The Sober Experience
Recovery and mental health, spirituality and life. We will be sitting down with people in and out of recovery who have helpful tips and shared experiences to provide better love and understanding on this earth. There will be a wide veriaty of topics discussed and after each interview there will be another reflection episode where I can analyze what we spoke of and what sticks to mind.
The Sober Experience
Freedom's Price
Welcome back to the Sober Experience after a much-needed break! This powerful return episode explores the challenging yet liberating concept of surrender—not as weakness, but as the ultimate path to freedom.
When my younger children left home under varying circumstances, I found myself face-to-face with one of recovery's most difficult principles: creating space for others to find their own way rather than attempting to control outcomes. This family shift forced me to practice what I've preached about surrender, leading to profound realizations about parenting, control, and letting go.
"I can change what I do, I can change how I behave, but I can't change who I am," becomes the central theme as we explore how principles earned through recovery guide us through life's most challenging transitions. The episode draws parallels between my children's current journey and my own rebellious youth, recognizing that sometimes the most loving action is allowing people space to discover their own truths.
Beyond family dynamics, we examine how surrender applies to broader societal divisions. The "pain of not being able to control other people" drives much of today's online hostility and polarization. True freedom comes when we release the need to convince others or bend them to our will. As recovery teaches: "The only person I need to convince of anything is myself."
The conversation extends to taking personal accountability for health and wellbeing rather than blindly trusting institutions motivated by profit. Through personal stories about navigating the healthcare system, we see how self-responsibility creates genuine freedom. The "easier, softer way" isn't seeking shortcuts, but embracing accountability to ourselves, our higher power, and the process.
Through it all, one truth emerges: love expressed through service is the answer. When we focus on how we can serve rather than control, we discover the freedom we've been seeking. Subscribe, share, and join us as we continue exploring the sober experience together.
Check, check, check. Welcome back. Welcome back, sober Experience. It's been a while. Ladies and Gettlemen, yeah, we're back in action. Like and subscribe on all podcast platforms, youtube, our YouTube channel, wherever you can share these videos. It's super helpful.
Speaker 1:We're going to get into some stuff. First, let's set the mood with a little Eileen Jewel. This is called. Where they Never Say your Name, yep, yep, alright, feel that, yeah, I'm going someplace where they never say your name. You kept me up all night with your coke and gin, coke and gin and turn me in and that's evil. Baby, you're no good. What up everybody, welcome back. I appreciate your patience and all the love messages.
Speaker 1:People are asking me where I'm at, what I'm doing, what's the deal. Let me shut that off. Yeah, man, it's been a long summer. It's already like in October. You know had a lot of stuff going on Last we left. I know we were doing some step work. I think we're in like the middle of the fourth step in the NA guide, but you know what? We're going to get back to that on another day.
Speaker 1:I figured maybe the first episode back after my hiatus. I was not in jail, I was not on a run, I was just at where I was at. We all go through stuff and the thing is is like, yeah, you know this life, what do I always say? I hope you like surprises, I hope you like surprises. So yeah, basically, in a general way, what was going on was, you know, I surrender to the Lord. You know, I surrender to my truth and to what's inside of me, and I guess I needed a break, man, I had. You know, my home life got a little shifty. Both my younger kids they left the house, you know, they left the house, and some of it good, some of it not good, but all of it good, you know, and we try to do our best to guide them. But really surrendering, not surrendering, yes, I guess surrendering is really what it's going to be about today. Is, you know, letting them find their own way? You know, it was a little bit of a mutiny. I don't have to get into specifics because it really doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:You know, while that was going on, yeah, I had to really lean into the program. I had to lean into God, my higher power. I had to lean into my people. I had to lean into god, my higher power. I had to lean into my people. I had to lean into my wife. I had to allow my allow space for my wife to lean into me. You know, and I think for me that's like.
Speaker 1:You know, I'm kind of like regurgitating things that maybe I've said in the last couple of months, but you guys don't know which is. You know, I come from a family of supreme dysfunction, which means that, like I just come from a regular family. Everybody's got their own stuff. I don't know what anybody's bag of whatever is, but my wife comes from a non-functioning family. It was just her and her mom, for the most part, in her sister, my sister-in-law, natalie, who's the fucking best on earth anyway. So everybody has their own journey and on that journey you pick up experiences and that's what you bring to the table.
