Austin Cooper didn’t want to live anymore.
Like many people suffering from addiction, he was at the too-scared-to-live, too-scared-to-die crossroads. He’d forgotten that he had people who loved him.
When those loved ones did an intervention, he knew he had a choice: to live or die.
He chose to live…and in less than five years, he’s become an outspoken recovery advocate. It all started when he discovered some inspiring quotes that changed his life. He thought maybe those quotes could help other people and so he started an Instagram account filled with them.
The account grew so rapidly that he soon found himself on 20/20 and working as a coach.
Now he and I have partnered on The Light Hustler Evolution, an accountability group that includes weekly assignments, webinars, coaching sheets, a book club and more. We talk all about it in this interview and explain that if you join before January 1st, you can get locked in at a 20% off discount. While this group will eventually be invitation and nomination only, for now it is open to anyone who wants to join. There is no obligation to stay in the group if you don’t want to so if you’ve ever struggled to meet a goal or want to interact with some cool folks (charter members include Golden Globe award winning producer Scott Steindorff, Girl Walks Out of a Bar author Lisa Smith and recovery advocate Ryan Hampton), we encourage you to join now. You can find out more about the group here and join here.
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews (make sure you Like my page so you can stay up on when they happen).
Austin Eubanks shouldn't be alive. And he certainly shouldn't be thriving.
An injured survivor of the Columbine High School shooting, Eubanks was shot twice as he watched his best friend get murdered in front of his eyes. Afterwards, a phalanx of doctors prescribed him everything he wanted and more, until he found himself on a drug cocktail that included not only stimulants but also benzos and opiates. Marijuana and harder drugs followed soon after.
A few trips to rehab didn't do much to slow his roll but, after coming to in jail in April of 2011 and learning that no one he knew was willing to take his call let alone bail him out, he made the choice that saved his life and entered treatment at the Stout Street Foundation for over a year. He has been sober ever since and is now a world-renowned speaker on the topic of recovery, COO of Foundry Treatment Center, on the board of directors for Stout Street Foundation and a member of the founding board of directors for 5280 High School.
In this episode, Eubanks shares the secret to working through trauma, why he never used to tell people he went to Columbine and how he can prove that addiction doesn't always have a genetic component, among many other topics.
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews (make sure you Like my page so you can stay up on when they happen).
Jodi Miller is what they call bust-a-gut funny (do they call it that or did I make that up?).
She's also, as they say, blue. So if you're prone to blushing, you may want to skip this one.
If, on the other hand, you don't shock easily and also enjoy laughing, you'll love this one.
Jodi has performed on The Tonight Show and America's Got Talent. She's also written on a Cinemax series and been a recurring guest commentator on Showbiz Tonight.
In this episode, she tells a night of drunken abandon...and a wardrobe malfunction. She performed it at my storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
For more about the workshops I lead where I teach people to take their most disturbing or interesting experiences and make them into stories, click here. For more information about my online writing classes and coaching programs, click here.
Filmmaker and Facing Addiction co-founder Greg Williams puts most recovery advocates to shame. And he’s one of the most humble people you’ll ever meet.
Here’s how the story goes: Williams got sober and was doing just a basic sober job when he started meeting people in the recovery advocacy movement. He was earning a grad degree at NYU that involved studying both advocacy and filmmaking and so he did the next logical thing: make a movie about these impressive folks he was meeting. After taking out a loan and then doing the Indie Go Go thing, Williams was able to present to the world The Anonymous People—the definitive film about recovering out loud.
Because there’s no rest for the weary, he then co-founded Facing Addiction, the non-profit responsible for the 2015 march in Washington where Steven Tyler, Sheryl Crow and Joe Walsh performed. Since then, he’s completed another film (Generation Found) and embarked on a handful of other equally impressive projects.
In this episode, Williams talks about where he got the faith to take out a $70,000 loan for a project he had no idea would pay off, why we need more recovery advocates than we already have and what it really means to recover out loud, among many other topics.
We also talked about how YOU can get involved. For information on that, click here. For a quiz on whether or not you’re ready to tell your story, click here.
Travis Jones is a video editor by day and a storyteller by night. He has performed at The Moth and various other shows around LA.
