How To Live At A Higher Standard

How To Live At A Higher Standard

What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? In this live conversation at Camelback Recovery’s outpatient centre in Scottsdale, you’ll hear Michael Bernoff explain why he stopped drinking on New Year’s Eve 2016, without a dramatic rock bottom, simply because, as he puts it, “There is nothing good about drinking.” Michael, author of *Average Sucks* and founder of the Human Communication Institute, chats with host Tim Westbrook about language, identity, and the standards you set for yourself in recovery.

He challenges the usual labels, questioning whether saying “I’m an addict” keeps people stuck: “I’m learning to live differently” carries far less emotional baggage than constantly talking about addiction. The discussion centres on how words shape behaviour. Michael sees recovery as raising your “average” through the scripts you repeat every day.

Instead of thinking, “How do they do that?” when you meet someone with long-term sobriety, he suggests asking, “How can I do that?” and backing it up with small, daily evidence that you’re capable of change.

There’s plenty of humour and straight-talking honesty, from stories of handing out Adderall at Arizona State to describing alcohol as something that doesn’t make anyone a better person, just a “good partier.” Yet the message is deeply supportive: recovery is framed as building a new relationship with yourself, where your past is “good for two things – learning and laughing” and your future self becomes the person you’re actively committed to becoming.

If you’re tired of white-knuckling “just don’t drink” and ready to think about living at a higher standard instead, this episode offers a fresh, language-focused way to look at sobriety and self-worth. What new words are you ready to use about yourself today?