From Recovery to Real Estate: Anthony Wilson’s Journey of Resilience

In this episode of Be A Voice, we sit down with Anthony Wilson, who has been thriving in recovery for six years. Anthony shares his powerful story of overcoming addiction and how he transformed his life into one of purpose and success as an accomplished realtor. Beyond his career achievements, Anthony remains dedicated to helping others find hope and healing on their own paths to recovery. Tune in for an inspiring conversation about resilience, faith, and giving back.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Welcome to be a voice.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
This is Brick Carpenter and I'm Usula Media. Thanks for joining
me today as we continue on with our theme of
switching gears. It's been a really great season so far
because every episode we've had some really amazing individuals who've
been able to share their story and become raw and
become real. And one of the things I love most
about having people from my world share their stories, and

(00:46):
when I say my world, the Recovery world, is that
we are raw, we are real. We say things that
are pretty much the truth because we've been led to
believe that the truth is going to set us free.
And I'm really excited to be sitting here today with
my I guessed that I've been waiting to get on
here for a while because there's so much to unpack.
I'm not even quite before we could do it all
in one episode. But today I'm sitting here with a

(01:07):
fellow and recovery. I'm sitting here with Anthony Wilson. Hey, Anthony,
how are you?

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Hey?

Speaker 3 (01:11):
How are you? I'm great.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
I'm doing well too. Thanks so much for joining me.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah, yeah, I'm glad I was able to make it.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
I'm glad you were too. I know you're a busy man.
I know you're able to squeeze some time. And I
know this is a little bit because you're coming across
the bridge from Jersey to get here. Yes, Mabel Shade
and that's that's like like.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
Sherandwitched, perfectly in between Cherry Hill and Morristown. So Okaylington County.
But basically yeah, I gotcha, Yeah, not that far.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
So that is that the Connie Bridge, the Tony, the
Coney Bridge, not to Betsy Ross. To Cony.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
You could take the Betsy Ross if you're feeling it,
but to Coney's right.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
There, Betsy Ross will just drops in the middle of
the neighborhood. It's so much it's such a weird bridge construction. Yeah,
I stick with the two bridges, I know, the Wall,
the Ben Franklin. If not to go anywhere north from there,
I'm in trouble because I just don't follow directions very well.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
And so many, so many bridges there are.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Really people don't realize that either getting from Jersey into PA.
And you gotta pay leaving Jersey. Oh yeah, that's crazy.
I'm not quite sure it's you're paying leaving Jersey or
paying to get into PA. I'm not what sure it.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Is, but probably to leave Jersey, to.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
Leave Jersey attacks, it's like your penance to leave Jersey.
But anyway, so I'm so glad you joined me here.
You are also a person in long term recovery. How
many years you got a little over six it's great.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Six years for somebody in recovery is like a lifetime almost,
you know, it's almost like once you hit that like
three to four year mark, you're almost like, oh, I
could do this.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Yeah, this is pretty good.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
Oh yeah, I mean it was. Yeah, it's been. It
blows my mind every single day.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
So a little over six years. Yeah, all right, Well
then we're gonna we're gonna take it all the way back.
Where are you from?

Speaker 3 (02:52):
Originally Collingswood, New Jersey.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
Oh you're from you are from New Jersey.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
I am from New Jersey, so born raised, Yes, did
not get so Jersey.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
So yeah, but I'm back. But you came back after
you got sober.

Speaker 3 (03:05):
Yeah, I did the thing that most people say they'll
never do is go back to Jersey once you leave.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
But I get that.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
I'm from the Allentown area. I say I'll never go back. Yeah,
And I won't, and I get that so much.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
But Jersey is not so bad. No, it's got a
very large recovery community over there.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
A huge recovery community, and it's just conveniently located to everything.
So hated all you want, but it's convenient.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Plus I got all the bridges that got across, you.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
Got the Pocono's, you got the shoreline, you got three
different major cities, all within an hour and a half.
You know, it's just it's convenience.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
It's convenient, it really is. And I've got nothing against it.
I Like I said, I Jersey's great. You know, I
can get over there. I can take the train from
Jersey to New York, no problem, you know. But so
you know, six and a half years is a long time.
Six and a half year is a long time of life,
especially for people who are coming out of substance ute disorder,
you know, you know, a week is a long time

(04:04):
for us, you know. So if I could take take
us way back to then what was the drug of
choice that you did?

