079: Be yourself everyday with Yo Elam

079: Be yourself everyday with Yo Elam

Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This chat with health, life and fitness coach Yo Elam gives a vivid look at how messy, painful, and ultimately joyful recovery can be.

Yo, a Spanish teacher from Waco, Texas with five grandchildren and twenty years in public schools, shares how her drinking shifted from cute wine coolers to chasing anything that would get her “fucked up.” She describes spending hundreds of dollars on wine, bonding with her daughter as a drinking buddy, and repeated suicide attempts before a night in March 2019 ended in the emergency room and a 45‑day stay in rehab.

There, she heard something that changed everything: she has the disease of alcoholism. "Alcoholism is my disease, but it doesn't define who I am." That distinction lifted years of shame and helped her see that, like cancer or heart disease, there’s no cure, but there is treatment. Tamar Medford steers the conversation toward early recovery, those terrifying first days when alcohol is visible everywhere and stopping feels impossible.

Yo talks about using tools from rehab, like "play the tape forward," and accepting she cannot drink like other people. She jokes that she chased the strongest percentage in a bottle, not a gentle buzz. From there, the episode shifts into purpose. Both Tamar and Yo admit they’re “all‑in” personalities, and they discuss redirecting that intensity into speaking, coaching, and helping others instead of chocolate or more destructive habits.

Yo describes learning to love discomfort as a sign of growth, leaning on God as her higher power, and practising real authenticity without dumping her entire history on everyone she meets. You’ll hear hard truths, belly‑laughs (including a terrible snowman joke), and a clear message: sobriety can feel like a superpower when you’re willing to be yourself every day. What part of your story are you ready to own and use for good?