Episode 58 | The #RecoveryFirst Podcast with Mike Todd | "Who’s Really In Control?"Episode 58 | The #RecoveryFirst Podcast with Mike Todd | "Who’s Really In Control?"
The Recovery First Addiction Recovery Podcast by Freedom Recovery Services of Greenville
Mike Todd shares a raw story about a chaotic day, his struggle with wanting to control everything, and how prayer, meditation and gratitude help him refocus. He also outlines efforts to support recovery housing in South Carolina and bring naloxone and training into recovery homes.
11:55•8 Dec 2021
Who’s Really in Control? Mike Todd on Letting Go in Recovery
Episode Overview
- Daily prayer and meditation help create a mindset that accepts God as in control and yourself as not.
- You can’t control events like vans breaking down or staff issues, but you can control your attitude, words, and how you treat others and yourself.
- Skipping spiritual practices can make days feel chaotic, while returning to them can shift perception and reduce frustration.
- Reflecting on past experience can highlight how a higher power has provided care in areas like family and finances over time.
- The South Carolina Recovery Housing Association works to support recovery housing operators and introduce naloxone and training into recovery homes.
“There is a God and I am not him this morning.”
Curious about how others handle the urge to control everything in early recovery? This episode shines a light on that exact struggle through the candid, off-the-cuff reflections of host Mike Todd. Mike calls these short segments “recovery shares”, where he speaks “off the hip, off the heart” about what’s really going on in his life and network.
Here, he walks through a chaotic Monday where both programme vans broke down, mechanics were short-staffed, his phone wouldn’t stop ringing, and he ended up “cussing and blowing up and huffing and puffing”. He reminds the men in his programme – and himself – that he’s “not a saint” and “not a guru”, just someone in recovery with good days and bad days.
The heart of the episode centres on one question: “Who’s really in control?” Mike shares how skipping his morning routine of prayer and meditation sent his day off the rails, and how returning to it changed everything.
Taught early on by mentors Earl The Pearl and Ken B that “meditating is listening to God and praying is talking to God”, he explains how starting the day with a coffee, quiet time, and the reminder “there is a God and you definitely are not him” helps him accept he controls very little.
He breaks it down practically too: he can’t control vans breaking down or staff not showing up, but he can control his attitude, his words, and how he treats others and himself. As he shifts back into gratitude, he reflects on how God has looked after him, his wife, his family, and even his finances over the years.
The episode closes with a brief spotlight on the South Carolina Recovery Housing Association, their work supporting recovery housing operators, and their push to get naloxone and training into recovery homes across the state. If you’ve ever felt like life only works when you’re gripping the wheel tightly, this honest share might make you ask: what happens if you loosen your grip just a bit?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.