 Today I have brought you a very special guest to talk about opiate addiction withdrawal as well as recovery. So make sure that you stay tuned 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, my channel is all about mental health as well as addiction recovery. So if you're into that kind of stuff, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. So yes, I have brought a very special guest, Roberta, who I will introduce to you in just a little bit, a little bit, just hang with me one second. So I just want to give you some backstory on how I know Roberta and why she's doing a collab with me. So like starting out on YouTube and even still to this day, I just look around at like different like addiction and mental health stuff. For those of you who don't know me, I am a recovering opiate addict myself. I just celebrated six years in June. And, you know, like when I was when I was, you know, smaller than I am now, like, you know, I was really like reaching out and talking to people and just watching other people and seeing what their videos were like. And I'm like, Roberta and I, we talked a little bit like in her comments and you know, she would come over to my channel. We talked a little bit. And I was just watching her with these ups and downs ups and downs. Like I saw she had some withdrawal videos, some like sober videos, some withdrawal videos, some sober videos. And I was just watching and I am not a high pressure person. You know, I was taught when I got clean that we don't do that. We don't try to force anybody into doing this. But like I talk about on my channel like unsolicited advice and interventions and all of that. And there just came a point where I was like, you know, Roberta, how about you try this? You know, and it was just, I felt like I needed to say something, right? And I'm going to shut up and I'll come back at the end of this video. But like I want Roberta to share a little bit of her experience of, you know, what was going on in her life and what she's been doing to stay clean for the last few months. Someone recently asked me what my resistance was to joining AA or NA. My drug of choice is opiates prescription painkillers. I had a drinking problem. I never really considered myself an alcoholic, but definitely a pain pillow addict for sure. I guess for me, I had been in and out of the rooms in AA and AA for several times in my life. I'm 43 years old when I first became actively addicted to painkillers. I was in my early 20s and life goes on. Things happen in and out of the rooms of AA and NA. And I guess I just never really wanted to commit. I knew that if I stayed there in those rooms that I would have to do the work. And I always felt like, especially in my younger years, I always felt like there was more living that I had to do. I felt like living meant keep doing the things that I questioned that were harming me at the time, I guess. And so I just resisted. There's a squirrel back there chasing me. Years later, I started a channel on YouTube, Rockin' Roberta, and I was getting off the maintenance medication called Suboxone. And I wanted to document it so people could see what the withdrawal was like because there wasn't a lot online that I found very helpful. Some channels helped, but I wanted people to see what the withdrawal was like daily. So I documented that. Well, when I got off Suboxone, I really thought I was cured because when I got off Suboxone, I didn't crave anymore. And I thought I was cured. I did a little bit of counseling, especially in the beginning. I was on Suboxone for three years, but when I got off Suboxone, it was like all of a sudden I had to face reality again. And I just, I kept slipping up and relapsing. And I didn't go back into active addiction, but I didn't want to. And on my channel, I was crying and I said, I need help. And one of my subscribers, Nicole Plerde, she was always on me to get into the program, get into the program. And actually several of my subscribers were always on my butt to do it. And I was just always resistant toward it. And then the rewired soul came on one of my subscribers and he was like, why aren't you going to meetings? And I thought to myself, as I'm laying there crying after a slip up of doing oxy for how many ever days, I was like, why? Why am I not? So I got my butt into AA. The thing I did differently this time was I got a sponsor right away. And so I just finished my fourth step. I like being in the program. It's definitely work. And but at this point in my life, I'm ready to do the work. I had to admit that I had a problem and I had to ask for help. And so I finally, finally at this stage of my life, I was able to do that. And so it's difficult. It's challenging. Changing my life is challenging. I'm new to recovery. It's only been a few months, but you know, I'm doing it and it, I know it's, I know it's worth it. I know it's worth it to take care of myself. I've had a, I've had a rough life. Some of it was bestowed upon me and some a lot of it I did to myself and I'm just ready for, ready for the change. So. All right. Do you see this big old smile on my face? Do you see this smile on my face? So I was actually talking to