here are three things we can all learn from Macklemore about recovery
now for those of you who don't know Macklemore is a rapper and he is known to talk very openly
about his recovery and he's got some very important lessons that we could all learn from
Macklemore's real name is Ben Hagerty and when you listen to him in interviews he talks about his
drug addiction and his recovery he talks about the day he took his first drink at the time he
was alone in his kitchen and he decided to drink a shot of alcohol and that led to another and
another and another until he had drank 12 shots at the age of 14 the first time he'd ever drank
alone in his kitchen and from that moment on the substances were a problem now there were
periods of times when Macklemore would take a break from substances because even at a really
young age Macklemore realized that he wasn't his most productive creative best self when
he's using substances and so he would go through these periods of trying to be sober and getting a
lot of work done and being creative and then other periods of being really wasted and intoxicated and
partying and this back and forth process went on for lots of years all the way up until he
was about 25 years old and that's when his father confronted him one day and just said look i know
you're not happy we've got to deal with this and that conversation ultimately is what led him to
his first rehab which i believe was like a 30-day program and during that program he talks openly
about the fact that he really did want recovery even though it wasn't his idea to start with
his dad had confronted so many of us we really need that push because deep down inside we want
something different we just can't make ourselves take those steps in fact Macklemore talks about
how he actually wanted it off and on from being a teenager in his early 20s he wanted sobriety
he knew he was miserable he knew it was keeping him from his potential which is what brings me to
lesson number one that we can all learn from Macklemore about addiction recovery and sobriety
and that is being really honest with ourselves about the nature of drug and alcohol use it's so
glorified in our culture it's everywhere that we all even adults feel this constant pressure to use
these substances so much so that a lot of us have a difficult time telling ourselves the truth about
what's happening how we feel about these substances what benefits we get from them
and how they're harming us but one thing i love about Macklemore is that he talks about this
so openly and honestly in his music and in his interviews he talks about the truth the dark side
behind all the partying you know so many other rappers and entertainers they really glamorize
that lifestyle but anyone who's been stuck in it knows that it's not all glamorous there's a lot
of ugliness and brokenness lies disconnectedness unhappiness and even depression now the second big
lesson that we can all learn from Ben Hagerty is the fact that he's not anonymous he's unanimous
in fact he's very open about his addiction and recovery struggles so many people out there who
are trying to get clean and sober and even those people who have a good amount of recovery time
it's almost like they're embarrassed or scared to say that they're in recovery which actually
creates a lot of problems for their recovery the fact that he's so open about it creates a level of
accountability that very much helps ensure his success and the third big lesson we can learn
from Macklemore about how to do recovery is he talks so openly about being a part of a recovery
community and not just being a part of a recovery community but actually utilizing his recovery
community the way that it's meant to be utilized i was listening to an interview with him recently he
was talking about how he was um trying to finish up his album the heist and how he had like run out
of creativity and ideas and he was just exhausted and he really needed to push the rest of the way
through and finish it up but he just couldn't find what he needed the energy and the passion inside
to help him get through the rest of that album but here's the good part about that story he talked
about how he told his friend and his girlfriend said hey i'm thinking about doing this what do you
think the fact that he's so open about it that is what's making his recovery successful you cannot
recover in secrecy addiction lives and thrives in the darkness and if you want to have any chance at
beating it you have to turn the light on it and i love what his friends tell him in response to the
Adderall question what they said to him is you know what that's a shortcut and there's so many
problems with that what if you write a song while you're on Adderall and it's a huge success what is
that going to do to you that's going to make you think oh i need more of that and you're going to
find yourself back in that spiral again but it was his openness his willingness to say it out loud to
someone else and to really hear their feedback that kept him from a relapse now for those of
you out there who are not familiar with his music i strongly encourage you to check it out it has
some really genuine you're going to hear some cold hard truth about the world of addiction and the
process of digging your way out of it my personal thank you so much to Macklemore for sending out a
different message for not glamorizing the partying lifestyle for being truthful and honest because so
many of us really need to hear that message and i sure have a lot of respect and appreciation
for you being willing to put yourself out there like that to help others now for those of you
who want to know more about the actual process of getting cleanings over watch this video next