobriety

  6. Jul 21

    When Someone in Your Circle Relapses: Fear, Grief, and How to Actually Help

    What do you do when someone close to you goes back out? In this solo episode I talk through what it's actually like when someone in your circle relapses — the fear, the grief, the guilt, and the relief nobody admits out loud. I've been on both sides of it: I've watched people I love relapse, and I've been the one people were trying to reach when I went back out after seven and a half years. This is lived experience, peer to peer — what helped me, what didn't, and how to support someone without setting yourself on fire to keep them warm. If no one has told you yet today: I love you, and recovery is simple, not easy. ⚠️ Need help right now? This episode is in partnership with New Beginnings Recovery Home — an inpatient treatment centre near the Scarborough Bluffs. If you or someone you love is ready to reach out: ➡️  https://newbeginningsrecovery.ca/contact-us.html  📞 1-888-639-6308

    When Someone in Your Circle Relapses: Fear, Grief, and How to Actually Help

  7. Jul 16

    He Flipped His Car 10 Feet From a Family's Bedroom | Getting Sober After a DUI

    Joe got laid off in July, ended up in a trap house by the weekend, and figured he had the summer off. By September he had a DUI, a car that had flipped twice and landed ten feet from a family's bedroom window, a second crash, and a Facebook post about him shared twelve hundred times that he found out about from a friend on the couch beside him. He was three weeks into rehab before he thought he was an addict. In this one he tells me what actually turned it: not a counselor, not a speech — a guest speaker with the same name and the same story, which killed the idea that he was special. Then a 45-page disclosure, two hours of hard truth, twenty character reference letters, and a judge who said he didn't have enough ties to the community to stay out of jail. We get into emotional illiteracy and the feelings wheel he couldn't make sense of. The fear inventory where he wrote down "horses." Working in this field without going numb. Why he thinks a certain kind of gossip is actually accountability. Why stagnation scares him more than craving. And the best advice he's ever gotten — stay open to information from anywhere, because you have no idea who's carrying it. Joe does a lot of quiet work in this community. This one's honest all the way through. If you're struggling: reach out to someone. That's the whole ask. Recovering Out Loud is a peer-led recovery podcast. I'm someone in recovery talking to other people in recovery. Nothing here is treatment advice. New episodes twice a week. Follow the show on Spotify and leave a rating — it's the fastest way to help someone find it. Instagram: @recoveringoutloudpod

    He Flipped His Car 10 Feet From a Family's Bedroom | Getting Sober After a DUI

  8. Jul 14

    10 Warning Signs of Relapse (Before It's Too Late) | My Relapse Started Months Before I Picked Up

    I didn't wake up one day and decide to use after seven and a half years. The relapse started weeks — months — before the first drink or drug. I just called it a rough patch and looked away. This one lives in the space before relapse: the quiet drift most of us miss until it's too late. I walk through 10 warning signs I wish I'd caught in myself, from pulling away from support to romanticizing the past to the slow fading of purpose. Not a checklist to scare you — a mirror. I'm not here as an expert. I'm here as someone who relapsed, came back, and is grateful to be sober today. If one of these signs is flashing for you right now, you're not failing recovery. You caught it. That's a deposit. If this helped, follow the show wherever you're listening and leave a rating — it's how the next person finds it. Need help right now? This episode is brought to you in partnership with New Beginnings Recovery Home, an inpatient treatment centre near the Scarborough Bluffs. If you or someone you love is ready to reach out:  https://newbeginningsrecovery.ca — or call 1-888-639-6308.

    10 Warning Signs of Relapse (Before It's Too Late) | My Relapse Started Months Before I Picked Up
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Ratings & Reviews

4.6
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

Sobriety you can actually use — from someone who lived it twice. I'm Anthony. I got sober in 2015, relapsed after 7.5 years, and rebuilt from zero. Now I'm an addiction counsellor-in-training sharing what actually works in recovery — not theory, real tools. Every episode covers the real struggles of staying sober: emotional sobriety, relapse prevention, identity, people-pleasing, shame, trauma, mental health, and the messy middle nobody talks about. If you're newly sober, years in, or supporting someone you love — this is your space. New episodes every week. Follow so you never miss one.

Information

  • Creator
    ROL Productions
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    130
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © ROL Productions
  • Show Website
    Recovering Out Loud

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