From Addiction To Freedom

Addiction rarely starts as a plan. It starts as relief. Sean Bradley tells the truth about what alcohol and weed gave him at first: a quiet stomach, less anxiety, fewer social masks, and a break from the constant pressure of performing. Then he tells the other truth: the relief doesn’t stay relief. It becomes a pattern, and the pattern becomes a shrinking life. We talk about what pushed him toward Transformations, a hardcore therapeutic community rehab on the Gold Coast that is openly Christian and intentionally challenging.

From there we get into the stuff that doesn’t magically disappear when you get sober. Sean shares how an addictive personality can shift into workaholism, burnout, scrolling, and obsessive thoughts, especially with ADHD and autism in the mix. We swap practical mental health strategies that actually fit real life: building routines that survive stress, using exercise as a stabilizer, avoiding dopamine-draining mornings, and staying connected to community through church and AA. We also talk candidly about medication and why some options can feel risky for people with an addiction history.

Sean’s faith journey is just as intense. Catholic trauma made Jesus complicated for him, even while he felt sure God was real, so he went searching hard: reading, questioning the Trinity, exploring Islam, and even doing a 10-day Vipassana silent meditation retreat. That search leads to a deeper conversation about shame, guilt, and why so many people in addiction believe they’re too far gone for God. 

If you want more conversations about faith and mental health that stay honest, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review. What part of Sean’s story felt most familiar to you?

Check out www.lionzen.com.au to see Sean's Business 

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Transcript

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Welcome And Why Sean Is Here

Dave Quak 0:00

Well, welcome to Sunburn Souls on this show. We speak about life and faith and our mental well-being. And I have got my friend Sean Bradley here today. Sean, how are you, man? I'm very good. Thanks for having me, Dave. It's an honor to be here, actually. Oh, that's my it's my pleasure. I'm a little suspicious though, because I always get scared of people with two first names. Uh huh. Sean Bradley. You ever been called Bradley Sean?

SPEAKER_01 0:19

I have. I actually have three first names. What's your middle name?

Dave Quak 0:22

Ryan. So that is good. Ultimately not trustworthy. Well, all the three name people like Sonny Bill Williams, you're like, oh, wait a second. You know. So Sean Bradley, not Bradley Sean, man. What are you doing these days? Where do you live?

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Yeah, so um I've I've just finished um like a two-year um therapeutic community rehab program on the Gold Coast. Um so that was Transformations, um, which was pretty much a godsend for me. So um these days um I've now moved on. I'm I'm living with my mum and just kind of trying to get my business off the ground and and yeah, get things rolling. So yeah, busy busy, but yeah, enjoying it and um yeah, feel very blessed.

Dave Quak 1:00

So I'm a fan of transformations. I've been blessed to be able to speak at the chapels a number of times, and just to see the growth of people. And it is not a you know, retreat center that the celebrities go to where they're off in the hills just being doted on. I mean, this is a real hardcore rehab center.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Yeah. Um they actually s suggest like transformations is supposed to be worse than prison. Yeah, so it's not um it's not easy. Um and you're living with people that you wouldn't normally live with, that's another thing. Um and yeah, it was it was the most challenging thing I've ever done, most confronting thing. Um and yeah, actually, the only reason I kind of know you, bro, is because of the speech you did at Chapel. And um being someone that's kind of experienced mental health issues and not being um I wouldn't I wouldn't say I'm neurotypical by any stretch. I'm definitely autistic and definitely ADHD. Um but just hearing you speak uh so candidly about your struggles personally, and um you kind of just had this very honest and real take on the Bible and the way you interpreted I think it was the Psalms of Lament. It's actually stuck with me your speech. I remember it vividly. Um, and you kind of just said it's okay to kind of go and have it out with your creator, and and you were just talking about all this stuff, and I just thought, oh, this guy's like he's not saying that Jesus has completely healed him of of all his crosses to bear and everything, but um yeah, just your relationship with God was just inspiring. And um, yeah, that really stuck with me. And um, it kind of changed the way I kind of related to God and I came to him a lot more honestly after that speech. Um so yeah, I we we saw a speech every Tuesday, but that one just resonated with me, man. And um yeah, I've been through mania before. Um so yeah, your struggles were just they just they were just relatable to me. I I felt like I could resonate a lot with what you were saying. So thank you for sharing so honestly in that speech, because uh it really did it came at a time when I really needed it.

