 Not surprising, I get a lot of questions of Chris. You got two jobs, you're right blogs, you do so many things, you even have a kid and a beautiful girlfriend Tristan. Why do you do YouTube as well? You got so much stuff going on. And to answer that question, we're gonna discuss my life debt. What's 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, addiction recovery and sometimes what I like to do, I like to share my personal experience to try to help anybody out there who might be struggling in life. So if you're into that stuff, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. And in case you did not know, December 15th, Sunday at 3 p.m. Pacific time, we will be doing two things. One of them is I am announcing the final winner for the Shane Dawson conspiracy palette giveaway, but we're also doing a charity livestream to raise money for faces and voices of recovery, which is an awesome nonprofit out there to help raise awareness about addiction, decrease the stigma, help change policies, and help people out there who are struggling with addiction. So make sure you join us. And if you're looking to get an extra entry in the Shane Dawson palette giveaway, retweet my tweet of this video. So make sure you follow me over on Twitter at the Rewired Soul. All right, so let's jump into this thing. Like I said, I am one busy dude. All right, I have two jobs. I have a son, I have my beautiful girlfriend, and a bunch of other stuff that I got going on in my life. All right, but still, I am quanking out YouTube videos, I write, and all these other things. You know what I mean? And I wanna discuss some of the reasons why I do that. And it's really helped me with finding meaning and purpose in my life and everything like that, but I wanna kinda share with you guys the story of how that happened because just in less than a week here, I'll be celebrating seven and a half years sober. For those of us in recovery, we don't really do the half milestones after the first year, but I do pay attention like, dang, seven and a half years is a long time, because I used to not be able to go like an hour without getting drunk or high. You know what I mean? And yeah, a lot of my life is dedicated towards helping others, and there's a very good reason for that. So I shared my story yesterday about how towards the end of my addiction, the hitting rock bottom, like I just had no purpose to live. I just didn't wanna live anymore. So I wanna share with you a little bit about what brought me out of that hole. So when I first got sober, I didn't have money. I had no health insurance, nothing, right? The only thing that was given to me was my mom put my butt in a sober living house and she was paying my rent there. It was about 500 bucks a month. Other than that, I was on food stamps, welfare, if you will, they hooked me up with like little bus tokens and things like that. I had nothing. I had like three pairs of clothes to my name and that was about it. I had like a pay-as-you-go phone and everything. So I didn't really have much. So because I couldn't go to like a traditional rehab, because I couldn't afford therapy or anything, basically what they did, they said, here's AA, here's NA, these are free 12-step programs and hopefully one of those work or else you're probably gonna die. So my first week or two sober, I was very resistant. I didn't wanna go to any meetings. I thought they were stupid and everything and I just didn't wanna do anything. And eventually just to get out of my own head, I finally told one of my roommates, I'm like, yo, can I go to a meeting with you? And I've discussed a little bit about how depressed and still suicidal I was in my first three months sober. And the only thing keeping me going was just listening to people share their stories in meetings, but I caused my own misery. One of my favorites, I don't know whether to call it a quote or a formula, but it's from one of my favorite meditation teachers, Shenzhen Yang, and he says, suffering equals pain times resistance, all right? So I was causing my own suffering by having that pain and I was resisting doing anything about it. And I just sat there in 12-step meetings and I started to kind of see who was succeeding, who had a better life. And for me, it wasn't just about staying sober. Like staying sober isn't really all that fun, all right? But having a great life, that is fun, all right? Like I have an amazing life today. So what sold me on the program was after sitting there for three months, watching people not only were they sober, but their life was getting better and they had a formula for that. It was very simple. I saw that every single person who had a better life was not only going to meetings, but they had a sponsor and they were working the steps. So after three months of being a stubborn a-hole, I finally said, okay, I'm gonna get a sponsor. And the way I got myself to do that, because I really did, I hate asking for help and I didn't wanna ask some dude to sponsor me and tell me what to do and help me and all this other stuff, but I knew I needed to do that. So maybe you can use this hack. But I set