Speaker 1:And my wife's experiences are way different than my experiences and I have to be mindful of that as life starts to unfold. You know, to crew again, create that space, I don't like. I always tell you guys I don't, I don't go for that term. Like you know, setting a boundary, I don't really like that. It's like it's such a negative, it's got like a negative tone to it versus creating space for something new to happen between you and either yourself or you and life, or you and somebody else, whether it's work, whether it's, you know, your partner, whatever, allowing life to like unfold.
Speaker 1:You know, because I don't have all the answers. I have experience and my experience is my own, but I don't have all the answers. You know, and that's what I actually enjoy, that now, you know, really letting go of the control and saying, all right, I don't have all the answers. I know that I feel like this and I'm going to do this because this is what's true to me and I have to be so brave all the time when you, when you have to step to, uh, important people in your life and be like, dude, this is who I am, and this is who I am and this is something that I can't like turn off. You know I'm going to take a sip of water. It's something that I can't turn off, but it's something that you know. You don't have to speculate on what's important to you. You'll know, you know, you'll just know, and I knew, and my wife knew, and my kids. They are at an age and they're at a space in their life where they can make decisions on what's important to them and guess what? For the moment they might not align. They might not align and that's okay too, because, you know, I don't know how many times when I was growing up, look, my family was so fractured by you know, just life, and a lot of it was also from myself, you know.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God, I bro my parents, I lit them up. I lit them up. I never gave them like a peaceful, you know, moment, and my mom used to say that to me it's like, ah, like I just never a peaceful moment in this house. It was mostly because of me. You know, I've always been a little bit of an agitator and up until I learned how to control myself, that's what was in control my need to be heard and my need to be free like I, my need to be free, like I just want to be free. You know, I just want to be free.
Speaker 1:And my parents Idea of freedom Dog I don't even know what that is To them. I know they gave me a lot of both slack and flack, but yeah, they had their own way and because they came from their own time and their own space and you know they were being driven by whatever they're being driven by, I don't know Most likely fear of economic, financial insecurity, that kind of stuff, fear of me, you know, making some of the same mistakes they made Meanwhile. You know their way of communicating, that was giving orders, and you know, when you're young you know everything and I knew everything. Then I found out a little bit on my way that I knew some stuff and some other stuff. I found out, you know, but I didn't know everything. So my kids, the little ones, they know everything and you know I'm not.
Speaker 1:I'm not in the business of punishing them, you know, it's not really it really yet, but to really have faith that this process of growing up, of learning to be self-sufficient, of learning to be self-supporting when I mean self-sufficient, it's not just, yeah, I can boil my own macaroni. It's like, when nobody's around, who am I with? You know, who am I? When nobody's around, who do I want to be, you know, and why am I not that person?
Speaker 1:Now, I always wanted to be somebody other than who I was. You know it to be somebody other than who I was. You know, and I can't imagine that I was, that I'm the only person who feels like that, because you're just like seeking, you're on your way, and when you're on your way, you're just on your way and maybe I'm still on my way, you know to. But I can tell you right now, like you know, I'm very happy, even going through that stuff where the kids were, like you know, basically saying fuck you, we're out of here, uh, that kind of you know lines were drawn in the sand, um and uh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, even during that time I was, I was, I was just, I wasn't holding on, but I was in a holding pattern because I was allowing things to develop Because they're not under my complete control, you know, they're under mostly my wife's control and a little bit of my influence. But also, I sincerely remember when I was young, yeah, when I was young, I knew everything and my parents were fucking stupid and, you know, I found out that maybe both sides are like half stupid, but it just takes time. So I'm saying that to say that I sincerely believe that this is just a natural cycle of life and we'll probably all reconvene at a later date, but we'll see. You know, I don't know when that date is, and a lot of it doesn't have to do with me, a lot of it has to do with them. And, um, you know, I have to allow them that time and maybe they'll find out, you know.
Speaker 1:But I just know that I can't change who I am. That's the whole point. I can change what I do, I can change how I behave, but I can't change who I am. And there's principles that I accumulated over time, that I was not born with, but principles are things that I've earned about myself that you know are the risk of losing everything. You know you got to stand on them and that's it, you know. But that's where, like, the glory is. For me, the glory is just the peace of mind, and I bring that type of attitude as best I can into every area of my life.