Dave Quak 2:55

So Man, you're welcome. Thank you for that. That's that's appreciated. Because I think sometimes we do have this misconception that church people, even church leaders, have got it all together. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. We just not none of us do. No. Um May, what were the circumstances

Choosing A Hardcore Rehab Reset

Dave Quak 3:10

that led you towards transformation? Like what was going on before that?

SPEAKER_01 3:13

So when I was 25, like I mean, I was I was addicted to alcohol and weed were were my two big uh crutches, I would say, and that started at 18. Yeah. And um it was always I I remember the first time I had a drink, um, and I, you know, I always had anxiety, I always felt like I needed to perform, um, to be accepted. So I was always masking um basically autism or ADHD symptoms like that, but so afraid of being kind of rejected for that. Um and I kind of learned early on that kind of love was conditional, and um there was a certain way that you had to act and you had to kind of provide a certain value. And so yeah, I was I kind of became like a chameleon, I would say, uh, throughout my youth. And then when I had that first drink, I was about 17 in Thailand, and I was like, I'm sold here. This is the answer. And for once I didn't have that, you know, churning of the stomach and that anxiety feeling and hyper-vigilance sort of um feeling inside. And yeah, I I was sold. I was like, this is the answer, and that led to a destructive pattern of drinking for I don't know, seven years. Um and obviously marijuana came in after that, and um just the combo, I'm not sure what it was about my brain, but it just agreed with it, and um I thought I'd found, you know, what I was missing. Um, and yeah, that led to 25 men, and um I did a three-month rehab in Mount Tambourine, but uh very lax and you kept your phone and it was all very like a three-month sort of holiday, really. So that was like very chill, but um the whole time I'm gambling on my phone and I'm watching YouTube and all these addictive behaviours are still there. I'm just not drinking and smoking, but nothing being challenged. Um I didn't find God there. Um but I did meet someone that knew Mike Barrett there, and he ended up living with me for a long period of time. And long story short, um it must have been the hundredth time you mentioned you should go to transformations because I relapsed very quickly after that rehab.

Dave Quak 5:12

After the three months.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Yeah, probably a week I lasted. Um and yeah, then I just it was like you have to go to transformations now. The hundredth time of hearing about it, and um yeah, I kicked everyone out of the house and um yeah, I'd quit my job and went and just left everything behind. And that was that was the best decision I think I ever made. So yeah, God's just opened up so many doors for me and um yeah, just giving me a second chance. So it's been amazing.

From Resident To House Leader

SPEAKER_01 5:38

So I ended up at Transformations at 27 and stayed on there and served and did probably another eight months of just kind of wrapping up now after like a two and a bit year journey um with transformations.

Dave Quak 5:49

So yeah, here we are. Yeah, so when you say serve, you went through the entire program, graduated, and then gave that eight months to just like helping mentor some of the men, or what was it doing? I was full-time resident leader. Oh, you were leading the house.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Yeah, 100%. Yeah. So I did that alongside someone else for a while. Um, and then they left and one of the other boys came up. And yeah, so yeah, eight months of full-time leadership, um, which was that was such a privilege. And those boys like that are there now, like they're you know, you just get really attached, I guess. And um, you really want them to do well. And yeah, you just see them change from these, you know, the people that they're not supposed to be to the people they are supposed to be. And yeah, for the ones that graduate, it's not all smooth sailing when they finish, but um they have a lot of tools and they've confronted a lot of stuff, and it's just a it's a big chip in the in the problem, if you know what I mean. So yeah, I'm very grateful to have done that. I'm so glad I stayed on because I think I was challenged more as a leader than I was as a resident, if that makes sense.

Dave Quak 6:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Um yeah. So yeah, push the comfort zone, man, and just yeah, just did it.

Dave Quak 6:50

So yeah. That's that that's incredible because I don't um ever pray to be a house leader in a live-in rehab center. Bro, it's like you talk about it with joy on your face, and for me, I'm like, oh come on, Lord, you got this wrong. Like there is no way I would want to do that. But like you said, you get the affection for the residents because they're who you were a year ago and they can get through, and God can bring them freedom. Amen. Yeah. You know, and it's hard because you know, even um being close to Katie and that, you see people come and go, and then people who are doing really well, and you're like, come on, God, you got them. Yep. And then they they relapse and bail. Or they get mad at the rules, or you know, then they're back, and then there's that whole repentance, and oh man, it's so intense. I do appreciate in that ministry it's overtly Christian. Like I came to your conference earlier this year. Yes. Was it it was this year, and it was one of the most outrageously charismatic let's get into it conferences.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Oh, it's wild, you know.