a goal for myself. We had to have a weekly goal in my sober living, but I still do stuff like this to this day to make sure I get stuff done. But I made a goal that by the end of the week, I was gonna ask somebody to be my sponsor. And me being the amazing procrastinator that I am, I waited until the end of that week and I went to a meeting and it was an hour and a half long NA meeting and they had a smoke break in the middle. So the first half of the meeting, I didn't ask anybody to be my sponsor. So my plan was, after the smoke break, I was just gonna interrupt the meeting and just raise my hand and be like, duh, I need a sponsor, all right? So luckily this dude came up to me like during the smoke break and I'd seen him around at meetings and I heard him talk and he sounded like he knew what he was talking about. He seemed happy and everything like that and basically we started having a conversation and he's like, hey, I've seen you around, how much time do you have? And I was like, yeah, I've been sober for three months and as a way to kind of break the ice, he was like, something really cool happened to me today. I'm like, really, what's that? And he's like, I got approved for Cole's credit card and I'm like, oh snap. And for some of you out there, that's not a big deal. Before a guy like me, when I first got sober, that was a huge deal because a lot of us who are drug addicts and alcoholics, we destroy our credit and our whole financial state of being. So somebody getting approved for a credit card, like he was in that same situation and he, think at that time, yeah, he had three years sober at that time. So he started talking and everything and he asked me, he's like, so what's up? Do you got a sponsor yet? Are you working the steps? I'm like, no, I was about to go back in the meeting and make an ass of myself and ask somebody to be my sponsor. And he's like, you want me to sponsor you? Just without hesitation, I was like, yup. And he saved me the embarrassment of going back into that meeting and asking some random, you know, to be my sponsor, even though he was kind of a random. But anyways, we started meeting up. He had me call him once a day and I had to read part of the big book. But as time went on, see like, all of my relationships in the past were all transactional, right? And a lot of us are like that, even if you're not an addict in recovery. A lot of us have these transactional relationships. Like, I only kept people in my life who can give something to me. But on the flip side, people only kept me in their life if I can give something to them. And this dude was donating his time to me asking nothing in return. Like, you guys, this guy, I was giving him nothing in return. And he would meet up with me multiple times a week for hours, okay? To just talk, to go through the book, to work on steps, right? We'd go out for coffee and since I was broke, he would buy me coffee. And sometimes he would give me a ride. I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm like, why is this dude doing so much for me? I'm like, he doesn't even know me. And I was like, what can I do? Like, because so many people are paying for therapy. Like, I'm currently in therapy now that my situation is much better and everything like that. But I'm like, this guy's giving me free therapy. And I'm like, and I'm giving him nothing in return. And finally like that, I don't know, I felt guilty for providing nothing in this relationship. Like, all this guy was doing was open to me. And eventually one day, you know, after we were working together for a month or two, we sat down and I'm like, dude, like, cause he would call me and like, I'd call him. He'd help me stay sober when I was just losing my mind. And I sat him down. I'm just like, dude, I'm like, what can I do to repay you? I'm like, you're saving my life. One day at a time, you're saving my life. Now, one thing he did, which I try to do for others now is he told me, he's like, I'm not doing anything. He's like, you're doing all the work. You know what I mean? But without his guidance, I wouldn't be here today. That man saved my life. But I told him, I'm just like, what can I do to repay you? I'm like, how can I ever repay you for saving my life and helping me understand and get this thing? You know what I mean? Like I said, I'm coming up on seven and a half years sober and so much of it is thanks to that man. And I'm like, what can I do to repay you? And here's what he said. He's like, all you have to do is once you get this thing, help other people. And I'm like, wait a sec. I'm like, that's it. That's it. All I'm gonna do is just help other people. Like, you don't want me to like save up money and like buy you a yacht or something for saving my damn life. You know what I mean? But that's how 12 step programs work pretty much. They're just like, hey, once you get this thing, help other people. So that was something that I could do. And it started out very little. Like even before I finished the steps, I would try to help out newcomers and talk to them, give them my phone numbers and my phone number, not phone numbers. I only