All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode. A couple of nukes as always on your host, Mr. Whiskey. And, you know, in honor of our guest today, cause he called me to say happy Monday, how is everyone's Monday going? If you're on YouTube comment below and. If you're listening to this, feel free to send us an email, but you know, he and I had a long discussion.
You actually made my, my Monday better. So everyone, this is EA, you know, and that's what you go by. Right? Yes, sir. That's him. That's him. That is him. You are him. That is him. Yeah. Echo alpha, echo alpha. But yeah, he's here. And as you can tell by his hat, we're going to be talking about some serious things, recovery.
That can mean a lot of things, but specifically with addiction. And speaking of hats, I got my haircut today and I'll tell you, my hat doesn't fit anymore. I was like struggling with it before we got on here because like the hair. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. I got to get some new ones. I got to go shopping, but that hair just was enough of a layer.
So it fit perfectly. And now it's kind of loose. And it took me a while. See, I, there are so many cool ball caps out there, but they just don't look good on me. Luckily you pull it off. And I pulled it off. I had another one. I was in between two hats. I was waiting to see, I saw you. I said, yeah, this is perfect.
This is, oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you had a cowboy hat, I mean, you're more than welcome, but I know you're over there on the West coast. There's not a lot of, yeah, not a lot of more, maybe umbrella hats. Y'all get a lot of rain. Punches, punches and hoods. Yeah. Yeah, um, just don't wear your hoods in school, kids, uh, it's considered gang activity.
Yeah, we've talked about that on my show, how it's ridiculous, some of the stuff that happens in schools, but Yeah, yeah, tell us a little bit about yourself. You're an author, a speaker, and you know, you're licensed, and In Navy terms, we call you the DAPA. Which is like drug and alcohol prevention associated kind of thing.
But I know in civilian terms it's like CACA or something like that, right? CADC. CADC. Yeah. Certified Alcohol Drug Counselor. I also do a little bit of the mental health. I'm also certified in the mental health department as well. Because to me, I believe they go together. So it only made sense. They do. They really do.
You make sure I study both just to make sure I'm doing everything that I need to do for people that I'm servicing. So yeah, that's, I mean, man, I can go on and on about me. What I usually like to tell people just Google me, Eric Allen. That's my government name, but EA is my entertainment. That's like when I'm actually, cause it's faster, Eric Allen.
It's long. You see how long that is to get there? But EA is quick. Bam, let's go. I'm that guy. I'm that quick. Let's go guy. Right. So that's the best way to intro myself. I'm that quick, let's go talk recovery, all M. G. And I think recovery is the mindset. It has very little to do with substances. It's more about how you think and how you process information.
And then you can apply that to just about anything. Yes. So, that's me. Yeah, yeah. You know, you gotta be careful with that too because there's a lot of podcasts like Dispatches from Myrtle Beach and my podcast where we make fun of people with two first names Eric Allen. So yeah, we'd You said EA so we're gonna respect you, you know, but two first names pretty pleased I've heard i've heard a lot about the two first names, but i'm telling you man I'm, one of those phenomenal people like I don't know what they say about the two first name people, but whatever You know, they need to say they're great people.
That's what they should say. Yeah. Well, and depends how Depends how you look at it Yeah, no, you're a pleasure to have here and I gotta ask you first big question is, you talked about the mental health aspect of it off the top of your head here. Could you give it a percentage of how many of your patients and clients and people that you talk to say it's because of trauma or mental health and not because they happen to accidentally get into a gateway drug and that was that, would you say it's like 90 95 percent right?
That's a great question. I think just without grabbing the books and looking really into it, I would say mostly people, anybody that has an addiction, then I would say there's some mental health challenges that they can say. So I would say, Yeah, 90 high 90s high nineties. They actually go together, you know, and then addition is individualized.
So it's not like, of course, so there's so much, there's so many different things that go into an addiction. So I want to make sure I'm clear, you know, mental health and addiction, they do go together and not just cause you have an addiction. It means that you are like up in the head. That's not what I'm saying.
But there is some challenges. I would, I would challenge that there are challenges there. Well, you know why? It's called self medication. That's what it is. It's self medication, because People use it to, and we'll get into that conversation. But one thing I want to ask you, because I come from a family of addiction, you know, we've talked about a lot on my show, my father, so bad, he was hospitalized with 20 times the lethal dosage of alcohol to kill a human being they had.
He is a miracle case of survival. I'm very religious and, you know, I pray for him a lot. And I think that's the only reason he made it 20 times enough to kill a horse or an elephant almost, you know, like he has insane. Here's the story. You know, guy left in here for him to tell that story to help somebody else.
Oh, well, he's still drinking every day. He is not a good person. He has this man. We used to call him, I won't dox his first name, but we used to call him his first name. And then last name pillow stone. He was so drunk. He fell off of the dam back where he and I used to go fishing. So there was a private Lake community and they had dammed off water and made this man made Lake and.
He fell off the dam onto all these sharp, jagged rocks and nothing happened. They called him pillow stone and he believes angels saved him. They turned the stones into pillows, but one of the theories scientifically, and this is because my half sister just passed away from overdosing recently. She had a similar incident.
She got in a car crash, not a scratch. Everyone else died. But because she was so high, her body was gelatinous, you know, they talk about relaxing. I've studied it in some Asian martial arts because in the series, Baki Hama, they use it, the name is slipping my mind, but they relax so much that when you punch them, it's just like, you know, nothing.
And so I was going to say people who are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, they just like, you know, because your sober reaction is to tense up, you know, it's just a natural reaction, but they're in like almost a different world sometimes, especially depending. But so I come from a family of it. My grandfather died from smoking addiction.
