I Have 12 Questions Podcast - Conversations About the Sober Life

A podcast about Trudging the Road to Happy Freaking Destiny! Interviews and random soliloquies where we laugh, cry, complain, explore, and learn. All are welcome, No exceptions. Including those who are not in recovery but perhaps know or love someone with addiction issues or just want to learn more. Along with experts and practitioners who help people work through addictions and behaviors they want to change. These conversations will span limitless topics and though will be through the lens of sobriety, are still universally human. Love, loss. grief, excitement, parenting, outside issues, purpose, God stuff, etc. In the words of the great Ted Lasso (by way of Walt Whitman), ”I want to be curious, not judgmental.” So, we’ll be talking to people who have found sobriety, recovery, perspective shifts regardless of their path. Radical acceptance and inclusivity of ourselves and everyone else. Happy trudging!

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Episodes

Friday May 05, 2023

Hello listener community! 
Our guest for this episode is Tony Grebmeier and I am excited and grateful to have him here!  He's a successful Co-Founder of ShipOffers, an author (Be Fulfilled Magazine and host of tools like journals and an app called BE.)  He was the Creator and Host of the The Tony G. show for years and now does The Real Stories Behind Success, where he weaves together insights on business and self-discovery.  And, of course, he is a person in recovery. 
He has a new book coming out which I hope he'll give us some inside scoop on today...we'll see what happens! His honesty, humility and humor makes for a great interview and has helped lots of people in business and in life.  I hope you enjoy listening to this conversation as much as I enjoyed having it!
Check out his offerings at the links below if you're interested:
https://tonygrebmeier.com/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-real-stories-behind-success/id1323200438
https://www.shipoffers.com/ https://www.shipoffers.com/befulfilled-magazine
 

Thursday Apr 20, 2023

Honestly, I can't believe who our guest is!  As I always say I'm the luckiest person I know and I'm so grateful that she said yes.  Jean McCarthy  is a real trailblazer in the Alcohol-Free Community. She started the Unpickled Blog in 2011 and has authored several books; “Take Good Care” “Unpickled: Prepare to be Alcohol Free” and “The Ember Ever There.” She’s also the Producer and Host of The Bubble Hour Podcast and has just launched her new, shorter format podcast called Tiny Bubbles.  
She started the Unpickled Blog in 2011 to anonymously document her journey to becoming alcohol free.  Nowadays she recovers out loud and on camera in the hopes of inspiring still more people wanting an alcohol-free life. Over the years she has released books to offer even more tools.  And she’s a musician...the intro song on The Bubble Hour is her own song and voice.  Her contributions have helped people all over the spectrum from alcoholic/addicts at rock bottom to people who are sober curious to those who just got tired of their attachment to drinking and what it was blocking in their lives.  She was doing this work way before it was "cool."  The Bubble Hour Podcast is well-known and loved in the sober community.  She joined the show as a co-host in Season 2 and became the sole host and producer in Season 5. 
I've been clean and sober about the same amount of time her Podcast ran and I cannot tell you how many times these episodes saved my ass.  The diversity of her guests and their approaches to being alcohol free has always appealed to me, but it also showed me that sobriety has little to do with drinking and more to do with how we think and live as well as our intentionality. And the TOOLS we have to actually APPLY to this new way of living.   I'm so excited to get to interview the interviewer!
BLOG: 
Unpickled Blog https://unpickledblog.com/
SOCIAL:
Instagram – @thebubblehourPODCASTS: 
The Bubble Hour Podcast https://jeanmccarthy.ca/the-bubble-hour/
Tiny Bubbles Podcast – A new spin off that is shorter format (15 minutes), but still big on impact (Tiny Bubbles is also @thebubblehour Instagram)
BOOKS: 
Take Good Care:  Recovery Readings Inspired by The Bubble Hour Podcast https://www.amazon.com/dp/1999299981/
Unpickled Prepare to be Alcohol Free:  Insights and Tips to Ease the Transition https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09V6GSJZ8/
The Ember Ever There: Poems on Change, Grief, Growth, Recovery, and Rediscovery  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08817HLJK/

