031: "The One you Feed" Eric Zimmer now 8 years clean, takes us through over 20 years of drug addiction, alcoholism, relapse and sobriety.031: "The One you Feed" Eric Zimmer now 8 years clean, takes us through over 20 years of drug addiction, alcoholism, relapse and sobriety.
The SHAIR Recovery Podcast
Eric Zimmer shares a candid account of two decades spent in addiction, recovery, relapse and return to sobriety, framed by the good wolf/bad wolf parable. He talks about homelessness, failed attempts at moderation, atheism in AA and how community and principles now keep him clean and building a life worth living.
57:18•15 Sept 2015
Feeding the Right Wolf: Eric Zimmer on Relapse, Atheism and Long‑Term Sobriety
Episode Overview
- Recovery works best when you take the whole package: meetings, community, steps and spiritual growth, rather than picking and choosing.
- Trying to control and enjoy drinking at the same time is a losing game; at best you get one or the other, never both.
- You do not need a traditional idea of God to work the steps; a higher power can be the group and a set of spiritual principles that actually work in daily life.
- Coming back after relapse can feel harder than getting sober the first time, but if you keep showing up the desire to drink can and does fade.
- Immersing yourself in recovery‑focused conversations, service and community can help keep you in “fit spiritual condition” long term.
“"Either way, you're feeding one. They don't both starve. And they don't both get fed."”
How do individuals turn their lives around after addiction? This conversation between host Omar Pinto and guest Eric Zimmer gives a raw, funny, and very human look at that question. Eric, now over eight years clean, talks through more than 20 years of drug addiction, alcoholism, relapse and sobriety. He recalls getting drunk on mouthwash as a teenager, graduating to heroin, homelessness and a $300‑a‑day habit, plus arrests for forgery and grand theft.
Yet he also shares the quieter, equally dangerous phase: looking successful on the outside while drinking daily and convincing himself he could manage it. The chat is aimed squarely at people in recovery or thinking about an alcohol‑free life, especially those who’ve relapsed or struggle with the idea of a higher power.
Eric is open about being an atheist and explains how he built a workable spirituality around group support and living by principles like honesty and kindness rather than a traditional God. As he puts it, he believes these principles and people can help him "get through anything that life throws my way," even if they don’t protect him from pain.
You’ll hear about his attempt at moderation management (and why it left him standing at the sink arguing with himself over "just one more"), the crushing return to AA after a relapse, and how starting his podcast **The One You Feed** keeps him in “fit spiritual condition” by focusing daily on “conversations about creating a life worth living.” Stylistically, the episode feels like two people in long‑term recovery chatting in a meeting after the meeting: candid, irreverent, and very practical.
If you’re wrestling with relapse, ego, or the God question, this story may feel uncomfortably familiar in the best possible way. Which wolf are you feeding today?
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