Exploring Freedom from Addiction: with Tommy and ChrisExploring Freedom from Addiction: with Tommy and Chris
The Elevate Experience
Tommy and Chris talk about Chris’s journey into recovery, his work as a counsellor, and how responsibility, reflection, fitness and nutrition fit into life after addiction. The chat also touches on a study of a Jesuit-based reflective practice and real-world moments of staying sober in high-risk situations.
1:19:36•4 Oct 2022
Freedom, Fitness and Finding Your Best: Tommy and Chris on Recovery
Episode Overview
- A useful guide for families is to ask whether addiction is harming health, relationships or causing serious trouble, rather than waiting for a vague idea of being “bad enough”.
- Seeing sobriety as a genuine sacrifice at first helps people honestly weigh what they’re giving up against what they could gain long term.
- Clarifying personal values and the positive impact someone can have on others can make recovery feel meaningful, not just like losing a coping tool.
- A secular version of the Jesuit Examine is being tested alongside mindfulness to see how structured daily reflection affects cravings, meaning in life and ethics in people in treatment.
- Consistent exercise, and experiments with diet, can support mental health and give a sense of control, while a strong sober identity helps in high-risk situations like being offered drugs.
“The absence of your best is a tragedy.”
Curious about how others manage their sobriety journey? This conversation between host Tommy Lagan and counsellor Chris Buen Rostro offers a grounded look at life after addiction, without sugar-coating the hard bits.
Chris shares how he got sober at 18 after a chaotic period of drinking and drug use, and how his family wrestled with the classic question: "Is it bad enough to go to treatment?" He suggests a simple rule of thumb – if using is harming health, relationships or causing serious trouble, it’s time to get help. From there, the chat moves into how Elevate’s tools shaped him, especially responsibility and a realistic cost–benefit view of sobriety.
As Chris puts it, giving up substances is a sacrifice at first, and pretending it’s all upside "is selling the problem a little bit short". You’ll hear how he helps clients weigh what they’re losing and what they stand to gain, link sobriety to their values, and see that "the absence of your best is a tragedy" for them and those around them.
There’s also a fascinating section on his university research: adapting a 500-year-old Jesuit reflective practice, the Examine, into a secular group exercise for people in addiction treatment and tracking its impact alongside mindfulness. On the more everyday side of recovery, Chris talks about fitness as a key pillar of his mental health, using consistent workouts to build discipline and cope with discomfort.
He also touches on his bold nutrition experiments, including a year on a carnivore-style diet to address gut issues. A powerful story about calmly declining cocaine at a pre-concert hangout shows how far his recovery has come and how identity – seeing himself as a counsellor and sober person – helps him stay the course.
If you or someone you care about is wondering whether change is worth the effort, what might your own “best” look like if you gave recovery a real chance?
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