A Long(ish) Time Coming
Hitting a target I set nearly a year ago
I have been targeting and planning for something since the moment I kick started this Chapter 3 Stigma project, between the podcast and this newsletter-ish channel (honestly, still not sure what to call this Substack thing). It is one of the most important pieces of work that I have ever been exposed to in my quest for figuring out my issue with alcoholism. It somehow both drove me into despair as well as saved my life, and I’m excited to announce that after a considerable amount of back and forth, I now have gained the approval of the publishers to cover this work in detail on the podcast.
I will be honest, this project is not a game of analytics and growth that I play. I truly have no insight or knowledge as to who follows the podcast, this Substack channel or both. That’s not the reason that I do this work. When I first started this Substack I did cross-post the podcast content onto this page, but I stepped away from that. However, I am energized enough about this next short phase of the podcast journey that I do want to share it here to offer readers a chance to hop over to that channel and follow along if interested.
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl is arguably the seminal work when it comes to the topic of purpose, suffering and living an authentic life. It’s real, it’s raw and it is most importantly written from real life experience. The worst kind of real life experience imaginable.
I desperately went to this piece of work in my final weeks of drinking, wanting more than anything to find the answer to the problem that I faced. Months later, after finding myself in recovery, I read the book again, and my eyes were opened wide. Though I was reading the same words, on the same pages, I was experiencing it through an entirely new lens and extracting a fully different set of learnings from its pages.
It is this experience, of a reading both before and after recovery, in which I want to highlight and draw out in the podcast over the next few weeks. So, if you’re interested, give the intro podcast a listen and follow along for the journey.
Though reading this book agonized me the first time through, leaving me wondering why I was not capable of finding meaning to rid myself of the grip alcohol had over me, I do believe that it gave me strength. It gave me strength to endure just one day more, until eventually, I found recovery. My hope with this work is to provide someone a similar opportunity should they be desperately searching, feeling like they’re running out of options to sanity and finding alignment with their true selves.
Sometimes, holding on just a single hour, or even a single moment longer, is all that we can hope to do.
That’s all I’ve got, all the best,
Kyle