Addicted to Joy

31/03/2024

And right there is the way out as well. 🔥

15/03/2024

Ten years by a few numbers!

15/03/2024

3 empty boxes of wine.
An empty case of Bud Light Lime.
An empty bottle of Ativan. A seedy motel
on the wrong part of Colfax.
If I was gonna do this, I was going big. 54 BAC big. Benzos topping off this lethal last hurrah.

This is where I was 10 years ago last night. I had resigned to myself that I was going to die but I didn’t really want to. I knew I had one last shot to course correct, but first I had to medically detox. These were the hardest 5 days of my life. This is how the past decade all started.

10 years sober. 10. A decade. I have seen this day coming from a distance. I used to always wonder what it would be like if I made it a decade sober. That’s 3,653 days. That’s a lot of “one day at a time”. Then I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes ever. “We tend to overestimate what we can do in a year but underestimate what we can accomplish in a decade”

How true that has proven to be.

My therapist asking me why I couldn’t pull my head out of my ass, me running headlong into Multi Level Marketing with Herbalife, leasing a club, helping people, pretending to be excited about shake mix, then one fateful day being interviewed about it on radio. My life changed forever. For 8 years, talking to the city I love, sharing my message occasionally and leaning heavy on country music, dad jokes and friendships. It was a journey that led me to launch a free sobriety platform, to buy a party bus, to marry people, to voice commercials, even sell doTERRA. What a wild resume!

That all is window dressing in comparison to what is making my eyes overflow. I met the most beautiful woman 3 months in. I told her my story and she loved me anyway. She continued to love me, we traveled far and wide, we said our vows to make it forever and then we added 1. These 2 girls in my life were my life. My desire to drink had all but vanished because in their eyes, I was their everything. I had the greatest responsibility in the world, dad and husband. Then we added another. So here I sit, 2 little girls that have never had to see how daddy used to be. They have a daddy that will show them what to demand of the men in their lives, they have a daddy that will be present, they have the daddy they deserve. Then I look at the most beautiful woman in the world, my wife. My rock, my support and the one person that will always demand the best out of me. I will give her everything I have, as long as I have because this past decade has had her by my side and you can’t shake us, break us and I wouldn’t be who I am without her.

So there you have it. If you follow me here, this is what sobriety actually feels like. It’s real, it’s raw, it’s fun and beautiful and exciting. It’s freedom and joy, and hardship but it’s real. It’s simple. It’s everything I deserved so I can give everyone what they deserve from me. My former alcoholism doesn’t haunt me anymore, it fuels me. I want to help as many people as I can, whenever I can, as often as I can live the life I know they can. I don’t want to be remembered for my sobriety, but for the impact I am able to have. My girls births, my wedding day, wonderful moments, nearly the best thing that has ever happened. The best however was hearing a voice in the ER as I was riddled with alcohol poisoning that simply said “It’s done. Not in an hour, not in 10 minutes, it’s done now” and knowing that I was done. That I was going to live. That I was going to make it. I wouldn’t have anything or anyone without my sobriety.

10 years, an entire new life. A chance to make this life right, to be who I was meant to, to help who really wanted it. I am proud of myself and that took a long time to say. I’m proud of you too. I am grateful for you. I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve added to my life over the last decade, and it’s just getting going! Remember, you are worth all of this. You deserve the life you dream of, you are so amazing, please believe it.

Double digits. A decade. 10 years, 3,653 days. I wouldn’t change a single thing.
Much much love y’all. Thank you so so much!
❤️X

25/02/2024

After 5 or 6 hospitalizations, 3 trips to county detox, 4 stints of rehab, countless AA meetings, a broken eye socket, failing organs and every kind of relationship trampled on, I finally found the beginning to long lasting sobriety. All it took was a therapist to look me in the eye and simply say “So Johnny, tell me why you can’t pull your head out of your ass?”

So if you keep messing up like I did, please see above. Simplicity saved my life.
❤️

31/01/2024

It is not difficult to physically get sober.
A few uncomfortable days that will pass either way. Sometimes, like in my case, medical intervention was necessary. It’s not hard to beat these ghosts and demons of addiction.

The real hard part is to decide. 🔥❤️🔥

25/01/2024

Question! Need your input!
Had a great conversation with an old friend that makes great TV shows on streaming platforms. He proposed an idea of Sober TV. Think like Bourdain or Zimmern travels minus the booze. Following someone around and seeing all the fun that the world is while sober.