Speaker 3 (04:09):
Oh? Or what it was? I mean, it was everything,
you know, Like it was started with just drinking on
the weekends, blacking out, you know, justifying it with being
a straight A student and varsity athlete. And then it
was weed, and then I was prescribed adderall and those.
That was like my little concoction of innocence you know

(04:31):
for a while. Yeah, like that was it. And I
was like there, you know, like I've arrived, Like I'm good.
I could do this for the rest of my life.
The doctor said, so doctor prescribed it.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
So I'm okay, yeah yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
And then like you know, anyone who isn't familiar with
the disease of addiction, it's progressive, right, so like gets worse,
never better. And that was my case, you know, surprise, surprise,
And I got harder into like opiates and benzos when
I was around twenty years old, and immediately like everything
just you know vanished. No, I know that I went

(05:08):
right on that hamster wheel in.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
The minute you said, open some benzos. I'm like, we
could have been really good friends.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
Oh yeah, yeah, for sure, probably were friends. We just
didn't remember just know.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah, where we were acquainted since we thought we were
good friends because we're doing drugs together.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
You know, for sure, you know. And it's funny. I'm
really glad that you said that.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
A lot of people in recovery that are in you know,
work in their recovery, that have gotten themselves out of
their addiction.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
They don't talk about addiction as being a disease. A
lot of people don't say that.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
We just sort of say, you know, we were an
addiction or we're recovering addicts, or how you say. You
never say disease, And for have to have somebody say that,
it's very refreshing, especially somebody who's in it. So did
you realize that, you know, addiction was a disease why
you were in your active addiction or was it afterwards
where things started to like fall in the place for

(05:56):
you and.

Speaker 3 (05:57):
Understand that's a great question. I always knew there was
something different about me, but I had no idea that
what I suffered from, right, Like, I think that's a
big reason why most of us don't ever try and
find a solution, because we're spending so much time trying
to find our own solution. Right. So, Like, I mean,
like I didn't to answer that I didn't understand what

(06:19):
I suffered from until I surrendered to the fact that
I didn't know.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
So, and you started a young age in high school.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
Yeah, like thirteen or before high school, like middle.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
School, remember I did middle school eighth grade.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
Was when I started eighth grade summer bear Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Realized I really liked it. Yeah, it wasn't an experiment anymore.

Speaker 3 (06:40):
The effect produced by it, yeah, and there were no consequences,
and it was a party. It was a lot of
fun in the beginning.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
It was you know, so you were how many years
in active addiction?

Speaker 3 (06:50):
Uh? From thirteen to twenty five?

Speaker 1 (06:53):
All right, So that's.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
A long part of your growing up, your adolescents, prevescent
years and all that, and you know, twenty five is
that pivotal year where people start to really discover themselves
and find out, you know, who they are and things
along those nature. So to be able to get out
of an active addiction at the age of twenty five
is really saying you have a great life ahead of you.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
Yeah, Well, I mean that's kind of what happened. Like
there wasn't some like bright light experience for me. I wish.
I mean, I both my parents are addicts. I grow up.
It's like it's like a bondage in my family tree.
Like it's a very prevalent thing. And you know, I
always told myself I'd never be like my dad and

(07:33):
never be like my dad. And my mom was married
to an alcoholic on her like third marriage, right, And
that's where I would just bounce from house to house, right,
So like I didn't really understand what was going on.
You know, I just knew that I wasn't going to
be my dad, and I needed like in that school
was like my home away from home to get out of,
like the toxic household that I didn't even realize was

(07:54):
toxic because I grew up in it, right, I just
know it didn't it did. I wasn't comfortable there, right,
And that was kind of where alcohol and drugs came
in in. I just always knew I didn't fit in
like I was. I always was like bouncing here there, everywhere,
Like I could be like people talk about it in
the rooms like a chameleon, right, Like I could fit
in anywhere. You know. I needed to be well liked.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
And uh, you know, I I love that real quick.
You said you needed to be well liked. Oh yeah, yeah,
so you had that yearning for acceptance.

Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yeah, because I didn't have it, Like my father wasn't
in my life. My mom was like my best friend,
but like it's different, like when you don't have like
your dad and your you know, like it for me anyway,
like it was different, like not having like a like
an inspiring father figure in my life. You know, he
was like he would be here. It would put a
lot of confusion in my uh in my life and

(08:45):
I soon would have to unpack that in later years
to be like why am I operating the way that
I'm operating with certain people and showing affection the way
that I am with with people? And you know, he
would show up for holidays and then vanish, like get
me my Christmas presents, show up as super Dad. I
would love it because I got things that was like,
you know, a void filler, and then he'd vanish. I

(09:08):
get resentful again, right, and you know that was just
kind of how I grew up. Like and then I'd
be home with the step dad and lacked so much
gratitude even though he gave me like a roof over
my head because I would just point out all of
you know, his shortcomings and that's what young kid.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
You know, you're not my father, Yeah, you're not my father, But.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
Like he's given me a place to live and paying
for like all my sports equipment and you know what
I'm saying, like just let this random kid in and
married my mom. And you know, my mom she never
you know, she did the best she could with what
she had. So it was just like it just was
what it was, right Like the cards that I was
dealt were they were just were what they were for
a reason, right like. And it wasn't until I got

