One of the best ways to get through temptation...

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:06][music] [music] [music] It is June the 1st, 2026 and I hope everybody had a wonderful day so far today. I hope everybody had a great sober weekend this past weekend as well.

[00:00:29]I cannot tell you guys how many times I have messed up doing today's intro. I am so glad that this one worked out right.

[00:00:35]If I can just continue to do this correctly, I can get the intro done at least. I keep messing up and saying May.

[00:00:42]And you know, when I was a kid, uh when I was in school, you know, we always had to write the uh our name in the right hand corner, the date, and then we had to write our teacher's name or whatever up there as well. And um you know every time it would be a new month it would take me at least a couple of days until I could you know because I kept writing the month before over and over and over again. And the same thing would happen to me whenever it was a new year too.

[00:01:06]You know if we're going from 2025 to 2026 the whole month of January I would keep writing the wrong date in there and I have to scratch it out. Just I have always had a problem with that. But anyway, I'm just glad that I got today's intro right now at least. Uh it's been a uh pretty nice day here in South Carolina. We were supposed to have rain all day today and it has not rained thankfully. Uh we have had enough rain at this point now to last us the rest of the month. And I say that now, but I'll take that back in a couple of weeks when we haven't had rain, but like [clears throat] I said, we've had enough for a little bit. And the thing is too is we've had like downpours. It hasn't just been like a nice even rain. It's been like just pouring down. you know, it it rains for like, you know, a solid hour of just the rain's coming down super duper hard and then it'll stop.

[00:01:55]But everything just gets completely soaked. You know, a bunch of stuff gets washed out. It makes a huge mess. We have so much sand that's washed out from our backyard from all of our animals live up there, you know, cuz the animals always trample on the ground and they kill the grass or whatever plants that are back there. And since they're at higher elevation than my backyard, every time that it rains, all that sand, well, not all of it, of course, but a bunch of that sand from the backyard washes into my backyard, you know, that's fenced in back there where my dogs hang out at.

[00:02:24]And I have got so much sand back there that I've got to try to get out of it.

[00:02:28]It's like really starting to uh fill up with sand at this point now. I probably got just from this past week, probably five, six inches of sand that got into my backyard. It's going to be a mess to clean up. But anyway, I'll get to it at some point. What I want to talk about today, um, oh, really quick before I dive into today's video, I did want to apologize for not being here yesterday, guys. I woke up yesterday morning with a really bad stomach ache. Um, I think my pancreas was irritated yesterday. Uh, I didn't do anything the day before. It's not like I ate anything crazy. Um, the I just don't I don't know. I can't remember eating anything that would have done that. Uh it just happens sometimes and like I said yesterday morning I woke up uh my stomach hurt and um I just was very very very tired yesterday and when my stomach hurts like that all I want to do is just lay in the bed and sleep all day. There was no way I was going to be able to do a video and if I did sit down and do a video yesterday it would have been garbage. I just would have not been able to concentrate.

[00:03:29]It it just wouldn't have been good. So, I I needed to take the day off. And like I said, I slept the whole entire day, all day long. My wife uh goes out in the uh evening to feed her animals. I don't know, on Sundays, Saturdays and Sundays, she goes out a little bit later. Um but, you know, she went out to start feeding and I was already asleep and uh my [clears throat] wife kept coming in to check on me because I was sleeping so hard. She said I was laying in the bed.

[00:03:54]I had my mouth hanging wide open. I was passed out. I I just did not feel good yesterday. But anyway, guys, once again, I'm sorry. It's just one of those things. And um I I hope that it doesn't happen anytime soon again. Uh but we're I'm here today doing a video. And uh let's go ahead and dive into today's video. Talk about today has to do with finding that place.

[00:04:20]And you'll understand what I'm talking about as I start to dive into today's video. And what I mean by that place is just that place of feeling content, that place of comfort, and that place of feeling just like you belong, like nothing is wrong, like nothing's missing, like everything is the way it's supposed to be, where you can sit down, get comfortable, relax, and and just enjoy yourself for the afternoon or the evening. You know, when you get off of work, uh, like a day like today, you know, you go your whole day, you get stressed out at work, your boss gets on your case, you know, the other people that you work with get on your nerves for whatever reason. You know, maybe you got into a a fender bender on your way home. uh you know, maybe you got held up at work late, you know, whatever it was.

