| Time | Text |
|---|---|
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The Path to Self-Worth
00:03:04
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|
| Adam in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. | |
| Hi. | |
| Hi, Dennis. | |
| Adam here. | |
| Thanks for having me on. | |
| Question I had for you. | |
| I've been listening to talk radio. | |
| My father has it on in the car, and I've been driving the car lately, and I've been listening to you for, like, the past week. | |
| And I wanted to call in. | |
| I had a couple questions. | |
| I was listening to your last hour about lucky or unlucky. | |
| And I got a notebook, and whenever I came home, my thing wasn't being lucky or unlucky. | |
| I've been unlucky my whole life. | |
| I'm 36 years old. | |
| I live at home with my father and my three children, battling addiction. | |
| I'm in recovery now, three and a half years clean. | |
| But I'm still struggling. | |
| The mother of my children, she passed away from a heroin overdose about a year ago, a little over a year ago now. | |
| And my question to you was, though, is I still find happiness in life. | |
| I am depressed, so to speak. | |
| But my question to you is, how do I teach my children self-worth if I don't have any? | |
| Well, I thought you were going to ask me how you can get self-worth, but that's tougher. | |
| But the answer with regard to your children, I don't think it's particularly relevant. | |
| It's like, how can I teach my children music if I'm tone deaf? | |
| And the answer is you teach them music. | |
| Your condition is not the same as what your children's condition should be. | |
| But my answer to both you and your children is, the only way to obtain self-worth is to do things that give you self-worth. | |
| I am 100% behaviorist. | |
| You get self-worth by doing things that give you self-worth. | |
| And certainly, sobriety should give you self-worth. | |
| A very difficult thing called addiction. | |
| Was it alcohol and drugs or just alcohol or what? | |
| Just heroin. | |
| Okay, just drugs, fine. | |
| Well, it started with pain pills. | |
| I got hurt working back in 08 and prescribed pain pills from a doctor 18 months later. | |
| I went to see a surgeon. | |
| Right. | |
| Well, now I understand why you used the word unlucky. | |
| I understand that. | |
| Because normally in the 12-step program, people regard addiction as a choice, but even though as well as a disease. | |
| Anyway, do things that are good. | |
| Help others, for example. | |
| Master some craft. | |
| Then you'll get self-worth. | |
| And it's only available, even happiness is only available by earning it. | |