#92 – Rob Lohman: Lifted From The Rut

#92 – Rob Lohman: Lifted From The Rut

Get ready to be moved by real-life accounts of how people find strength in their journey to sobriety, as Recovery Survey shares the story of interventionist and recovery coach, Rob Lohman. Sober since 2001, Rob talks honestly about a life that swung between success and chaos: alcohol and gambling addiction, divorce, bankruptcy, suicidal thoughts, and even prison time.

Rob explains how alcohol “had me at hello for the next 15 years of my life” after his first beers at a Christian youth party, and how years of lying and shape-shifting left him feeling like a chameleon with no real identity. On the surface he had a career, relationships and a social life; underneath he was, in his own words, “hiding and dying internally”.

From that night he says he never had another craving: “It was just like I never drank a drop of alcohol my entire life.” But he makes a clear distinction between simply stopping drinking and actually building a life in recovery: “Getting sober was easier than recovery sometimes.” Rob shares how neglecting meetings, spiritual practices and emotional work eventually led to a nervous breakdown, a fire incident, and a 13-year sentence, of which he served time in prison and a halfway house.

The turning point comes with a dramatic suicide attempt, when Rob describes hearing the words “you’re done” in a silent bar, then later dropping a loaded barbell on his chest – only to experience what he believes was God intervening. Today, Rob uses that experience to help families and their loved ones.

He breaks down what interventions really look like off-camera, why he prefers to “bring the bottom up” rather than wait for someone to hit it, and why he dislikes the word “enabling”, insisting that families are usually “doing the best they can with the tools that they have”. If you or someone you care about feels stuck, could it be time to add some new tools to the recovery toolbox?