Light Hustler: Making Your Mess Into Your Message

In this episode, Anna David speaks about how discovering the fact that recovery had its own language inspired her to focus her own work on the topic.

Recover Girl takes to the stage again, as I'm giving you another episode featuring 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. This episode features previous podcast guest Natasha Vargas-Cooper, a wondrous sprite who graduated Summa Cum Laude from UCLA with a double major in history and public policy and has been published in such places as The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine and GQ, among many others. Her book, Mad Men Unbuttoned, was praised as “a well-versed primer” by The New Yorker and “likely to become a trivia-lover’s bible” by The New York Times. Oh and in her spare time, she created the popular LA storytelling show Public School. In this story, she asks the question many may have pondered: what happens if you're "sober" but take Ambien? (Hint: it may involve texting your boss that you bet he looks good naked.)

Kelly Fitzgerald is probably the most successful sober blogger in the world. The voice behind The Sober Senorita, Fitzgerald launched to internet fame when she wrote a post about being sober a year, which The Huffington Post picked up and posted on its home page. Cut to the post going viral, being published in multiple languages and placing Fitzgerald in a position of authority on recovery. She's now been published on sites like Elite Daily, Ravishly and Thought Catalog, hosts her own podcast and offers a virtual coaching program. In this episode, we discuss being uncomfortable outing yourself as sober, what it is about her first blog post about sobriety that hit a nerve, being a member of my coaching program for writers and whether or not everything happens as it's meant to, among many other topics. NOTE: This episode is from a Facebook Live interview that I did with Kelly, 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

Freddy Negrete is inarguably one of the world's greatest legends in the tattoo world. The former Chicano gang member perfected the art of "prison" black and grey tattoos before going to work for fellow tattoo legends “Good Time” Charlie Cartwright and Jack Rudy in East LA. He logged time working with Ed Hardy (who, for the uninitiated, is a real guy and not just a t-shirt line) and now makes headlines when he tattoos famous folks like Henry Styles. Despite his current celebrity status, Negrete has hardly had an easy life: the son of a Jewish woman and a Mexican father, Negrete was pretty much orphaned when both his parents went to prison. He joined a gang, entered a life of crime, started going in and out of juvie halls and prison and, along the way, became a heroin addict. Now sober over a half decade, Negrete is the co-author of a memoir based on his life, Smile Now, Cry Later: Guns, Gangs and Tattoos: My Life in Black and Gray. In this episode, we talk about how gangs provided camaraderie, making tattoo gu

Recover Girl takes a turn this time, as I'm going to start releasing episodes that contain stories from my live storytelling show, Hammer(ed) Time. It takes place every other month in LA, has been an LA Weekly pick of the week and is being developed into a video series. This episode features previous podcast guest Eddie Pepitone, a national treasure to the part of the nation that knows him. This was the theme of The Bitter Buddha, the critically acclaimed documentary about his life, and is also occasionally a part of his stand-up act. As a comedian and actor, he’s been on WTF and Conan repeatedly, as well as on The Last Comic Standing, The Sarah Silverman Program, Happy Endings, Flight of the Concords, 2 Broke Girls, It’s Always Sunny and many more. In this story, he talks about "sculpting a winner" and great thinkers who believe we were never born, among other (hilarious) topics. For more about the workshops I lead where I teach people to take their most disturbing or interesting experiences and make them in

In this five-minute episode, Anna David talks about how new ideas occur to her every time she thinks she's shared everything she has to say about recovery.

Buddhist meditation teacher Dave Smith has been studying the Dharma since 1993 when a series of traumatic incidents (including the death of his sister and girlfriend) motivated him to seek help. Over the next decade, he lived a double life—going on meditation retreats while also living the high life as a touring musician. Now sober over 14 years, Smith has led retreats, mentored people one-on-one and given numerous Dharma talks (you can listen to some of them here). He’s also become an author, releasing Ethical Mindfulness in 2015 (he’s currently working on a follow up, which we chat about at length in this episode). In this episode, we discuss how to recognize trauma when it comes up, his feelings about no longer being a musician and why his writing career is only just beginning, among many other topics.

In this five-minute episode, Anna David discusses how she gently dipped her toe into the waters of writing about recovery—before ultimately submerging herself.

Writer Jenna Hutt always knew she had a story to tell. The Colorado-dwelling wife and mother of one had an inarguably interesting life and had been through struggles she knew could help other people: in the span of three years, her father committed suicide and her husband had a traumatic brain injury, all while she struggled with alcoholism. Hutt had always been a secret drinker—her very first drink was a bottle she chugged at home alone, when she was 12—and her secrets caught up with her when her husband discovered her suitcase full of empty bottles during a trip to see his family. Now sober over three years, Hutt is writing her story and it is my great pleasure to be able to have a front row seat during the process because she’s doing it in my coaching program. All this means that while we’ve been in email, phone and webinar contact over the past six months, this recording marks our first in-person meeting. In this episode, we discuss where being a control freak meets alcoholism and embracing the little voi

In this special five-minute episode of Recover Girl, Anna David discusses how she wanted to write a book her whole life—but didn't make any progress until she learned that writing worked just like recovery.

