Speaker 1Hello everyone. Welcome back or welcome to Recovering Out Loud, the podcast where we get real about mental health and addiction recovery. Today's guest is Jordan Quinn, a sober entrepreneur and founder of Team Spirits, a premium alcohol-free RTD cocktail brand. In this episode, we get deep into the conversation about non-alcoholic beverages, the sober curious movement, why quitting drinking doesn't mean quitting fun, the real reason you reach for a drink after work, and how passion plus purpose can save your life. We dive deep into addiction, identity, entrepreneurship, and why non-alcoholic drinks are exploding across North America. If you've ever wondered, what would life be like without alcohol? This one's for you. Please like, follow, and subscribe to help support the show. I want to add a disclaimer to this episode as well. We talk about 12-step recovery. Please keep an open mind. We realize that there are many paths up the recovery mountain, and we do not endorse or represent any program or organization. It is simply an experience that works for us. Enjoy the show. Hi, Jordan. How are you doing? I'm doing well, thanks. Thank you so much for coming in. I really appreciate, you know, I always, I have to say this because I messaged you, I reached out to you online, and I love what you're doing. I love what you're doing with Team Spirits. I'm very interested in this non-alcoholic beverage trend. Seems to be really growing, and there's a whole, people are, people are throwing all these, like, vernacular at me that I've never heard. Like, you said something yesterday, like, I forget what you said, but you'll, it'll probably come up, but like this sober movement, right? Like, and sober curious, I kind of knew, but I've heard that one. Sober serious. Mindful drinking. That was the one. Mindful drinking. I was like.
Speaker 2Oh, yeah. There's a whole bunch of them. There's a whole bunch of them. There's a whole mindful drinking fest now, like a festival that you can go to. Oh, where? Where it's all of, it's, it was in D.C. this year.
Speaker 1Oh, and so what, have you been?
Speaker 2I haven't been, but we actually, go right into plugging my product here. Yeah, let's go. Yeah. Let's get to the real deal. My product, Team Spirits. I love it. We, we, we partnered with Derek Brown, who actually owns Mindful Drinking Fest. Oh, okay. And so Derek Brown is a famous mixologist based in the state, based in D.C., and he's all about mindful drinking, really comes from the hospitality, the world, was a bartender for years and kind of helped us create our beverages. But yeah, so he has this whole Mindful Drinking Fest, which is all about, you know, adaptogen beverages and kind of all these different types of beverages and different ways to sort of socialize.
Speaker 1And the adaptogen, I know, I knew this because I was talking to somebody else. I'm learning so much again.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1There's these beverages that have like ashwagandha and all these like nootropics, if you will.
Speaker 2Yes, yes. All of that. Now, Team Spirits doesn't have any of that. For us, it was really about like a flavor first beverage that really mimicked a cocktail, like a classic cocktail was still adult beverage and stuff like that. But yeah, there's a ton of that going on right now. You know, the caffeine, I may have had one just before I got here, but yeah, no, it's amazing how you're actually able to kind of do a ton with drinks these days.
Speaker 1That's awesome. Yeah. And I know that there was some like negative press around it in the beginning with TikTok and stuff. She was telling me this, the lady that owns it. She owns Sober Market, and she was telling me that all these TikTok people were like, "Oh, you're going to get buzzed off of this stuff if you start drinking it." And as soon as you started talking about that, I was like, "Okay, I need to stay away from that." But I mean, that's probably not the case, right?
Speaker 2You know what? I consider myself completely 100% sober serious, and I still will have an adaptogen drink. Now, I'm not going to have any of these like mushroom this or that, but like some of these adaptogen drinks that have, again, caffeine or ashwagandha or anything like that, you don't get a buzz. You just get a buzz. I'm going to say the word "high," but in a very, just like a lifted...
Speaker 1Yeah, like a lightness almost.
Speaker 2Yeah, but not in a...
Speaker 1Yeah. And what it's probably doing is just calming your anxiety that you didn't know was even there in the first place.
Speaker 2Trust me, I know it's there, but yeah.
Speaker 1Well, that's because you've done a lot of work, though, I would assume, right?
Speaker 2This is true.
Speaker 1So, why don't you tell us a little bit about, I guess, how you got into recovery and then how you got into the non-alcoholic beverage market?
Speaker 2100%. So, Anthony, I always say I had... I had the gift of desperation.
Speaker 1I love that, yeah. That's a good one.
