Addicted To Looking Away: What Happens When You Finally Get QuietAddicted To Looking Away: What Happens When You Finally Get Quiet
I Love Being Sober
Tim Westbrook talks with coach and author Elaine Glass about being "addicted to looking away", her labyrinth experience, and seven paths to getting quiet. The conversation links surrender and self-care with recovery, highlighting vulnerability, acceptance and practical ways to reconnect with oneself in sobriety.
51:49•1 Sept 2026
Addicted to Looking Away: Getting Quiet and Finding Yourself in Sobriety
Episode Overview
- Addiction is framed as "looking away" and abandoning oneself to keep others comfortable, often through people-pleasing and avoidance.
- True surrender is described as trusting life rather than giving up, aligning closely with recovery ideas of acceptance and the serenity prayer.
- Elaine outlines seven simple paths for self-care: body, environment, mind, emotions, grounding, life direction and intuition.
- Getting quiet is presented as a way to hear a calm, loving inner voice distinct from the noisy, fearful chatter of the mind.
- Small, consistent steps outside the comfort zone can rebuild confidence and identity after divorce, burnout or early recovery.
“We are addicted to looking away from our own lives.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This live episode of *I Love Being Sober* brings together recovery, spirituality, and practical self-care in a gentle but challenging conversation about getting quiet with yourself. Recorded in front of clients at Camelback Recovery’s outpatient centre in Scottsdale, Arizona, host Tim Westbrook talks with master life coach and author Elaine Glass, whose life collapsed under the weight of a painful divorce, chronic health issues, single motherhood and career burnout.
On paper she "had it all" – big house, doctor husband, private schools – yet she describes herself as "a shell of a human being" who had "lost myself" and was "addicted to looking away" from the truth of her own life. Elaine shares how walking a desert labyrinth at the Franciscan Renewal Center became the turning point. In that quiet space she heard a loving inner voice clearly instructing her to "surrender" and trust life.
That experience eventually led to her book *Get Quiet: 7 Simple Paths to the Truth of Who You Are*, where she maps out seven practical paths: nurturing the body, clearing clutter, tending the mind, healing emotions, grounding, honouring life direction, and reconnecting with intuition. Tim links her idea of surrender directly to recovery principles: acceptance, the serenity prayer, and learning to sit with all feelings instead of chasing noise, chaos and adrenaline.
Together they talk about self-abandonment, people-pleasing, and how Elaine rebuilt her sense of self by doing one new, uncomfortable thing each month – from Toastmasters to starting her coaching practice. You’ll hear them reflect on vulnerability in mending relationships, the courage to say "I can’t do this anymore", and a simple 10‑minute presence exercise Elaine would give anyone in early sobriety whose mind "won’t shut up".
If you’re tired of looking away and ready to get honest with yourself, what’s the next small, quiet step you’re willing to take?
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