My father has brushed death so many times with drinking. My half sister passed from overdose and then a couple other family members all got cancers from smoking or drinking and all that. And if you don't think you can, this was the blew my mind. My dad's best friend died of bladder cancer from smoking, and people were shocked.
Bladder cancer, and they traced it back to smoking, and you think, smoking has nothing to do with the bladder. Look, ladies and gentlemen, when you put something harmful in your body, you're putting something harmful in your body. End of story. The reason I bring this all up, EA, is I've done some research. I gotta study it more, and I'm curious how much you've researched it.
is addiction genetic is, you know, we talk about generational curses a lot on the show, something that my dad has forced onto me a lot. He believed I was going to die at 20 because he was supposed to die at 40. His dad died at 60 and the grandfather before that died at 80. It was every 20 years less. And he said, you broke it, you know, and you broke it too, obviously.
Right. Right. Yeah. So he takes credit for that. He should have been dead at Ford. He should have been dead a long time ago. I mean, his teenage years were racing Thunderbirds at 110 miles per hour, doing angel dust and hookers. So, you know, but that being said,
It could be the good life. If you, if you recover from, you know, if you learn, if you learn what you're supposed to learn, I believe life is about moderation. Yeah. Oh, everything in moderation. So to answer, to add a little light to your question, I believe, you know, personally, I've done research myself. I believe, you know, it has a little bit to do with, you know, more to do with your environment and how you're raised than it has to do with, you know, a trait or a gene.
Nurture versus nature. Absolutely. I believe that, you know, there may be some, there may be some genetics. I haven't, I haven't been able to confirm that yet part yet, but I can, I can guarantee you if there was drinking, smoking in the home, that, that, that'll influence the person more than if they had it in their system before or not, or, or genetically, I think that's, that, that speaks more correlation almost because you're looking at these families and you're like, well, everyone in their family was an addict, so it must be genetic.
Well, you gotta think about it this way, like you said, the nurturing, sure, they're all related genetically, but this is also common in families where they're not blood related. Like, for example, I have a sister, or friends, you know, your friends are, we talk about social conformity and peer pressuring, I mean, That's not genetic at all.
But it happens. It's interesting. It's the, the spectrum of, Hey, my father was an addict, so I'm never going to drink or I'm going to, I'm not like him. I'm sure you've seen so many different cases. So tell us a little bit. I'm definitely, I'm a product of what I do. Yeah, of course. I'm a recovery myself, but my recovery is a little bit different.
You know, it's different. I have my own storyline, right. But I did grow up in a drug affected, you know, Home, you know, there was some, there was some substance abuse. There was some enabling, there was all that good stuff. And it, it, it led me to experience it from a different angle. Right. I mean, I saw addiction, I saw addiction where, you know, the person was the user.
I want it to be the, the seller, like, no, straight up. I want it to be the seller. I always, I never wanted to use, I saw enough abuse of it that I didn't never really want to use it. But through selling. You know, I, I, I had my way with it. I've done my thing. I, I, I've, I've experienced enough drama, trauma, and every addiction that I can say I've used, I abused, and I'm in recovery from that, from that substance, that right.
So, you know what I'm saying? I don't sell drugs anymore. I don't use drugs anymore. Yeah. You know? So I feel like I'm in recovery. Yeah. So that's just one, that's just one thing that I'm in recovery from. Now, the way you're using that word, do you believe recovery? Is a said and done thing or you are always going to be recovering and by keeping that mindset of I'm still in recovery, it helps you hold yourself accountable.
You know what? I believe, you know, everybody's individualized. Who am I to answer that question for everyone, right? But for me, I'll speak for me. I believe it's a journey and it is not a destination. I live with the idea of being recovery for the rest of my life. I just, I live with that. It feels better. It is something about that in my mind that I process it and it actually produces a smile when I think about that because I like the journey.
Versus me saying I've got there. Yeah, I'm here. I'm in recovery. I made it y'all. I don't like the sound of that because then that makes me feel like, you know, I'd rather be on the mission where I'm learning every day. I'm producing more and more and more because life is about that short in reality, in reality, right?
So, you know, I do. It works for me. Yeah, it's interesting because I think I like that method of I'm still in recovery because here's I'll give you my take on it. An addict says, Hey, I'm recovered. Um, and this is what my dad believed. He read a book, and in it, and my dad didn't read it in the proper context.
The doctor, he said, in a case study of college students, who were binge drinking in college, that when they stopped drinking for a while, it reset their liver completely. They weren't alcoholics though. My dad read it in the context of alcoholics. He sobered up for a period of time and believed that if he hit the same number as the college kids a year and a half, He would have a brand new liver, and he could start drinking again.
In a similar way, hey, I'm recovered, I'm not an alcoholic anymore, I'm not an addict anymore, I can go back and I'll be different this time. So I like that you're still in recovery because you can't go back. And there are people, my dad makes fun of them when he goes to AA. I mean, he always starts fights AA and gets kicked out, but he's like, these guys are in their 70s and they've been sober for 20 years, what are they still doing here?
Cause they know they got that demon in them every day and I respect them. Yeah, that demon in them, yeah. You want that dog in you. You don't want that demon in you. Yes, not the demon, but the dog. The dog, yeah. But you know what, you know what, you said something interesting. You know, when it comes to addiction and recovery, right?
Like, so for me as a counselor, as a certified, licensed clinician. This is my day job. This is my mission. And really when I meet people, when I do my assessment of people, I really promote responsibility first, right? Because I believe, I believe a person can change. A person can recover on his own naturally.
Through, you know, through the work of, you know, the, your spirituality, cause I'm, I'm not a religious person. I used to be, but I'm more spiritual now. I believe more in, in, in the direct, the, the direct line, individual journey. Yeah. I believe in that. I, I so believe in it. I know that that's so real. Right. So the religion, the religion aspect of that, man, that's a whole nother podcast, right?
Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In regards to. Recovery. I believe that each person can do whatever they, you know, want to do. There, there is a responsibility aspect. I believe that a person could, you know, stop using for a certain amount of time and, you know, Through responsibility, get their life together, get work, you know, everything, X, Y, and Z, if they want to do what they want to do with their life, because one thing about this life, you are going to exit one day, right?
So I'm always a fan of living your best life, and if it's, you know, for me, as long as I'm responsible first, whatever else comes after, You know, comes after that. And that's, and that's the message that I give to my patients, my clients, the people that I work with, because usually through that you conquer the addiction.
You know what I'm saying? Because it's really about being able to do, I mean, I'm definitely not promoting a person to go out and do some meth. Of course not. Right? I don't care how responsible you are. If you're doing meth, you're irresponsible , okay? There's not enough responsibility in the day for you to turn around and after the workday's done, you, you picking up a meth pipe, there's, there's a problem.
Or if you're putting something up your nose, there's a problem. Okay? Yeah. But if you're having, but if you're doing something that's legal. In your state, like drinking or whatever, you know, whatever the case may be, there's a lot of legal things in different states. So that's what I'm saying. I don't have a heaven or hell to put nobody in.
So I don't, I don't start with them. I don't start with the judgment side. I look at the individual. I look at the individual first and say, okay, where can I meet you? Where, where can I meet you at? And I specialize in meeting people where they are. Right. And then, and then once I meet you where you are, I know how to get it.
Out of the woods because I can't I can't live. I can't thrive in BS, period. So I'm not going to allow anybody that I work with to thrive in BS, but it takes it takes time to learn an individual because recovery is individualized. It's not one size fits all. One assessment, one treatment plan. No, no, no, it's whatever you got is yours and let's, let's get you figured out.
Let's, and it's, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's one step at a time is one breath at a time. Right. So do that through that journey is how we paint the picture of recovery. Yes. And so Was your own journey with recovery that you're still on, is that what inspired you to do your line of work? Like which came first were you or did because I'd like to think you were a drug user and then you became Recovery expert not you were helping people and then you became the very thing you swore to destroy, you know So what it was honestly just to be very transparent.
I was looking for help Right. And I live in a state where at the time it was only 3 percent people of color. Right. And I'm a very interesting guy. If you don't know me, Google me. Right. I'm very interesting. Right. So to be able to talk to me and counsel me, it takes a special individual to do that. Right.
So When I went out and searched for it, there was no, there was no, there's a term for that in the military. You can actually get separated from the military for being untrainable. Right. So I'm definitely psychologically on all that psychologically. I'm all I've always been very much an individual. I'm Frank Sinatra, like it's my way, or I don't even have a plan B.
Okay. There is no plan B is EA's way, or don't even, don't even try to don't don't even try. Cause the word tried don't even work for me. Right. Don't get me started. You're going to get me started. I can see that. So recovery again is individualized. I don't have a heaven or hell to put nobody in. So I don't, I never lead.
With those kinds of things. But I do, I do have a plan. I can't help you get some tools and some knowledge to get you back on the right track. Speaking of which I know you got that book you wrote and I was taking a little peek at it right before we got on here. And, oh, I got it on standby. I got all my books on standby too.
I took a peek at your book and I saw your book and like. Like your name right to the point of recovery. Right. So I took a book was created, honestly, for people new in recovery. And really, when you think about recovery, it has to be something basic because people don't want it all drawn out, you know, and my publication is more, it's more for a user that's like ready to work.
Cause this is not something you can read. I mean, if you read this in one day, that would do absolutely positively. Nothing for you, right? The goal is to do it. Everything is like work is work. It's a publication. I expect you to get in here and do some work every single day because recovery is a consistent, disciplined, timely journey.
And it takes time. You gotta, you gotta build new habits. You gotta unlearn in most cases and relearn, right? And that's what this is about. This is a process. Yes. Amen. That's what I was just about to say. You gotta break old habits and make new ones. So it takes time. Journaling. Ooh, journaling. Ooh, that was the, that was the best aspect of my recovery that I, that I, that I use and I still use to this day.
It's the best thing in life. It's the best tool. They don't cost you nothing. The doctor can prescribe journaling to you. Right. This is a, this is a natural ability that we have within ourselves. Yeah. And the, and the ability to journal is really the, the goal for journaling is just really to be able to identify how you're feeling.
Cause I believe people have lost connection even with themselves. They don't even know how to describe how they feel. When you talk to people, you say, how you feel good, bad. Those are not feeling words. Those are feeler words. Those are words to tell a person to get out of my face. I just, either I want to talk cause I feel good or, you know, or, or bad, get out of my face, but there's actually a, another word in there that really tells me how you feel and that's journaling helps us.
Develop that art and through that art, we're able to ask for help. Better. We're able to smile more. I'm telling you, man, smiles are contagious. Have you ever looked at somebody that was angry and you were smiling? Who wins? Normally a person that smiling usually wins. It's impossible for me to look, to look at you smiling right now.
I could not be frowning. There's nothing, you know, I would have to instantly get my mind right. Just because you're smiling. I don't want to be the one in the room looking crazy. You know what I'm saying? So that's just me. There's a method to every single step. Yeah, and if you're a beautiful woman on the sidewalk, please smile at me and make me feel better.
Yeah. Amen. Ask me. Yeah, I mean, even as a married man, I still, if you're a beautiful woman, if you're a woman, period, smile at me. If you're an individual, smile at me. I just, I prefer to get smiled at than I, than, than a person that's looking stone faced. You know what? You know what I'm saying? What is going on with our world and people?