Dave Quak 7:52

You know, it's not like it's like you're in the river or you're just on the spectators. You can't be one or the other in there. And even me as a pastor, I went there with a friend and we just came and got blessed and got prayer and got you know, received what God had for us too. And I don't know, I just got a lot of respect for rehab centres that also are overtly Jesus. Because I mean ultimately he's our os here's our restoration. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

You know, and it's tough, man, because um there's a lot of sacrifice that goes with being overtly Christian as well. Um, so they can't get government funding, they can't you know what I mean? So it's really important that they they keep the residence and uh even just seeing firsthand being a leader, like how much they actually struggle to keep that place open and it's God just makes provision every single time. Um, but it's not like they can go to the government and say, Oh, can we have a grant to keep doing the work we're doing?

Dave Quak 8:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Um, even though the stats are amazing, um, yeah, they just can't get funding. So it's like defending it's defending it, but there's a massive sacrifice involved with that. Um and I guess that's what that's what we're called to do as Christians, you know what I mean? So um yeah, I think it's something worth defending and worth preserving

Addiction Patterns After Getting Sober

SPEAKER_01 8:58

as well.

Dave Quak 8:58

Yeah, absolutely, man. I was just wondering, so you have been set free from substance addiction. Yes. But do you still struggle with an addictive personality in other areas?

SPEAKER_01 9:09

100%, yeah. And it manifests a lot in work. Okay. Yeah, so I'll d I'll just do 18 hour days, but then I'll burn out after two weeks of that, and then I'm like four days of like rotting in bed, like what am I doing? Um yeah, so and definitely with um things like YouTube and scrolling and that kind of thing, those things kind of stuck. Um but yeah, the the actual substance abuse is definitely like something that I don't really struggle with these days. Um but I will say, man, like I definitely just think if I didn't have a relationship with God, I'd be on I'd be on my ass again, you know what I mean? I'd be um I'd be in trouble. So that definitely keeps me um keeps me going, man. But yeah, absolutely obsessive thoughts, man. I'm definitely still ADHD, you know what I mean? Um but yeah, just finding natural ways to kind of manage the mental health stuff now, and it's obviously it's a journey. Yeah. And um when you're an addiction, man, you lose probably all the pillars of your life. So just trying to rebuild those um without kind of overexerting myself, because that's when obviously relapse becomes like m potentially a problem. So yeah, definitely definitely never leaves you, and you've got to stay um stay vigilant and keep doing some sort of program. Um so for me that's like an A and church, you know what I mean? So um yeah, if you don't have community, you don't have uh you know someone you can be honest with, you're probably in trouble, I would say.

Dave Quak 10:29

Did you have to make amends with many family members or anything after at all? Um I was pretty lucky, man.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Like very blessed. My family stood by me the whole way through. Um you know, I I never I never went to jail, I never stole cars, I never did anything like that, or you know what I mean? So um they kind of just knew that I was like in addiction. Yeah. Um but you know, I I still held my job and and that kind of thing throughout. So I you call it like a functioning addict, even though I wasn't functional. Yeah. Um so yeah, luckily for me, everything was fine. Um yeah, I didn't really have to repair too many relationships, luckily.

