Welcome to Road Less Traveled, a recovery podcast. Our mission is to bring awareness to recovery and show that life and sobriety is not just possible, but can be very fulfilling. I’m Ashley wolver, Director of Outreach at Country Road Recovery Center. We’ll be diving into conversations about addiction treatment and the journey to lasting recovery before we begin, we kindly ask that viewers refrain from commenting the names of current or past clients of country road Recovery Center to protect their privacy. A special thank you to Brooke Southern, who created the music for road less traveled. Thank you for tuning in. Let’s get started on this journey down the road less traveled. Hi everybody. Welcome back to Road Less Traveled. I’m your host, Ashley woolover, and today we have a very special guest, Brooke southern. He is one of my dear friends, and he also works in the recovery community as well, and he is part of the been around the block podcast. Start off by sharing a little bit about
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that. And yeah. So been around the block. We started in April 2024 with Chris Ross and then Bradley, name of sparks. I think everybody on the internet knows who that is, but, and it just started off kind of as an idea that Chris had, he wanted to do a podcast as recovery base, not like associated with anything, but, and it’s just really kind of developed into this huge thing, and we’ve gone over metrics on our own show. But, you know, from April 2024 to April 2025 we reached over 12 million people, which is, like, really cool. And I’ve been able to have the unique opportunity to meet people from all over the country, which has been really cool. You know, California. We’ve had guys from Austin, Tennessee, basically we, you know, Colorado, just all over that. It all started by them catching one of our early episodes, and they’re like, Hey, we have a really good story. We’d like to share that with you guys. So it’s just been really neat, you know, and I think by now, if we’ve been able to reach 16 million according to last metrics, and that’s not just on the podcast, because I like, I can’t hardly sit still for a whole podcast, but the other content that we make, and that’s what’s neat about Nemo, is he has comedy these sprinkles in recovery all the way through his his content, which is really cool. I love it. So like I said, that was kind of the brainchild of Chris Ross and kind of a weird thing him. There’s a former host, Brittany, who, I don’t describe her. She’s not recovery, but kind of an activist type person stand up to little guy, which, you know, I felt like she did bring something to the table, and she’s no longer with us. We kind of think, around episode 10, we decided to kind of part ways, but Nemo and Chris, basically, Chris had this idea, approached Nemo about it, and Nemo was like, yeah, man, I’m on board. And Chris and I have met through mutual friends. We always just kind of hit it off. He’s a skater type dude. That’s kind of how I grew up. And with him, I just approached him. Was like, Hey, man, if you ever need a guest, just let me know. I’m happy to share my story, and I’ll be the best story, but I’m happy to share with you. He’s like, actually, I heard you got a background in sound and engineering and stuff like that. Would you be interested in doing the sound and being a host? And I just, I keep getting told on episodes, I’ve got a good face for radio, so I got a good voice for radio, so I would agree, it just kind of kind of sticks. So, yeah, it’s been really like, I said, it’s just a unique opportunity. Certain things fell into place. I asked him, and he was like, yeah, actually need another host. So I just jumped in those feet.
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It’s awesome. You guys really have been able to reach a lot of people as are doing this. Just amazing. And you can tell that the three of you just have this chemistry when you
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get it’s unique. Yeah, that’s for sure. You would never think if you saw us walking down the street separately, that we would.
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Agreement. To have discussions with each other, but it’s been really unique, and they’re some of my best friends. That’s how recovery goes. Yeah, 100% Yeah. So that kind of goes on theme with what we’re talking about today. And also, Brooks is who has done the music for road less traveled. When you hear the little outro song before we begin. That’s Brooks and so you, you’ve got
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your hands dipped in a lot of stuff. You’re very active in what you do. You are also part of a band, right? Yeah, sure. Daniel, the Daniel card band we me and Dan started this Gosh, in 2022 I think because I I had gotten sober and gotten out of rehab in November 2021 and I had actually put a song on Facebook at back song, and then mutual friend of me and Dan’s reached out to me. It’s like, Hey, you you guys should hook up. And then at the sober living house, Dan came over one time, we played some music, and it was the rest is history. And then we brought Pearson, and we’ve had a couple different bass players. Our most recent bass player, Mickey Mills, he was actually a guest on the podcast as well. He had to retire just because of age and stuff like that. But we we have one album that’s out on Spotify apple and then Amazon music as well. And we’re actually just got done wrapping up an album which should be out by the end of the year. We we finished. I think
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Dan went back Monday and did the rest of his vocals, so there’s some harmonies to do, and then mastering, and then we’ll have that uploaded to the interwebs very soon. So today’s topic is about balance and recovery. And I feel like you’re kind of the perfect person to do this. I try. Well, I
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mean, balance is
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hard, you know, it’s like, you know, when you’re in the recovery space, you’re just doing a lot. Sometimes, yeah,
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you do a lot. So I’m very interested to hear kind of some of your answers on this. But so like, first and foremost, man, you know, if I ever kind of get in my head about having a big workload on me, or, you know, having, like, as you said, my fingers gripped a lot of stuff, I always try and ground myself by saying, you know, five years ago, I would have given anything to be where I’m at now, as far as balance, you know, it can be tricky, and I’ve watched this many, many times with people that work in recovery, that they’ll make their work a program of recovery, and you just can’t do that. You know, I got like three big examples that come to head of into my head, about like, people who have had 20 years of sobriety, but because they felt like, well, I’m working with people who are struggling in an addiction or coming into rehab that I don’t need to actually work a program of recovery. One of the cool things about being around the block, like I said, we’re not really affiliated with anybody, but I get to hear all the different ways that you can get into recovery, you know, be it a 12 step program Jesus Christ. You know, whatever the case may be, and it’s as far as balance, you know, I know that, like been around the block comes to mind, that I am reluctant to do the things I need to do, but after I get done doing it, always feel so much better.