Sobriety wouldn’t be the focus but the foundation because so many people don’t quit drinking because they think they’ll be stuck at home or in a meeting somewhere.

Think also of celebrity interviews on the benefits of sober living, a channel or a couple shows highlighting the advantages and possibilities that are available with this life change. Would you watch it? Why or why not? Be as honest as possible! Thank you!
🔥❤️🔥

08/01/2024

🔥

02/01/2024

2023.
Highlight no question was the birth of our 2nd Daughter, Ellie Rose. The happiest baby ever! Her mama is the pinnacle of strength and beauty, her big sister is a mini Angel with a heart so grand, I have trouble comprehending it!

Getting these girls passport stamps at such a young girl age with our trip to Cayman was an incredible journey, we are already booked for next summer.

I personally reached what I thought was an impossible milestone in July. I had set the goal for 45 years old on my 40th birthday, telling very few of it. The universe has a funny way of doing things in unexpected ways!

Purchasing our dream home was sudden and frightening and joyous and sad all at the same time but it is what was supposed to happen.

Parting ways with radio and a job I had for the better part of a decade was also sudden. Sad, absolutely. The opportunity that was before us though to help those in need by growing the SobriTree brand globally while being a stay at home dad was more of a God thing than I can explain. It all makes sense, often just not in the moment.

This year shall be one of the most powerful yet. There is a great big world to help, to see, to love. Most importantly there are 3 girls that I get to give my most intense focus to, and that is better than any Q1 forecast I can think of.

Whatever your dreams, start them this year.
Continue them, build on them because the worst year we could have would be revisiting this post in another 365 to find we haven’t changed. We don’t know how much sand is in the top of that hourglass, so let’s go. Now. There is no more time to wait for things to fall into place. The time is now and the place is here.

Thank you all for being on this journey with me here, I appreciate the opportunity to reach you whenever I can and hopefully offer something of worth to your day, that’s a highlight of mine. Be well, love one another but most of all, if you need a resolution, just love yourself. ❤️

04/08/2023

SobritreeApp.com

27/04/2023

Going into this, there was no doubt that it would be an undertaking! Well, massive amounts of work has been done by some incredible individuals behind the scenes. Coming next week to SobriTree, hundreds more resources, blogs, articles, videos, books and playlists! Even a new way to monitor the days you are taking your life back! This is becoming the app you were promised, that is needed and that is growing because of you! Thank you to all who are supporting it, sharing it and utilizing SobriTree! Available on the App Store and Play as well! There are so many ways to get sober, SobriTree is your resource for taking your life back!
❤️

20/02/2023

Go revisit his podcast.
What a good man.
An inspiration.
❤️

01/06/2022

A milestone.
I don’t count sobriety days on the daily. I did set a reminder about 6 months ago as to when I would hit 3,000 however. That day is today! I remember in my first days of sobriety I would hear numbers like this and think that it was not real, possible or honest for that matter. Yet here it is, I am the proof that it is possible. I was broken in every way a person could be, I was at the end but the decision and fault both belonged to me. So I made the decision to change.
3,000 days. That looks like a lot. It feels good. I am proud of myself. More than any of this, I want to stress that it’s not a battle, it’s not a struggle, it’s my life now and it’s a damn good one. If I can help you, just ask. Simple.
I even had a former boss contact me today, a boss that had to fire me due to my drinking, to briefly thank me but most importantly to tell me that they are on day 31. A full circle of amazing is what I get to witness daily in the lives of so many, and that is worth millions!
So, here’s to another 3,000, one day at a time, without fight and struggle but with love and gratitude! I love all y’all, there ain’t nothing you can do about it! ❤️

27/05/2022

💔

27/05/2022

Nope. Yup.
❤️

24/05/2022

15/03/2022

8 years.

Not a drop. A pill. A line.
Not a hangover, a memory lapse, no restless nights.

8 years ago I had to make a decision that I was going to either live, or die. It was up to me. AA didn’t work, rehab didn’t work, my friends and family urging me, it DID NOT WORK. I didn’t want it.