Dave Quak 11:06

Yeah. Yeah. You mentioned also the ADHD, but also also autism. And I did an episode a couple of weeks ago with a mum who had a child who had both. Okay. And it's complex upon complex. Yeah. You know? Like because you you don't know which angle to treat things or grow in which areas and stuff. Have you found that to be complicated? Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Like it's something I've struggled with my whole life. Um and just even just being obsessed with things that and getting excited about things that other people might not. And the Bible was one of those things for me, you know what I mean? And then even that becomes like a it's like actually a symptom of ADHD to kind of become obsessed with things and um overintellectualize and and underact is another thing. And it's a way of coping with stress and Yeah, man, it's been a it's been a journey learning about that. Um, but definitely the focus for me was to f either find natural ways to to manage the stress and and that kind of thing and the ADHD, or um, yeah, lifestyle, lifestyle changes. So things like exercise are massive, not scrolling in the morning is massive. Um, yeah, just protecting the dopamine and um making sure that everything is kind of intentional in my day. Um otherwise I just get lost in the sauce, man. I'll I'll just be doing an unimportant, non-urgent task because I'm probably avoiding doing something uncomfortable, you know what I mean? Um so for me that's like filming content, which has been a battle, um, but it's there's no way around it really, trying to do what I'm doing. So yeah, man, it's been tough. Um, but I don't kind of get bogged down in it. It's just like it's always a lifestyle change that I can make. And I guess that's something I learned in transformations, you know what I mean? You've got to sit with the uncomfortable staff. And anytime you're gonna reach for a quick fix, like whether it be medication, like I know that that you know, there's certain medications for ADHD, those things are probably off the table for me. So yeah, um, I just need to kind of sit with it and make sure that I am I guess one, accepting myself and two, just understanding that there is something, there's always something I can do um to kind of change the outcomes that I'm getting.

Dave Quak 13:08

So yeah. Yeah, because with the Ritalin and all the DEXs, I mean they're they're so close to probably scratching an inch of an old substance kind of um mindset. Like and look, they work for some people, I'm not against them. But they are they like so I've got a really close person who can't take the dexamphetamine medication because it just reminds them so much of their old life in addiction. But then they're on another one which is called intuive, which lasts 24 hours and it's a different it's a whole different chemistry. Sure. And it works for them. So it I do I do feel like with any of these um kind of like mental health issues we have, there really is a process of like trial and error and trial and again. And I know for me that's one of the most annoying parts is if you ever have to change a medication, it takes six months and you've got to get the old one out of your system and the new one in. It can be an it can be a taxing affair. Yeah, 100%, man. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

It's n it's not even something I want to go down because I know that my brain will just latch on, yeah, and then it'll be like, oh well, this is the answer now. You know what I mean? And um yeah. I need to keep the answer to my problems being something that I have to do that's probably not easy, you know what I mean? Well, that's right.

Dave Quak 14:17

Um what what do you do like okay, so for the for the last three weeks it's been bucketing down. Yep. Right? And I hate the rain and I hate the cold, so I'm a miserable prick at the moment. But um, like okay, so say you're in an exercise rhythm and it gets wiped away. Yep. Or the ease of it gets wiped away. Have you been like antsy for the last few weeks, or do you do something else?

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Um the last few weeks, man, I've been absolutely smashed with work um and kind of creating new opportunities, which is more work. Um so yeah, no, I've I've had no time to even like scratch my bum, if you know what I mean. I've just been full send. Um so no, like but then I guess the exercise did kind of fall away there. And um it's just led to like a little burnout period, man, of two days where I'm just like I don't even know what day it is. I don't you know what I mean? Um fried completely fried, yeah. So yeah, that I mean that that does affect me. Um and consistency is something I still struggle with, man. Um so just staying consistent, having a routine. Um, if something is pressure enough or or high reward or high risk enough, all my attention will go there and everything else will kind of disappear that that kind of can. So absolutely, man. I'm definitely not um definitely haven't got the routine sorted yet. But um, yeah, I keep enough structure just with work, like that's enough structure to kind of keep me on the straight and narrow. Yeah.

Dave Quak 15:35

I mean you're self-aware enough to know that okay, exercise is a thing. Oh, yeah. And even if you hate it, you'll do it because you know you need to. Yeah. I think that's huge, hey, because like if we've got Christ and we've got the medication if we're taking that, or our counselling, or whatever we've got to put our support systems in place, it is still our responsibility to live it out.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

A hundred percent.

Dave Quak 15:54

You know, and I know to be completely honest, Sean, every now and then I'll get resigned to the fact that, you know, oh this is just my rhythm now. It's gonna be this at night and that at day. And and instead of b pushing against it, yeah. You know, and so for the last three weeks with this rain. So up to that, me and my wife were walking on the beach nearly every day for a couple of months.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

Oh wow.

Dave Quak 16:14

And loving it. Yeah, loving it. Good for our marriage, good for our physical health. Yep. And that's just rain for three weeks, and I've just sat around angry. And you can't walk around your house like getting ten thousand steps going up and down the hallway. But mental well-being is a fight. It is something we need to keep wrestling after, and it seems to me, bro, that you're wrestling after it. I think one thing I like with people who have come out of recovery is they know the alternative is just worse.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Oh, bro, yeah.

