12 things to AVOID- with Dallas

12 things to AVOID- with Dallas

Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This solo episode hands the mic fully to co-host and counsellor Dallas Terrell, who turns his usual group-session energy into a fast, honest, slightly chaotic 40‑minute riff on what *not* to do in recovery.

Drawing heavily from Dr Alan Berger’s series (including *12 Stupid Things That Mess Up Recovery* and *12 Smart Things to Do Once the Booze and Drugs Are Gone*), Dallas walks through the kinds of habits that quietly wreck progress. He talks about the danger of “pursuing recovery with less energy than pursuing addiction” and challenges listeners to ask themselves whether they’re putting half the effort into sobriety that they once put into getting high.

You’ll hear him unpack common traps: believing the problem is just one substance, assuming sobriety alone will fix everything, being “selectively honest”, feeling too “special and unique” to be helped, and skipping amends while expecting to feel like a new person. He ties each point back to his own experience as someone in recovery from heroin and crack, and as a counsellor who has watched these patterns play out in countless clients.

Relationships, codependency and emotional sobriety get a big chunk of attention too. Dallas talks about heartbreak as "top tier" emotion, how unaddressed relationship drama can send people back to using, and why looking after your own wellbeing is self-concern, not selfishness. Through it all, his style is blunt, funny and very human. He’s clear that there’s no one-size-fits-all path: AA, treatment programmes, books and sponsors are tools, not magic answers. The core message?

Treat recovery like your full-time project, stay radically honest, keep learning, and build a version of sobriety that actually fits you. If you’re wondering where you might be sabotaging your own progress, this one will give you plenty to think about.