Coach Mike Bayer is with us today.
(applause)
Please welcome coach Mike Bayer.
Coach, one of the things you do at CAST Centers
is you work with addicts, chronic addicts, acute addicts,
all different kinds of medication.
When somebody is taking nine 10/325s of hydrocodone,
what's the issue here?
I think we know what the issue is.
Holly's addicted, she's dependent.
But the other issue that it seems like
is Holly's not really willing to do the work.
She's not willing to do the work on a real romance,
she's not willing to do the work to lose
the weight that she wants to lose,
she's not willing to do the work to get off drugs,
she's not willing to do the work to be independent.
And I think everything, as I was sitting here watching
I felt like my eyebrows were moving in circles
like trying to keep up with the story.
And the reason why none of this is making sense
is you're on a lot of drugs.
And this is a drug-mance.
And you got drug goggles on
and we're just spectating, and we're a part of that,
but we really need to break the cycle
and open things up so you really live
the life you want and need to.
So, tell me what you mean
when you say she's got drug goggles on.
I mean, everything looks better on drugs.
(audience laughing)
You know?
You know, that hole that you're feeling
inside of yourself of feeling empty,
or not good enough, or not being loved,
you're, these are the safest relationships on Earth
that require no risk that allow you
to live in a fantasy,
and these are goggles.
I mean, it's the same thing as anyone getting impaired,
their thinking's impaired, their emotions are impaired,
and I mean, I just felt like I was in a movie,
just sitting here just, what is going on?
None of this makes sense.
Your reality is so distorted,
you can't trust your perceptions about this.
Your, "Oh, I forgive him, he tells me this, tells me that,
"they do this, they do that,
"I forgive, I forgive, I forgive",
you just take another pill.
I mean, it just loops you out more,
just loops you out more.
You're high right now.
I've been watching you sit here,
I've been watching your pupils in your eyes.
You're high right here as this medication
just keeps circulating through your body.
And you're not aware, you're sitting there,
I ask you a question, and it's like, "Why (mumbles)".
And I'm like, God, you talk slower than me.
(audience laughing)
I know I have a problem and
I know it's big.
You know, I'm curious,
in these internet romances you have,
have you shared with either of these guys or anyone
that you are seriously addicted
to pain medication?
Yes, they both know.
And what do they think about that?
Well, Gunesh wants me to get sober.
He says that we can't start a life unless I get sober.
And Kaoma says that I'm weak.
But that's a usually Kaoma response right there.
Well, let me,
let me tell you something.
There are moments in peoples' lives
where you come to a precipice.
You come to a threshold in your life
where you have the opportunity to make a stand
to make all things wrong right.
You come to these moments, I call 'em the precipice.
There are choice points in your life along the way
where you come to that point
where you have the opportunity,
you have the resources, you have the support,
you have the clarity, you have the focus
to hit a reset button and set things right.
And right now, your life is going nowhere.
You're laying in bed, pillows packed around you,
looking into a phone and pretending this is a life.
It is not.
You are addicted to drugs, your brain is on buzz,
you're looking at the world through these drug goggles
that coach Mike is describing.
And you need to make a decision, you're very young,
you're 28 years old.
You are probably looking at 60 years
or more stretched out in front of you
where this could be in your rear view mirror,
and be just a bad memory that you put behind you
if you decide right now, "I am sick to death
"of putting up with this from myself".