Speaker 2Yes, the gift of desperation. I had no other choice but to get sober. I, the longest story short, I got into a drunk argument with my brother-in-law, who means the absolute world to me. So, this is my sister's husband, my younger sister's husband, which I'm not married, so it starts this whole like reason for my drinking and stuff like that. But nevertheless, my brother-in-law has his own story with addiction and alcohol addiction. Within his own family, he lost someone very, very close to him due to alcoholism, and he was sort of picking up on all my signs. I couldn't hide from this guy anymore. He just said, "You know, you done?" And I just one day said, "Yeah," kind of to appease him, and then what happened was he marched me to a meeting. I pre-drank for it, of course. That's the best way to prepare. Got it. Yeah, I was like, "I know what I know," so I showed up. I showed up. I buzzed, but then I learned about the frickin' chips that you get at these meetings and the addict that I am. I wanted those chips, so I couldn't go up and get one, my 24-hour chip, of course, because I showed up wasted, but it became the reason to get sober. I wanted to collect all 12. I wanted to be on a pedestal. I wanted to be this like golden child that my parents always thought that I was again. So 24 hours later, I showed up to a meeting in Port Perry, all my family in tow, my mom, my dad, my brother-in-law, my brother, like, all came to this meeting, and I went up and got my 24-hour chip, and I have been sober for 587 days since.
Speaker 1That's awesome. Wow. Yeah. What a great story. Thanks. They were probably so happy to see you get that.
Speaker 2Oh, my God. Tears coming down my parents' face. It was just, it was huge.
Speaker 1I remember you reminding me of my, so I had told you. I had told you this, and I say this all the time, but just for context, I had seven and a half years of sobriety, and my one-year medallion, I invited my entire family, like, all my extended family, my cousins, and everybody showed up. Some of my friends that had seen me, I know, it was amazing, and they filled up, because I'm Italian, right?
Speaker 3We run deep.
Speaker 1They filled up the first, like, three rows of a 200-person, you know, meeting, and it was just a beautiful thing. Like, I remember them. And I'm not, like, that close with all of them, so it was a bit of a, like, kind of uncomfortable situation for them, because they, I don't think they knew that I was in this recovery path. They knew it got kind of bad, but some people don't really know just the depths of addiction and where you got to, right?
Speaker 2Yeah. Now, did you speak at your medallion?
Speaker 1No, I, well, I mean, yeah, I, like, I said. But you didn't do this to talk. I didn't, no, I didn't give the talk. You know who did, though? It was my, the counselor that, I say he saved my life. A lot of people saved my life. He got me into my first treatment center.
Speaker 2That's amazing. I actually spoke at my one-year medallion, and I started practicing that speech a week sober. I was, like, in the shower, washing my hair, being like, it's a frickin' Oscar acceptance speech. Yeah.
Speaker 1Oh, we're so alike. I love it. Yeah. No ego. No ego at all. Not at all. No, nothing surrounding addiction. So, how did you get into, to start Team Spirits? Like, how did that come about?
Speaker 2Yeah, so, I am a serial entrepreneur. I'm also learning that that is very much, not an ism, but an addiction.
Speaker 1Yeah, I get that.
Speaker 2It's part of that. So, a serial entrepreneur, owned a branding and social media agency. Worked a little bit with my dad as a contractor. And we started working with somebody that was doing a non-alcoholic wine. And my dad does something called a 5C analysis. So, he looks at the customer, the consumer. All of those kinds of blah, blah, blah. Yeah, business jargon. Business stuff. And he's like, looking at the category going, this is the third fastest growing category in the U.S. right now. Like, why are we? This was a year ago? Yeah, this was a year ago. So, 2024. And my dad goes, why are we not, I'm like, doing this? So, we, within like a month, got everything in order to start Team Spirits. The name, super important to me. I think that, as you just said, a bunch of people helped save your life. Sobriety is such a selfish, individual journey. But, you need that team around you to support you. So, that's where Team Spirits really comes from. I love that. That's awesome. Yeah. And it's just been an absolute blast ever since we're actually launching. If this airs next week, we're launching the week after. So, it's super exciting.
Speaker 1And you're in the U.S. too, right?
Speaker 2U.S. and Canada, baby. Yep, yep.
Speaker 1And so, is it more brick and mortar sales? That you're looking forward to? Or like online, that's kind of...
Speaker 2Brick and mortar, for sure. So, we are, right now, we are looking, we're projected to be in about 50 to 60 stores in the U.S. And then, about 30 to 40 here in Canada, just to start for year one. We'll see how that goes. A lot of those non-alcoholic bottle shops that are popping up everywhere are really interested in specialty retail. It's really exciting for us as well.
Speaker 1So, where else besides the non-alcoholic shops do they sell them? Because I didn't even know.