Speaker 1:You know there's a lot of stuff going on now. I mean, I've never seen so people uh, showing their ass on the computer about what's been going on the last couple of months that I haven't been around. I mean, I've been around, but just now we use, we use guys. Yeah, like I just I'm watching this whole thing unfold, man, and it's just amazing to me. It's amazing to me sometimes, the audacity of me to forget how I used to be, and now that I'm not like that, I think who the fuck I am. What do I always call it?
Speaker 1:Spiritual narcissism, like ha ha, look at this person writing these crazy things on social media, talking about if you don't believe this or if you don't do this, or if you don't like this, then you can unfriend me. That's been my favorite topic for the last couple of weeks, especially since the shooting of that guy, charlie Kirk, who I don't really have an opinion on him. You know, there's people who I know, who I love, who love the guy. There's people who I know, who I love, who hate the guy. Both of them are true and it's because it's whatever's true for you, bro. That's the freedom.
Speaker 1:I'm not in the convincing camp, I'm not in the convincing game. I let go of that. The only person I need to convince of anything is myself. That's it. I don't need to. There's plenty of stuff that I attach my energy to that my wife is probably like, bro, that's another crazy white boy, shit you're fucking with, you know, and there's some that maybe she doesn't think that I mean I'm sure, look, listen, I don't know what you guys are doing with me, but all the help that I get from all of you makes me good enough for her to be with me and she is everything on this earth. You know and I've. You know she is the moral superiority you know in, uh, in my life. You know I look at her and I just like fucking, I melt away like sugar in the rain but like, yeah, I don't know, she's like majestic, but you know I also, you know I also participate in the rest of this life.
Speaker 1:So I was in a position where, you know, I just had to just chill and God told me or God didn't tell me to get back up on the mic. So I haven't been on the mic, but yeah, I mean mean now my personal opinion. If you're asking me about what's going on with all that stuff, where's the spiritual angle? I don't know. You know there's people all over the people. They're just in pain and it's the pain of not being able to control other people. It's pretty painful. I've been there, I've been a control freak and if there would only bend to my will you know I lived in that space Like I was always so right about everything I realized I just know my own truths and the truth is is that I don't know a lot. You know, I've experienced what I have experienced and that's why I know what I know.
Speaker 1:So I'm saying this to say this right, I don't know anything about Charlie Kirk. You know, people send me clips on both sides of the fence. Look, he's a fucking racist. I don't know anything about Charlie Kirk. People send me clips on both sides of the fence. Look, he's a fucking racist. He's a piece of shit. He should die, whatever. I'm like, okay, they'll send me some videos with that. Send me other videos, bro. He believed in this, he believed in that and whatever. He was pro-Palestine, I don't know, but I just know.
Speaker 1:For me, I just found characters like him or people who do what he does. It just wasn't my cup of tea. You know, circling the wagons, arguing with children, claiming it's a debate, and then saying, oh, you're giving them a microphone. I'm like, yeah, great, listen, they already have a fucking microphone. It's in their hands. You're not like giving them some opportunity that they never had before? They can argue with people all the time On college campuses. They can argue with fucking you know, people on Twitter. They can argue with people on wherever. They can argue with people at Thanksgiving. So to think that like, oh, you're so high and mighty, I'm giving these people a voice. Who the fuck are you? You know, and then you're.
Speaker 1:And it's not just him, there's other people who do this kind of stuff too. This is why I stay away from this stuff. It's like, oh, there are people like they argue with people who are inexperienced and they just claim to be smarter than them and they start spitting out numbers and statistics and this and that and the system and blah, blah, blah. I'm like, bro, you know what I'm saying? That makes you actually like a little bit of a bully.
Speaker 1:Now, if you want to, uh, if you want to, you know, spar with somebody who's on your level with experience, on your level with experience, maybe I'd pay attention. You know, I remember there was one guy. It wasn't Neil deGrasse Tyson, it was some other guy. I forgot his name, but he was like sparring with, like Jordan Peterson, and I was like, okay, at least they're both grown, experienced men Like with like real world experience High school, college, tumblr, twitter, snapchat all that stuff is not the real world. So you know, I don't get it. You know, I don't get it. I would never.