(09:47):
sobered that I understood that there was purpose behind what
I went through, you know, And now I utilize that
and show up other people like, hey, like this, I
get it. You know, I understand and what you're going
through right now. But I can promise you if you
do X, Y and Z, it will get better. Right,
And that was something I always yearned for. I was like,

(10:08):
what is my purpose? Like what is it? I would
never be able to figure it out. And then through
getting sober, like and connecting spiritually with something, I was
able to to finally, you know, get in the driver's seat,
like take my seatbelt off. You know. You know it's
like a kid who like just like hit the curb
parallel parking, like all right, like I'm done trying to

(10:29):
park on my own. Here you go, God Like take
care of this for me, you know, like, yeah, I don't.
I don't touch the stereo. When I get in the
passenger seat, I just sit put my seatbelt on and
shut up, you know. And that's kind of what it
was for me. But like at the time of me
getting sober, it was it was like I'm out of options.
I'm done trying to figure it out. I'm going to

(10:50):
shut up and let you know, put my seatbelt on
and and see where the ride takes me, right, And
that's kind of where it started.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
Interesting, really interesting.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
That's very So you are an athlete too, Yeah, the.

Speaker 3 (11:04):
Weird sports I was good at. I always said that,
Like I wasn't the wrestler, I wasn't the basketball player.
I was good. I was the var I put us
on the map for all the weird sports. Like I
was good at soccer I played. I was really good
at bowling. Everyone made fun of me for that.

Speaker 1 (11:18):
I took one and two.

Speaker 2 (11:19):
I was like ranked in the state bowling. Anytime you
want to go, let's do it. You know, you were
ranked in the state.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
I was ranked in the state of New Jersey as
a team bowler. Yeah, yeah, as like a high school bowler.
I was ranked like I wasn't I just when I
was young. I was a heavier kid, and I would
do like Pokemon cards. I was really really smart, Like
I was very intuitive, so like and and all the
isms like we're definitely there looking at hindsight. I would

(11:49):
spend hours trying to put together like Pokemon decks. I know,
if anyone's watching this, they know what the heck I'm
talking about, you know.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
Are you?

Speaker 3 (11:56):
Gi oh U gyoh was a huge card game back then,
and I would spend hours getting the best cards and
like figuring out how to win. And I was a psychopath.
I'd be up like if five am doing this stuff.
And then bowling was something I picked up because I
was like heavier and I like, you know, I just
I started bowling and I got really I would spend
hours upon hours upon hours doing it until I was

(12:18):
one of the best. You know, it was in like
a magazine and all this crazy stuff.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
Did you wear the risk brace?

Speaker 3 (12:22):
And no, that's only for people who don't have strong
risks exactly, because I know that was you know, you know,
like Grandma Gertrude, Yeah, exactly. Your Sunday Morning League.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
Yeah, did you have your own bowling bag.

Speaker 3 (12:34):
Oh yeah, yeah, I still have like three bowling balls
that I like, I'll just go in for fun now.
So yeah, and I actually helped coach the congs with
high school team now as like kind of a way
to get back to my alma mater.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
That's awesome, it's cool. It's really cool an escape for you.

Speaker 3 (12:53):
It was because it was like instant gratification, right because
I love that, and then like you know, just like
knowing that I was it was a me this is
a good one. It was a solo sport and I
loved being in control. That's why. The other sport I
was really good at was tennis, and I was first
singles and captain, so I just I was like, no

(13:15):
one I can't blame. Soccer was tough because like there
was a whole team you had to rely on, and
I never really never really sat well with me. But
I was like for tennis and bowling, like I can
only beat myself up. I can't beat anyone else up.
You know. That's how it always looked at it.

Speaker 2 (13:29):
It's interesting you say it because a lot of the
people I know that were an active addiction and played
sports the same way. Not very good at team sports,
you know, playing as part of the team. It's one
of the reasons that you know, people who are in addiction,
they isolate a lot because it might be by themselves
so to find, you know, whether it was running like
across country or something where they can get in their
own head. Bowling you get in your own head, and

(13:51):
bowling is a sport. I need people to know that
it was an elective that I took at college for Fizet.
It was my Fizzette electric twice.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
Telling me I loved it, my favorite class. It was great.
But then again, you could go to the bowling alley.
You could drink and bowl.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
You know what, what better way to spend a Thursday
night at college, you know, in East strousburg Lo. You know,
so it was it was always cool. I love I'd
love to hear that you bowl. That's going to be
a different, you know, different show at a different time. We're
just gonna go bowling.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
I love that. So you don't get a chance to
do it too often anymore. No, how about soccer? Oh no, no.

Speaker 3 (14:24):
That was mainly to get me in shape for tennis.

