20250730 - (6) I can't go there, I have to stay here20250730 - (6) I can't go there, I have to stay here
Love Your Life, with Randy Mermell
Randy Mermell is an international coach, speaker, and podcaster. Randy helps people live happy and purposeful lives. Drawing from his own experience from 20 years of happy marriage, raising two daughters, and his success as an entrepreneur, he has helped others get through all types of professional and personal challenges, including love, marriage, children, jobs, and finding passion in everything we do. With over 28 years of sobriety, and success in his own life overcoming low self-esteem, addictions to alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, and coffee Randy draws on his real-life experience to lead meditation and recovery retreats internationally.
40:38•20 Aug 2026
Staying Here: Quieting the Self-Talking Mind in Sobriety
Episode Overview
- Alcoholism is described as a disease centred in the mind, expressed as an “unsatisfiable, fault-finding, opinionated” inner voice that creates emotional pain.
- Lasting peace comes from staying in the present moment and letting go of old ideas about the past and future, rather than trying to think or plan a way into safety.
- Admission of complete powerlessness over the noisy mind is presented as the starting point for a happy and purposeful life built on a higher power.
- Practical tools such as meetings, phone calls, sponsors, prayer, meditation, and written inventory are repeatedly highlighted as ways to handle intense mental turmoil.
- Success in recovery is reframed as inner peace and a quiet mind, rather than money, status, or control over circumstances.
“The day I said I can't quit drinking was the day I quit drinking.”
How do people cope with the challenges of staying sober when their own mind won’t shut up? This meeting-style episode of *Love Your Life, with Randy Mermell* drops you right into an all-inclusive 12-step gathering where that question gets tackled head-on.
Randy, a long-time member of Alcoholics Anonymous, talks openly about alcoholism as “a disease that talks to me in my own voice” and shows up as an “unsatisfiable, fault-finding, opinionated mind.” He keeps bringing the focus back to one simple practice: “I can't go there, I have to stay here” – meaning staying in the present moment, instead of living in old ideas, past regrets, or future fear.
You’ll hear raw and honest sharing from members like Sarah, who has 115 days sober and describes feeling “absolutely insane” as her self-talking mind runs wild, and how thoughts of escape still try to pull her towards self-harm or drinking. Randy reassures her she’s “exactly where you’re supposed to be,” explaining that this exposed insanity is often what pushes people towards step two and a genuine reliance on a higher power.
Others, like David and Sana, talk about putting the welfare of others first, working with newcomers, and noticing how their minds love to be “against everything.” Mark shares about trauma work and how revisiting step six gave him new self-awareness, while Nancy and Kathy describe, very practically, how repeated prayer, meditation, and daily surrender slowly brought them to a quieter mind and a more consistent sense of peace.
The tone is spiritual but down-to-earth, with a blend of humour, honesty, and shared struggle. If you’re sober, new to recovery, or just tired of being pushed around by an overactive mind, this episode offers a calm reminder that peace is possible – one present moment at a time. Where might your next moment of peace be hiding?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.