It seems crazy that comedian Mary Patterson Broome hasn't been on the podcast before. The Alabama-bred lady has performed stand-up comedy at clubs, colleges and many other places for over 11 years. She's also written for AOL Originals’ Emmy-nominated Making a Scene with James Franco and WE TV’s Sex Box. But most relevantly for me, she's the Editor-in-Chief at RehabReviews.com/AfterParty Magazine. Faithful listeners know this is a website I started and MP helped me run until I left in March (to take the helm at In Recovery Magazine) and MP took over. To say she's been my right hand is an understatement. MP's journey to sobriety has gone hand-in-hand with her journey to becoming a professional writer—a subject we get into in this episode. Listen and find out how the anonymous "Sarah" came to rule the roost of one of the biggest recovery sites out there.

Dr. Josh Lichtman answers a listener's question about whether or not you're guaranteed to become addicted to an addictive medication if you take it enough.

China Isler—ne, Kantner—is someone I've known for a while...since I was 10, as a matter of fact. This is because we went to the same grammar school and despite the fact that the place where I grew up was somewhat sophisticated and jaded, our school was often abuzz over the fact that rock star royalty—the daughter of Jefferson Starship's Paul Kantner and Grace Slick—was among us. Despite how China appeared—I remember her being bubbly and cool beyond belief—she had her first drink at two, was "uncomfortable" by four and was drinking regularly by 12. And so she found sobriety at an early age—in high school—and watched her life take off. Suddenly she was the youngest MTV DJ ever and discovering how much she loved acting. An acting career as well as a relapse followed—after which China took a look at her life and decided what she really wanted to do was a lot more spiritual than saying someone else's lines in front of a camera. And so she became...a pastor. No, it's not the typical path for the daughter of two roc

A listener was told by her sponsor that because she takes anti-depressants, she isn't actually sober. Dr. Josh Lichtman gives his take.

I'm going to have to be honest here: I'm very invested in Paul Fuhr's recovery—and it's not just because I am a selfless person. I've gotten to know Paul, you see, because he wrote me a fan email several years ago about this very podcast. How lovely was it? Well I'm a hardened soul and it made me cry.  But here's the really fabulous part: after that email, Paul wrote a story on spec for the site I was then editing. And it was brilliant. Cut to: Paul becoming AfterParty's most prolific writer. Every story he turned in examined a different aspect of recovery in a way that was wholly original, clever, and passionate. (Side note: because Paul is incredibly modest, he never told me until we recorded this very episode that he had a Masters in English and had worked as an editor. I had been patting myself on the back for years over having "discovered" him.) Our conversation did not disappoint. Please listen and learn how a brilliant guy with a wife, three kids, a career managing dozens of people found and then handl

A listener's psychiatrist diagnosed her as Bipolar 2. Then she found out the psychiatrist was wrong. What is Bipolar 2 and how is it different than regular old Bipolar 1?

Aussie entrepreneur James Swanwick has been an ESPN anchor on SportsCenter, is the author of ‘Insider Journalism Secrets’ and is the co-founder of international agency, Crocmedia. He has been a print or TV journalist for 20 years, writing for newspapers and magazines in the US, UK and Australia. These include Associated Press, Sky Sports, ESPN, WPLJ radio, Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Daily Telegraph, The Sun, Sky Movie Channel, Q104FM, Loaded magazine, Woman’s Day, The Courier-Mail and much more. He also sells the coolest blue-blocking glasses around, hosts an eponymously titled hit podcast and runs any number of other successful online ventures. But the reason I had him on the pod was to discuss his 30 Day No Alcohol Challenge, a program he developed after he decided to quit drinking because he was tired of “just existing in the world.” His program isn’t for alcoholics but for people like him—those who feel that drinking is preventing them from living the best lives they can. (Swanwick’s experience, by the

Psychiatrist Dr. Josh Lichtman answers the question: what the hell is a co-occurring disorder?

Brandon Novak shouldn’t be alive. The professional skateboarder, New York Times bestseller author and member of the Jackass crew has hit all the pit stops on the way to the bottom: homelessness, multiple trips to rehab, incarceration and the like. But somehow, some way, the 38-year-old from Baltimore had a moment of clarity on May 25, 2015 and nothing’s been the same since. The guy who once passed a UA in jail by using his cellmate’s urine has transitioned into a recovery evangelist, flying all over the country to help those struggling with addiction and get them into treatment. Just how serious is he about it? Well, he gives out his personal cell phone number (610-635-9092) and encourages anyone who thinks they need help to call it. When I interviewed Novak, the Baltimore native was visiting LA where he was making a series of appearances advocating for recovery. And how’s this for irony? The hotel room where we did the interview ended up a little bit thrashed but I was the one who thrashed it. To understand

In this episode of Recover Girl, Grammy Award-winning recording artist, Sirah, joins me for a brutally honest conversation about her disturbing, crazy, wonderful life of dysfunction, addiction, crime, and music.