Dave Quak 16:42

Like it's just worse. Life is worse, relationships are worse.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

It's absolutely yeah, it's horrible, bro. Yeah, yeah. Addiction is not um oh, it's just it's it's dark, it's very dark. Yeah, and um, yeah, you just you kind of lose yourself and yeah, you kind of lose your ability to deal with anything. And um as long as you've got your little crutch, you kind of can make it through. But as soon as you don't, man, or or you take too much of it, or you know, it comes with a whole host of other problems and your health deteriorates throughout that as well. So you're always trading a part of yourself for I guess comfort or a way to cope. Um, but yeah, I I can relate, bro, like um when you kind of find your thing and then you've got it and then you lose it, and you're like, okay, I'm starting from scratch again. You know what I mean? Um even my relationship with God, man. Like I was very I was in a very good routine of reading the Bible in the morning and praying because it was all structured through the program. And obviously leaving that, my new routine became like the Sunday that I could make it to church. That was my time. And um, you know, that's not enough. Um, Jesus, you know what I mean? It's just not enough. So um working that back in has been a massive thing for me too, you know what I mean? Um so yeah. What's that like now? Well, I mean it's good now because I kind of set things up like I've got the little Bible app, and you know, there's just like little things I do to um just keep my conscious contact with God. But in reality, bro, I need I need God, you know what I mean? And I know that I need him. So when I when I am struggling, my first instinct is to reach out and pray, and you know what I mean, and that really has an effect on me. I don't know if you get this, bro, but I just get every time I pray I get kind of covered in goosebumps and I just get this blessing of like, I don't know, just it's like Jesus is happy, I'm reaching out. I'm not sure, but um it definitely does something positive for me. So it's like it's on command that. So as long as I remember to pray, bro, I'm I'm doing okay.

Dave Quak 18:30

Yeah. And you like in the scheme of a whole life of following Christ, you're still quite new. Not saying you're immature in your faith, but you're new newish. Baby man, a hundred percent. Which I think there's an extra grace for when Jesus is just almost like any time you glance in his direction. Oh, he's there. You know, he's you know and that doesn't change when you get I think we change. I think Jesus is always ready to glance in our direction, but once you're doing it ten or twenty years, you kind of like get nonchalant about how amazing it all is. Sure, yes, I yeah. And I I always try to stay around new Christians or non-Christians because they remind you that God is good and worth frothing over and hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

It's um Pastor Kent did a preach on that, um, or bore he called it. But um he was talking about how the you know there was the tornado of fire for the Israelites when they were in Exodus. Yeah. Um and you know, they're like, Oh, you know, we're all disgruntled, but they've got like this amazing food falling from the heavens and a tornado of fire that they can visibly see. I just thought that was brilliant. And I think, yeah, I can't really relate because Christianity was so new to me. And I actually spent a lot of my life in addiction searching for God, but I had this weird issue with Jesus um because I was raised Catholic and had some negative traumatic experiences um from nuns and priests. So I kind of had this like built-up, I guess, resentment towards specifically towards Christianity and Jesus. Um and yeah, I I went through hell trying to find God, and it was right in front of me the whole time, bro.

Dave Quak 19:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

Um yeah.

Dave Quak 19:59

That's interesting because as you obviously know, the path to God's Jesus. But what was your issue? So you had an issue with Jesus, but not the father or the spirit?