Tristan about this because I was like, I was watching Roberta and Roberta has just been killing it, killing it for the last few months. I was talking to Tristan. I'm like, man, like I want to have Roberta come over and just like share a little bit of her experience, but I don't want to come off like, oh, look, I helped somebody. Right. And Tristan and I talked about it. And again, I always tell you guys like check your motives, check your motives, check your motives. And like my motive was like, I just wanted Roberta to share like what a lot of us go through and, you know, to, to kind of, you know, go back. Like, I, I'm nothing, I'm nothing special. I did not, I did not, you know, do anything out of the ordinary. I didn't do anything that nobody did for me. And everything that Roberta has done is 1000% her, you know, but like we need to support each other. And whether it's addiction or mental health, like the other day, I talked about something called an informal intervention. And that's pretty much just what I did. That's all I did on Roberta's, Roberta's saying like on her video, like when she was talking about how she was like crying and, you know, all of that. Like I was watching it and I felt that pain because I know about relapse. I felt that pain. And I was just like Roberta, I'm like, why don't you just try to go into some meetings? You know, like I do not try to strong arm anybody into going into any meetings. But at a certain point, we have to have somebody come in and tell us what we need to hear and not what we want to hear. And I can definitely relate to Roberta. Like I tried to do this thing my own way for many years, for many years. I was trying to do things my own way. I'm like, I'm going to quit when I want to. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. All these other things, right? And none of it ever worked. And it wasn't until the point like where I saw it and I said, you know what? Maybe I don't know what's best for me. Maybe I need to try something new. Maybe I need to do something different. And like Roberta, I bounced in and out of the rooms too. But I never put in the work. I never put in the work. I've mentioned this in very old videos. Like going to, you know, the rooms or even going to therapy and not doing what the people suggest. It's like getting a prescription and not taking the medicine. You know what I mean? So it's crazy. It's just, it blows my mind. It blows my mind. How many people are resistant to this thing? Like I was, but then as soon as they like, oh, okay. Well, I'm actually doing what you said and things are going pretty well now. And like, it's just like, it's just like clockwork. Like I see it happen over and over again. So I really want to Roberta to come over here and share her experience about how that helped her. You know, and, and like it's crazy. Like she is, I can say this. She, she seems to be doing a lot better than I was when I was in my first few months. Like she talked about how when she jumped in there, like she immediately got a sponsor and she's been clean for a few months. It took me three months. Took me three months. I just sat there and I was like, nope. Nope. This is all stupid. Uh-uh. Not doing anything. I don't want anybody telling me what to do. And not only that she got a sponsor, but she's like actually putting in the work too. All right. And like that is absolutely phenomenal. And I didn't realize she finished her four step and now I want to talk to her about it. Uh, let's see how that's been going. Now you guys, Roberta has an entire channel and like she documents a lot. And I know some of you came here for addiction recovery stuff and like I know I kind of dive into all sorts of different mental health topics. Like if you want to follow someone's addiction recovery journey, whether you are in recovery, whether you're trying to get clean, or if you have a loved one who's in addiction or trying to get clean, like check out Roberta's channel. I will have links down in the description up in the info card. It will also be at the end, but Roberta makes like videos a ton. Like a lot of videos and she talks about her journey and she talks about her struggles and her successes and everything. All right. So make sure that you go check out Roberta. But let me, let me hear from all of you. And I know some of you watching this, you know, you're, you don't have a problem with drugs or alcohol or anything like that. But let me know down in the comments below, like, have you ever been really resistant to something that might help you? And then you finally did it and it actually helped. Like let me know down in the comments. Like it's just really interesting to me how stubborn we can all be sometimes. All right. Anyways, that's all I got for you with this video. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up. If you're new, make sure to subscribe and ring that notification bell. And as promised, there is a link right there. Click or tap subscribe to Roberta. She's amazing. She's awesome. Go check out her channel out. Subscribe, ring the notification bell. Thank you so much for Roberta for coming over and sharing your story. I'll see you all next time.