RR 208: Going Supersonic with Austin LinneyRR 208: Going Supersonic with Austin Linney
The SHAIR Recovery Podcast
Omar Pinto talks with Austin Linney about addiction, overwork and family guilt, tracing how a series of rock-bottom moments led to sobriety and a new definition of success. The conversation blends recovery tools, humour and entrepreneurship to question the stories people tell themselves about who they are.
1:22:00•5 Feb 2019
Going Supersonic: Austin Linney on Addiction, Tough Love and Redefining Success
Episode Overview
- Working multiple jobs and chasing money can hide, rather than heal, substance misuse and emotional pain.
- Tough love and firm boundaries from family can, in some cases, be a powerful catalyst for change.
- Meditation and journaling create space to interrupt negative patterns and process difficult news without relapsing.
- Long‑held stories about guilt, blame and family can quietly drive overwork, addiction and relationship problems for years.
- Redefining success around lifestyle, purpose and relationships, instead of just income, supports a more sustainable recovery.
“Life doesn’t happen to you. It happens for you.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This conversation between host Omar Pinto and guest Austin Linney shows just how messy, funny and life-changing that process can look. Aimed at anyone curious about alcohol and drug recovery, mindset and entrepreneurship, the episode blends raw storytelling with light humour and straight-talking coaching. Austin shares how working 140-hour weeks in the restaurant trade went hand-in-hand with cocaine, meth and daily drinking, even while he was outwardly “successful”.
He describes a rock-bottom stretch sleeping in a closet under the stairs, laying brick for £40 a week and living on ramen and ham sandwiches. As he puts it, “I will never, ever go back there again.” You’ll hear how that fear of going back drove him for years – into overwork, chasing property deals and hustling as an Airbnb host and real estate investor.
Omar gently pulls apart the idea that grinding non-stop is healthy, linking Austin’s pattern to unresolved guilt about his parents’ divorce and the belief that it was his fault. A single phone call from Austin’s dad blows that story apart and forces him to face how long he’d been carrying blame that wasn’t his. The tone stays honest and non‑judgemental, with Omar weaving in simple recovery tools like meditation, journaling, pattern interrupts and spiritual connection.
Lines such as “Life doesn’t happen to you. It happens for you” and Austin’s new affirmations – “I am a great husband… I am a good person” – keep things grounded in everyday change rather than theory. If you’re juggling addiction history, family baggage and an overworked lifestyle, this episode might have you asking: what story about yourself are you still carrying, and are you finally ready to put it down?
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