Speaker 1:It's like when I have a conversation with people about the fact that I respect and identify with people who build their own business or live their own freedom whatever that freedom is, live their own life and are not really like beholden to something else. You know, like I identify with that. It's not because, okay, you're going to be your own boss and you're going to make your own money and all these other things, which is all true. You know, nobody can cancel me, bro. There's a freedom in that. And if that means I got to work 60 hours a week, if that means I got to be here Saturdays and Sundays, if that's what that means, that's what it means. That's the.
Speaker 1:You know, I was talking to my wife this morning. We're like, dude, being my own person and being and own person and being and living my life my way or the way that I choose. I don't even know if it's my way. It's my way now, which is the spiritual, god illuminating path, you know, of serving. That's what I'm doing. I'm serving this earth. That's what I'm doing. I put myself in a position to serve and, at the same time, I get the freedom of nobody telling me what to do, bro. Yeah, so I'm saying that to say there are some folks who have a regular life and they're in a completely different zeitgeist than me. They're in a different emotional and mental universe than I am. They don't. I'm not interested in somebody's opinion on an experience that they never had. Sorry, you know what I'm saying. So if somebody wants to talk shit about, I don't know what's the buzzword Capitalism or whatever that kind of stuff that I participate in in Now.
Speaker 1:Is the system itself flawed? Yes, because there are humans in the system, but the system itself is the greatest where you can come and you can create and be whoever you want to be. And guess what? There are roads, there are blocks in the road for everybody. Your blocks will be different than mine. Some of them will be the same, some of them will be different, but there are ways. And when you find those ways, who you have to become? To find those ways to make it work, bro, that's the freedom, because you have to become somebody else other than who you are.
Speaker 1:And all of the pain and all of the discomfort of challenging yourself to be better, be better than the voice that's inside of you that says this is all you can do and the world is just fucked up and I'm going to be miserable and I'm going to fucking lay down you know what I'm saying To be like no, how about, instead of complaining about why people don't get paid enough money or whatever, why don't you create a place where people can come and you can pay them whatever you feel that they should be paid, instead of just crying like just be the change that you want to be? And I, honestly, am not like some superior moral or ethical person, but I didn't have a choice because I didn't like other motherfuckers telling me what to do on any level. I've been defiant in that way my whole life. A lot of that defiance I've been. So I'm not going to say naive, but you got to be a little bit naive.
Speaker 1:And what does Conor McGregor say? You got to be a little bit gone. You know to be ballsy enough to try and make your own happiness and make your own life. And I only found that through God. That's who I had to get in touch with. You know, I may never have one whole million dollars in the bank sitting there pretty Maybe I'm on the way but I already feel wealthy because of the life that I have. That it's my life, my terms.
Speaker 1:You know there's things that I'm willing to say no to. One of them is myself that says go ahead, skip the gym, judge that person, eat the donut gossip. You know what I'm saying. To tell myself no, that is the way of darkness, and the way in the light is to believe, right or wrong, is that we are all on our way. You know what I'm saying. I'm speculating right now, but I doubt there's anybody on their deathbed talking about oh, I wish I would have hated that person more. You know that person more. You know I wouldn't change anything in my life, including all the pain that I've caused others, because I needed to fucking walk through that With humility and ask for forgiveness In order to gain the perspective that I have On myself and on other people.
Speaker 1:We joke about that stuff in AA, na, 12-step shit. We're like, yeah, you can go to church, synagogue, mosque, I don't know, and you can go and do confession and you can be absolved by somebody that you have yet to harm, by somebody outside of the situation. Like, yeah, you do this, you do that, blah, blah, blah. You know whatever, hail Marys, I don't know what they call them, novenas, whatever. But in 12-step life, my friend, you got to go and hit the. You got to go pay the money back. You got to talk to the person face-to-face or write some letters or do something. You have to go and make it right. That's the difference and what it takes to do. That is what it takes and when you go through those experiences it really changes.
Speaker 1:You know who you are when you can see yourself in other people and give them a little bit of grace. They're in their own zeitgeist, they're in their own silo. You know when I talk, you know I try not to give people advice If you ask. I can share my experience, but I know and most people they don't really people are offended when you try to help them and they just they're ready for a battle. I'm not into battling anybody. I'm into maybe learning something from you, but not if you're going to talk down to me Because, like I don't care, it could be fucking Elon or Bill Gates and you could have zillions of dollars. I do not believe that you are happier than me and the goal is to be happy, happy, joyous and free. That's the goal. To be unblocked from that. There's no amount of anything that could take any of that, any of that away from me, any external shit. You know what I'm saying. So like you know what I'm saying, so like I'll give another example. You know there's a meme Now a lot of you guys have been listening for a while.