And I've talked with so many guests on my podcast, like, the power of kindness, just smiling, waving, how you doing, talking to people, like you said. Amen. Not just saying, uh, I'm all right and actually communicating with people, but just the power of a smile or a wave always makes my day. Even like the gym, me and my gym bro will be like, Hey man, looking good, or like, especially when I run and I see other people running, I love to encourage them, like, I'll be like doing great because run and tell me, ladies and gentlemen, if you've never ran before, go run right now.
I'll tell you how demotivating it can be. It releases the same dopamine as hidden drugs. I promise you their exercise has the same natural ability. 'cause dopamine is a, is already naturally within. We all have dopamine within us. When we, when we indulge in illicit substances or even whatever, you can get prescrip the wrong kind of dopa you prescription, you know what I'm saying?
You can get prescription medication that will actually trigger those, those actual, that, that same dopamine, but natural if you want natural dopamine release, right? Exercise, OMG, one of the best things as a 40-year-old. Individual. I'm in my forties. I'm telling you that some of the best dopamine is the feeling.
How old are you? 28? I said, you looking 28, man. You good? I feel 28. I don't even celebrate birthdays anymore after 40. I just, you know, I decided to just celebrate every day because every day is my birthday. You know, if God gave me, I was You know, allow me to be here. That's a birthday in itself, right? Cause you only really truly have one birthday.
If you think about it, the birth, the day that you came in the world, that's your birthday. Everything else should be a celebration of life. Right. And that's how you stay. That's how you stay young forever. Young. Cause I don't even worry about what, or how old I am. I just worry about what's. In front of me in life and enjoying that moment.
Oh, just talking about it, it just puts a smile on my face. And that's a man. Yeah, I talked about it like I used to drive home from work. And every time I saw the sunset, I was like, you know, thank you, God, for this beautiful world. And. And when it rains, here's what I do, you know, people see the rain and they're like depressed or some people love the rain.
I don't like the rain, but what I do love is anytime it does rain to have that spirit of gratitude. I always say, God, thank you for watering the plants and animals. What I see as like, Not you made my day depressing. God, I say, you know what? You're taking care of other people with this rain. I can appreciate that.
Yes. You know what? I love you already, brother, because like minded people, everyone in this industry, EA, I mean, when I went to podfest, all these women and men who had like life after 50 life after 60 youngest people I've ever met, EJ Snyder came on my show in his sixties and he is climbing mountains and throwing hatchets and running.
And he's Dude, you're as old as you choose to be. I mean, that's fast. Absolutely. I, a, I, I preach that same gospel. That is gospel right there. Actually, you are old as you feel. You know, you old as you tell yourself, right? And I'm telling you, I don't even think about age. I just think about doing life and smiling.
That's my main objective every day when I wake up after I pray. I'm looking for the next smile because every, every prayer always produces a smile. So no matter what, just thanking God for waking up is good energy for me, right? So I'm always in search of that. Anytime you see me, if you call me on the app, whatever, it's all about finding our happy place.
Let me take you to your happy place. That's what, that's what I'm all about. You know? Oh yeah. Yeah, the beach for me. My happy place is in the beach. I've actually mastered her art. I consider myself an expert. I put a lot of work, put a lot of work in for this, for this knowledge and for these techniques that I, yeah, I got a connection for you, man.
I got a connection. You have to get off here to be on a TV show. Let's do it. Yeah, I got you. But anyway, man, I need you. I need you brother. I definitely need you because recovery is an, it's, it's the world's oldest pandemic, right? So I, I'm firmly believe that. This mission is going to be long after me all I'm here for a certain amount of time and I got work to do right so my message is a never ending story.
So please, any, any help that you give me. That's where I'm at in this journey I need I need you, and I need your people that's why I'm here I'm here to talk to your people so your people can talk to my people and then we can all do lunch. The best remedy for everything is if you believe in prayer, I believe in prayer, right?
And I know with that same belief, I don't mean that, you know, magic happens. The wand happens and snap, poof, be gone. Things just happen overnight. No, but I do believe in. God, I got a good question for you then, man. Let's get it. I got a good question for you. Give it to me. What situation or person was the hardest ever for you to pray for?
You're like, God, I really don't want to pray for this person, man. They really pissed me off. You ever had like a, cause it can be a struggle. I mean, the hardest thing is praying for the enemies. Oh, yeah. Uh, you know what? I I'm so far in my journey, I would have to go back to like, 23 decades to feel like that, right?
Cause these days, man, like I tell people all the time, when you find what works. You'll be, you'll be an idiot not to keep working what works, right? So I don't, I give everybody the same grace and mercy, man. I've been, I've been spit on, talked to, called out my name, you know, prayed upon, told I was going to get killed.
I, I ain't been through everything under the sun. And my answer to it all is I'll keep you in prayer, my brother, because ultimately I believe there's something going on with you. You know, I'm a nice, I'm a nice individual. I live to love. I'm a lover and not a fighter, right? So if a person got a problem with me, that's, I take it to God.
Like, that's the best person that can help you because I'm not perfect. I wish I was, so then I can sit here and really be telling you like, but I'm not, you know what I mean? But at the same time, I'm always 1000 percent willing to work for resolution with a smile, right? I love, there's this, this, one of my favorite, Singers I listen to is Dax and he has a song searching for a reason and I love this quote if they're praying on my name it better be inside a church.
I love that line. Hello. I like that. I might have to, I might have to quote Mr. Dax for that. I like that. I love that. In that same song he said something that I'll, that's one of my favorite songs man, but what's something else in that song he goes, he made a jab at social media. He always jabs at social media.
So do I. I mean we talk about it on my show all the time and You know, it's, it's a tool at the end of the day is how people use it. But that's, that's the beginning of the day. Stay there. Don't lose that thought because I see the world really shifting. You know, when I was growing up, man, there was like cassette tapes.
