Recovery Through Relapsing With Brandon LeeRecovery Through Relapsing With Brandon Lee
I Love Being Sober
Tim Westbrook talks with Brandon Lee about his seven-hour relapse after more than eleven years sober and how it led to deeper trauma work and a new life purpose. The conversation questions traditional views on sober time and highlights art, shamanism and inner child work as powerful additions to recovery.
53:48•2 Aug 2022
Brandon Lee on How Relapse Reshaped His Recovery and Purpose
Episode Overview
- A relapse does not erase previous recovery or lived experience; it can highlight areas that still need healing.
- Time sober does not automatically equal happiness, and obsessively counting chips can add pressure instead of joy.
- Recovery works best as a "pie chart" that includes meetings, trauma therapy, inner child work, and meaningful activities.
- Creative practices like art can help reduce anxiety, unlock dopamine and move people into a healing flow state.
- Newcomers are urged to find hobbies, new friends and trauma-focused support rather than relying solely on meetings.
“Not every relapse is coming to destroy your life. Sometimes it is happening to clear your path.”
Ever wondered what it takes to face relapse head-on and still say "I love being sober"? This conversation between host Tim Westbrook and guest Brandon Lee takes on one of recovery’s most uncomfortable topics: slipping after years of sobriety and what happens next. Brandon, a five-time Emmy award-winning former news anchor and recovered meth and heroin addict, talks about relapsing after 11 and a half years clean.
He challenges the idea that a relapse wipes away all previous recovery, saying those seven hours "did not erase" his experience, strength, and hope. Instead, he used the crisis as a turning point, diving into inner child work, shamanism, and trauma therapy to uncover what still needed healing. You’ll hear why both Tim and Brandon love AA yet question the practice of starting back at "24 hours" after a relapse, especially for people with long-term sobriety and deep shame.
Brandon argues that time in recovery doesn’t automatically equal happiness, and that counting chips can sometimes fuel perfectionism and crashes instead of joy. The episode also showcases Brandon’s art-based healing work through his studio programme, Art Of Our Soul. He explains how creative activities, like acrylic pouring, help unlock the brain’s dopamine and move people into an alpha state where anxiety eases and hope starts to return.
Recovery, he says, is a "pie chart" that includes meetings, therapy, trauma work, life coaching and meaningful hobbies, rather than relying on just one method. Tim and Brandon speak directly to newcomers and chronic relapsers, stressing that relapse can be an opportunity to grow, not a permanent failure. They urge people to build new hobbies, friendships and routines, and to seek trauma-focused help if they’re stuck in repeated cycles.
If you’ve ever felt crushed by guilt after a slip, could this be the conversation that helps you see relapse in a different light?
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