Speaker 1:You know that I take a little bit of what everybody gives and I make my own freaking gumbo. You know now, with the political stuff that everybody's super involved in number one. I answer to one person, the ultimate authority, that's who I answer to. You know what I'm saying. When push comes to shove, I don't owe anybody anything. Now I have to be willing to pay the price. If the IRS or if the police want some shit and I don't want to give it to them, then I'm willing to pay the price, or whatever. You know what I'm saying. But I'm saying that to say this, that I don't owe anybody anything. Right, and you know so when I was talking with my wife this morning this morning we're talking about um, because I share things that I think she may be interested in or if I'm talking about something and she starts chiming in and asking questions.
Speaker 1:An example is like okay, with my I just I just read up, re-upped, read up. I just re-upped my testosterone and then I got a couple of wiener pills to go along with it. Why not? We're empty nesters. Now, Brother, we might as well swing from the chandelier bow Fucking off the top rope. Superfly Jimmy Snooker style, right, why not? There's no shame in my game, anyway.
Speaker 1:But I also started listening, you know, at my own pace. I was like, oh, I know this. I've heard of this stuff called methylene, blue right and whatever. So I order that stuff and it's supposed to be good for you in all these different ways for your cells and for your joints, and blah, blah, blah. So I order that shit. You know I'm in that stratosphere that I'm down that, and it's funny because then I hit up my homie, um, my sister, my adopted sister, or she adopted me.
Speaker 1:Um, dr Rebecca Brown, who, if any of you are in the Brooklyn area and you want to get the best hormone therapy and all this other stuff like she's. You know, sports medicine, she is absolutely 100 million percent the best. It's called regenerative medicine. I think it is. Hold on, let me make sure I get this right, because you know well, I think it's balanced regeneration. One second Balance, I'll tell you right now. Here we go Balanced regenerative sports and rehab. You know, 48th Avenue, brooklyn, 718-400-8840. Now I don't order my tea or anything from her, because I get that online.
Speaker 1:But anyway, so I met I. I sent her a thing on methylene blue. I was like, okay, this is what I'm uh considering fucking with and plus, I understand that it's actually good for people who have lupus or whatever. Cause I'm in that zeitgeist that is down that stuff. You know, I just took my methylation DNA test from Gary Brekka because that's the thing I subscribe to, because I don't believe that the government or that the pharmaceutical industry or that any of these people who are in power I don't believe any of them are our friends.
Speaker 1:I believe you and I need to be friends. I don't believe that they are our friends. I believe you and I need to be friends. I don't believe that they are our friends. I believe that they're out to make money and that's why if some bad shit happens with any of these drugs, you can't even sue them. You know what I'm saying? They're not responsible for the work they put out. Now, if I put some work out myself and something doesn't go right, I am 100% responsible.
Speaker 1:According to me, now somebody can sue me and then the court of law will say, hey, listen, you picked up this rug. You fucked up this rug. You owe this person $1,100, I will have to pay. None of these people are accountable like that, because they lobby and they spend a lot of money anyway. So what am I saying? I'm saying this right, hold on sippy time.
Speaker 1:My dad, who's the best? I guess he's just the best in his own way. He's the only one I got right now. He hates that. I love Bobby Kennedy Now. I love Bobby Kennedy because I believe what he's been saying about the food, how the food is poisoning us.
Speaker 1:I believe what he's saying about that whole system, the FDA. Like you watch all these documentaries and how the FDA and the pharmaceutical people, they the Oxycontin Express all of that stuff, how they're all intermingled, you know. And then you start to listen to other people who have experience in that field talking about, or any person who works at a hospital, who works at a billing place in a hospital, where they say, well, listen, you know, I remember I'm going on a tangent now, but I remember when my son cracked his head open in school to this day he hasn't told me how he did it and he needed staples in his fucking head and I remember we went to the hospital. Oddly enough, I couldn't make it there quickly enough.