Okay. We had cassette tapes to listen to music. Now music is involved all the way into the realm of streaming. Okay. We don't have CDs. We don't have not eight tracks. None of that stuff exists, but it's always designed to help us be better. So even social media, when you look at it from a positive lens, look at it with a, you know, as a glass half full, social media is designed to help us be better, be in millions of places at once.
How can you have a relationship with somebody in, in Egypt, if you didn't have social media? Now, what happened is the devil planted some seeds, you know what I'm saying? And of course. Humanity bites every time and there's going to be a sector of people that use it for whatever they're going to use it for.
But that don't mean that we got to succumb to that. We still, we own a mission. Our purpose is to use social media for its intent is to connect with people like you. But you know what? And it's also a direct reflection of your self discipline, right? Because your feed is gonna be what you keep liking, alright?
You can like Bible quotes, or you can like Asian girls in bikinis. I mean, you can do both! I'm not saying whether I like one, I may, I do, I do like both! I do like both. I try to like more Bible quotes though. I do try to like more Bible quotes. I mean, I mean, you know, at the end of the night, it's again, it's individualized.
As long as you still following the road, the yellow brick road, I don't have a heaven that I'll put you in. If you want to like a bunch of bikini pictures, it definitely tells the story of how you really live your life. If you're doing that, if you're spending your time searching for that type of stuff or actually encountering it.
There's people all day, every day. It's all they do, man. But I had cut down my Instagram time to almost zero. Just because it's all this there. Yeah, you know what? It's it's so much hate and negativity, especially in social media comments and like you could just be kind and instead we have a lot of people that will go down the street and they'll just judge everyone.
Why does that person look like this? And they're walking like that. It's just nothing but judgment, judgment, judgment. And like you said, Let them do it. I love it. You know, honestly, at this stage in my career, in my life, I welcome that. Like you're, you really haven't tasted success until you navigate through that part, right?
You gotta have a little bit of that. You know, people don't talk bad about you and they talk about Jesus Christ still to this day and we have none of us have met that man eye to eye and I hear bad stuff about him all the time. I hear good stuff about him too, right? So it's about what you believe. It's about what you want to do with this life.
I choose to go down the road of least resistance. Yes. So if it's a smile, if the conversation produces a smile, then there's nine, it's probably 10 times out of 10. You can find me at the other end of that conversation. If the conversation doesn't have that effect, if it's, if it's meant to, because it's talking about somebody or that's just not where I'm going to be.
My social media platforms are not used for those purposes and it, and everything applies the same way. So I know what the world is doing. But we can still do what we want to do and still be very, you know, effective and efficient. Yes. Yeah. I was better. Oh, yeah. So I was like, I lost it in that instant cast back.
So yes. Yeah. So Dax in that same song, he says, cause I brought up social media, he says, forget about all of the followers. Jesus only had 12 disciples. And that quote has always hit me hard too. And I've never been someone who even cared about. How many follows I have on any, on anything like I don't care, you know, like the people I care about here, like, I think you should care.
I think you should care from a standpoint only from a standpoint of, you know, you got a positive message. You want to give good stuff to good people. You want people when they do get on the Internet, you want them to have a platform. Yeah, this to search for good food. So this is a healthy distraction.
What you're doing. Health is a healthy distraction versus when the bikinis and the booties. Right. We don't, we wanna put less of that in the timelines, the chest guy and more of the nukes. Yes. We want more shows like this in the timelines on the airways. Yeah. And that's why I, I'm here. I don't, I don't do shows where they show booties and, and, and, and, and, and, you know.
I don't, I don't even have a, you know, I don't have a, I don't have an interest, but that's the best way I can find. I don't have an interest for that. Cause I don't, those places don't want recovery. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. So I know your community loves recovery. They're always trying to look for ways to persevere.
And yeah, that's what I'm about. That's where you can find me. Yeah. I was about to say diving into that, since you brought up the show and the message and not just the nuclear community, just first responders and military in general. I'll put out some stats, mortality rate for first responders in military after retirement, specifically retirement, two years and then death.
Because if they don't get a hobby or another job or it's like they drop that, that's what they are. And you know, addiction is such a big thing. What makes it probably addiction is bad all across the board, right? We can establish that what makes it a little more heart wrenching in the military is I would say.
85%, 75, 85 percent maybe higher of the military. Fresh out of high school, 17, 18, 19, 20, especially in a nuclear program because there's age restrictions, but all across the board, you have, I'll say less than 25 guaranteed pretty much, you know, there are people who start a second time in life, but I'm saying what's heart wrenching about it is there.
Some of them have alcoholic issues. I've had to have interventions on a 19 year old. You know, my buddy, he's doing bad, comes home and drank like half a bottle of, uh, peach crown and stuff like that, you know, I mean, if you actually, it's interesting, so I don't know what your standard would be and everyone's standard will be different.
The Navy standard, it was like, if you've had more than this amount of alcohol within 24 hours, you're an alcoholic or like the chaplain put out on the one ship before they went on a long weekend, it was like, hey, you can have, you know, One drink a day, not to exceed this much or whatever, they give stats, right?
And even just my closest friends, they drink like 10, 20 times the amount of that. I have a friend, he comes home and chugs a whole bottle of wine. I've got people who will shot after shot and they just live at the bar. And they're 19, they're 20, they're 21, they're 22. And it only gets worse and worse as they go on.
And I had, I talked about this when I went on the Transform Your Life show, hosted by Marcus Hart, and there's some YouTube shorts on my channel about it, where I talk about de stressors. And there's two types, right? Good and bad. And I'm not saying alcohol is a bad de stressor. I personally don't vouch for it.