[00:05:07]Maybe you just had a bad day at work or maybe you're getting into an argument with your spouse, maybe your kids got into trouble today for something, whatever it is, and you're stressed out, you know, and that's one of the reasons that we go to reach for that bottle or we go to reach for that substance because we're having a bad day. We just want to be able to just let go and just be able to relax and, you know, just enjoy the rest of the day. We want to be able to forget about all of our problems. So, we want to be able to, like I said, feel comfortable in our own skin.

[00:05:38]And what I want to talk about today allows us to do that without going back to the bottle or without going back to that substance. Because we don't always have to have alcohol or a substance in order to be able to get comfortable, in order to be able to relax, in order to be able to forget about our problems, in order to be able to sit down and turn Netflix on, you know, on a Monday afternoon, late Monday evening or something and watch a movie and just be able to sit still. You know, you're not moving all around and getting fidgety and just can't sit still because you're nervous or you're anxious or you, like I said, you just had a really bad day and you just can't stop thinking about it.

[00:06:15]Like I said, I want to talk about that today because I think I have, you know, I don't know if it's a solid 100% solution every single time, but I think that this one's a good one that works 90% of the time. And what that is, guys, is just getting outside or maybe going to your gym or maybe you have a little uh treadmill in your house or a little home gym or something like that. What I mean is just working out a little bit. I think that is such an important tool for us to have in our toolbox for when we're trying to stay sober and like somebody like me, you know, I've got a lot of health problems. I've got two hernas um in my, you know, in my abdomen. I can't lift anything super heavy. I used to lift weights before, you know, well, years before I got into, you know, deep deep alcoholism or AUD. Um, in my 20s I used to lift and I lifted for years. Um, but all that stopped, you know, when I got really deep in my drinking, you know, I wasn't doing any kind of working out or anything like that. But, you know, now, like I said, I can't lift weights. It's what I would like to be able to do, but I can't. So, I have to be able to figure out ways to exercise without doing anything that could potentially make my hernas get worse or cause a serious problem where I have an entanglement in my intestines or something like that. And and guys, I I don't want to be gross or anything like that, but it can happen. And for those of you who don't know what a hernia is, it's where uh the muscle uh you know, kind of splits open. It can happen in your abdomen. And it can happen in like your um like in the crease of your legs.

[00:07:55]You can get hernas right there. Uh men can get them in their scrotum. Um but it's where your intestines uh poke through your body. Um you know, whatever the location is. And there's different names for different locations. What I have are umbilical hernas. So they're right where my belly button is. Um I've got an umbilical hernia and then like a post umbilical hernia or something like that. I don't remember the name of it.

[00:08:19]Uh, but it sits right above the other hernia. And when I've got a sites, when my belly is, you know, poked out and full of fluid fluid, I will have my hernia poking out this far. I mean, it pokes out far. I've spoken about this, but when I'm when I have a sites, I wear like XXL shirts because number one, I've got so much fluid, my belly so big, you know, I need to be able to have something I can move around in. But two, I have a hernia poking out and I'm trying my best to cover it up. It's embarrassing to walk around with this big thing that's poking out and right in the center of your belly, you know, and people look at it, you know? It's just the truth, guys. You know, I can't tell you how many times I was walking around somewhere and people were like looking and pointing at my belly like what in the world is going on with him? It was like I was hiding Pinocchio in my shirt or something. And I'm not, you know, I'm not being dramatic. I'm not making this into something more than what it is.

[00:09:15]That's just the honest to God truth, guys. And uh like I said, I can't lift anything heavy, but I can do other things. You know, I can go out for a walk and that's usually what I will do.

[00:09:26]I'm not saying that you have to get outside and exercise every single day.

[00:09:30]Not saying that at all. That's just impractical. Not everybody can get out and exercise every single day. But we can get out and exercise a couple times a week. Especially get outside and exercise if you're having a bad day, if you're really stressed out, you know, something's got you really angry.

[00:09:49]Something's got you just you feel like your head's about to explode. You're so mad when you get home. Or maybe don't even go straight home. Maybe go to your local park. And you know, a lot of towns have a park that has a track. You know, maybe you have one of those in your town. Go to your park before you go home and go for a walk. you know, maybe carry around with you a change of clothes wherever you go. I mean, how much space is it going to take up in your vehicle?

