RE 571: From Passive to Active Recovery
Recovery Elevator
Today we have Veronica. She is 52 years old, lives in Alabama and she had her last drink on May 1st, 2000. This episode is brought to you by: Sign up and get 10% off: – claim your $100 enrollment bonus Upcoming Events with Recovery Elevator February 21st – 28th we are traveling to . The event is full, but you can email to get on the waiting list. August 12th – 16th we will be having our annual retreat. Registration opens on April 1st at 9am Eastern Time. October 17th – 24th we will host our [03:07] Thoughts from Paul: Paul...
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RE 570: Your Mission is to Explore
Recovery Elevator
Today we have Savanna. She’s 32 years old from Minneapolis, MN and took her last drink on May 4th, 2023. This episode is brought to you by: Sign up and get 10% off: – THE social app for sober people Every Sunday on , we post a roll call graphic and then you guys put your day count on there. It’s a space for members to be loud and proud about their recovery as well as being there to support others. [02:30] Thoughts from Paul: Last week, Paul talked about how we want to end our relationship with alcohol. This week, he addresses the question “what do I...
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RE 569: Change Your Relationship With Alcohol?
Recovery Elevator
Today we have Sean. He is 33 years old and lives in Phoenix, AZ. He took his last drink on January 22, 2022. This episode is brought to you by: – THE social app for sober people – 10% off of your first month #sponsored There is one spot left on our sober travel trip to . This journey is scheduled for February 21st – 28th. Email if you would like to join us. Join us on January 10th for the start of our . This course is sponsored by Kala brand ukelele and if you register, you get a code for 10% off an instrument. [03:00] Thoughts from Paul: ...
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RE 568: Showing Up
Recovery Elevator
Today we have Sarah. She is 49 years old and lives in San Diego, CA. Sarah took her last drink on August 6th, 2025. This episode is brought to you by: – 10% off of your first month #sponsored Pick up your copy of Paul’s newest book . You can get it on Amazon, listen to it on Audible or order it at your favorite bookstore today. Join us on January 10th for the start of our . This course is sponsored by Kala brand ukelele and if you register, you get a code for 10% off an instrument. [02:00] Thoughts from Paul: This is the first podcast of the new year and...
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RE 567: Dolce Vita: The Good Life
Recovery Elevator
Today we have Jenn. She is 52 years old, from Washington, DC and she took their last drink on September 3rd, 2023. This episode is brought to you by: – the social app for sober people Join us for our Dry January course at 8pm eastern time on January 1st. This is the first of 13 sessions throughout the month, and this course is all about accountability and connection. [01:13] Thoughts from Paul: Today Paul talks about the origin of the title to his new book which will be released on January 1st. What he has learned over the years in his own recovery and...
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RE 566: You're Not Too Far Gone
Recovery Elevator
Today we have Kristine. She is 34 years old from Toronto Canada, and she took her last drink on May 19th, 2025. This episode is brought to you by: – the social app for sober people Café RE is now a registered 501c3 nonprofit. Please visit the website or email if you are interested in making a yearend donation. Join us for our Dry January course at 8pm eastern time on January 1st. This is the first of 13 sessions throughout the month, and this course is all about accountability and having fun. Paul’s new book will be released in both in print and audiobook...
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RE 565: Everything
Recovery Elevator
Today we have Nathan. He is 45 years old from Harrisburg, VA and took his last drink on January 24th, 2023. This episode is brought to you by: – 10% off of your first month #sponsored – the social app for sober people Get your 2026 started off poison free and join us for our Dry January course at 8pm eastern time on January 1st. This is the first of 13 sessions throughout the month, and this course is all about accountability and having fun. January 1st, 2026 is the official release date for Paul’s new book both in print and audiobook. He would love to...