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You know, back to the kind of the old adage I heard growing up, is idle minds the devil’s playground. So I try and stay busy, but I don’t let it take away from what I need to feel in the moment. I heard from somebody one time, I met this girl at a conference, and I was talking to her about burnout and stuff. And she was a life coach for people, and told me that not all the time does burnout equate to resting.
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You’re supposed to do the stuff that
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gives you energy, and sometimes, like we can be reluctant to do an
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activity, but like you said, once you’re done, you realize it’s rewarding. Yeah, yeah. Do you want to share some of your story? Yeah, sure. I’d be happy to. And I can kind of condense it down, because usually when I tell a story, it’s 45 minutes now, but you know, I, for the most part, grew up with a pretty normal family. One of my earlier memories was my parents getting divorced, and always hearing the spooky tales of my mom being an alcoholic, granted, she was sober for no young age when I got when they got divorced and stuff like that. But, you know. I also I witnessed addiction. Take my grandmother. She died of lung cancer, a brain tumor, supposed to deliver all at the ripe old age of, like 65 or something like that, which I remember that impacted my mom quite a bit. And then my cousin, who
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he had the same birthday as Mary, was a couple years older in May
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could not shake the heroin addiction, and the only way he could get out of it was otherwise. I
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it just kind of kind of sticks. So, yeah, it’s been really, like I said, it’s just a unique opportunity, before we begin, that’s Brooks and so you,
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you’ve got your hands dipped in a lot of stuff. You’re very active in what you do. You are also part of a band, right? Yeah, sure. Daniel, the Daniel card band. We me and Dan started this, gosh, in 2022 I think because I I had gotten sober and gotten out of rehab in November 2021 and I had actually put a song on Facebook at that song, and then mutual friend of me and Dan’s reached out to me. It’s like, Hey, you guys should hook up. And then at the sober living house, Dan came over one time, we played some music, and it was the rest is history. And then we brought then we brought Pearson, and we’ve had a couple different bass players. Our most recent bass player Mickey Mills, he was actually a guest on the podcast as well. He had to retire just because of age and stuff like that. But we we have one album that’s out on Spotify, Apple and then Amazon music as well. And we’re actually just got done wrapping up recording the second album, which should be out by the end of the year. We We finished, I
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think Dan went back Monday and did the rest of his vocals, so there’s some harmonies to do, and then mastering, and then we’ll have that uploaded to the interwebs very soon. Yeah, yeah. So today’s topic is about balance and recovery. I feel like you’re kind of the perfect person to do this. I try, well, I, I mean, balance is hard. You know, it’s like, you know, when you’re in every space you’re just doing a lot sometimes, yeah,
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you do a lot. So I’m very interested to hear kind of some of your answers on this. But so like, first and foremost, man, you know, if I ever kind of get in my head about having a big workload on me, or, you know, having like, as you said, my fingers dipped a lot of stuff. I always try and ground myself by saying, you know, five years ago, I would have given anything to be where I’m at now, as far as balance, you know, it can be tricky, and I’ve watched this many, many times with people that work in recovery, that they’ll make their work a program of recovery, and you just can’t do that. You know, I got like three big examples that come to head of to my head about like, people who have had 20 years of sobriety, but because they felt like, well, I’m working with people who are struggling in an addiction or coming into rehab, that I don’t need to actually work a program of recovery. One of the cool things about being around the block, like I said, we’re not really affiliated with anybody, but I get to hear all the different ways that you can get into recovery, you know, be it a 12 step program Jesus Christ, you know, whatever the case may be. And it’s as far as balance, you know, I know that, like been around the block comes to mind, that I am reluctant to do the things I need to do, but after I get done doing it, always feel so much better.