That's my personal opinion. Right. But like everything else we said, it's in moderation. And at the end of the day, drinking to forget everything, you're avoiding the problem. The best way to not have a problem in life is to remove the problem or minimize how that problem affects your life. And so EA, I'm going to pass it over to you to talk, just give your little analysis on that and everything.
Yeah, I, I, I agree with you a hundred percent. I believe, you know, any and everything is always, I always start with the individual. It starts with the individual. So for me, you know, You know, I'll pray. My heart hurts for, you know, just a story about 19 year olds, 20 year olds just coming home from the bar, you know, or just, you know, taking their life that direction at the same time.
I'm a smile when I say this, right? Because God is the ultimate, right? He has a plan even for those people. I'm convinced those people, those people are serving a purpose, a greater purpose. And sometimes when they serve those purposes, man, we as humans, right? Yeah. You don't understand. It's not for us. It's way bigger than our understanding.
That's why prayer, that's why prayer is so important. Like, even those people that you're talking to, pray for them. Really, really, really learn, teach them how to pray for themselves. And, and I'm not a real religious guy. I mean, I'm not walking around, you know, talking, preaching God, but at the same time, God is in every equation.
Okay. So whatever you're doing, if it's recovery, if it's not, you still got to have some God in it, right? You know what I mean? That's just my, that's my take on it all. You know what I mean? I don't, I don't judge people. I don't tell people what they should be doing. I advise people. I, I like putting a mirror to your face, right?
Right. Mirror up to your face and say, this is what I see. This is what's being seen. What do you want to do? What do you, how do you want that reflection to be? That's all my, that's all my job as a clinician is to really do is to help you look at your reflection and say, what do you want to do? What do you want to do with this reflection?
It's not for me to say, okay, you should be doing this. Take this medicine. Do that. No, no, no, That's not how it goes. That's not how my, that's not how my train works. So if anybody ever want to work with me, man, I am easily available to work with. You know, I got a digital business card. Eric. 10 K. com, Eric, 10 K.
com and all my information. You can find me right there. Just click that link. I'm pretty sure he'll find a way to get you guys to me, but that's the best way to do it. And really I'm not for everybody. And I understand that too, right? But who I am, the people that I had, I do serve. Man, my success rate is, is, is, is better than that.
You know, I have a very high success rate when it comes to working with people because that's where it starts. It starts with meeting where they are. And I understand that so wholeheartedly because I've been that person and I wanted somebody to meet me, meet me where I am. Okay. And that's a, that's a strong statement.
People don't really understand how powerful that statement is, meeting people where they are. Cause then people start thinking like, well, are you, you think you're in a better place than me? It's not even about a better place. It's about, this is where you are. You know what I mean? And this is where I am.
And let's meet. Yes. Let's, let's, you know, and, and really when I'm working with somebody else, it's really about you. It has very little to do with me. I'm just a tour guide. Yeah. Don't know if it was Rihanna, but there is a song with a man and a woman. It's like, meet me halfway. I don't know the rest of the song, but my mom used to play all the time.
I don't know if it's Rihanna. Don't quote me on that. I'll figure it out. It's, you owe me, you owe me that. I, I need to follow through with that. I need to know what that. Yeah, what that song was. So catchy. It's catchy. I use music as a therapy too. That's one of my biggest go to. Well, I wanted to talk to you about that because you had mentioned it earlier on talking about music and I always say this.
It's funny, my gym buddy, Ace Man Mello, shout out, he was like, hot take, music is useless, music is just overhyped, and that was a hot take, cause I have been, and I've expressed it on this show, as well as in real life, I am very passionate about music, I'm dropping a couple of songs, my first album this year, in fact, and it's a hot take.
I love music. Yeah. And, and I don't know if you sing, we could always collab sometime. And, you know, I do everything, man. I'm more in the management. I'm more in the management. I'm, I'm looking to help people get where they want to go. That's what counseling, that's another form of management. So that's, you know, I was, I was a manager before and, you know, I managed artists.
I was an artist as well. I have product in the, you know, material. I was back in the CD and tape days, bro. So it's even funny talking about it. Cause when I was doing it, I was thinking like, damn, this is life. It's never going to get better than this. And now look, it's like streaming. There's, I mean, can't even find my, my product.
Cause my product was on the tape or a CD, but it made it easier to stream. I wish I was in this era. Cause streaming, once you put it out, it's forever and ever, man. You know what I mean? It's, it's forever. I was producing CDs and tapes, bro. Where now that there's, you know. I can't even play my, my material anymore, but I'm, I'm definitely curious to hear what you got.
Man. Music is therapy. Oh yeah. I use that as one, one of my number one go-tos in my groups when I do, you know, in person or virtual groups, I always play music 'cause there's music always playing in my head. I don't know, I think I'm a weirdo. Like sometimes I take weird. No, I'm saying, and I always told Yeah.
And I told, I told Ace, man, meow this because. I say music is one of the few, you know, like stimulants in life that can entirely control your emotions and change because you could be having a great day and a song would come on that makes you think of her and how she left. And that's it. There it is. You are broken.
You and your fears. That was our song. Music is powerful. Yes. Very powerful, bro. And when you use it correctly, you could, you can actually use it for therapy, right? So music is therapy. Talk therapy. That's why podcasting is on the rise because a lot of this is therapeutic. People love to be heard and love to be seen.
So talk therapy is another, it's another tool that I use that I feel is, uh, dynamic. It's a dynamic tool. Letting people just be heard, sit there and just listen and just make them understand that I'm listening. I'm here for you. That's talk therapy, music therapy. And then journaling, journaling, OMG, it's like a recipe, it's like baking a cake.
So a lot of the people that I work with, I use those three tools in conjunction, sometimes all together, or sometimes individual. Like this work that we do is frontline work and it's like a never ending story. I look at it like I look at recovery. It's a journey, not a destination, right? So I'm always looking forward to the next mission and, and just meeting you and being able to connect and vibe with you for this last hour.