Laying on my back staring at yet another hospital ceiling, hearing the buzz of the fluorescent lights above my bed, hearing the nurses curiously wondering how I could be conscious and communicative with BAC of .54, seeing tears stream down my mothers face, her fear that she was about to bury her other child, listening to all the noises around me, but then there was silence. A voice as clear and loud as any I had ever heard broke through, drowning out the noise. “It’s over. Not tomorrow, not in an hour, not in 10 minutes, it’s over now”. I was the only one that heard this but I knew that it was over and my life was getting ready to begin. I checked myself into West Pine medical detox in Denver for the most uncomfortable 5 days of my life.

The booze was gone, the pills and powders, those were gone. All I had was a long road in front of me of which the destination was uncertain. I knew I had to walk, baby steps, shaky, wobbly shuffling steps at first and as the days turned into weeks, weeks into months, I began the process of becoming the man you all know now. Therapy was critical, to untangle the knot between my ears, talking about what I had been through, talking about my addiction and now my sobriety to any and all who would listen, helping every person I possibly could escape the vicious trap.

8 years later, here I stand. Proud.
8 years later, a proud and faithful husband.
3 years of being a present and grateful father.
8 years later of being a loving son, nephew, uncle, cousin and brother-in-law and radio personality.
8 years later hopefully an inspiration to at least one suffering person.

My life now isn’t lucky, it took work. My battle with addiction is not a battle anymore but a roadmap to share with others. My life is mine now and I will use every moment of it trying to leave it better than I found it. I don’t know where this road will take me, I can only see as far as I need, but I do know that I’m just getting started, I do know that what is coming up will change the world, at least for that, I can hope. I know that getting sober was the single greatest decision I have ever made and was the catalyst for the two greatest days of my life.

The day she said “I do”
The day our daughter take her first breath.

Without my sobriety, the life you witness here, with me, would not be possible and I am so grateful for every single silly little second. I am grateful for you reading this, more than you will ever know and I am so excited at what the next stretch of road has in store. Cheers to 8 more, I love y’all and there ain’t a darn thing you can do about it.
❤️

14/03/2022

08/03/2022

So there is this paragraph that many people are posting and sharing about addiction. You may have seen it. There is the following line and to me, is one of the biggest problems with the message of recovery.

“𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙙𝙖𝙮, 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮 𝙨𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙣. 𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙗𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙜𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮”

The goal of sobriety is to NOT live like this. That’s why I am so passionate about helping others and sharing my story so openly. I want them to see what a brave, beautiful, future they have, how they can do, become and achieve all the things addiction took from them, I want to paint a picture where their life is infinitely better in sobriety so that even the idea of using or drinking is akin to taking the very air from their lungs. In sobriety, you don’t live in constant struggle, fear and battle. Thats not being sober, that’s living in addiction.
❤️

05/11/2021

Sparkle Lindsay, sister to NFL running back, Phillip Lindsay, is a BOSS! Years of sobriety under her belt, an author, speaker and now CEO of her own LLC, she is on a mission to help as many people as she can AND teaching others how to do the same! Can't stop, won't stop! This is one of the most in depth interviews we have done, and available on all major streaming platforms! Enjoy! ❤
Sparklelindsay.com

05/11/2021

Sparkle Lindsay, sister to NFL running back, Phillip Lindsay, is a BOSS! Years of sobriety under her belt, an author, speaker and now CEO of her own LLC, she is on a mission to help as many people as she can AND teaching others how to do the same! Can't stop, won't stop! This is one of the most in depth interviews we have done, and available on all major streaming services as a podcast! Enjoy!

01/11/2021

This Friday, Episode 2, season 2 of , ! Her story is AMAZING, her mission, incredible and her drive to help those suffering from addiction is 2nd to none! We even talk about her brother, former running back, and his vantage point of how addiction plays a role in the NFL! You’ll be able to find it on all major platforms THIS FRIDAY! Get ready to be INSPIRED! Get Addicted to Joy! ❤️

28/08/2021

We are a community. An amazing local business owner and friend needs our help. by Brother Luck lost their executive chef 2 days ago. Chef Mike. He leaves behind his kids and he loved them so fiercely. If you have wanted to donate to anything, let it be this please. This is Brothers Venmo, 💯 will go to his family. Additionally a Gofundme is set up on his page. Thank you from all of us! ❤️

24/08/2021

Pete Heiniger! He is a stage IV Cancer FIGHTER and he is absolutely, positively ADDICTED TO JOY! Hear about Stages.Community, his non-profit and how you can fight with those you love in this life changing journey! Pete shows all of us what LIVING is all about! ❤