SHAIR 100: "This Way Up" with Patti Clark, unleashing your creative self.SHAIR 100: "This Way Up" with Patti Clark, unleashing your creative self.
The SHAIR Recovery Podcast
Omar Pinto marks SHAIR’s 100th episode with candid reflections on strain, gratitude and community, then talks with author Patti Clark about relapse, creative living, and rebuilding recovery with meetings and spiritual practice. Their conversation focuses on authenticity, daily habits and using online support to live as the best sober version of yourself.
1:03:12•10 Jan 2017
Sobriety, Creativity and Coming Back: Patti Clark on SHAIR’s 100th Episode
Episode Overview
- Long-term sobriety can still be followed by relapse, and coming back starts with honest surrender and dropping the masks.
- Daily practices like the third step prayer, gratitude and journaling help keep recovery and creativity grounded.
- If a meeting doesn’t feel right, seek others – including women’s and online meetings – rather than giving up on fellowship.
- Having a sponsor you can be completely authentic with is crucial; if the fit isn’t right, change sponsors instead of going it alone.
- Trying to live a "half-sober" life while teaching or parenting creates painful inner conflict; alignment between actions and values is key.
“Now more than ever, there's no excuse. So number one piece of advice, number one thing that's important, go to meetings. If you don't like one, go to another one.”
What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? This milestone 100th episode of The SHAIR Recovery Podcast gives a pretty honest answer. Omar Pinto opens up about a brutal year trying to juggle a new business, family, and recovery, admitting he even thought about stopping the show. His wife and the community wouldn’t let him.
Emails, the thriving Facebook group, and heartfelt audio messages from listeners like Maureen, Ron T., Danielle and Darren remind him that the podcast isn’t just content – it’s part of people’s sobriety toolkit. Then Patti Clark steps in and brings her trademark energy from New Zealand. Patti, an author and workshop leader, talks through growing up in an alcoholic home, years of heavy using in places like Alaska, and finding recovery in the late 80s.
She shares how 12½ years of sobriety slipped when she tried to fit in with the “yummy mummies” at school-gate wine gatherings in New Zealand. Her return to recovery is driven less by a dramatic crash and more by an uncomfortable truth: she was writing a book about living an extraordinary life while secretly drinking. As she says, she knew she’d be “a fraud” if she kept teaching about being the best version of yourself while numbing out with wine.
Patti lays out a practical spiritual routine – third step prayer before getting out of bed, gratitude, journaling, meditation – and stresses the non‑negotiable importance of meetings. She loves women’s meetings and now mostly attends them online, saying, “there’s no excuse for not going to meetings now… there are meetings 24 hours a day online.” The conversation is ideal for anyone who’s relapsed, feels guilty about it, or is quietly wondering if they’re living at half-power.
It asks a simple question: what would change if you stopped hiding and let your creative, sober self lead the way?
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