Man, it's been, it's been, it's been a pleasure. It's been a part of my destiny. So I, you know, I want all my people, please make sure you guys subscribe to, you know, couple of nukes podcast, man. This is, this is a great podcast, man. He specializes, you know, really highlighting veterans, people that served our, our, you know, we, we wouldn't have podcasting if it wasn't for the, the, the, yeah.
The military community, right? So I want to say a special thank you to you guys, man, for your service. I appreciate in value. You know what I mean? Really real talk. We wouldn't even have recovery to the extent that we can even talk recovery if it wasn't for military community, man. So shout out to y'all.
You know, thank you. I appreciate that. And if you ever need a counselor, brother, you ever need a person to talk to, I'm always available, especially for people that I do. They shows. I always want to make myself available for them. You might know somebody that needs my services. I'm always available for those people as well.
And it's not about the money. People always ask me, what do you charge? And this is that it's not about what I charged. And let me talk to the person. Let me figure out what's going on first. Then we talk the money. I always find me right. Cause it's about a spiritual deposit. That's a, that's a deposit that God.
God allows me to have and do and he works with so yeah, a lot of this is for you not expect in return Yes, so that's where I'm at. I'm blessed that God even allows me these opportunities man So I say that you know with you know, I say that just to let people know as they watch this get in touch with me You know, I'm easier.
I gave you the digital business card But if you really want to connect connect connect Make sure you call me on Al Man, download the app today. That's how I kind of do my screening. That's how I vet people just to see who they are. 'cause if you're willing to call me on Al and walk that, walk that line, that community is a great community.
Like I've built a lot of respect, I've done a lot of work in my recovery space through that community. So I'm, that's the way you get at me first. If you, if you don't already have my personal number, that's the best way to find me, al, OWLL. Get that in the app store today. I love the journey that I'm on right now, man.
God keeps providing, keeps, you know, he keeps helping me meet people like you. No, I love, I love people like us, man. Cause we make the world go around, not Hollywood, right? It's like, it's like Uranium 235, man. It's, this show really is a reactor because I meet someone. And then they help me meet all these people and those people help me meet people.
It's all, it's all connecting. And so far, except for one person, I, everyone I have met in the podcasting industry has been so supportive and great. You know, it's not, I was worried it was going to be competition, you know, like every military guy and I were going to be like, but it's not, it's actually like, Hey dude, let's swap, let's help each other out.
Yeah, a little competition is how we grow competition is part of the game, you know, but at the end of the night, you know, you got something different to offer. Yeah, but you, you, you don't bro. I mean, even, even, even as a competitor, like you, you, you, you definitely fit to serve, right? What you're doing. You actually found a void in the marketplace, somebody that's really talking and serving the military community, man.
So I would love to come back as often as possible just because the work that we do is a never ending story. So why not have me back? We want to build consistency. Right? Oh, I'll speak for me. I like building consistency when I talk to people because one time is too close to none. Okay. I mean, for the people that I served, if I've only seen you one time, man, you know, you, you know, you are impressionable.
You can leave a little bit of Mark on me, but if I don't see you again, how am I going, what you saying going to resonate with you? Right. So for me, I'm, I'm on tour right now. I'm city to city. My next date is March 8th. I'll be in Miami speaking about the new world of recovery. Cause it is a new world. You know, they got all these different weird drugs.
They got all kinds of stuff out here. Yeah, I've seen that on social media. I've seen not just drugs, but I've seen memes on social media making fun of the plastic surgery and crazy body, you know, Miami, like, man, it's all kind of things. It's all kind of things in the world itself. Do you watch my strange addictions?
Have you ever seen that show? I don't watch TV because the TV is very distracting. Oh yeah. But I'll tell you, it's interesting because I, my family had it on once and I walked through and this lady's like, yeah, I'm addicted to drinking Pine Sol, or I'm addicted to, you know, eating gum off of sidewalks.
Like my strange addictions, they are strange. And it's It's just interesting what, because you said that's an addiction too, that's a recovery too. And it is because there was a woman on the show, she was addicted to getting her breasts enlarged over and over and over again. And now there comes a point where it's weird, it's a little too much.
Oh, speaking of, you made me think of something. Rest in peace. You said if you meet someone once, and like, they might leave an impression, but like, what are chances you remember them? Unless, I don't know if this has happened to you, EA, it's happened to me, and I've seen it on the internet, people talking about where the hottest, most beautiful woman you'll ever meet will be like when you're passing by on vacation, or at this, or on a road trip, and you'll never see her again.
Sonic driving in Texas. I saw the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life. And that was it. Here's your milkshake. Here's your burger. I didn't ask her. You can always go back, pull up, go back to Texas. No. Cause all my exes live in Texas. That's why I hang my hat in Tennessee. Yeah. You already know.
Hey, I like that. I like that. That was a song, but you actually, you remixed it and made, you flipped that and made that way. I do that all the time. Yeah. I do the same thing with music, man. I actually make it mine. Right. So I actually had the pleasure of marrying the most beautiful woman in the world. I've been knowing her since seventh grade.
So we, so it was hard for me. It's hard for me to get, like you get, because you get to go around the country and see the most beautifulest thing in the world. I married her. I've been knowing her since seventh grade. So I've been, I've been one, I'm one rich individual and it's not, it's not a monetary thing.
It's more about just what I have, you know, what I've been blessed with. And, and the most beautiful part, if I'm tracking correctly, the most beautiful part is that she stayed with you through addiction and recovery? She did, man, she's been here through everything, jails, prisons, addiction. That's, that's, we got two children now.