SPEAKER_01 20:07

No, I knew knew

Searching For God And Dropping Shame

SPEAKER_01 20:08

in God. Knew God was real. Deep down in my heart I knew, but trying to understand the Trinity, and obviously I'm trying to inch intellectualize the the whole thing, right? So I ended up a Muslim for like two months and went kind of quite far down that rabbit hole. But because of the way I am, I read the Quran, like I fully read it. And um I kind of had more questions about the Quran and Muhammad than I did about Jesus. And and then I read a I actually read a s a scripture, or what do they call them? Um I can't remember now, uh Surai or something. Oh Syriac. No, it's like a verse in the Quran. Oh right. It's called something, um, but it it eludes me now, which is probably a good thing. But in that book, it's like Jesus was too perfect to die. His mum was the most perfect of all the women creation, and then when Jesus died, God said he was too perfect to die and swapped his basically swapped his body and brought Jesus onto himself. And I was like, hang on a second, that just sounds like that just sounds like Christianity, like he's you know, he w he kind of reassimilated with the Father in in heaven and sits at the right hand of him, and it's all like, hang on, they so they don't even get away from it in, you know, because that their selling point is that um, you know, Jesus was a man, how could he be God? That was their thing, and they kind of deny the veracity of Jesus and the divinity of Jesus. So um what was really interesting was reading that and really getting stuck in, and then you know, even learning that in the Quran they have the Quran is the uncreated word of Allah. So that so it's like no one created the Quran, it's the speech of Allah. But then I'm like, hang on, that's they've got the same problem then as Christianity because they have to stand beside they've got two uncreated beings the the Word and then Allah. And then it's like the Father and Jesus in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, the Word was God, it's the exact same thing. Um That kind of led me back and I was like, well, maybe someone knows a little bit more about Christianity that can explain it.

Dave Quak 22:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

And um yeah, that's I kind of got that learning through transformations. So just thank God I went down that path. But like I really pursued God, man. It was like I knew what I was missing deep down, but it was way easier to just get stoned and drunk and kind of intellectualize off to the side here and not really make a commitment. So Yeah, man, it's been a journey. I ended up in Vipassana through that journey, searching for the end, you know, the way the way to feel okay. I don't even know what that is. What did you say? Vipassana is just a technique of meditation that Buddha did. So it's literally Buddhism. And I ended up doing a 10-day retreat, um, no speaking, meditating for eight hours a day. Um yeah, all in a way.

Dave Quak 22:47

Wait, wait, wait, wait. My friend, who is animated, ADHD brained, sat for quite ten ten days without talking.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

I did, bro, yeah. And and it was the hardest thing. Did you get through that? I did, bro. Oh, look at that. I but I I mean I struggled because I I want to talk, I want to ask questions, am I doing this right? You know what I mean? But um oh, there was something very, I guess, positive in just sitting there and just being with myself. Yeah. Um but yeah, it just wasn't enough, you know what I mean? It wasn't it wasn't Jesus, right? So yeah, man, it was crazy. Um and then yeah, I'm just I'm just glad I came back, I came back home, you know what I mean? And yeah, I'm so certain uh in Christian Christianity now. I love arguing, man. I love arguing with um with like Jehovah's Witnesses. I'll go do it on the street for 20 minutes. We're like, hang on, but you know, yeah, just I I bring up scripture and yeah.

Dave Quak 23:35

But you can see that you would do it lovingly, that just your personality is that you're not going to go there and antagonise these dudes. Like, no, no. Like you want to show them freedom.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

I want to save them, bro.

Dave Quak 23:44

But you want to show the same freedom you have. And that's the thing, like there's we're all wired differently, but if you are, like if you're I don't think you would have a very low capacity for many conversations. Like it obviously you you could talk to lots of people all day long. So in your the way God's created you is an ability to have long conversations, you know. Like, I've got to be honest, when the J dubs come up our street, I just kick them away before they even get here. You know? Like But like Jesse, I don't I'm not mean to them, but I do make sure the dog's barking at them, you know. But like, you know, like I don't know, bro. I just respect what you're doing because you can see the love of God has transformed you. You know, you got transformed through transformation and his Holy Spirit, and it refreshes me as I've been doing this for twenty whatever years to be around people who are still frothing God and just hungry for God and you know, thirsty for the Holy Spirit to move and praying and get goosebumps. That's that's all good, man. Yeah. It's so good. It can't be bad, bro. It's like you know, and then like I don't know, and even just the way you'd be able to help minister to people who've been in addiction. Yeah, oh you know, I think there's this hard thing with people I've met in addiction think that God's intrinsically off them. You know, that that that's a worse sin than say someone who's just a gambler or I know that's probably another addiction, but someone who's maybe just a nonchalant worship of leisure type person. I feel like some people that I know in addiction think that they're worse than that. Yeah. And it just isn't the way it works. It's just not how the gospel works at all.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

