046: Change Your Mind & Change Your Life! Micheal Hilton, 10 years sober and a Life Coach shares his horrific battle with drug addiction and inspiring journey into recovery.046: Change Your Mind & Change Your Life! Micheal Hilton, 10 years sober and a Life Coach shares his horrific battle with drug addiction and inspiring journey into recovery.
The SHAIR Recovery Podcast
Michael Hilton shares a brutally honest story of moving from teenage drinking, cocaine and crack to ten years sober, strict sponsorship and early-morning spiritual routines. The conversation shows how he continues to face ego, depression and money traps in recovery while helping others as a life coach.
1:22:38•29 Dec 2015
Change Your Mind, Change Your Life: Michael Hilton’s Raw Road to Ten Years Sober
Episode Overview
- Stopping drinking is only the start; unworked emotions, beliefs and behaviours can cause as much pain sober as they did in active addiction.
- Strict structure in early recovery (meetings, sponsorship, clear routines) can be vital for someone who has lived a very undisciplined life.
- Working all the steps, especially Step Four and Step Nine, can ease obsession with alcohol and bring real relief from guilt and shame.
- Daily practices like early rising, reading, meditation and honest self-questioning help maintain emotional balance and spiritual connection.
- Even in long-term sobriety, chasing money, power or ego can lead to harmful choices, so continual honesty and connection to a higher power remain crucial.
“You have what I’ve got. You’ve just not become awake to it.”
Curious about how people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This episode of The SHAIR Recovery Podcast follows Michael Hilton from chaotic addiction to ten years clean, mixing dark humour with some seriously honest self-reflection. Speaking from the UK, Michael shares how early drinking and “four cans of White Lightning” gave him that first hit of false confidence, before things spiralled into cocaine, crack, gambling and suicidal thoughts.
His stories are painfully real and often grimly funny – like locking himself in a tiny box room, “sniffing cocaine, drinking alcohol, masturbating all night”, and calling that a good night. The episode is aimed at anyone in or near recovery who wants straight-talking honesty rather than sugar-coated clichés.
Michael talks about blackouts, violence, debt, bankruptcy and the moment he dropped to his knees and said, “If there’s anything out there, I need help because I can’t carry on like this.” You’ll hear how he went from rejecting AA (“it don’t work, I only went to one meeting”) to working the steps with a very strict sponsor, facing a heavy Step Four, and finding huge freedom in Step Nine amends. He also explains how his daily 4:15 a.m.
routine of reading, meditation and mindset work helps keep his recovery and coaching work grounded. Importantly, he doesn’t pretend life became perfect once he got sober. Michael talks about slipping into credit card fraud several years into recovery, the depression that followed, and how he used that experience to deepen his honesty and change his beliefs about being “mentally ill” for life.
With Omar Pinto guiding the conversation, this episode feels like sitting in on a long, no-nonsense share that many will recognise themselves in. If you’ve ever wondered whether you’ve really “got what it takes”, Michael’s reminder is simple: “You have what I’ve got. You’ve just not become awake to it.” Ready to see a bit of yourself in his story?
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