 Lil Zan was recently on the NoJumper podcast and Adam22 asked him a few questions about Lil Zan's sobriety, his addiction, going to rehab and everything like that. And Lil Zan made some excuses about why he relapses and that's something that we definitely need to talk about. What is up everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem but focus on the solution. And if you're new to my channel, what I like to do is pull different topics from the YouTube community or pop culture and try to see what lessons we can learn from them. So if you're into that stuff, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. So before we get started, full disclaimer, I don't know Lil Zan. I know, I know, it's a shocker but I do not know Lil Zan. But I am a recovering drug addict and at the Hullican Recovery, I worked at an addiction treatment center for a little over three years and although I'm not a licensed therapist or psychologist, I have a lot of experience with addiction because of my almost 10 year addiction and my almost seven years of sobriety, all right? So my hope is that anybody watching this, if you know somebody who is an active addiction or an early recovery or if you're somebody in active addiction or an early recovery, I really hope that looking at this situation with Lil Zan can help you out. Now some of you might be wondering, Chris, why are you watching an interview with Adam 22 and Lil Zan? Funny story. I was watching some H3 podcast clips and one of them was like, Lil Zan has a little IQ and it was something about like the boyfriend tag with his like girlfriend or ex-girlfriend. I don't know who it is and H3 was Ethan was like poking fun at Lil Zan. I'm just like, dude, this guy is like messed up. I think Ethan even mentioned that a few times but I remember like, I don't listen to Lil Zan's music and I really hope if anybody watching this is not a fan of Lil Zan's music, like trying to like separate the person from the art, you know, the artist from the art, like Lil Zan is somebody who struggles with a drug addiction and I hope there's some empathy in this. When I say empathy, I have empathy. I just also have some tough love. But anyways, after watching that H3 clip, YouTube recommended the NoJumper podcast because Lil Zan was just on it and I saw in the title that they talk about his sobriety and yeah, basically in the interview Lil Zan, like he, he skirt around the question a few times which I'll touch on in a second, but then he says like, it's the industry, right? The industry is what does this and Lil Zan was high during it. Like he just like smoked a blunt like at the very beginning of the episode, but he referenced Lil Peep and ex, right? And Lil Peep died of an overdose. Ex got murdered, so I'm not sure why he like kind of like intertwined those two because there were two very different circumstances, like maybe like Lil Peep and Mac Miller or something like that. But anyways, yeah, let's talk about this. So the first thing is like Lil Zan like skirted around the question, all right? And this is something that a lot of drug addicts who relapsed do, right? Like we don't want to talk about it, like, and here's the thing, I definitely do have empathy. I am somebody who relapsed many times before getting sober this last time, almost seven years ago. Like we skirt around this stuff and the reason is, is because of the guilt and shame that comes along with it. Like especially somebody like Lil Zan who made it very public that he had a drug problem and he was going to rehab and everything. Like me, I'm not even on that level and almost, geez, this was probably nine years ago. When I went into a detox center just to, you know, like get medically stable for a few days. Like I posted on like Facebook just letting everybody know, hey, I have a drug problem, I'm getting help. And then when I relapsed a few months later, I felt so guilty and ashamed about it. I let myself down. I let my son down. I let my, you know, son's mother down. I let my friends down. I let my family down. And I felt awful about that. So that might be one of the reasons why he's skirted around it or maybe why somebody in your life is skirting around it. And another reason I wanted to make this video is because, again, I'm not like a Lil Zan fan, but I remember when Lil P passed away, like I was doing research for a video I made about Lil P when he passed away. And I saw Lil Zan talking about how like drugs are like killing so many people like at such a young age and he was going to get his act together. And I didn't really follow up on that story, but here we are today. And Lil Zan, obviously his name comes from Zanex. You know what I'm saying? And that is a very dangerous drug. Not only can you die from it when you mix it with other things, like just something as simple as alcohol, like if you're drinking and taking Zanex, you can die from it. But tons of people in the United States are dying like Lil P did because Zanex is now getting pressed or like fake Zanex is getting pressed with fentanyl, which is more potent than heroin. Okay? So anyways, getting back to it, like Lil Zan when asked about his sobriety, he talks about how the industry and the work that goes into it, this is what's creating addicts. And like, here's the thing, like cut that crap out. Like cut it out. Like these are excuses. Like you guys, like I said, like I love everybody, but I'm gonna give tough love, especially when it comes to addiction. Like when I was working in the treatment center, I cannot tell you the amount of dumb excuses I heard for people relapsing. Everything from my mom or my wife or my husband, like, you know, got into an argument with