That's right. Yeah, Jesus saved his harshest words for people that pretended to be raised. Right, that's right. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to say. So I think um the shame is just goes part in parcel with addiction. It's yeah. Shame is really what gets you there. And at some point you started carrying shame. And it it was probably before you ever started using you you kind of held on to something that yeah, it was really destructive. And I think that thing is shame. So yeah, you're absolutely right, man. Um it's it's very destructive, and it definitely can because a lot of people you'd hear him say, Oh, I'd never go into church because I'd burst into flames. You know what I mean? It's a that's a common thing that an addict would say. Um, but on the contrary, man, like Jesus h hung around with prostitutes and um, you know, the people who were saved were sinners, and it it says very explicitly that kind of all sin is the same. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. Um so yeah, whatever I've done, well like I don't think about that now. No, just gone. It's gone, exactly right. And God sees, you know, if you're like obsessed with money but you're a Christian, well, you're just in the same you're it's the same sin, it's all the same sin to God. We're all imperfect, and we all need Jesus to have done what he did for us to even have a chance of getting into heaven. So yeah, I mean I I fully see that sin is all the same, any fleshly act at all. I believe that God would s consider all that the same. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Dave Quak 27:10

That's right. It's literally like the verse you just um recited all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So all of us have. And the only antedate antidote to that is Jesus for everyone. Yeah. And it's the same. Like I agree. The guy who steals the cookie or bashes his mate, or whatever other example we want to come up with. That's right. All the same. Yeah, and I love that because Jesus is the you know, the mediator between us and God, which means because of that, God the Father, who you grew up revering anyway, is now uh considering you his child, yeah, considering you his son. Yeah, it's not saying you addict you or you broke no, you child you, your son you, yeah, you know, he's the best.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

Yeah. It's yeah, it is just a beautiful picture of like Jesus created the earth, um, but and now he's like saying, Look, dad, like look how amazing this is. Like, and he, you know, like gave himself to die. I just think yeah, I don't know, that used to bring me to my knees, bro. Just that just that. The creator of the universe, you know, like what kind of wants me on his team, it's crazy. So um, yeah, man, it's just beautiful. Um I think I I do I do hope that um, you know, on my journey, whatever happens, I just um am able to kind of just tell my story, and um I hope that just lands with just an addict that thinks they're too far gone or that you know they can't change or they can't succeed even because man, God will just use the the most unlikely suspect to to do the most amazing things, and yeah, the whole Bible is kind of full of that sentiment, like Moses not being able to speak, and then you know, he's got the the stutter and everything like that. It I just think yeah, he he just picks the people that have the biggest thing to overcome, and it just kind of says a lot more than you know, someone really capable and competent doing something amazing. It kind of it kind of loses its power, I think. So yeah, man. We're all we're all equal, I think. And um yeah, any kind of status or way we um fall into a hierarchy, that's all our idea. You know what I mean? And um it's all bollocks really.

Dave Quak 29:07

Yeah, it's just dead religion, eh? Yeah. My friend, we've got to start winding up. You didn't ask me to do this, you don't want me to do this, but I feel to do it anyway. Plug your business. What are you actually doing?

SPEAKER_01 29:18

So we're so it's line zen.

Dave Quak 29:20

Um that's L-I-N-E. So lion. Lion, like at the animal?

SPEAKER_01 29:24

Yeah, that was it was line of juda, that's how we came up with that. But also it's got lion's mane in it, the mushroom. Oh yeah. Um so yeah, basically in rehab, they were giving me supplements to try and help me sleep, to try and help me do this, that melatonin, HTTP. Um and nothing was working, bro. I was and I was really like at an odds there, because I was like, I'm not sleeping, I'm stressed all the time. I'm like drinking all this coffee to try and get through the day and self-medicate and eating terrible food and like it was just this whole cascade. I was

Building Line Zen From Lived Experience

SPEAKER_01 29:53

sober, but I wasn't coping. And obviously, being in a therapeutic community, you're facing trauma, you're being confronted on your behaviors daily, um, and you're having to have these difficult conversations. So there was nothing about it that was um relaxing. And I was not coping, bro. So um yeah, I kind of I went on leave, you don't have your phone in the program, and um I heard this podcast because I'm like, what other supplements are there than the ones that they're suggesting that I take? Um the the rehab, which was all in good faith. They were trying to help me. Yeah, yeah. Um but they don't really know, you know what I mean? Um, it's just suggestions. Whatever worked for me might work for you. And um yeah, I heard Andrew Huberman talking about Ashwagander. Oh, yeah. Um and I was like, okay, that's cool.