Speaker 2So, like, think of like your high-level grocery stores, like Sunnyside Provisions, for example. or like creeds or the hut, which is a, smoothie and juice bar village juicery like anything like that where there's kind of that like really cute fridge in the corner like we're kind of stocking up there yeah okay that makes
Speaker 1sense and i wouldn't be surprised if like the long goes or sobies or you know starts to get do it yeah no it's it's i mean you said it's the third fastest growing a year category in the u.s
Speaker 2yeah so it's it is a big deal and i don't know if you saw some of the stats too anthony but like um non-elk as a beer category is the second largest beer category now next to ipa i think i think i'm not a beer drinker but i think that was the stat i saw on a very reliable source
Speaker 1instagram yeah that's awesome um what who are your who are the customers i'm always curious to and i've always asked this because i had this preconceived notion because uh everybody thinks like me don't you know and is is the everyone does things the way i do them right uh i was under the assumption that it was people in recovery but i've i'm like pretty wrong
Speaker 2in saying that right yeah so i have to just plug this because of the 5c analysis my dad always is like there's a difference between customers and consumers so the customers of course are the stores that are purchasing from us so the consumers daddy are the um definitely we're finding that we're getting you know the sober curious for sure people who just want to kind of this called zebra striping have you heard of it where like you drink an alcoholic drink then you drink a non-alcoholic drink and then you drink an alcohol like mitigate the hangover kind of mitigate the hangover got kids in the morning gotta go golfing gotta just don't really want the hangout not the hangover yeah kind of deal i like that yeah the toast not the toxins kind of idea so those people are doing their zebra striping they're big they're a big client of ours um yeah you're gonna get the sober serious people um that aren't too serious you know too programmed because at the end of the day it can be a trigger for some people especially something like team is a flavor first beverage which is definitely you know emulates the flavors of a paloma a mule and an aperol spritz it really is just without the alcohol so you're gonna get the mindful drinkers as well just people who are you know wanting something lower calories lower sugar so we really do have this wider audience pregnant people yeah that's a big one i'm fine yeah yeah um see and i
Speaker 1like to say this too for me i have to be very clear of my motive when i'm purchasing and consuming these types of beverages so for example today this might change right today i i don't i don't mess around with the non-alcoholic beer just because it's so similar to me and i had a problem with beer um where i couldn't just have one can you relate to that at all my favorite drink is the next drink yeah yeah yeah so uh today plus i don't even like the taste of beer right but these these like um you know these seltzers and soda waters and you know a little bit of sugar here and there that's just refreshing right like it turns out i didn't want alcohol my body just wants something refreshing you know i heard someone tell me that the other day probably on one of my other podcasts yeah um but it's true it's like oh yeah like when i can listen to my body today and just actually say no i don't want vodka soda like i just i just need something refreshing because
Speaker 2it's hot i just want this yeah i want the liquid to lips kind of like it's it's a hot summer's day like something like poolside it's just it's just funny anthony because there's so many like instances where we have alcohol in our hands and it just becomes almost habitual for us you know it's like after work i just want to go to the fridge i just want to reach for that drink and like take off the edge it's like do you really want to take off the edge or do you just need a drink and that's where it's kind of you know it there's an opportunity there to um to fill your your glass with something a little bit more a little bit less harmful where you'll thank
Speaker 1yourself the next day and maybe that night too right a hundred percent um yeah it's like smoking right like how the the studies have shown that it's how a lot of it is just this you know yes i need to be preoccupied with exactly there's something else going on there and it's funny you
Speaker 2mentioned smoking because my dad actually smoked for 25 years and um quit cold turkey wow and is now i guess it's probably been 20 years since he had a cigarette and i just i think to myself you know everyone says that alcoholism is hereditary and i would argue that sobriety is full-on contagious but um with that in mind and thinking just about addiction and i thought to myself i really used my dad quitting smoking as a huge leverage point for me with alcohol too i'm like my dad did this cold turkey i can totally do this it's in my blood i remember really convincing
Speaker 1myself of that along the way and that that helped me yeah that's amazing so um what kind of daily habits or rituals do you use because i know the work life the entrepreneurial life is is can be very um stressful time consuming up and down yeah you don't really know what's going to happen next unpredictable and i don't know about you but we like to have control and predict things yeah i
Speaker 4like to know the outcomes of that we like chaos sometimes too yeah because it's a distraction i
Speaker 1always say that it's a distraction from how i feel about me you know ah yeah i learned that in rehab
Speaker 2so you didn't go to rehab but i should have maybe well there's some key takeaways yeah i mean i needed to because i just
Speaker 1couldn't do it but um yeah i wish i didn't right obviously but i learned a lot there there's a lot of good that happened there um and so yeah through journaling i learned that that like i crave chaos yeah i do yeah every day so yeah to you know what kind of tools do you use to balance that kind of sober recovery life with this work life go go go yeah it's funny you say that when we're talking