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You know, back to the kind of the old adage I heard growing up, is I don’t mind the devil’s playground, so I try and stay busy, but I don’t let it take away from what I need to feel in the moment. Reminds me something I heard from somebody one time. I met this girl at a conference, and I was talking to her about burnout and stuff, and she. Was a life coach for people, and told me that not all the time does burnout equate to resting. Yeah, you’re supposed to do the stuff that gives you energy, and sometimes, like we can be
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reluctant to do an activity, but like you said, once you’re done, you realize it’s rewarding, yeah, yeah. Do you want to share some of your story? Yeah, sure, I’d be happy to. And I can kind of condense it down, because usually when I tell a story, it’s 45 minutes now, but you know, I, for the most part, grew up with a pretty normal family. One of my earlier memories was my parents getting divorced, and always hearing the spooky tales of my mom being an alcoholic. Granted, she was sober from no young age, when I got when they got divorced and stuff like that. But you know, I also I witnessed addiction. Take my grandmother. She died of lung cancer, brain tumors, rose to the liver all at the ripe old age of like 65 or something like that, which I remember, that impacted my mom quite a bit. And then my cousin, who he had the same birthday as Mary, was a couple years older than me, could not shake the heroin addiction, and the only way he could get out of it was unaliving himself. You know, that was one of the biggest things that hit me early on, was him committing suicide, and just because he didn’t feel like there was a way out, you know, and that’s I didn’t realize that was kind of a seed that would be planted later, that I would be able to use. But, you know, by all respects, I was a normal kid. I got good grades for the most part, had a promising like baseball thing ahead of me, and that was playing varsity baseball and freshmen, but also kind of got in with the skaters. I had moved from my mom’s house, she relapsed and got in the full blown alcoholic mode again. So I got scared again hearing this horse horror stories growing up of what it could be like if she started drinking again. So I moved in with my dad over in Tulsa. And you know, when you move from a place you grew up with to a new town, you know, it’s, you kind of just try and find a place to fit in. And I struggle with that. You know, I kind of rolled in with the skaters, stoners or whatever. And, you know, I started smoking weed, started drinking stuff like that. My main thing was alcohol. You know, I remember skipping school, and eventually my dad, just, he just couldn’t handle it anymore. He wound up sending me into a boy’s home, you know, and just, I’m not gonna go into all the things in my alcoholic career, but you know, I remember kind of having some sober time during my teen years, you know, I was, I was very ambitious in high school. I graduated a couple years early. Got into rodeoing for a little bit and but I remember always having that kind of monkey on my back of alcohol. And, you know, I tried to do things. I always tried to do the geographical peers, you know, I went, went to the army, went to basic training that I kind of washed out, not washed out. I had a medical condition that gave me an epts discharge, so and, you know, it didn’t matter what the scenario was, you know, I came back to Tulsa. I got with my ex wife, we had our kid and stuff like that, and everything was going to change. But it never did, you know, and granted, you know, having a kid obviously changes you physiologically, but it still was not enough. You know, I remember being so intoxicated the night before my wedding that my firefighter buddy had to bring an oxygen tank for me to get over my hangover and I almost missed my daughter being born for being too intoxicated to even, you know, get the phone call. But you know, I are my wedding kind of petered out, or my my marriage petered out. We only stayed married for a short time. Got divorced, and it was just four years after that when I finally, I remember, like into my fridge because I knew I could not not drink, and I couldn’t drink, you know, because it was killing me. I finally, I checked myself into rehab over in Tulsa, in 2014 you know, and I was in a safe environment, but I wasn’t working any kind of program. And, you know, eventually that fell off. I thought that maybe, you know, while I’m not an addict or whatever, I’m not alcoholic, so I could do other ways to modify the way I felt. And I tripped acid thinking that it was going to be completely safe, and was on. Five year, relapse after that, and, you know, I’m just, I’m gonna, again, kind of condense this. But I wound up on MLK Boulevard in Tulsa, if you know any American city, MLK is about the worst street you can be on, no matter what, in an ex girlfriend’s mother’s house. And finally, just kind of had that aha moment. I don’t think rock bottom. I think this is rock bottom. And was very fortunate. I had something a little bitty sliver of a window opened up and I checked myself into rehab down here. My mom drew me up here, and, you know, I went to landmark, one of the guys who
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did my intake just passed recently due to a heart attack. And like I said, I was in rehab. I had some complications medically because I
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I was doing, and some guys brought a meeting into the rehab I was in, and they had stories like mine, you know, I’m sure he wouldn’t make mind me using his name, but Drew was one of the people that brought in a meeting to landmark. And again, they had stories that were just as wild as mine, thought more crazy, and they were sober, and they were happy about it. And, you know, I did the sober living for a thing, for a little bit of time, you know, I still have, like my roommate, Wyatt, who’s an accountability partner, you know, and I’ve been sober four years now, but, you know, busy feet keep you safe and stuff like that. You know what I’ve been able to do now. I’ve been able to reconcile my relationship with my daughter, my ex wife, all my family. You. You know, and like I said, I work in recovery now, which has been a really neat deal. And, you know, I one thing that I mentioned kind of recently through some other people, is that even though I got sober life as. Doesn’t necessarily get easy. You still have to clean up the wreckage of your past, and I’ve had some pretty bad things happen, and I remember.