Friday Apr 07, 2023

Hey sober family and our entire listener community!  We have a great show in store today.  Our guest is Cole Chance.  For those of you who don’t know, let me just catch you up!  She's an International yoga teacher and Recovery Educator.  In fact, she's joining us from Bali where she's facilitating retreats and changing lives.   
She teaches in many capacities, from retreats to festivals & prisons, she truly believes in the medicine in movement, the power of curiosity, the wisdom found in community. Her teaching fuse embodied flow, breath, neuroscience, yogic and Buddhist philosophy, swirled up with compassionate self-inquiry.
Today we'll talk about her Recovery Support Offering - it's called EMERGE Recovery.  It is a live, online journey to recovery steeped in love, acceptance and empowerment.  https://emergerecovery.com/ Also, the Resources Page is brimming with the best recovery books and meetings out there so PLEASE check that out as well and pass it around to others who are on a similar quest.
And of course her yoga instruction is delicious and comforting and supportive.  Even if you suck at yoga or yoga isn't really your thing...that's not what it's about.  Not in Cole's world anyway.  My experience with her yoga and writing retreat in late 2021 changed me.  It's just a special approach to yoga as a spiritual practice of self-love and perpetual discovery, but in a fun and lighthearted way. 
Please check out https://colechanceyoga.com  Or on Instagram @colechanceyoga
If you want to try out a few sessions there are great ones on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@COLECHANCEYOGACCY or you can do a free trial on CCY Studio on her website which gives you access to curated premium content. Asana Lab Library, longer sessions, early access to retreat bookings and lots of other cool stuff.   
And If you aspire to teach Yoga please check out her Teacher Training at https://themindfulishschool.com/ 
I’ve asked Cole to share her story about getting clean and sober as well as all the beautiful, and challenging, things that series of choices has led her to and through. You do not want to miss this episode it is full of love, hope and practical advice on living a clean and sober life in an unconventional and always-evolving way.

Friday Mar 24, 2023

What's up I Have 12 Questions Community.  We're in for a wild ride today.  Our guest is Mike Anderson and he's got serious passion for his fath, recovery, family and career and I have to say it's contagious.
Mike wears his heart on his sleeve and says "YES" when people ask him to share his story in hopes it will help others. 
His honest approach to how recovery influences every area of his life is awesome and I believe there are parts of his story that every one of us can relate to.  Enjoy the ride!
 

Friday Mar 10, 2023

Hello hello I Have 12 questions community! So,our guest today is one I've been very excited about.  We've known each other for years.  She's a Licensed Professional Counselor Focusing on Trauma and the Owner of Chronic Wellness and Counseling in Austin, Texas.  You can learn more about her practice at https://www.chronicwellnesscounseling.com/
 
In her practice she addresses many issues via multiple approaches, but focuses on TRAUMA.  She uses EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and CPT (Cognitive Processing Therapy), both of which are evidence-based modalities. 
 
Today we'll talk about her own recovery path, working through grief sober, various tools we learn and apply in recovery and therapy and, well, Pantera.  Join us...this is a fun one!

Quick Check in and THANK YOU!

Tuesday Feb 28, 2023

Tuesday Feb 28, 2023

Thursday Feb 23, 2023

Hey hey listeners, today we're in LUCK!  We are joined by Tash Meri who I am fortunate to call both a friend and an inspiration.  She's Brilliant, Beautiful, Industrious and Forever Optimistic and Motivating.  We'll talk today about her life and views on doing sobriety her own way, her WHY, family, being a member of and ally for Women of Color and the LGBTQ+ community and her work as an Author, Travel/Lifestyle Vlogger, Financial Literacy/Investing Enthusiast and Magical Badass. (I added that last title ;).  Please join us!  
 
You can follow, learn from, be inspired by and support Tash Meri at the following:
Instagram -  @tashmeri  https://www.instagram.com/tashmeri/?hl=en
Tik Tok - @tashmeri https://www.tiktok.com/@tashmeri
YouTube - Travel Vlog at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEELv-0Tx8M 
Website - Travel Guides & Financial Wellness Resources at www.tashmeri.com

Wednesday Feb 08, 2023

Hello IHTQ supporters!  We have a sweet treat today...the kind that makes you so grateful to be sober and like the world is just a massive, open and connected place to learn new things.  I talk with Joe C. about life, recovery, structure and spontaneity, the science of substance use and how it ties into our lived experiences both individually and as a collective.  He is the Author of "Beyond Belief:  Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life" https://rebelliondogspublishing.com/beyondbelief as well as the Creator and Host of Rebellious Radio Podcast https://rebelliondogspublishing.com/rebellious-radio  Please join us as we take a walk down a path that is becoming increasingly more spacious and inclusive for those of us in recovery thanks to the efforts, ideas and service of Joe C. and the growing number of people like him.  No dogma.  No Shame.  All inclusive.  All solution.  Yes, please!