Speaker 2about kind of creating like patterns and stuff like that in your day i've got two dogs one on is on my can on my team's can pierre and bella and so having them and getting them into a routine has really helped me with like creating um creating just predictability in my day so it's getting them out i can come back and sit at my laptop for a couple hours blah blah blah like i don't need to necessarily walk you through my day i think what's important to me again i am in a program that's very focused on gratitude and for me i can avoid anxiety throughout the day or at least manage my anxiety throughout the day if i start every day with gratitude and for me that's just kind of connecting with um my dad actually made this suggestion you know obviously my dad's a huge part of my life but um on the inside of a book that i have i every day i write down three things i'm grateful for i just start my day like that and the thing is is when you're writing down those three things you actually can see what you wrote days before and it's like wow this list is getting longer you know and i've got a lot to be great i have a lot of good
Speaker 1things in my life yeah yeah it's hard to notice sometimes especially yeah it's funny you mentioned that because i do that too um it wavers but uh i always have some kind of routine and this morning it's funny i woke up and um i was just in one of those agitated moods for no reason you know my sleep was a little bit off i woke up and uh this is what i notice happens when i'm when it throws off my morning when i pick up my phone before i do anything else and i'm like oh my god i'm not going to do anything else and i'm going through this thing right now just to get current where i'm like obsessing and i need to like figure this out and i'm going to but i'm obsessing over like my social media channel and this podcast and getting followers and like and i'm like oh my god this is so exhausting but also like that needs i'm at this i know this deep down but i always go back to that needs to be a byproduct of of what i'm doing here right it can't be the reason otherwise i'm screwed like it'll never last that motivation will run out because the minute someone unfollows me i'll be like that right like what i must have done something wrong something's wrong with me you know all these thoughts start to go through my mind right it's it's
Speaker 2it's relying on other people to make you feel a certain way about codependency yeah i'm good at that oh yeah same just ask my boyfriend you like me right i need other people to love me to feel good about myself and i hate that you know it's chasing those vanity metrics you know it's chasing those vanity metrics those those follows those likes those comments and if that is what's bringing you joy like that's i mean i'm the same way like i'm refreshing because i just you know post a new
Speaker 1photo and you go it's it's a lot yeah and it's just like it's it's like i we always talk about this on my podcast but you get to it you get the car you get the you know um boat you get the house you get the kit like maybe not the kids but you get that next thing and it's like now i want to yeah what's the next thing this is kind of before you know you're on a tlc show yeah eating couches yeah exactly i thought that was that was one of them the girl she couldn't stop eating the inside of couches yeah i was like holy yeah that's a condition it's sad but yeah no that i i belong there no it's funny oh i love it uh but yeah so my point with that story was i did get out of it and this is kind of no this works every single time it's a great way to get out of it and this is kind of no this works every single time it's a great way to get out of it and this is kind of kind of no this works every single time i went for a walk right and i got outside i got out of my head i do this i also do this online meeting every morning with a bunch of guys and i was sitting in it and we do a meditation thing with it so it forces me to meditate but i was so in my head that i couldn't even pay it i was doing 10 things and i'm like i need to get outside i can't meditate
Speaker 2it's tough walking is probably the closest thing yeah and it's the same thing honestly because i
Speaker 1got outside and i'm like hmm i and i'm looking around i'm listening to music and of course the song you love eventually comes on or the song you needed to hear comes on you're like god i like thank god i'm alive and all these things start to you know so um that's what that's what i did to get out of it you know it's a beautiful thing that uh i have a choice today you know my only option used to be drink or use drugs right that was the only option to solve pain and now i have a choice i could always go back and do that i know that right i don't really agree with this notion where people come in and they say i can't drink today Right. Or I can't. can't do drugs it's like well no you can you have a choice you're choosing not to which is more
Speaker 2I get to be sober today is how I like to frame things for myself yeah I love that um so how do
Speaker 1you think that uh this whole trend is reshaping the drinking culture like do you think people are buying into it do you think um because there still is going to be that stigma and where you're out at a bar and I've had this before we were talking about it yesterday actually in my alumni meeting that we do at rehab um one of the guys was talking about how uh his the bartender he used to you know go to uh ask him she's like oh you're not drinking anymore what happened and he's like oh no I just don't really you know you get that uncomfortable you don't how much do I tell this
Speaker 2person right I go all out I almost died you want pictures yeah I'm like that's me on the floor
Speaker 1right there um but yeah he was like you know he's newly sober and he's telling her that and she she like she made one of these and I've had this happen to me where she was just like like that kind of like you know fucking loser laugh and he was like crippled
Speaker 2by it yeah I haven't had that yet but I can imagine people are saying that about my Instagram that you just I haven't seen it um yeah I don't know you're there's always going to be naysayers no matter what you do but I can tell you like we would go to um when I was helping with the non-alcoholic wine for a little bit I know that we were at like a um an event and we were pouring wine and there were people making comments about like well why would I have this it doesn't have grape juice yeah um all I can tell you is the younger generations are proving that they are drinking less and less um unfortunately they're picking up things like vaping and stuff like that however fortunately they're picking up things like vaping you know like as opposed to drinking um so I know that there really is this like complete wave and movement when it comes to the non-alcoholic category again third fastest growing category in the U.S. right now so
Speaker 1I'm seeing it too you know you're seeing it online but also there's just when you go to parties like people aren't maybe it's because I'm in recovery again but I just I'm not seeing people blacking out anymore sloppy like it's just it's less and less
