The Shift: A Podcast With Ben Brown

Ben Brown
  • 4.8 (11)
  • Mental Health

The Shift — a podcast about what happens when we stop avoiding the things that hold us back and start facing them head-on. While themes like sobriety and faith will come up, The Shift isn’t a sobriety podcast or a religious one. The Shift is an open, inclusive space for anyone and everyone. Through Ben’s shifts, and his guests who have experienced shifts of their own, the goal is simple: to help listeners who might be struggling with something realize they’re not alone, and to share insights and strategies that they can put to work in their own lives.

  1. 18h ago

    How Breathwork Can Get You Sober from Sex and Porn Addiction

    For almost 30 years, I ran from every uncomfortable feeling I had. As a kid, nail-biting and video games. Then, as a teen and beyond, porn, fantasy, and sex. When I decided to get sober, I lost every one of those buffers at once, and I had to find another way to survive the fear. I needed a new coping mechanism.   In this episode, I sat down with breathwork therapist Jesse Torgerson to break down the practice that actually worked: breathing into physical sensation and releasing tension on the exhale, until my nervous system stopped treating discomfort like an emergency. This episode isn't just about my personal journey through addiction, it is about your ability to realize that uncomfortable feelings won’t kill you.   I invite you to examine the stories keeping you stuck in anxiety and discover how present-moment breath awareness can create radical clarity. Safety is not found outside yourself, it is cultivated with every conscious breath. If this hits home, subscribe for more conversations on breaking addiction and building a real life on the other side of it, drop a comment with what you're working through, and share this with someone who needs to hear it. #Breathwork #AddictionRecovery #Sobriety #NervousSystemHealing #MensMentalHealth

  2. Sep 16

    From Addiction to Purpose: How to Use AI to Map Your Dream Life

    Do you know exactly what your problems are, but have no idea where you actually want to go? When I first got into recovery, my mentor challenged me to write down my five-year dream life. I played it safe. Censored myself so I wouldn't fail and feel bad. He looked at what I wrote, saw straight through it, and sent me back to do it again. This time, from a place of full permission to dream, not from what I thought was realistic. That shift changed everything. I started watching my life manifest in ways I couldn't have written down the first time around. Now, guys in recovery come to me stuck in the exact same spot. They can write a dissertation on their problems. Ask them what they actually want, and they freeze. So I get to walk them through the same process that cracked things open for me, building vision boards with AI images of their deepest desires to finally get clarity on their purpose. This episode is about that arc, from the first censored list to the version that actually lit me up, and it's an invitation for you to do the same. Stop driving in circles focused on what's wrong. Write your uncensored five-year dream life, and start moving toward it. Face the truth. Build the map. Shift your direction.

  3. Sep 9

    Can Another Person Really Fix Your Self-Esteem?

    Have you ever looked for another person to fix the internal noise you cannot stand? In this episode, I look back at how I used external validation to escape my own feelings of inadequacy. Before getting sober and stepping into recovery, walking down a street in New York City could trigger a complete internal crisis. The moment I saw an attractive woman, my mind convinced me that her approval was the ultimate cure for my low self-esteem. I would approach out of sheer anxiety, desperate for a fix. If rejection happened, I made up a story like, "Oh, I might not look rich enough for her." Then that thought became a fact in my brain: "I don't look rich enough for her," and I had to sit with the belief that I was not enough, which felt like crap. That experience was not comfortable, so then I looked for another quick fix, like a donut in a coffee shop, candy, or swiping on the apps to temporarily ease my pain. It was only through hitting walls and learning to become the witness to my thoughts that real healing began. By practicing acceptance and detaching from the stories my brain creates, I started shifting away from compulsive reactions and moving toward conscious choices. This episode isn't just about my past conditioning; it is about your relationship with emotional discomfort, too. I invite you to reflect on where you turn when anxiety strikes and whether you are letting your thoughts pull you around on a leash. Growth is a slow, steady movement from compulsive reaction to conscious choice

  4. Sep 2

    Why Having a Plan B Will Kill Your Dream

    Mario Carbone didn't build Major Food Group by hedging. He went all in, no safety net, no backup plan waiting to catch him if it didn't work. This episode is about the lie of the safety net. The plan B you keep "just in case" isn't protection; it's permission to fail. Every hour spent maintaining a fallback is an hour not spent making the real thing work. Mario and I get into what all-in commitment actually looks like when the stakes are real. Not just motivational-poster talk. If you've got one foot in your dream and one foot in your backup plan, this episode is for you.