Speaker 1:I was all the way out on Long Island cleaning carpets for a company before I even had my own company. I worked for somebody else for a few months and I was working a job for them and I had to leave the customer's house early and drive from Long Island all the way to Brooklyn on my own dime. Obviously, thank God, the people I worked for were cool. I was like, look, because I said this is an emergency, my son's in a hospital, whatever, reschedule this thing, I'll come back tomorrow. I'll do whatever. I'll do it. But there was no way that I was going to leave and risk my job. It didn't matter.
Speaker 1:Point being, I get to the hospital and, um, you know, he has a big gash in his head. They're going to put like six staples in his fucking head. I was like okay. Um, I was like is it possible to get one of those brain? And, by the way, I was on the way and I hit up Fisherman and Mike, who's one of my fucking 12-step buddies, consigliere's who at that time maybe I had like five years of sobriety and he had like fucking 15. Greatest guy.
Speaker 1:I was like, listen, I don't. My son just is in the hospital over there in Sunset. He's like Bobby, you want me to go make sure he's okay? I was like please. And he fucking went. Meanwhile my son never met him ever and he goes in there looking for my son and finds him. And my son was like I was like yo, fisherman Mike is coming. And he stayed with him until I got there, because that's the kind of people I fuck with, not people who are like, oh, I'll help you beat up this guy in the street. I mean, I'm sure maybe he would, but like dude stuff like that. And if he couldn't do it, whatever, anyway the. And if he couldn't do it, whatever, anyway.
Speaker 1:The point of the story is I asked him for the brain thing. Uh, imaging, what is it called cat scan? I asked him for a cat scan and like four sorry if I told this story already, but it all ties in four of these people, one doctor after another, were trying to give me all these bullshit excuses why they shouldn't give it to him. I'm like listen, he has a huge gash in his head. You guys are are going to put fucking staples in his head. I just want to make sure he's okay. And they're like, yeah, no, nah, you know, it's extra radiation that he doesn't need. And I was like it doesn't even really make any sense what you're saying to me, but I'm not leaving until you do a CAT scan, or. And then they started Another doctor came to try to People are trying.
Speaker 1:I'm asking for medical care that they do not want to give me and they're giving me all these silly excuses Like they could say. They could have said what the truth was, which is what I'll get to at the end of the story. But I was like dude, he has a fucking severe head injury. He could have a concussion, he could be bleeding in his brain, all kind of stuff. He's a young kid man. I think he was like in the eighth grade, and whatever grade he was in. Either way, I said listen, I will not leave, you can call the police. I said I'm not going to leave. If you are not willing to give him a CAT scan, then that's cool, just write a letter on the hospital letterhead saying that I'm asking for it. And you are saying no. Because I'm asking? Because I'm scared that maybe he's going to die in his sleep. I don't know anything. What the hell do I know A freaking carpet cleaner, former, you-know-what you know. So they hem and haw and then they finally do it. They give me the letterhead.
Speaker 1:Whatever I leave, I call my fucking brother, dr David Rivera. At that time he had a practice all the way uptown this, that and whatever. He's like listen, he says everything is closed right now Because by this time it was very late, but also because and he is not in recovery he is just somebody who is my brother. So there are very good people on this earth. You know, good family, friend of my family, my god, one of the greatest people I've ever met. You know him and my cousin Glenn. They're like tied for like first place on first fucking base of people who loved me when I couldn't love myself, right.
Speaker 1:So, david's like, listen, just so. You said just come to my office tomorrow. I have the guy who has an imaging place right down the road. He'll even come meet you at my office and he'll escort you and you will get whatever you need to get. And that's what we did and I was scared, but whatever we did. And I was scared, but whatever, we did it.
Speaker 1:And then I get to go uptown to whatever and the imaging guy says listen, the first thing the hospital does is look at your insurance and they know the quote-unquote algorithm of what your insurance will reimburse them for, what they will not reimburse them for or what percentage of any procedure they will get. And that is how they treat you and that was news to me. I was like are you fucking crazy? He's like yeah, that's why, that's the only reason why they wouldn't give him that CAT scan. You know, I was like, well, how much does this thing cost? He was like at the time I'm going to throw a number and it was probably close to that, but don't forget, I took the first dose of the vaccine, so I'm brain stupid. I'm going to say like fifteen hundred.
