Greg: What’s going on everyone, it’s Matt and Greg here from Project unbroken, and today we got a question in. It’s from a former heroin addict and he’s been clean for about a year, and his question is, he’s been clear for a year but he’s just not happy. He’s heard our stories about how we went through heroin addiction, we got through it, and now we’re very happy. We’re very happy with our lives, very successful, and he’s like I just can’t get to the next step. It’s been a year and I’m unhappy. Like I don’t want to go back to using necessarily, but not using I’m not happy either. What do I do?
Matt: Yeah, well, I mean I’ll say personally for me I wasn’t happy in a year after quitting heroin. It is a long road and you do have to be patient, but there are things that if I knew now, or if I knew then what I know now, it would’ve helped me a lot. And a few of those, probably the main thing is to not run from adversity, or struggle, or be uncomfortable, but run towards it.
It wasn’t until I found myself with a crossfit for instance, where it was something where I was really challenging myself on a daily basis and doing something difficult, where I started seeing improvement with my self. That’s when I started to feel better and feel happier. I don’t know, before that I used to avoid anything and everything that I felt would be stressful or difficult, and now I see that those things … I just started doing jujitsu, that’s another very mentally stimulating but super challenging activity, and you find enjoyment through the tough stuff.
Greg: You know it’s really interesting Matt said that, and we didn’t talk about this before the video, but I was actually happy a lot earlier than the year mark. But guess what? As soon as I was coming off methadone I was in Matt’s gym. So at first, when I started his gym and very hard workouts, I didn’t really like the workouts because it was new to me, it was adversity. It was really, really tough, he had me on the floor dying at the end. But I didn’t really go in for the workouts at first, I went in because there’s positive people around.
I wanted to be around people that were positive, and that’s what kept me going back, so I wanted to be around positive people, and I’d suffer through a workout. But then, as I started doing more and more of these workouts, I got addicted to the workouts too, like I got addicted to the suffering because I realized “Oh my god, I’m starting to lose my gut, I’m starting to gain my confidence, and I’m starting to find my way.”
So, for me, if I was actually happier a lot earlier than a year because I got into the crossfit thing right as I was coming of my methadone, so I found it a lot quicker.
So I think that’s a great point is finding something that challenges you and finding positive people to do it with.
Matt: And it doesn’t necessarily have to be crossfit or jujitsu, I mean you can challenge yourself, go take a painting class, or anything. Go start playing chess, whatever it is. But ideally it would be something that involves other people that are maybe on a positive track in life, and something that is going to challenge you, especially mentally. Something that makes you think, solve problems, situations like that.
It’s very beneficial for just overall mental health I think.
Greg: Definitely. So hopefully that helps you with direction in where you’re going. We didn’t get too many details on this question, but you need to start finding adversity, finding positive people. Start challenging yourself and I think that will start putting you in the right direction.
Matt: Yeah, absolutely. Well good luck, and guys if you have any questions please leave a comment, shoot us a message, and we look forward to talking to you soon.
