SHAIR 84: "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants" with Ed Keohane, a gripping story of Drug Addiction.SHAIR 84: "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants" with Ed Keohane, a gripping story of Drug Addiction.
The SHAIR Recovery Podcast
Ed Keohane recounts a harrowing history of drugs, crime, prison and suicide attempts, followed by years of recovery, relapse and renewed commitment to sobriety. The conversation focuses on daily spiritual practice, total honesty and 12-step work as his way of staying alive and present for his family.
1:24:23•20 Sept 2016
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Ed Keohane’s Wild Ride from Chaos to Recovery
Episode Overview
- Carry recovery practices into every area of life rather than leaving them at the meeting door.
- Use regular meetings, sponsorship, prayer and meditation to stay connected to a higher power.
- Share every resentment, fear and frustration with someone safe – leaving things unspoken can lead to relapse.
- Work the steps thoroughly and “leave no stone unturned”, especially in the fourth and fifth steps.
- Be willing to rethink what success means and place sobriety before jobs, status or other goals.
“If you want something you’ve never had, you’ve got to be willing to do something you’ve never done.”
What remarkable journeys have people faced head-on against addiction? This conversation between host Omar Pinto and long-time listener Ed Keohane shows just how far addiction can drag a life down – and how recovery can slowly build it back up. You’ll hear Ed start with his current routine: night shifts at the US postal service, daily gym sessions, regular noon meetings, a sponsor, constant prayer and a growing meditation habit.
He’s frank about needing recovery in every part of his life: “If I don’t carry mine with me throughout the day… then I’m truly lost.” From there, it’s a raw rewind through his past: early drug use, crack and meth trafficking from California to Missouri, multiple felonies, years in prison, three DUIs, an attempt to join the military, and a suicide attempt in jail that left a visible scar on his neck.
The details are graphic and honest, including how officers literally held him together and saved his life. Ed also talks about the emotional wreckage: his son being moved away, living in his parents’ basement, heavy vodka use that damaged his pancreas, and a later heroin relapse cut with fentanyl that put him in hospital.
Instead of glamourising any of it, he keeps coming back to responsibility and the power of 12-step work, especially his fifth step and that moment when he realised the obsession to use had lifted. For anyone in recovery who’s ever thought their problems were “too small” to share, Ed’s relapse experience is a blunt warning: unspoken resentments grow loud.
His new approach is simple – “leave no stone unturned”, talk about everything, and let the “voodoo magic” of the programme do its work. If you’re feeling stuck, angry, or ashamed about your past, could Ed’s honesty be the nudge you need to open up and try something different?
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