  5. Aug 26

    Cheeseburgers to Designer Shades: Playing Whack-a-Mole With Addiction

    Have you ever found yourself swiping your credit card not for the item in your hand, but for the person you hope it will make you become? In this episode I open up about my battle with shopping addiction and how it connects to my deep-seated need for validation. For years, my addiction played a game of whack-a-mole. When I got sober from booze, drugs, and sex back in 2019, my brain immediately transferred that void to food, bingeing on cheeseburgers and milkshakes. Once I addressed the overeating, the shopping took over. I was chasing an image, purchasing $1,000 designer sunglasses and endless outfits just to sell a story to the world and escape my own feelings of inadequacy. It wasn't until I hit a wall of anxiety over a $2,500 sunglasses spree that I realized I couldn't keep running. Through recovery and learning to appreciate what is already in my "circle," I began to heal. You are already enough, and no purchase will ever give you what self-love already provides.

  6. Aug 19

    Your Fear of Being Cringe is Ruining Your Life

    Do you ever think to yourself, I don't want to be perceived the wrong way, so I will just stay quiet? From a young age, I started to get the response from the outside world that 'you like me when I am small, so let me stay small, so I get what I need.' In this episode of The Shift, I explore how the fear of being cringe is really a prison holding you back from having a big, bold, and wonderful life. I tell the stories of the many different ways I have stopped myself from going after what I want because of fear. But that stops here. Together, one day at a time, one step at a time, we will begin to face what holds us back. Following the notion that our purpose must be greater than our fear, we will be the lucky ones who get out of our own way. If you have ever felt like "too much," "extra," "too hyperactive," or felt like you had to shrink yourself to stay safe, this episode is for you.

  7. Aug 12

    "I Absolutely Despised Motherhood" with Hana Catlett

    I will never forget the first time I heard Hana say, "I hated being a mom and I hated being a wife," while she was standing next to her husband Will (who is one of my best friends) and thinking to myself, "Holy sh*t this is uncomfortable." In this episode of The Shift, I sit down with my friend and one of my former coaches, Hana Catlett, brand archietect, wife, and mother of two. Hana's transparency around being a mom shocked me from the moment I first heard her say she hated it, and hate seems to be an understatement. Her words now: absolutely despised. In this episode she gets real about motherhood, the parts most women don't say out loud. We get into why modern motherhood is basically engineered for isolation, and what got lost when we stopped raising kids in villages. Mother or not, this one's a gut-punch. Listen in.

  8. Aug 5

    You are a LUMINARY with Hana Catlett

    In this episode of The Shift, I sit down with my dear friend and mentor, Hana Catlett. While Hana is known as a brand architect, what she really does is help people uncover who they truly are beneath the conditioning, the fear, and the stories they've been telling themselves. She helps people get clear on the impact they're here to make, and then holds them accountable to actually step into it. This conversation isn't really about branding. It's about identity. For so many of us in recovery, we spend years hiding, performing, seeking validation, or believing we have to become "perfect" before we're worthy of being seen. Hana and I unpack why that's a lie. We talk about the freedom that comes from showing up as you are, the power of sharing from the middle of the journey instead of waiting until you've "arrived," and why your willingness to be authentic may be the very thing someone else needs to see. If you've ever felt like fear, shame, or self-doubt has kept you from pursuing the life you know you're capable of, I think this conversation will resonate. Recovery isn't just about letting go of the addiction. It's about becoming the man you were created to be, and having the courage to let the world see you. I hope this episode challenges you, encourages you, and inspires you to take one more step toward the most expansive version of yourself.

See All (26)

4.8
out of 5
11 Ratings

About

The Shift — a podcast about what happens when we stop avoiding the things that hold us back and start facing them head-on. While themes like sobriety and faith will come up, The Shift isn’t a sobriety podcast or a religious one. The Shift is an open, inclusive space for anyone and everyone. Through Ben’s shifts, and his guests who have experienced shifts of their own, the goal is simple: to help listeners who might be struggling with something realize they’re not alone, and to share insights and strategies that they can put to work in their own lives.

Information

You Might Also Like