have one phone number. But I would give them my phone number. I'd sit there and talk with them after the meeting if they were struggling and everything. Because like I said, the only thing this dude asked me was to help other people. That was it. That was it. And eventually I got to a place where I started sponsoring other young men and everything. And I don't know if it's part of my addict mindset, but I always want to do more. I always want to do more. So my first three years, I was just helping other people in the program when people would reach out to me. Because once I came out of the closet as a recovering addict, you know, old friends, family members, they would tell me about their own problems. So they'd ask me how to help someone they knew. But when I was three years sober, that's when I got the job offer to work at a rehab. And let me tell you about a dream job. And let me tell you about a dream job, right? Like I was able to help people on a bigger scale. Like I was able to do groups for 50, 60, 70 people. Sometimes I'd speak in front of over a hundred people, you know, and like, and they were paying me for it. Like what? Right? So yeah, like this dude, he just asked me to help others. And that's why I say like, it's my life debt. Like that guy saved my life and that's why I work so much and I still do this YouTube channel. I no longer work at the rehab. I work for a different, I work in a completely different industry kind of, but this YouTube channel is the way I'm still able to do that and still able to help others from all over the world too. Like I have rewired soldiers out there from, you know, the UK, some from like Africa, some from the Middle East, you know, from South America all over the world. And that's what brings me fulfillment and joy. Like it gives me meaning and purpose every single day. Like I often, you know, joke with other people. Like so many people have these like existential crises. Like what's the meaning of life? What's my purpose in life and everything like I wake up every single day with meaning and purpose when I just want to try to help one person. If my goal for the day is just to help one person, I have meaning and purpose every single day. And this isn't just like some luxury that I have. All of you get to do it. Hell, some of you are doing it. Whenever you share your story in the comments below, you might be helping one person. You know what I mean? So to end this video, I'll give you guys the same mission that my old sponsor gave to me. If I've ever helped you in any way through sharing my experience, through sharing the things that I've learned with all the fricking books I read and everything like that, like use that information to help others. I think a great example to look at is Taylor Nicole Dean, right? Taylor Nicole Dean had the opportunity to go to rehab. She knows how many people don't have that opportunity and she's sharing the knowledge that she gained in that situation with as many people as she can, so for you, you don't have to start a YouTube channel or anything like that. Maybe it's just helping somebody on Twitter, joining a Facebook group. There's so many mental health addiction recovery, so many just support groups, trauma survivors and all that. Just go in there and there's always people in there where you might be able to say, hey, here's how I got through a situation like that. I don't know if it'll help you, but maybe it will. Like that's all we can do. There's no magic bullet to just fix all of the world's problems, but what we can do is saying, hey, this work for me, maybe it'll work for you, right? Like if you've been through any struggle in your life, you have some experience because you're still here today to tell that story so maybe however you got through it can help somebody else. You know what I mean? Anyways, this video is longer than I expected, but to answer your question about why I work so damn hard and still do YouTube videos on the regular, it's because of my life debt, baby girl, but it also, I love doing it. It's this very unique thing where, you know, they say we keep what we have by giving it away. All right, but anyways, that's all I got for this video. Don't forget, if you want an extra entry into the Shane Dawson conspiracy pilot giveaway, retweet my tweet of this video. You'll get an extra entry and join us 3 p.m. Pacific Time tomorrow where not only will I be announcing the winner but we'll be doing a charity livestream for Faces, Voices of Recovery. All right, that's all I got for this video. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up. If you're new, make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. And the hugest of all thank yous to everybody who supports the channel over on Patreon. We just had some new people sign up. Everybody who supports the channel by buying my mental health books at therewiredsold.com or buying the merch. Like all of you out there who support the channel in any way, even if it's just sharing my videos, you help me do this, which is something that I absolutely love. All right, thanks again for watching. I'll see you next time.