The Proving Ground with Chadd Wright and Daniel Manson.The Proving Ground with Chadd Wright and Daniel Manson.
The Elevate Experience
Former Navy SEAL and ultra-runner Chadd Wright talks with the Elevate team about his wife’s addiction, his own journey through extreme adversity, and the mindset tools he believes support long-term recovery. The conversation links grit, faith, and personal standards to staying sober and finding a meaningful purpose in life.
1:45:45•12 Apr 2022
Grit, Purpose and Recovery: Chadd Wright on Standards That Beat Addiction
Episode Overview
- Setting personal standards and refusing to quit can matter more than external results.
- Purpose is as essential as food and water for people trying to rebuild their lives.
- Recovery often includes relapses and hard resets; persistence and support remain key.
- Comparing yourself to others breeds shame, while comparing yourself to your own standard builds growth.
- Shortcuts, substances, and quick fixes may feel easier, but real change comes from sustained work.
“We were designed to serve a purpose within our communities and our societies. We have to have that as human beings, as much as we have to have food and water.”
What are the common struggles and victories in addiction recovery? This conversation on The Elevate Experience brings raw honesty, military grit, and a surprisingly warm sense of humour to that question. Former Navy SEAL and ultra-marathon runner Chadd Wright joins Angie Manson, Dallas Terrell, and Elevate president Dan Manson to talk about purpose, pain, and why there are no shortcuts—whether you're running 100 miles or getting clean.
Chadd shares how a rare heart condition nearly ended his SEAL dream, and how choosing elective open-heart surgery with no guarantees forged the mindset he still lives by. As he puts it, success came from "boiling the picture down" to two options: go forward or give up. Much of the chat centres on addiction and recovery through the lens of Chadd’s wife, who went from drug‑induced comas and pill mills to years of sobriety.
He admits he was totally naive about addiction at first, thinking she just had "stomach pain" and needed medication, and explains how faith, treatment, and persistence helped keep their marriage and her life intact. His line that "we have to have a purpose... as much as we have to have food and water" will hit home for anyone feeling lost.
You’ll hear how his three mindset pillars—being patient, present, and deliberate—apply just as much to early recovery as to brutal mountain races. Dan threads in how these lessons show up with clients in rehab, while Angie and Dallas link them to CrossFit, family life, and that familiar trap of comparing yourself to others instead of to your own standards.
If you’re sober, sober‑curious, or supporting someone in recovery, this episode might have you asking: what standard am I holding myself to, and am I really done taking the easy way out?
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