In this episode, he tells arguably the funniest story I've ever heard about getting arrested (and I've heard a lot). Suffice it to say that there are some fraternity brothers who surely regretted every setting eyes on him.
He told the story at my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
Wes Geer may have once looked like an unlikely recovery hero.
The founding member of the band Hed PE, Geer went down the path familiar to many young, wild and crazy dudes in bands...all of which culminated in a trip to rehab in 2004. After finding sobriety in 2007, Geer was asked to join the legendary band Korn and he played with them for years. But just being a rock star wasn't enough for Geer and so, in 2013, he formed Rock to Recovery.
Rock to Recovery's mission sounds almost impossible: a bunch of musicians go into treatment centers and teach the (non-musical) residents there to play. Together, they write a song. Yes, non-musicians write and play a song. Does it work? Well, Rock to Recovery currently does about 400 sessions a month—at both non-profit organizations and high-end treatment centers. They also put on shows, where people like Billy Idol, Fred Durst and Mark McGrath play.
In this episode, Wes and I talk about the manifestation meditation that led to his greatest epiphany, whether or not he's always been spiritual and the fact that aliens may have been tuning in on our conversation, among many other topics.
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)
Brian Cuban is the ideal recovery advocate.
Sober since 2007, the attorney and best-selling author of two books about his recovery is willing to talk about something very few men are: struggling with bulimia and anorexia. And not only is he willing to talk about it—he's willing to delve into how he developed his eating disorder (he writes touchingly about being teased as a kid in this compelling easy for CNN).
The brother of Dallas Mavericks owner and Shark Tank star Mark Cuban, Brian was a practicing attorney whose addiction had caused him to lose all his clients before his brothers intervened on him. Yet it was years before he was actually ready to seek help—when his now-wife discovered his secrets and was ready to leave.
In this interview, we talk about the role family plays in addiction, lying to your psychiatrist and moving full-time into recovery advocacy, among other things.
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)
Today's episode features a very special guest: me. Since I'm releasing episodes that contain stories from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, and I perform in this show, sometimes these episodes are going to feature—well, me. (By the by, the show, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.)
The story I tell here is about how, the first time I got drunk, I confessed my love to the big man on campus. What happened next shocked even unshockable me.
It’s one thing to be open about your addiction when you’re a writer in LA—aka a person most people assume WOULD be an addict.
It’s quite another when you’re a high-powered attorney.
But Lisa F. Smith is a trail blazer. The author of the hit book Girl Walks Out of a Bar is also probably my favorite person I’ve never met. (Side note: I’ve slept in her bed despite not having met her; it’s not as sexy as it sounds but that’s something we get into in the interview.)
What’s fascinating about Lisa’s story is that she was so high functioning that the day she got sober was just like any other day where she was headed to work—although instead of going to work, she went to detox.
In this episode, we discuss her fear around coming out, the way addiction can start with food and how she feels when men in AA are called sexual harassers, among many other topics.
(BTW, Lisa is featured in my Guide to Becoming a Light Hustler, where I profiled the people I know who have taken their darkest experiences to share their light and in some cases built careers off of it. If you want to be one of them, be sure to get the free guide here: www.annadavidcoaching.com.)
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)
Today's episode features an absolute doll of a human being: Greg Behrendt.
In it, Greg tells a story from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
His story captures, perhaps better than anyone ever has before, exactly why being sober is so uncomfortable.
When he's not making Hammer(ed) Time audiences nearly pee their pants with laughter, Greg is performing (both as a comedian and musician) or writing (oh yeah; he's the guy who co-wrote the seminal book He's Just Not That Into You, among other bestselling books).
Taryn Strong was sitting atop the largest resource for women in recovery and keeping a secret: namely that in between hosting retreats in places like Bali, where she and her mom Dawn Nickel were getting women to open up about their recovery, she was doing coke. She'd been honest about her past up until then—about self-harm, about co-dependency, about a drug phase when she was younger—but coming clean about the fact that she was also an addict required a new level of bravery.
In this episode, Taryn talks about the SheRecovers brand—the retreats they host, the malas they sell, the coaches the certify—and so much more.
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)
Lindsay Adams is no joke.
Yes, she tells jokes but the seriously funny comic also got sober when she was a teenager after surviving—well, some pretty horrific shit. And she bakes! She has a baking show on something I'm too old to understand called Twitch.
