The Book That Changed His Mind Twice| Jonathan's Naked Life | EP 912

About this episode

Jonathan shares his journey of coping with grief and the challenges of maintaining an alcohol-free life after personal losses during the pandemic.

Ever used drinking to cope with grief and felt like it wasn’t even a conscious choice but rather a reflex? Jonathan knows that feeling exactly. He'd been living alcohol-free for two and a half years when he lost his father-in-law and then his dad, just months apart, during the pandemic. On the drive home from the funeral, he stopped at a Mexican restaurant and ordered a margarita. He thought he'd have one and go back to his life. Instead, the door that had been closed swung open, and the whole cycle started over. This conversation with Coach Cole is about grief, identity, and what it really takes to find your way back to yourself. Jonathan and Coach Cole discuss: How a scuba trip at sixteen taught Jonathan that alcohol was the price of admission for real connection, and how that belief quietly ran the show for twenty-five years Building his identity around being the life of the party through the service industry years, and the first time he realized he had no off switch Spending an entire Renaissance Festival doing alcohol math in his head, calculating drinks instead of making memories with his wife The fight, the blackout, and the tearful run in the rain that brought him to the…

People in this episode

Host: Annie Grace

Guest: Jonathan

Topics covered

• grief
• identity
• alcohol-free living
• personal transformation
• mental health
• self-discovery

Keywords

• grief
• alcohol
• self-improvement
• This Naked Mind
• identity
• mental health
• personal growth
• transformation

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: This Naked Mind

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