Speaker 2maybe it's the people I'm surrounding myself with you've gone home before they do that yeah
Speaker 1there's a moment in if you don't know this if you're listening you don't know this there's a moment in every club bar event where there's like this threshold in the night that everybody turns it's like two three a.m there's no science behind it yet but I'm sure of it a hundred percent no
Speaker 2there's got to be science somewhere like that yeah no it's it's very true and everything just like
Speaker 1turns right you're like who's that guy yeah you know I didn't even notice right especially true when you go to clubs and I love dancing so I still go to clubs and I notice it um where do you think this is going like what do you see in the future with this with this trend how do you see this
Speaker 2ending up or where does it go I am putting it out there that I think drinking a lot of people are
Speaker 1alcohol will be what cigarettes was I actually agree with you yeah yeah I believe that that is
Speaker 2where this is going the thing is is like we don't want a freaking Coke like Coca-Cola um we don't want a can of Coke we don't want a juice box we want an elevated adult drink so I think that that's where there is room for like a non-alcohol um cocktail like a mocktail so to speak but I think ethanol and alcohol I think removed from those or at least like in lower quantities is is here to stay because it's it's not a fad it's it's it's an upward trend that's here to stay is how I'm looking at it yeah it's
Speaker 1funny that you I'm happy you brought that up because I've had that thought too yeah I've had that exact revelation where I was like I bet you in your there's going to be science and data and everyone's like we never should have started drinking yes well you know what really sucks
Speaker 2Anthony is I could think about the messaging behind like smoking kills and then it's like please drink responsibility it's like like okay but what if I can't like I don't know how to drink responsibly I still I'm that person I swear to God if I left a restaurant and someone left a half drunk glass of wine on the table I'm like is it weird if I go drink that like like probably like it's the first date Jordan just make it to the second or third I love it but yeah no I just I I think messaging needs to shift for alcohol I love that we're putting warning labels on alcohol in the states now uh that was announced back in January I believe what does that say I haven't heard of that I don't know exactly what
Speaker 1it says but it was the the health the health man yeah like is it the general surgeon maybe that's
Speaker 2it yeah because they have that on cigarettes yeah yeah general surgeon that and it just has like a warning on it like a black label all alcohol is being issued I think it has to be on all alcoholic products by the end of next year wow I'm learning something every day
Speaker 1this is why I came down here no I've learned a lot this is great um I mean that yeah that's smart it's important how we market things to people right like 100 we shouldn't have doctors promoting smoking I think there's a good reason that that's stopped but yeah it's crazy you go back and you see all those ads right oh man um you got any like do you have any tips for people that are listening you know people that are maybe sober curious or um they think they have a problem with their
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Speaker 7other than the chips um I for me
Speaker 2I I'm gonna say it and I know it's really kind of cheesy but your new life is going to cost you your old one kind of coming to terms with that a little bit you know um was really difficult for me in early stage with sobriety but then it's like when you reframe it from what we were just talking about Anthony where it's like I don't get to drink it's like no I get to be sober you reframe it and like you never regret a night that you didn't drink absolutely you know like I I'm gonna sound so program at this moment but like just try it today and then just see how long it can kind of go for um again you have that choice at the end of the day it's something you can go back to I read this amazing amazing short essay about like this stranger asked a sober woman like well what if you want to drink at your wedding and it's like but I I want to do this forever like and it's it's the way
Speaker 1that she reframed I'm not making sense no no no you are you you're making so much sense that I have goosebumps I'm sorry I'm making faces at you because I've had this exact thought yeah like if
Speaker 2you want to drink at your wedding what if I I'm not gonna lie to you I have moments where I I don't want to knock on wood but like I've never I haven't lost someone super close to me I haven't had that level of grief yet and it's hard because I go what do I reach for what tool do I have in my toolbox that I can reach for that isn't alcohol when I lose a parent a partner a sibling like whatever it may be when life happens when life happens yeah because I would pick up when it was a joyful moment a happy moment a sad moment like no matter what it was there was a reason that I would pick up like and then it just became a date like daily right so just try today I think is my I I don't think
Speaker 1that's cheesy at all I mean those um slogans sayings uh mantras there's a reason that they exist and there's a reason why they're pasted on the wall because they work you know um yeah it's just funny because I didn't know what face to make because I I just I hadn't really it's been a while since I've heard someone else say that to me and I when I first came in you know 10 years ago that was a that was a ruminating thought in my mind how am I gonna not drink on my wedding day I cannot fathom that and every single person that I surrounded myself with in recovery said that to me Anthony just get through today man just get to bed and I used to hate it
Speaker 2I hated it I was like oh it's still though I like the plan yeah exactly and and this whole again feel free to cut this out but like the let go and let God thing like what like how like what like I have to yeah I have to be the one that controls this and I need to be the one and it's like no
Speaker 1just don't drink today sounds good I can do that yeah yeah you mentioned um control is a big one but letting go um what is that it's funny because it it's hard to describe it too but I guess I just I want to get your opinion on what what does letting go look like today and it's so funny