In this episode, Lindsay tells a story at my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
When she's not charming Hammer(ed) Time audiences, Lindsay is performing at the Laugh Factory, Improv and Comedy Store, being featured in the TBS Just for Laughs comedy festival, appearing on Oxygen and Fox or performing with Mortified in LA, Chicago, and San Francisco. She also produces Heat: A Comedy Show and Full Moon: A Gathering of Comedy and the Metaphysical.
Angela Gulner is not your typical actress.
For one, the Harvard grad is a multi-talent, having created and starred in the binge-worthy series Binge. Secondly, Binge is about something most people don't talk about—that is, binging and purging. And then there's the fact that Gulner is incredibly open about the fact that this series is based on her life.
While I'm not normally a plot summary gal, the plot of the Binge pilot is too hilarious not to spell out. It opens with Gulner waking up hung over in her car and then agreeing to have sex with the guy she clearly hooked up with the night before so long as he gives her his coffee mug. Then we move into a storyline about how she's blackmailed into checking into treatment for her eating disorder by the sex addict she met when blacked out. The episode ends with her destroying her best friend's dinner party for her future mother-in-law by announcing that the man she had sex with that morning for the coffee mug is the future mother-in-law's boyfriend.
In this episode, my new girl crush and I discuss just when the roots of her eating disorder started (spoiler alert: the age of six!), what parents can do to prevent their kids from developing issues like this and why she went the indie route when it came to getting Binge made, among many others topics.
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)
Today's episode features the very funny Jessica Sele from one of my live storytelling shows, Hammer(ed) Time.
In her own words, Jessica Sele is a "deeply weird human being and stand-up comedian." She's performed at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival and SF Sketchfest and was described by Bitch Magazine as a “hilarious and talented queer woman.”
The story she tells is a basic how-to if you want to know how to get wasted and shame everyone in the vicinity.
Therapist Kelley Kitley could have kept quiet about her own past.
She had a thriving practice—first in Santa Monica, then in Chicago—and didn't need her clients knowing about her own experiences.
Instead she decided to spill all...in her memoir, My Self: A Story of Survival, a memoir which details her experiences being sexually abused, developing an eating disorder and then struggling with addiction (she's now sober four-and-a-half years).
In this episode, she talks about how her clients reacted to her own confessions, what happened when she told her father she was being abused and why "Get it Girl" is her motto, among many other topics.
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that we did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)
Today's episode features a very special guest: me. Since I'm releasing episodes that contain stories from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, and I perform in this show, sometimes these episodes are going to feature—well, me. (By the by, the show, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.)
The story I tell here is about how I went from chain-smoking derelict to sanctimonious ex-smoker who only tried to quit smoking in the first place because a guy I liked went to a certain Nicotine Anonymous meeting.
(And if you smoke, just know I'm not talking about you!)
Garrett Hade is a guy who usually sits behind the scenes. As the right (and left) hand(s) of prominent recovery advocate Ryan Hampton, Garrett is the one by Ryan's side as they travel across the country interviewing people in recovery, visiting jails and in short doing everything they possibly can to change the way addiction is perceived and treated.
Though Garrett and I have become closer over the past year, getting him in front of a camera and mic was a serious treat. In this episode, we talked about the struggle he had about publicly sharing about his addiction and recovery and what he's learned as a result, among many other topics.
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did with Jesse, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)
Today’s episode features a truly unique soul: author Bucky Sinister.
In it, Bucky tells a story from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
His story is about an event not everyone has the opportunity to reminisce about: the 30th anniversary of his first intervention. (Spoiler alert: don't take acid beforehand.)
Bucky is the author of not only the hilarious addiction novel Black Hole but also four books of poetry and two self-help books, including Get Up: A 12-Step Guide to Recovery for Misfits, Freaks, and Weirdos. His journalism, film reviews, and short stories have appeared on The Rumpus, The Bold Italic, and a number of other online and print publications.
Today's episode features one of my very favorite people I know: comedian and writer Mary Patterson Broome.
In it, MP tells a story from our live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
Her story is about something most people in recovery are all too familiar with: those friends from the drinking days who question whether or not she really needs to be sober.