[00:10:14]If you have a little, you know, little grocery bag with a, you know, an extra pair of workout pants, a t-shirt, an extra pair of socks, and maybe some tennis shoes to work out in, you know, maybe if it's cold, you might need a a pullover hoodie or something like that in there, too. But you could keep that in your vehicle at all times. And if you're having a bad day and you need to go work out before you go home because you just need to get rid of all of I've I've spoken about this, but there's some things out there like uh Valyan root. There's CBD. Um I was going to say kavakava. I don't really recommend that one, but there's some natural herbs out there. Um uh what's the name? passion flour, uh, chamomile, um, chamomile is great. I speak about this all the time. I use chamomile personally on the nights when I just cannot go to sleep, which is always when I have a procedure the next day, guys. I always make chamomile tea and it always makes me go to sleep. It works so well for me, you know. So, you know, go for a nice walk when you get home from work or whatever if you're really thinking about having a drink.

[00:12:04]And I [clears throat] kind of got away from that that part of it all. But the point of this is is that if you've got that feeling like you just have to have a drink when you get off or you you've been thinking about drinking all day long, get off of work. Or if you've been off all day long, go for a walk, go to the gym, go exercise, and then spend the rest of your afternoon doing whatever it is that you want to do. For one, you're not going to feel so excited. you're not going to feel so angry. You're not going to be so stressed out. The exercise helps get rid of all of that stress. It helps relax you. It helps just makes you feel better. The point of today's video, guys, is that instead of, you know, if you've had a really bad day at work, or you've had a bad day just in general, and maybe you got into a fight with your girlfriend or boyfriend, your spouse, or you got into a fight with somebody, or just you just had a horrible day, instead of stopping by the liquor store on your way home, or instead of running to the grocery store to grab a 12-pack of beer, or instead of just walking to your refrigerator and grabbing a beer out of there, or a bottle of wine, or going to your liquor cabinet and getting a bottle out of there and and making yourself a drink or getting your bag out and and popping a pill in your mouth, whatever it is.

[00:13:23]If you've got that feeling like you just have to do that in order to relieve the stress, before you do that, go exercise.

[00:13:31]If you feel like you have just like there there's no other option, like you have had that bad of a day that you feel like you just got a drink today. That's the only thing that's going to work for you. Before you do that, which I hope that you don't, but before you even think about opening anything up or doing anything, try going for a walk first.

[00:13:53]If you don't feel good, try 10 minutes, 5 minutes, whatever works for you.

[00:14:01]just get outside or go hit your little workout out on your indoor gym or maybe your indoor treadmill or you know maybe grab a couple of weights and do some dumbbell curls for a while or something like that. Get on your roller blades if you haven't go for a rollerblade or a bicycle ride or anything. Get on a pull-up bar and do some pull-ups.

[00:14:22]Whatever it is, my point is is that before you act on that thought, you know, if it's just driving you nuts and you cannot stop thinking about it, it's been on your mind since you woke up this morning and it has just filled your thoughts all day long and you feel like there's just no other way but to go and to drink or to use. Like I said, try to exercise a little bit first. You know, one big thing about this is guys is that nothing lasts forever to begin with.

[00:14:48]Nothing. Absolutely nothing lasts forever. And those feelings like you want to drink, they are the exact same.

[00:14:55]They're not going to last forever either, you know. So, just giving it a little bit of time most of the time will make it to where, you know, we we get some relief where we don't feel like we just absolutely have to. And then on top of it, the exercise, it just really helps to de-stress. It helps get rid of that anxiety. And not just that, it also helps to make us just tired. It wears us down. [snorts] So when you are done for the day and you finally sit down on your couch or lay down in your bed, whatever it is, you feel good about it. You feel comfortable and you're tired. You don't feel like you have to go do something.

[00:15:33]You know, [snorts] one of the things about when I was an active addiction is I just never could sit still. I just could not sit still. I had to always be doing something. And drinking was that something for me. Had I found something to fill that gap, to fill my time, something that I really could pour myself into, it would have helped. But the problem is is that I had gotten so deep into my addiction that that became my entire life. I stopped doing anything else other than drinking. I mean, that was pretty much all I did at one point.

[00:16:06]Towards the end of my drinking, I was waking up in the morning and getting wasted drunk. From the time I woke up until the time I passed out in the middle of the day, I'd wake up, I'd drink, get wasted drunk again, pass out, and I'd do it all over again. The next day, I was only awake for a couple hours at a time until I passed back out again.

[00:16:23]And then I just would wake back up and do it all over again. It was just rinse and repeat every single day. And I couldn't break myself out of the cycle.

