The Podcaster Who Beat Addiction by Learning to Love Himself | Luke StoreyThe Podcaster Who Beat Addiction by Learning to Love Himself | Luke Storey
The Self-Love Recovery Podcast
Ross Rosenberg talks with Luke Storey about his journey from severe addiction and childhood trauma to nearly three decades of sobriety and growing self-love. The conversation links loneliness, shame and attachment wounds to addiction, and shares how Luke’s memoir and recovery are rooted in service and reconnecting with himself and others.
40:16•9 Sept 2026
From Darkness to Self-Love: Luke Storey on Addiction, Loneliness and Healing
Episode Overview
- Addiction often begins as an attempt to soothe childhood trauma, shame and intense loneliness, but deepens disconnection instead of fixing it.
- Healing addiction requires addressing attachment trauma and core shame, not just stopping substances or behaviours.
- Cultivating genuine self-love creates resilience against relapse and makes destructive temptations far less appealing.
- Painful life experiences can be transformed into empathy and meaningful service to others, turning "darkness" into a positive force.
- Conscious parenting and breaking generational patterns help children grow up with natural self-esteem and self-love, reducing future addiction risk.
“No matter how far down the path you've gone into the darkness, you can also use that darkness as a catalyst to become a force for good.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol and other addictive crutches? This episode of The Self-Love Recovery Podcast zooms in on podcaster and author Luke Storey, whose nearly 30 years of sobriety began after years of crack, heroin, alcohol and pornography addiction, all rooted in childhood trauma and deep loneliness. Ross Rosenberg and Luke quickly click as they compare Ross’s "self-love deficit disorder" framework with Luke’s core idea of "disconnection" as the engine behind addiction and destructive behaviour.
Luke explains how an intentional mushroom ceremony shifted his stalled book idea from self-promotion to "truly an act of service", leading to his memoir, *A Horse Named Lonesome*. Once he saw his lifelong battle with separation and shame, the writing poured out. You’ll hear Luke link severe childhood trauma to self-loathing and the inability to accept love, and Ross connects this to attachment trauma and pathological loneliness.
Both argue that healing means going back to the original wounds and rewriting the internal story so shame and isolation no longer run the show. Luke talks candidly about sexual abuse, years of porn addiction and the pull of old habits, saying he now protects his hard-won self-love: "Why would I throw away the good feeling I have inside...
for something that’s going to reactivate those shameful, self-loathing parts of myself?" Ross responds with his concept of "self-love abundance"—once you reach it, you never willingly give it up. Along the way, they touch on conscious parenting, empathy born from suffering, sponsoring others in recovery, and Luke’s shift from being a "net negative" to a man driven by service.
If you’ve ever wondered whether deep trauma and addiction can be turned into a life that genuinely adds value, this honest, sometimes raw conversation might get you thinking: what would self-love abundance look like for you?
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