I am calling this one: On Becoming… Driven to Drink.
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Chronologically, and technically, it should be: Driven to Drink becoming… On Becoming…, which then becomes a confusing mess of wtf do I do with all that punctuation? So…
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I am calling this one: On Becoming… Driven to Drink.
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Driven to Drink was a podcast I did for a hell of a long time. How long? I don’t specifically remember and I don’t want to right now, lol. Age, experience, wisdom, several bouts with COVID, and relinquishing the trauma-informed fucks to which I used to cling desperately permit me that executive and editorial decision.
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My podcasts have always been… me.
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I have this shirt that a wonderful family gifted to me. It reads, “I’m Greg doing Greg things,” and it’s a pristine encapsulation of… actually? Of everything that “On Becoming…” is and desires to be. Which is me.
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HOWEVER. I am agnostic. I define that as "the spirit of I don’t know but we can.” I am also a firm believer that we are a species. The human race, as it were. As it actually is. And we are a social species. That means connected. Definitionally. That means the health and wellbeing of one actually does matter to the full disparate organism. So, On Becoming… is also yours. It’s ours.
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When I made Driven to Drink, I was drinking a lot. When I started On Becoming…, I was in the process of shifting my drinking habits, particularly as they related to my trauma and desire to merely survive in an overwhelming time (...the tagline for this podcast is, "On Becoming, an exploration of existence and paradigm shifts in the time of COVID"…), in which we are all still VERY MUCH living.
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And “Drink” doesn’t need to mean alcohol. To me, “Driven to Drink” is actually a phrase in conversation with the human desire to find homeostasis and nervous system regulation. I am not here to moralize or place value on ANYBODY’S choices regarding finding homeostasis and nervous system regulation. So… “driven to drink” actually does mean anything. Any endeavor or thing that supports an individual human to regulate their nervous system in an existential moment of NEEDING THE HELP.
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For many, existing is such a painful… a literally painful burden, that ANY WAY to experience homeostasis and regulation, even if for only several moments of bliss… I mean, it’s valid. It doesn’t make that person amoral or less of a person. You dig?
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Sorry, that got intense, lol.
Anyway, this episode also celebrates the 30th birthday of my beautiful cousin, serves as a meditation on grief and loss (in my case, Josie. My Mom), and hopefully you laugh, feel validated, and unconditionally welcome.
Love yinz, yous, and y’all.
-G
p.s. you can find this on spotify and apple music or i pods or whatever tf it's called these days.