[00:16:31]If you have broken yourself out of that cycle of addiction and if you have gotten any amount of sobriety under your belt, if you just have, you know, 12 hours of sobriety right now, you know, first of all, if you haven't gotten sober yet and this is something that you're thinking about doing or something that you're trying to do for the first time today, please go speak with the doctor first before you do this.

[00:16:51]Quitting alcohol or benzoazipines abruptly can actually be life-threatening. Please be safe. You know, the whole point of this is to make our lives better.

[00:17:01]You know, we want to improve our lives, not lose our lives in the process. So, just speak with a doctor. And I know how scary it is. I know how bad that you feel. You don't want to tell the doctor all this stuff. You feel like they're going to judge you. I totally get it.

[00:17:15]But they're not. And the thing is, guys, if you've spoken with the doctor, and like I said, you have any amount of sobriety under your belt right now.

[00:17:22]Instead of running right back to that bottle or running right back to that substance, running right back to that bottle of pills or that bag of whatever it may be or running back to the gambling all over again or pornography or shopping or whatever it is, like I said, try exercising first and see if that doesn't help because I really do think that you will be surprised at how much better that you will feel after you've gotten out and done something as simple as just going for a walk. I know for myself that going on a walk has helped me so many times. [snorts] You know, anytime that my wife and I are having a disagreement about something, I've spoken about this, but you know, instead of sticking around and and arguing with her, I can tell when things are starting to get to that place where somebody's getting angry. You know, whether that be myself or my wife, you know, one of us is starting to get to that point where we're about to raise our voices or, you know, whatever. We're about to start arguing. I will go ahead before it goes any further and I will just go grab my keys. I will go grab something to drink out of the refrigerator and I will hop in my van and I will just go for a ride for 15 minutes, 30 minutes and then I'll come back home. It gives me enough time to just chill out. It gives my wife enough time to chill out. Both of us get an opportunity just to let the steam go, relax just a little bit, and then we can come back together and see if we can't resolve whatever the problem is. Well, the same thing works with our drinking or using as well. You know, we get super angry, we get super anxious, we get really aggravated about something and the first thing that I know I think about when I get like that is, man, I just want to have a drink and just forget about this. But instead, you know, sometimes I'll go outside and go for a walk or sometimes I'll just go grab my tools out and I'll go work on a project that I've been working on here recently or what I just find something to do. But just going for something as simple as a walk can be such a great tool to have. And it and like I said, it doesn't necessarily have to be walking.

[00:19:21]It could be whatever kind of exercise that you enjoy doing. Just something where you get out. It's especially getting outdoors is such a great thing to do. If if it's, you know, the sun's out, you're getting vitamin D, you're getting the rays from the sun, you're just going to feel better being outside, breathing in that fresh air, getting those nice sun rays on you. There's just something about getting out to the sun, too. It just makes you feel better. It really truly does. But, you know, before you make that decision to just hop off and go back and drink again, go for a quick walk. Go do a quick little exercise. Go play tennis for 30 minutes.

[00:19:59]You know, whatever it is that you enjoy doing. Like I said, a bike ride. Just something. go exercise for a little bit and then come back and I can almost guarantee you that you will not have the same feeling that you did before you went and did that. Yeah, you might still like want to have a drink. You might still have it on your mind a little bit, but it's not going to be as intense and it's a lot more manageable and easier to get through that hump than it is if you didn't. If you're just sitting there twiddling your thumbs and just hoping that, you know, pure uh uh what's it called? Um pure willpower is gonna, you know, help you get through this. You know, willpower is great. Yeah, absolutely. But we can use tools, too.

[00:20:45]We can use other things to help us get through these periods when it's really tough, like when we're having a really bad day. Just something as simple as a 15minut, 30 minute walk, maybe even an hour. You know, like I said, throw some earbuds in. Listen to your favorite podcast. If you don't have a favorite podcast, just look something up. Just go on Spotify and type in something that you're interested in and see if you can't find something. Type something in YouTube. Listen to a video as you go for a 15, 30 minute walk or maybe a jog.

[00:21:13]Like I said, ride your bike.

[00:21:16]Go climb a tree. I don't know. Just get outside or go into your, you know, spare bedroom and hop on your treadmill if that's what you prefer to do. But go work out for just a little bit. And if you're sick right now and you're stuck laying in the bed, I am so very sorry. I totally understand. If you can get somebody to maybe give you a hand, maybe get up, go for a quick little walk, maybe just a couple of minutes or maybe just an opportunity to just go sit outside for a little bit. That's [clears throat] another thing I used to do back when I, you know, right after I got out of the hospital. Um, the first time, uh, you know, there was I was stuck laying in the bed. Actually, the second time, I'm sorry. I was stuck laying in the bed, you know, for months.