Speaker 2you're asking me this I could break down and cry because i uh it's it's the hardest part of my sobriety i still haven't figured it out letting go is is understanding what it's the serenity prayer for me it's you know accepting the things i cannot change and and having the courage to change what i can but identifying you know what is mine to take on and what is what is just it's just not mine yeah
Speaker 1yeah the wisdom to know the difference yeah that's beautiful yeah it's uh it's tough to get
Speaker 2there sometimes yeah does that make sense yeah can i turn it on you and ask you what letting
Speaker 1go yeah sure please yeah i mean this is a open conversation no one ever does that and i yeah i appreciate it i like to talk yeah when i started the podcast they were like yeah you have to be a good listener to be a podcaster i was like oh maybe i made a mistake here i suck at listening but no it's it's teaching me a lot um letting go yeah you mentioned a lot of it there but if i could just say one extra thing on it i'd probably say and then this and i learned this from literature that we read and talking to people right but uh doing what's in front of me so the next right thing in front of me and then letting go of the outcome right so just doing the next right thing you know doing this podcast today um putting the podcast out there uh going home and you know telling my wife that i appreciate her right when i it's not my first thought you know um not acting on my first thought that's a that's a huge one right when i leave here i'm gonna go sit in traffic and if somebody cuts me off or does like there is a i have a million things in my mind that i want to do to get that guy or girl back like i'm gonna win this and it's all ego right so it's like just taking a breath and like okay no don't do that anthony
Speaker 2don't say that no i get it no i totally get it i i i hear you i i'm i'm with you on that the next
Speaker 1right thing yeah and it's uh sometimes it can be hard right um that's why i like when you and i'm not going to cut out the spirituality thing because i think it's important religion is is very different than spirituality a lot of people come in like oh i don't want to be i don't like god he killed my brother or something right and i don't mean to make light of that but it's true like i i hear that a lot a lot of people are like god let me down and you know that's fair if you've had a tough upbringing or a tough life or things have happened to you that are already control that's like a common thing to do is like it's not it wasn't caused by you right so um there's a lesson in every opportunity i think and adversity is so important in my life today like i wouldn't even i wouldn't be here without it because when i get through hard exactly when i get through hard things i can do anything right and that's one of the reasons so you it's funny you mentioned like just uh being you know getting all into something right this entrepreneur thing that you're all into i got into marathon running for a while and every sober person yeah it's a thing yeah and i ran three marathons and i used to hate running yeah yeah yeah for you yeah it's like i know i couldn't even imagine doing that before runners high yeah i went to la and i did the la marathon with my friend mike yeah it was good for you it was great and uh you know i don't i don't really uh miss it too much because it took up a lot of my time and it was like it was very intense you know i was eating all the time there's like a lot of things that came with it again there's i need balance in my life today you know i did that with golf too i was a bodybuilder i
Speaker 2totally understand the all-in yeah did you do the meal prepping and stuff too i was provincials oh
Speaker 1you went on stage oh yeah that's like the same as running a marathon honestly it was very similar i think from what i hear because it's it's 90 like it's 100 of the time you have to be on yeah with
Speaker 2your eating with your eating your workouts your two days it's just yeah it's a lot i'm interested
Speaker 1how did you come back from that because that like your relationship with food must have been
Speaker 2well i start oh my gosh this is where i get crazy but um again i lean into the isms of the program and i learned so much about me um and just my addictive behaviors i have struggled with an eating disorder so getting into something like bodybuilding was actually not a healthy choice for me at all um how did i bounce back i i started getting into running after i finished um i didn't want to go on the national stage i stopped at provincials i did get into running myself as well kind of maintained fitness but then my drinking took off the funniest thing is you don't drink when you're on prep which is another thing i leaned into you know there are periods in my life where i was successful that i did not drink and that really helped me as well but um helped you know that you could do it yeah yeah yeah but yeah my drinking really took off after um a year or so
Speaker 1after i finished there's always something right it's like you know i i always say this but uh it's we have six garbage cans and five lids you know it's like whack-a-mole i love that i heard that in utah when i was at my second treatment center it's true and i'm always looking for something it's golf one day now it's this podcast it just has to be something healthy and you have to learn
Speaker 2how to balance it yeah no i love that well for me it's team spirits right now as well so yeah it's
Speaker 1passion right um how yeah i mean i always like it's hard to like finding passion is important i think in sobriety right this one kind of found you a little bit right but um i think that it's it's one of those things and it feels like
Speaker 2this podcast is is it for you as well it's it's it's the cornerstone of your passion and your purpose and when you marry those two like at the end of the day like social media management and influencer marketing and brand development like that wasn't necessarily my passion and my purpose like sobriety has very quickly become like what i believe my purpose is i i know that i stayed out of it but i don't believe that i looked like an alcoholic i'm too young i'm too female i'm to this to that to this to that and i am not an alcoholic so if i can now be that person that people can look at and and and be like oh i'm in my 20s my drinking's a little out of control and they can see me and then they can feel more comfortable sort of self-diagnosing and identifying as an alcoholic then my work here is done you know yeah yeah i couldn't agree more i i couldn't really