Friday Jan 27, 2023

Hello and welcome to our first episode!  We're doing it big with Brandon Puffer or "Coach Puff Positive" as he's affectionately known.  His book came out in December and boy has he got a story to share with us.  It's called From the Bullpen to the State Pen: On Choices, a Crash, and the Remarkable Freedom of Grace.  Notably, Brandon was major league baseball pitcher for the Houston Astros, San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox and the San Francisco Giants.  He earned the coveted World Series ring and all the spoils that come with that kind of life after paying his dues in Minor Leagues for years.  He had long wrestled with demons of addiction and other issues that led to a series of decisions that resulted in a prison stint of 3.5 years and some lessons that changed him forever.  We will talk about this wild ride and what he learned and how he’s using it now to serve and encourage others.  
Please support Brandon and his mission by picking up a copy of his book @ https://www.amazon.com/Bullpen-State-Pen-Choices-Remarkable/dp/B0BPB91J2P or wherever you get your books.  Thanks so much!

Sunday Jan 15, 2023

Hey recovery and recovery adjacent fam!  Just a quick intro to tease our upcoming podcast called I Have 12 Questions.  Can't wait to see you there and hopefully interview you or someone you know about their life in recovery.  Love to all, AP

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About Your Host 

Amanda Patton

As long as I can remember I've been a restless spirit - even as a child.  I had so many questions and observations that seemed odd to most people.  And I recall feeling alone even when surrounded by people.  Living in my head where I could make things make sense, or so I thought.  This "ism" has pulled me up to some incredible vistas and allowed for my survival.  It has also dragged me down some very destructive roads.

I am enthusiastic about emotional expansion.  I've had to do (am still doing) my own healing and recovery from all kinds of people, places, things and ideas.  With the help of many, many people, mostly women, and my incredible family, I've been building on a new perspective over the past decade or so.  It has changed everything and I am compelled to share it in hopes it will help someone else.  For years I've stayed logical, practical, in my head space to pay the bills and protect my independence and my heart.  To my detriment as it turns out.  Now, I'm living out of my heart space.  That low hum of anxiety and grayness I've experienced is a result of not being aligned with my passion. 

I'm stepping back into the light after literally 3+ years in hermit mode.  Pushing away relationships, noise, activity and anything else that got between me, my spirituality and healing.  I needed to sit with all the pain and did not want to.  It was a lonely time and also really hard, but absolutely critical in my ascension and I see that now. Colors are brighter, divine timing is my guide, surrender is a blessing rather than a punishment and the things that used to define me are falling away to make way for freedom.  The kind that happens in our inner worlds.

Losing my Pop to cancer in September of 2022 was the final piece of that season and it broke me open and woke me up in ways I'll never be able to fully express or understand.  I'm ready now to heed my intuition and pursue what matters to me.  This podcast is the first step. 

I really hope you'll come along.  There is a community of people waiting to receive you just the way you are right now.  

 

You are the sky. Everything else – it's just the weather. ~ Pema Chödrön

 

The doors to the world of the wild Self are few but precious. If you have a deep scar, that is a door, if you have an old, old story, that is a door. If you love the sky and the water so much you almost cannot bear it, that is a door. If you yearn for a deeper life, a full life, a sane life, that is a door. ~ Clarissa Pinkola Estés

 

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” ~ Fred Rogers

 

“I believe in recovery, and as a role model I have the responsibility to let young people know that you can make a mistake and come back from it.” ~ Ann Richards

 

“Stand up straight and realize who you are. That you tower over your circumstances. You are a child of God. Stand up straight.” ~ Maya Angelou

 

"Pain is the fuel of revolution." ~ Glennon Doyle

 

“My identity shifted when I got into recovery. That’s who I am now, and it actually gives me greater pleasure to have that identity than to be a musician or anything else, because it keeps me in a manageable size.” ~ Eric Clapton

 

“When I dare to be powerful — to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” ~ Audre Lorde

 

"When you put love out in the world it travels, and it can touch people and reach people in ways that we never even expected." ~ Laverne Cox

 

“If you’re not in the arena also getting your ass kicked, I’m not interested in your feedback.” ~ Brene Brown

 

 "To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek." ~ Alcoholics Anonymous

A Few of My Favorite Do Gooders to Support!

 

Jeremiah Program

 

Austin Animal Center (AAC)

 

 

 

 

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