Speaker 1:I was like, bro, I would have just paid them To fucking do it, even if it was on a credit card, definitely, because I didn't have any money at that time. Or I would have just made a phone call or I would have done whatever you know, but I wouldn't have just walked. They were telling me all kind of stupid excuses. You know, like the dog ate my homework. Excuses, fucking radiation, unnecessary. Are you crazy? They talk to you like you're stupid, when they could have just been like Listen, your insurance sucks and we're not going to get any of this money back. You know We'll get this much money. If you want to cover the difference, line them up. I would have. You know what I'm saying. But no, it's a whole fucking shit full of fucking lies. Anyway, so that's the way the system works. I'm saying that.
Speaker 1:To say this is why I feel the way that I feel. Experiences like that. I'm sure everybody has them. So, all of a sudden, I cannot just trust these people 100%, right? Which is why I take my own life and I take my own health into my own hands, meaning I'm accountable 100%. Dude, if I'm eating these donuts and doing this shit and not exercising and not staying sober and I'm not respecting my body, I can't expect them to fucking help me, because they're just out to make fucking money, bro.
Speaker 1:So back to the original thing. You know, my dad is like, and there are other people who are like my dad, they're all in the same camp. And there's that meme that was going around that said doctors that I trust more than Bobby Kennedy, right. And then they say like Dr Spock, dr Doolittle, dr Seuss, all these things, and I'm like, oh man do. Maybe they're either caught in that zeitgeist, or maybe they haven't had the same experience I had, or maybe they don't really fully understand how the medical system works. Maybe they don't have a friend that works in a hospital that tells them listen, this is a fucking business, this is not where you come to get. Well, this is a business, that's what it is right. So now and this is just my own logic Now Bobby Kennedy is a lawyer, and not just any kind of lawyer.
Speaker 1:He's a lawyer that sues these pharmaceutical companies and all these other medical professionals. I think he's. I don't. I'm speculating. If I ask Rock, she'll tell me but hundreds of millions of dollars that he's gotten in settlements right Now. Sometimes these companies will settle just to settle, sometimes not. Sometimes these companies will settle just to settle, sometimes not.
Speaker 1:But if anybody knows how the legal system works, they have shit called like discovery and all this other stuff where, like, the company actually has to be 100% honest about what's going on in the court of law, not what they tell you to your face on television when you're watching freaking Stephen Colbert and it's like, yeah, brought to you by Pfizer. They tell you all this kind of stuff in these commercials and they tell doctors to tell you all this kind of stuff so the doctors can make money. But when you're suing somebody, all the cards have to be on the table. When you're suing somebody, all the cards have to be on the table. So I trust somebody who has seen all the cards versus somebody who is turning a blind eye whether they don't want to know or they're willfully being dishonest about that and then just so they can pay off their medical school loans and so they can have a job that they're not 100% honest. Now I'm not saying every doctor is like this.
Speaker 1:I've had some really good ones that have steered me away from medication. My cousin, who is starting to take care of himself now you know better was saying that like who is starting to take care of himself, now you know better, was saying that like he had some blood pressure stuff or whatever I don't know. You know stuff where, like you know, you get a couple of check engine lights and he and so my first response was like hey, you got to watch what you eat and do some exercise. And he was like yo, you know. The doctor told me this has nothing to do with exercise and exercise will do nothing for me. I was like, really that sounds fucking crazy. But I was like, whatever man, look, listen to the doctor, you do whatever you feel comfortable doing, you know. And yeah, because the guy, the doctor, wants to put him on pills. Pills get people paid. Now you can disagree and I'm okay with that, you know. But that's just what I believe, you know.
Speaker 1:I was watching this other thing where, like you know, this is also the spiritual path. I'll say this, tying this whole thing up, right, because the same thing my pop was talking about going on. It's so funny. It's like not the whatever you don't want to, I'm not in a position to be like yo, I told you so and all this other stuff, right? You know, my mom said something to me and my wife I'm not in a position to be like yo, I told you so and all this other stuff, right? You know, my mom said something to me and my wife maybe six months ago about she's going to start keeping an eye and she wanted me to start keeping an eye on processed foods. And we just like, looked at each other. We're like, bro, we've been singing that song for a long time when you thought I was crazy.