Dave Quak 30:35

I've heard of that. Now, just to clarify listeners, he did not say ayahuasca. No, he didn't. He said Ashwaganda, that's different.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Yeah, so we're not doing no DMT here. Um so yeah, Ashwagander, uh, and that just got me interested. So I started taking that, and I was already taking lion's mane and cordyceps, I think, or Rishi. Just they're like one's good for brain health, like line's main helps with neurogrowth factor. Um, so that's like the regeneration of neurons, which was I was like, oh great. Yeah. And there's a bit of research to say it's good for ADHD. And um then I'm taking these lines, these lines main supplements after I kind of realized that, and they're not really doing much, and I'm like, okay, it's just another failed supplement, like none of them really were, blah, blah, blah. And um, I remembered this podcast from Andrew Human, and I'm like, oh yeah, I'll I'll try the Ashwagander, but kept taking the lion's mane and everything else. And as soon as I started taking the Ashwagander, I noticed a shift in my stress, and then it's like all the other supplements just had this cascading effect and started working. Nice. And I was like, And then you know, I heard Jordan Peterson talking about your brain is plastic throughout your whole life, and new habits can change the shape of your brain and you can make new neurons, but they're very susceptible to cortisol and stress, and and that hormone can literally dissolve your neurons. So the the whole thing was that it made so much sense that if I take something that's gonna act on my cortisol and bring it down, then all of the other benefits of this are gonna actually start working because I was a very high stress person. Um, and then it was like, I'm buying ashwagander here, I'm buying lines mane there, and then there's all these different efficacy of oh, is this a good version of that supplement? And I was like kind of getting exhausted. I was like, why don't they just make? And then there were some combos, but they were in alcohol, so I couldn't take them, and it was just like this big struggle. I'm like, nah, that's it. Why is there not an ashwagander and mushroom supplement? And that's how that was born. So I just became obsessed, started iterating, um, found the suppliers. Um, there's like eight different mushrooms and ashwagander in it. Yeah, and then um, you know, we got the first samples, we got about six samples, tested all of them, um, chose the best one, um, and I started taking it, and I was like, this is it, this is the you can say it tastes good, it works, um, it's liquid form, so it's like more bioavailable. And man, it just that was like because it worked for me. I knew it would work for other people, and um, that's the kind of response we've had, bro. So in the last six months, yeah, people have been taking it. That we've had amazing, amazing testimony um from people. You know, one guy's obsessed with it, man. He tells all his friends, all of his workers take it. Like it's been it's been a crazy response. Um, and I'm just it's just cool that kind of my experience is now kind of translating to everyone else. So yeah, we're lines in. Um it's like a bottle. And um, yeah, that that's where we're at. We're about six months in, we're about to relaunch um because we just ran out of stock, we sold it all. So here we are, bro.

Dave Quak 33:27

Yeah. Good. Well, mate, I'll be praying for you that your business succeeds because anything I th the one thing I know about you is that what if you put your hand to something, it's gonna glorify God and lead to more impact. And so um I'll put the links to your supplements in the show notes, and people can lead that. And brother, I can't believe it, but it's time to pull up stumps. So thanks for coming on Sunburnt Souls. No worries. If you could finish off by praying for us, that'd be awesome, absolutely. No worries.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

Um, dear God. I just want to thank you, God, um, just for every opportunity, Lord, and and just the miraculous way you've you've guided me back. Um Lord, I just want to thank you for the church, Lord, and and all the really amazing uh people and things that um you're kind of orchestrating, Lord, for the most disenfranchised people. So I just want to thank you for Dave, Lord. Um I want to thank you for his honesty and being bold and sharing. Um, God, and I just want to thank you for all the blessings, Lord, that we both have in our lives, Lord, and just the ability to experience um this life with you, Lord. Lord, I just pray that um any addict that's struggling now, Lord,

Final Prayer For Anyone Struggling

SPEAKER_01 34:38

or just anyone that's struggling in general, um, or dealing with shame or dealing with um guilt, that Lord, you just let them know that um we're all the same and we've all sinned and um there's no reason why any of us can't um come to you and um ask for forgiveness, Lord, and that you will freely grant that, Lord, because you are good. So any distorted view of you, Lord, I just want you to just remove it for someone who needs it, Lord. Um, and I just want to thank you so much um for the second chance in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.