Speaker 1the old white guy when i walked in right like it was hard to kind of i was like do you do you you're wearing a suit like you're not an alcoholic you know um alcoholic to your point is the guy that
Speaker 2lives under the bridge the brown paper bag right and it's not true um this disease does not
Speaker 1discriminate does not whatsoever i learned that time and time again and uh it's important what you said something that was i really liked um the cornerstone your passion and purpose can you say
Speaker 2that again yeah so i just i feel like this podcast for you is what team spirits is about for me where it is the cornerstone of my passion and my purpose passion and purpose and then you said marrying those two together yeah and that's where that's where the magic happens i think yeah
Speaker 1i think this finding the purpose thing is so important and uh yeah like i have a we both do but i can only speak for me i have a unique gift to offer somebody right there's i don't know like 80 percent 90 percent of the world probably 80 percent don't don't know what it's like to have to drink and have to use despite all the negative evidence you know everything toward the the contrary i have to um that thing tomorrow that wedding that i have to go to that uh speech that i have to give that engagement party i have to show up to you know that best that wedding have to be a best man at doesn't matter nothing matters right my wife begging me to stop right like just my mom begging me to not die she's scared i'm gonna die none of that matters doesn't matter at all it's uh yeah it's cunning baffling and powerful like you said but yeah you you have to get to a gift of the
Speaker 2gift of desperation yeah it's true i you you kind of struck a chord there with me um and now i've lost my train of thought but it's uh oh maybe it'll come back i talk a lot and i like when you
Speaker 1talk i i get a lot out of what you're saying i appreciate that thank you um everything i learned is from other people everything and you know i was talking about this last night but the first year of sobriety is so important and i knew that but now it's being reconfirmed you know there's a lot of people in my life you go to rehab you stay close with the people after a lot of them relapse and um that's so hard it's really tough because it's like and i was saying this to my mom the other day it's like you have the answers to the test it's this analogy if i can and the other person is writing the test and you're like yelling the answers at them and they're just like no no no no no right and then not to say that i have the answer to surprise but like i have a way out
Speaker 2yeah today i have a way out right and it's the same you're writing the same test yeah yeah and yeah we have the same answers i i love that i i don't know about you i actually really struggled with um i again i never went to rehab that was never part of my story but um in my program my sponsor went out um my my sister sponsored went out again and it's so hard for me to i've they then became a part of my fourth and fifth stat like i i was resentful i was mad i was like you and but then it's not i'm not writing their story you know it's it's it's hard it's very hard yeah do you like do you feel like you're you're
Speaker 1angry at them because um yeah because they know because when you've been on the other side it's And I guarantee you they were more angry at themselves. And I know you know that.
Speaker 2a hundred percent and then it it takes two seconds to look at them coming back in and you know very upset and you go yeah no you yeah you it's this disease like the the only thing i can kind of compare it to is take your phone leave it in another room and and come back and sit there and tell me how many times you think about it in an hour like that's the closest thing that the normal person can probably get to addiction you know like it's just it's it's all encompassing it's all overwhelming yeah i love that i've never heard that one before and
Speaker 1it's like yeah try to go through your day while your phone is at home right it's just like all
Speaker 2you're thinking and you're like yeah it i can't even grasp that and that's what alcohol was for
Speaker 1me um but i also like that you mentioned the gift of desperation because uh just to finish my point and i'm sorry no no i'm happy you jumped in because this is you know i'm learning a lot and i love you i love what you're saying it's great this woman that i went to treatment with has i just i was careful in what how to say this right i don't want to break anonymity or anything anyways this woman i went to treatment with she had a really bad relapse and i was talking to her like a lot and um you know she was at the place where i was hotel room by myself family abandoned you pissed off right and it's just you and and your drugs and your alcohol and uh i kind of just i was like don't don't talk to your family right now just talk to talk to us because i i will never judge you i get you i'm here for you you want to go to detox i'll bring you to detox like i'm trying to do all these things because that's what was done to me and when you're in that moment it's like loneliness you can't even loneliness doesn't even describe it doesn't even can't even describe that feeling it's just you're like you know this small in in a world right and so um you know i was talking to her the other day and i'm like are you doing this are you doing that uh and i wasn't like checking up on her to make sure she was doing anything but i'm like kind of just listening to her she said oh i don't know if i you know i have this thing and i'm like all these excuses started to come back and i'm just like it reminds me of just how powerful this disease is like you were just and this happened to me too and you know i'm not trying to project anything but i was just in the darkest depths of hell and then somebody tells me like i should probably go to a meeting and i'm like yeah i'm busy that night right but it's i do it all the
Speaker 2time it's so cunning baffling and powerful cunning baffling powerful and it's progressive i think there's a lot of people that need to keep in mind that if it's bad in your 20s it's worse in your 30s harder in your 40s and it just gets progressively worse and i've also been told i'm i'm so fortunate that as of today i have had no relapses since i got sober but i've been told it gets worse when you go out like the next time it it's never it's it just it got i'll leave it at that it gets worse and i'm a proponent of that