[00:21:56]I couldn't get up. I couldn't do anything.

[00:21:59]But slowly but surely, I started getting up and just going outside and sitting on my porch. And just getting outside and sitting on the porch for an hour every day and getting the sun rays. You know, I would take my shirt off and sit in the sun. It just made me feel so much better and lighter. And like I said, guys, there's other things too. You know, maybe go for a walk and, you know, maybe you could try something like I said like CBD or something like that. you know, something just to bring your anxiety down just a little bit. If that works for you, I've tried it. It doesn't doesn't work for me, but it might work for you. You could always give it a try.

[00:22:32]Uh, like I said, there's valyan root.

[00:22:34]You know, proceed with that with caution and with anything I'm talking about, too. Speak with your doctor before you go taking any of these herbs or anything because they can interact with our medications. And that, you know, you just want to check with the doctor first to make sure that it's okay for you to take those. you know, if you might have some liver problems or something and you know, one of the herbs that you might want to take might not be good for your liver. So, you know, just double check with your doctor first. But, you know, like I said, there's other herbs out there that you could potentially try.

[00:23:05]Um, there's lemon balm. Um, like I said, there's uh valyan root, there's passion flour, uh just there are so many things.

[00:23:15]Do some research. Go out there and and give these things a try. You know, you never know. It might be complete bunk and and doesn't work for you at all or it might be, you know, an awesome tool to add to your kit as well. You know, it's not something that you want to do every single day, but if you're having a horrible day and you just need a little extra something just to help relax you a little bit, that might be the key. Um, you know, we don't want to trade one addiction for another and all of a sudden we're using Valyan root twice, three times a day every single day. That cannot be good for you. But, you know, if you use Valyan root once a month when you're having a really hard time and you can't get to sleep and you're just completely stressed out and you need something just to help you get over that hump, that might be the thing for you.

[00:23:59]But I think exercise is the first method of attack that we should try. And it's free. It doesn't cost any money. You can walk right outside of your apartment right now if you live in a decent area and just go for a quick brisk walk and come back home. And like I said, that might be just what you need to get your mind off of it. And most of the time it's just it's just a couple of minutes anyway. You know, we we just cannot stop thinking about it. And we need just 15 minutes to to get our heads away from that, to be able to stop thinking about it and to de-stress ourselves just a little bit so that we're not thinking about it so strong. And like I said, then we can actually make the decision to say no and move on with our day. And I'll tell you what, when you wake up tomorrow morning, you are going to be so glad that you decided to go for that walk or to go for that. There is a rabbit that just came out over here, guys.

[00:25:00]Let me see if I can get this guy.

[00:25:14]I don't know if y'all can see that rat.

[00:25:16]Oh, he just took off.

[00:25:19]I don't know if I had the camera pointed in the right angle or not. Um, but anyway, I thought I'd try to catch that really fast. that rabbit just came out and just stopped and was just standing there staring at me or sitting there staring at me. Either way, like I said, guys, just going out for a quick little exercise, I think, can be a great tool to add to our toolbox. And the next time that you've got that feeling like you just have to have a drink, try going and doing a quick little exercise and see if that doesn't help get you over that hump. Cuz most of the time, that's all we need. Just a little just a little push to get us to that place. Because like I said, you're going to wake up tomorrow morning and you are going to be so glad that you did not drink. You know, nobody wakes up the next day and looks back and goes, "Man, I wish I drank last night." It never works that way. We wake up the next morning and go, "Man, I am so glad that I refrained and I did not go back and now I've got the whole day ahead of me and I don't feel horrible and I don't have all that guilt and shame on my shoulders again today.

[00:26:19]One more day, guys. I know that you all can do it. Let's get through one more day. We'll worry about tomorrow when it gets here. Like I said, if you got that feeling today, guys, if you're having a bad day, if you can't stop thinking about drinking or using or whatever it is that you're addicted to, try exercising for just a few minutes. Like I said, most of the time we just need to get through that little brief period of time and we'll just stop thinking about it. The thoughts go away. Like I said, nothing lasts forever. And just a couple of minutes of walking most of the time is all it takes for us to be able to get past that thought. Let's get through one more day, guys. We'll worry about tomorrow when it gets here. Until tomorrow, I will see you all then. I hope you guys have a wonderful rest of your night. I love you guys so much.

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