me to somebody saying, well, they offered me drugs. What was I gonna do? Yes, say no. In my seven years being sober, I've been offered drugs and alcohol so many times I can't even count. I've been offered my drug of choice, which was prescription opioids by doctors and I've still turned it down. I used to tell my clients all the time, I was like, you are never going to find a valid excuse with me about why you relapsed. So when I see Lil Zan saying it's the industry, it's the career that he's in and how much work they do that is leading to addiction, that is such BS, all right? Because here's the thing, let's look at people like Eminem, right, who just celebrated over a decade sober. I can't remember, I think it was like 11 years sober. Let's look at Macklemore. Although Macklemore had a relapse a couple years ago, he is, again, in sobriety. There are many, many other artists in the mainstream who are sober. So when I hear Lil Zan saying that, like, if I knew Lil Zan, I'd be like, no, man, that's not an excuse. Because something that all of us have to learn in sobriety is, if that person can do it, I can do it too. You know what I mean? Like, I remember when I got sober, I heard about people having their children die. I met a guy who had a terminal cancer and he only had months to live and he stayed sober through it. So when I hear somebody like Lil Zan say, I'm going to work a lot, like, that is not a valid excuse. What we have to do is we have to find people who are doing what we want to achieve. And this is for everybody. Drug addicts, non-drug addicts, whoever it is. Like, we need to find mentors. We have to find people who are in a place that we want to achieve and learn how to model their footsteps. What are they doing, right? Like, for example, Eminem, when he celebrated his birthday a week or two ago, he showed his 12-step coin, right? So I would imagine, and this is, it's totally possible that Eminem just goes to a meeting once a year and gets his coin. I've seen some people do that. But it's also possible that he goes to 12-step meetings regularly and that's how he's staying sober. Macklemore, the other rapper that I gave an example of, he has many songs about 12-step programs. All right? Like, I believe it's a song other side. And then also his song Starting Over. That song too. It's about a relapse and then going back into 12-step rooms. So to see somebody like Lil Zan say, like, oh, the industry, this is why I'm a drug addict, that is just an excuse. But here's the other thing. And the last thing I'm going to touch on is the fact that, like, any, like, so many people who get sober, they think they can still smoke weed, right? Now, let me make it very clear. I am not anti-weed. I'm not anti-alcohol. I happen to have an addiction problem, right? So when I have smoked weed in the past, it always led me back to my drug of choice. Like, I am somebody who cannot smoke weed safely without going back to my drug of choice. And I've seen this take so many recovering addicts out, so many addicts out, so many people who get sober from, like, heroin, opioids, meth, cocaine, all these things, they get rid of the hard drug and they're like, okay, I can still smoke some pot. And much like myself, it leads them right back to that drug. Like, again, I'm pro-weed. I'm very, you know, knowledgeable about, like, the medical benefits. I know it helps with anxiety and depression and everything like that. I actually voted to help the law get passed to get illegalized here in the state of Nevada, right? So I'm not anti-weed. So get that right the hell out of your head. But the reality is, is when you see somebody like Lil Xan, who's talking about relapses, he's still smoking pot. You see what I mean? And I would be curious if he's ever tried to stop smoking pot and see if that helps with his sobriety. And if that's somebody out there, if that's you, if you keep finding yourself relapsing and you keep smoking pot, maybe try getting rid of the pot for a while because for me, I always had a foot in the door. I always had a foot left in the door that left me wide open to relapse. My last relapse that happened seven years ago was because I kept smoking pot. And then when prescription opioids were offered to me, I was like, eh, might as well. And then it took me on a year and a half long relapse that almost killed me because the thing is that we have to understand about addiction, whether it's alcohol addiction, drug addiction, food addiction, sex addiction, shopping addiction, gambling addiction, whatever it is. We are doing it for one of three reasons. To get a feeling, to get rid of a feeling or to have an escape, all right? The root cause of addiction at its core is that we are trying to alter our state of mind because we can't handle living in the reality that we're currently living in. We're trying to get rid of something. We're trying to avoid something. We're trying to suppress something and shove it down. So when we're actively doing something like continuing to smoke pot, we are just finding a different unhealthy coping skill. You see what I mean? And this is why rehab is so important. Therapy is so important. 12-step meetings are so important. So you can get down to those root causes and figure out what's really going on. So I do hope for the best for Lil Xan. But again, I don't think Lil Xan's gonna see this video. I hope this video helped you or somebody you know. Please share it with somebody you know if you see that they're the same kind of cycle as Lil Xan, alright? But anyways, that's all I got for this video. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up. 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