Speaker 1:You know, anyway, my dad. He's like, oh, he's going to go on like an Ozempic patch, right, and I was like, really, he's like, yeah, but it's not. It's not like, yeah, it's not like regular Ozempic, it has no side effects and it has no this, no that, whatever. You know what I'm saying and I'm like man, I have to. It's just a way of living. You know that I understand. And it's very tempting, because I was tempted by that bait my whole life, which is I want the glory and I don't want to do the work. I was like, listen, there are no shortcuts. The long way is actually the shortcut, you know. But I was like, oh, look, listen to your doctor, try to sprinkle in some stuff. Okay, look, you know they're.
Speaker 1:You know these food companies who believe in making you buy more food. That's why some of the stuff in the food is specifically addictive, right? Because they have scientists that that's their fucking job. Because they have scientists, that that's their fucking job. Which is, how do we get people to buy more Froot Loops, whatever, and that can be in anything. There's a science to your algorithm. How do they keep you engaged, right? How do they keep you sick? So I told him. I said, listen, there's scientists that are working with these food companies now that they're going to put stuff in the food that are going to be GLP-1 blockers, which means that the fucking.
Speaker 1:Now, from what I understand, ozempe and these other ones it's not like what's that, it's not like Suboxone, I don't think. I don't know how it works, I just know that it ain't it. And I know that studies are starting to come out and they've been coming out that people are not just losing weight, they're losing bone density. It's not like fat, that's leaving right, it's other stuff. Because that's the fucking. You know, these people are just using a flamethrower. You know, because, guess what? When apparently the I can double check this, or some of you guys can fact check me, but when you go get these drugs similar to this patch, it's not regulated for you specifically.
Speaker 1:They put you on this like how do you know what dosage they fucking need? They just give you maximum dosage, because then they get maximum reimbursement, which is why that shit is $1,400, which is fucking crazy, because if you can't afford it, brother, it's going to make you feel worse, probably, or it will put you on a different path where you're going to take your destiny in your own hands and just walk in that path of light and not that path of shortcut. You know and I don't want to get into the whole thing you know there's compounding pharmacies where like, waste well, waste too well, and other places where, like, they'll actually give you like real medical care. They're like, look, every person gets their own dose of that stuff and not everybody gets the same amount and we compound it with other stuff. You know they're going to take all those peptides and everything they're trying to make them Into like Because the you know Pharmaceuticals, they can't make money Because it's not Something your body already has, so they can't patent it. They can't. They can't patent it. I mean, they can't make you depend on them. So they're lobbying to make some of the stuff illegal I think they're going to. Somebody said they're going to turn them into biologicals, so that way, if they do make something, the patent instead of five years is fucking 12 years or something crazy like that.
Speaker 1:Yes, these are all like details that are not 100% necessary for me to really understand that. The easier, softer way is for me to just be accountable to myself, to you guys, to God and to the process and some of this stuff maybe I'm wrong about. I'm open to that, you know. But I'm not shaming anybody else for drinking their own brand of Kool-Aid. Right now I'm on the red Kool-Aid, maybe you guys are on the purple Kool-Aid or, if I don't want people to think I'm some crazy MAGA boy because I'm not, maybe I'm on the blue Kool-Aid and you're on the orange Kool-Aid. I can't say blue, I'll be orange, you guys be whatever.
Speaker 1:But I got to tell you I'm not upset, I'm not agitated. I'm not yelling at my own friends on freaking Facebook. Can you imagine that Like yelling at your own friends? It's not like you're going on TV and yelling out to the universe or people you don't know or somebody you can actually influence and you're threatening them. You better unfriend me if you don't think freaking Nancy Pelosi's a Nazi. You better like you know that whole thing, just that whole way of being.
Speaker 1:Imagine the day when you realize that it's a whole waste of time and the glory is just being with yourself and being in the moment and building a life that people can't they can't fuck with you about. If they take something away, something else is going to come. If they take something away. Something else is going to come. You know that freedom. It only comes from love. That's the answer. Love everybody. Laugh with everybody. Laugh at yourself, you know. Put good actions out there, not good thoughts. Laugh at yourself, you know. Put good actions out there. Not good thoughts, not good feelings. Put good actions. How can I serve? That's my job I'm supposed to serve. So Babylonia is over, but I missed you guys. So like and subscribe on all podcast platforms, the Sober Experience. Don't forget our YouTube channel. Yeah, and I'll see you guys on the flip side. I love you all. Peace.