Speaker 1like i'm uh i'm an example of that it does you know you try new drugs uh i never thought you know benzos were never my thing and i was getting too high on stimulants so i was like oh this benzo thing seems interesting i need to control my state again because my anxiety if you've ever done stimulants your anxiety is just like through the roof you're like i need to balance this and then it becomes this you become this like doctor right and that's what happened it's like every day i was like buying yeah yeah a chemist yeah exactly um and then my whole thing was i got on the dark web and like all it was just it was bad i was getting drugs shipped to my house uh but yeah i can confirm that i'm not a drug addict i'm not a drug addict but yeah i can confirm that it does it does get worse and i'm you know i'm lucky i'm not dead right so but yeah life is good today not to get not to get too dark but it's it is serious there is a lot of you know darkness that's just it yeah and i think that that's it's funny it's serious it's
Speaker 2dark it's all of those things but when you actually walk into a room like like the rooms that we're a part of what is it we're not a glum lot like it's just like it's that there's such in sobriety and i think that that's one of the things i just really want to emphasize um fun and
Speaker 1recovery is a good one yeah you know a lot of people come in the wedding thing is a big one how am i going to drink on this day or that day but how do you have fun in recovery oh um fitness
Speaker 2is a great thing that i really throw myself into um fun i find work fun um i think what the biggest thing for me though is is i am now a present aunt daughter girlfriend like you list you name it like i'm a present i'm like actively involved in my relationships i have like i have a new group of friends they're all also sober like they that is what i do for fun it's i go out for mocktails a lot because i still i love the restaurant scene i love that kind of the buzz around the atmosphere like i'm not the person that couldn't look at a bar for you know a year like i i can actively go into those settings and feel comfortable um so that part of my life is huge for me it's it's my relationships i i have fun no matter what i am doing whether it's a cottage whether it's um again something just by myself running fitness whatever it may be i'm able to find joy in it because i don't have this
Speaker 1weight of alcohol on me anymore yeah yeah it's like uh yeah you you're not a slave anymore right yeah that's perfect it's like the the chain analogy the ball and change everywhere you go the weight of that is exhausting you're uh yeah and then you get sober and there's this freedom and you have all this free time and you're like i don't know what to do now and idle time is is
Speaker 2nerve-wracking and i love that you mentioned the walks i go on what i call mocking walks where i have a team spirits and i just drink away and i and i or a wake water or something and i go for a walk and that's kind of my meditation i think it's a good way you put it um to clear up that that free time that i have now love it it's a beautiful thing
Speaker 1that's awesome i'm gonna ask you some quick questions and then um just a few but say i guess the first thing that comes to your mind um what's i get myself in trouble i'm like i'm ready they're not they're not like they won't get you in trouble maybe they will um it's funny sorry quickly i was on another podcast and the the girl that was doing it did a similar thing and the first thing i said
Speaker 2it was like oh don't judge me i'm sick because i was just thinking the same thing by the way i am
Speaker 1my first thought is not the best uh what's your favorite non-alcoholic cocktail uh team spirits what flavor oh our paloma oh okay paloma yeah awesome yeah i like the the moscow mule uh just
Speaker 2because i like ginger oh do you know yeah i love it um what's the first thing you do in the morning what's your morning routine uh first the first thing i do is check my phone but i'm gonna change that now i'm gonna change that that was my like a key takeaway from this i'll hold you to it but then it's the gratitude piece like i open my eyes i'm like yeah thanks got up today i love it
Speaker 1i love it what's a book or a resource that changed your life now the big book yeah nice i'm just thinking about what to do with that after but i agree yeah let me know every time i read it it's just it's like was this always in here i've been reading for 10 years and i'm like i've never read this passage in my life one one that's coming up to mind right now and i'll just say it because i love it is like uh there's a story at the back that the guy was a doctor and he was um using narcotics to like kind of manage his own thing and you know you come in and a lot of people are like we only talk about alcohol and stuff like that and then i look at that i'm like you know a lot of people were using sedatives and drugs like no i belong here right and it's true we you do belong it's all the same shit same shit it's just the way we use it but he talks about using up his right to chemical peace of mind that that line right there i just that this last time that spoke to me so
Speaker 2loud isn't that funny it was always there yeah it was always there the book did not change but there's different versions you changed yeah i love that we don't talk about that new version
Speaker 1i haven't read it yet actually but um i don't like change it was fine the way it was that's a whole other issue that we'll get to on the next episode yeah anthony's gripes with the world man shakes fist oh man that's awesome i had so much fun where can we find you jordan um i think that i'm like here's my address and i'm gonna i'll link it in the show i think that the best way to connect
Speaker 2should be um on instagram either at jordan quinstagram or uh at drink team spirits love it
Speaker 1yeah that's awesome thank you so much i had a lot of fun today so much fun we're the universe brings people together and you know i think we're a lot alike so i appreciate that i need to i need the reminder that uh there's people like me and um you know i'm not saying that you're sick but we think very similar and uh it's just nice to know that i'm not alone you know and you know
Speaker 8you're not alone either right so awesome thank you thanks for listening please help us grow the channel and like share and subscribe for more content the discussions and stories shared on this podcast are for informational and motivational purposes only this content is not a substitute for professional medical advice addiction treatment or therapy if you or someone you know is struggling with addiction please consult a licensed physician addiction specialist or mental health professional you are no longer alone
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