When she's not entertaining the rest of us with tales of her former debauchery, MP is the Editor-in-Chief of AfterParty Magazine and RehabReviews and tours the country performing comedy. She has written for Women's Health and for AOL Originals’ Emmy-nominated Making a Scene with James Franco.
What John Clint Mabry has endured would have destroyed most people.
John Clint Mabry is not most people.
During a tragic car accident when he was 18, he lost both a friend and his leg. The former class clown then got addicted to opiates and thought he was living a terribly exciting life—appearing in movies like Superbad and partying at the Playboy Mansion. Then he lost his brother to addiction and spiraled down that road himself...until he couldn't any longer.
Now a sober counselor, motivational speaker and author (lucky for me, I get to be the one helping him bring his story to the world, through my coaching program for writers!), Mabry serves as an example that with the right attitude, we can overcome anything.
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)
Today's episode features a woman everyone loves: Sara Benincasa.
Benincasa is a screenwriter, recovering stand-up comedian and the author of "Real Artists Have Day Jobs" (William Morrow 2016); "DC Trip" (Adaptive 2015); "Great" (HarperTeen 2014); and "Agorafabulous!: Dispatches From My Bedroom" (William Morrow 2012). She also wrote a very silly joke book called "Tim Kaine Is Your Nice Dad." In 2017, she adapted "DC Trip" as a screenplay with Bona Fide, Gunpowder & Sky, and Adaptive Studios. She also adapted "Agorafabulous" as a pilot for TV with Academy Award-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody. Born and raised in New Jersey, she attended Emerson College, graduated from Warren Wilson College, and got a masters degree in teaching from Teachers College at Columbia University. She lives in Los Angeles and she's working on an untitled novel for Adaptive Books.
She told this story at my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
It's about being in high school, going to Europe, getting homesick, having a panic attack and ruining the day for her popular nemesis.
Carly Benson is a sober wundekind. The voice behind the mega popular website Miracles Are Brewing, Benson is a yoga instructor, coach, leader of a monthly group about intentional living, co-founder (with Kelly Fitzgerald) of the Bloom Club, co-host (also with Kelly) of the Regroup podcast, and all around spiritual badass. While she and I had never met before, we'd both admired one another from afar—and now, frankly, I want to do as much as I can with her. In this episode, we discuss realizing everything has to change, what it's like to have a sudden spiritual change and how to make your mess into your message, among many other topics.
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)
Today’s episode features an absolute doll of a human being: Greg Behrendt.
In it, Greg tells a story from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
His story veers from a night where he was wasted and suddenly realized he was hanging out with dudes who had submachine guns into the rage he feels over the way people order from Starbucks to a riff on pudding, all while managing to make commentary on what it’s like to be a sober man today.
When he’s not making Hammer(ed) Time audiences nearly pee their pants with laughter, Greg is performing (both as a comedian and musician) or writing (oh yeah; he’s the guy who co-wrote the seminal book He’s Just Not That Into You, among other bestselling books).
For more about the workshops I lead where I teach people to take their most disturbing or interesting experiences and make them into stories, click here. For more information about my online writing classes and coaching programs, click here.
Jesse Heffernan, the National Outreach and Empowerment Coordinator at Faces and Voices of Recovery, is a Certified Recovery Coach who's over 16 years sober.
I was lucky enough to speak to him about finding a toxic community based on similar "woundedness," wearing a wire to bust drug dealers, whether or not he's clean cut and if the word "addict" is good or bad, among many other things.
NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did with Jesse, which means that the audio isn’t as sharp as it is on regular episodes. Please bear with that! And please tune into my regular Facebook Live interviews, which take place at 4 pm PST on Tuesdays (unless I have a conflict, in which case I reschedule but announce the change on my page. Make sure you Like my page so stay up on the info!)
Today's episode features the person Louis CK named as one of the funniest female comedians of our time: Laura House.
In it, Laura tells a story from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time, which takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series.
Her story covers a 4th of July party she once attended that actually lasted three days and included lots of beer, nudity and an eventual police bust. Bonus: it also teaches you how to make a "hillbilly hot tub"!
When she's not entertaining the rest of us with tales of her former debauchery, Laura is writing on TV shows (including Mom and Samantha Who), teaching meditation or performing in her one-woman show, How to Hate Yourself.