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RE 564: Hot and Cold
Recovery Elevator
Today we have Yeimy. She’s 30 years old, from Rhode Island and took her last drink of alcohol on January 19th, 2025. This episode is brought to you by: – the social app for sober people – 10% off of your first month #sponsored January 1st, 2026 is the official release date for Paul’s new book and he’d love to have you on the launch team. Email to join. Registration for Recovery Elevator’s Dry January course is open. We are meeting 13 times live in the month of January to give you the best chance of ditching the booze. [03:30] Thoughts from...
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RE 563: You’re Not Alone
Recovery Elevator
Today we have Jack. He’s 39 years old from Phoenix, AZ and took his last drink of alcohol on June 23rd, 2025. This episode is brought to you by: – 10% off of your first month #sponsored - sign up and claim your $100 enrollment bonus Registration for Recovery Elevator’s Dry January course opens today. We are meeting 13 times live in the month of January to give you the best chance of ditching the booze. now has its own coffee created with 25% of each bag sold will be donated to the nonprofit . January 1st, 2026 is the official release date for...
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RE 562: A Shooting Star
Recovery Elevator
Today we have Emily. She is 43 years old from Sacramento, CA and took her last drink on December 20th, 2024. This episode is brought to you by: – 10% off of your first month #sponsored – code RE20 saves 20% off your order Registration for Recovery Elevator’s Dry January course opens on December 1st. We are meeting 13 times live in the month of January to give you the best chance of ditching the booze. There are plenty of teachings throughout the month, but the best part of the course is that it’s community-based. It’s all about building connections over our...
info_outlineToday we have Sue. She is 54 years old from Stewartville, MN and she took her last drink of alcohol on May 9th, 2023.
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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 was having. The thought that “one or two beers would make you feel better” came over him, but then he looked at his newly sober friend and reflected on the great talks of sobriety that they had shared, and the thoughts went away.
Reeling from this, Paul went outside, shook his head a few times and then was filled with a warm embrace by the universe knowing that his lost wallet put him in Mexico with his sober friend and everything ended up alright.
[07:36] Paul introduces Sue:
Sue is 54 years old and has two adult children and one granddaughter. She works as a housekeeper for a hospital at the Mayo Clinic and for fun she loves nature, animals, hikes, jet skiing, kayaking and birdwatching.
Sue’s parents were both daily drinkers. Sue would sip her dads beer because she thought it was cool, but her first real drinking experience was when she stole some sloe gin from her parent’s pantry at age 13 or 14.
In her teenage years she began to party a lot on the weekends. Sue was a shy girl, and drinking helped her open up and gave her the attention she craved. Her grades in school began to suffer because she was skipping a lot and Sue ended up unable to graduate.
Sue never thought her drinking was a problem even after getting in trouble for underage drinking. Her boyfriend was abusive, but due to her craving for love and attention, Sue kept going back to him. After a long breakup, he returned wanting to reunite, claiming he had changed. Soon Sue became pregnant, got married, quit drinking and focused on having a family.
Sue enjoyed being a mother. Her husband worked a lot, so she did a lot of the parenting on her own while working a full-time job. As the kids got older and were home less, Sue began to drink more. She tried to hide her drinking, but her kids began to notice. Sue and her husband were fighting a lot and eventually had a messy divorce in which her husband got custody, which was very hard on Sue.
Sue got remarried in 2015 and while she cut back a little, her husband started calling her out on how often she was drinking. This led to her hiding her drinking again and several hospitalizations over the next few years.
In 2017, after a hospitalization, Sue was able to get sober with the help of AA. She says complacency led to relapses. Her children had cut her off and there were multiple inpatient and outpatient attempts but nothing stuck until May 9th, 2023.
Sue says the difference this time is that she fully surrendered and is doing this for herself and not others. She checked herself Hazelden and dug into the work of loving herself again. She still stays active with that community and her AA group. Sue says her
spirituality comes from nature and her belief in prayer and hope. She has been able to reconnect with her children over the past year and has plans to become a peer recovery specialist.
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Go big, because eventually we all go home.
I love you guys.