We got two beautiful children. I have a 27 year old daughter that just got married last year to her, to her King. And then I have an 18 year old son that's graduating from high school this year, man. I'm so super excited. You know, like I said, I'm blessed beyond measurement. Yeah. Does he, does he know what he's going to do?
He's actually, he got, he has, he, he got accepted to college. He's going to go to U of O. All right. Yeah. He's going to, and he's going to do, he's going to do special education. Like, he, he likes working with people with disabilities, like people like deaf, like he, he, he's heavy into like sign language and all the good stuff.
It runs in the family, man. Helping other people out. That's, that's absolutely, he found his lane. He definitely found his lane, man. So again, man, have me anytime, man, anywhere, any space, man, follow me EA the genius on IG. That's where I really communicate with a lot of my people at EA the genius, all one word, man.
Get at me on IG, man. That's where I can talk to everyone. He goes, I'm EA earlier on. He said, I like to introduce myself as humble. I'm EA the genius. The genius, right? Right. It's all in the mind. It's everything starts in the mind. I'm heavy. I'm heavy when I talk like that. I think, I think like that. I, everything I do, I move.
It all starts upstairs in the brain. So yeah, it's a genius move. And before we get too off track here and wrap things up, I do want to get more into the serious discussion with you about, you know, addiction and recovery. And you mentioned journaling and you know, if someone's really not feeling journaling or praying, you know what, I know you've worked with a lot of different clients with a lot of different interests.
Again, it's individualized, right? But across the board, what are some of the best techniques you've seen? Or that you've employed or that you've, you know, heard about, you're like, wow, this really helps some people and this might help y'all. Well, you know, that's a great question. And because again, individualized people, I've, I've, I've seen them come in all sizes and shapes and beliefs and non beliefs and all that stuff.
Right. So what I, what I, what I really like to do is, you know, first, first of all, talk to a person, figure out where they are in their mental, where they are. Right. And then I like to help them take themselves back. Everybody grew up. I don't say everybody, but I say there's a strong part of the population that's grew up in some type of religion.
Right? So I don't, again, I don't tell a person you need to be following Jesus Christ or you need to be following Buddha or you need to follow Allah. I don't, I don't, that's not what I do. What I, what I recommend is finding something, a higher, a higher power, finding good orderly direction. Cause that's the acronym for God and to nonbelievers.
Good orderly direction. That's what God deserving. Somebody actually having the thought of, of a higher power. God is, that's, that's the mission. That's, so that's how I start. I start with non believers in that, with that kind of call, you know, with that call, with that type of call to action. So, through, through that, we always talk about being consistent, because consistency is key, to any type of thing you're doing, if it's good or bad.
If you think about it, when you did it consistently, that's how you, that's, that's what made or break it. Make it or break it is when you be consistent. So, after we get the spirituality out of the way. The next thing to do is meet a person where they at and then we build a plan on how to get you where you want to go and we, and in order to build the plan, you got to be willing.
It starts with your willingness, man. You, the individual have to be willing because everything, if you ain't willing, if I got a spoon or, you know, I can lead you to the water. I can supply the can't make us drink. Yeah. Hey, I can supply the cups too. I can even dip it in the water and pass it to you, my brother.
But what I cannot do is make you drink. So you got to start with the willingness to want to drink some water. And if you come to me willing to want to drink water, trust me, I got a way to get you some water is one way or the other. There's a million ways to skin a cat. That's a real statement. There's a million ways.
There's a million ways to work with people in recovery. Yeah, that one's better. I was gonna say, that's an interesting, you could say there's a million ways to do a lot of different things. I don't know if skinning a cat is the best one. Hey, that's the old school, I can see why it all makes sense to me now, as I develop, as I mature in this life, and I see, I've been around the world, aye aye aye, right?
I've been around the world a few times actually stamps on my passport. I've seen a lot. So I understand everything now. It all makes sense. Yeah. I like, I'm going to use the, yeah, I'm going to use the God is orderly direction. I'm going to use that as. Good orderly direction.
That's the meaning of God. That's what, you know, they taught you something different. I don't know what they taught you, but that's what, that's what, that's what God really means. Lately, I just started calling God big G money. You know, not everyone is for that. Not everyone is for that. But big G money, everything, all blessings go down from him.
That's interesting. That's interesting that you say that. Cause people always ask me like, how do you pray? I pray. Like I talked to you, you know, sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's like, man, God, I mean, I don't use any swear words. It's like talking to a parent. I'm not going to, I'm not going to go to him, like F you and all this other stuff.
But sometimes I am coming at him hard. Like, Hey bro, what's up? What's up with this, man? I can't believe. Oh my God. What the? Okay. You know, I think I've used hail before, like, what the hell is this? Or, you know, something like that. But ultimately prayer is individual to prayer. Whenever you believe, believe it.
Keep working it. Work it. Yes. Well, ladies and gentlemen, everything for EA, hopefully will be in the description below. I got to find what I can find. And, oh, you're going to render me the, this is hard in the cowboy hat. I salute bro. I salute you and the service that you, you know, that you provide to everybody.
But it is not goodbye forever. EA will be back. Hey, I appreciate you inviting me to this, man. Make sure you guys subscribe, like, and share. Yeah. And make sure you go call DA on Owl. Yes please, and thank you Sailing through Ocean
the Stars. Through the waves we ride. Jokes and laugh to fill the air. On this voyage we have to share. Working together, side by side. As one family we will abide. In the heart of the ship we reside, nuclear operators with pride. Powering the vessel with every stride, our mission a source of great pride.
Sailing through the ocean blue, nuclear reactors my crew. Guiding the ship, the stars as our guide. Through the waves we ride. Jokes and laughter fill the air On this voyage we have to share Working together, side by side As one family we will abide In the heart of the ship, we reside Nuclear operators with pride Powering the vessel, with every stride Our mission, the source of great pride