Speaker 2 (14:26):
Well, and you mentioned that, you know, you you had
a way issue in it's something that you're very open
about that you struggled with some issues with your weight
growing up.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
You can you you know, share a little bit of
that with me.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I still it's still like a thing,
you know. I think it's just kind of the way
my brain works, you know, the same way I look
at alcohol and drugs, it's the same way I look
at food. You know, I can't really I didn't understand,
like I said, what I suffered from. It didn't like people,
you know, they think the disease is like something that
is you know, like cancer or some thing. But no,

(15:00):
it's like a disease of the mind. Yes, you know,
and like my thinking is so skewed and I cannot
control that. So, like in the beginning, I would love food.
Food was like my first love, you know if like
my parents, like my mom would I was a really
hyperactive kid, and my mom would give me like like
chocolate or whatever to like or candy for when I

(15:22):
got home, she'd say, sit down to your homework. And
that was my positive reinforcement, you know. So from the gate,
I had a really bad relationship with food. My dad
when I would visit him on the weekends. I'd have
a Turkey Hill iced tea and tasty cakes Saturday morning
before bowling. Nothing all with that, right, but like not
even realizing, Like it wasn't until like I started getting
bullied that I was like, oh, my weight's a problem,

(15:44):
you know what I'm saying. And I didn't understand, like
I was young, And then you know, I finally like
started to exercise and I started to run and things
like that, and even today, like it was, you know,
like today I struggle with food. Sometimes I just understand
how my brain works, you know, like I love the
effect produced by sugar and flower and.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
All this shit that's bad for you, all the ship
that makes us heavy, that makes us say when you
look in the mirror, I don't want to look like
this anymore. But I can't give up my ice cream.
I can't give up my pizza.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
My safe space, like my reward.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
You got a kind of balance.

Speaker 3 (16:22):
Balance is hard when you have a brain like mine.

Speaker 1 (16:26):
I can appreciate.

Speaker 3 (16:27):
I wish I could find balance for just like you know,
doing drugs on the weekends.

Speaker 2 (16:30):
But amen to that, you know it. I don't know
if I could ever find balance to shooting heroine. I
don't think so, I'd be sitting there like, Okay, when's
the next one?

Speaker 1 (16:41):
Ready? It's impossible, Yeah it is.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
But weight is something that I think, you know, any
type of addiction and having an issue with weight, you know,
and getting in your own head about it, whether it's botty,
dysmorphia or something along those lines, that's an addiction to
because then you focus all your energy and efforts into
bettering your body right and get better yourself. So here

(17:06):
you are at a young age or getting bullied, you're
getting picked on by kids, not really wrapping your head
around all this. What was that pivotal point that you said,
you know what, I need to do something about my weight.

Speaker 3 (17:17):
I would say it was eighth grade. My mom was
like super controlling, like typical Italian mom. I was her youngest,
so she would dress me like she would dress like
she'd put me if you're wearing this where I would
wear sweatpants. Up until eighth grade, I would wear like
matching sweatsuits like I was, you know, I was all
about the school, like I didn't care what I looked like.

(17:38):
It wasn't until like eighth grade summer that I lived
across the street from night Park, which is in the
middle of Collingswood. I could literally walk across the street
and run around the park. So that's why I started
to do. I started to run around night Park and then,
like a good alcoholic and addict, like, I took it
to the extreme and I knew that I wanted to

(17:58):
fit in right, and I ran until I could fit
into my first pair of jeans. And then I went
to American Eagle and got my first par of jeans
and I was super excited, you know, like that was
I was like, I have to be like the cool kids,
you know. Yeah, I mean it's it's funny that we're
like going back to that. It's not something I usually revisit,
but that is, you know, And uh, that was like

(18:21):
I guess when I got into sports too, Like I
played sports in middle school and stuff, but you know,
I knew in high school like once I figured it
out freshman year, like I needed to lock in until
senior year, Like that was my goal.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
So did you struggle with the weight then through your
high school?

Speaker 3 (18:38):
No, It's also prescribed to how to roll, so that
was probably.

Speaker 1 (18:41):
I didn't know that I was the wonder pill.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. I definitely worked wonders.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
Absolutely in more ways than I don't.

Speaker 3 (18:51):
Really remember anything while I was on it, but I
definitely got.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
A's just sort of living in a a in a
in a dream, you know, or or or blur or
a zone or whatever may be. Yeah, So being a
person that that is, you know, in in recovery and
being a person who has had a history of you know,

(19:14):
athletics in your life. Are you a competitive person? Of
course I knew, I knew the answer. I just want
to hear you say it. Yeah, you're competitive by nature.
Has it always been this way or is it something
that always always.

Speaker 3 (19:28):
Since the beginning, I hated to lose. I was a
sore loser for a very long time. I was a
sore loser. But I would come back and kick your ass.
But it didn't matter what it was like, I would
spend like it was like it was on you know,
like I uh, I would always push myself to the extreme,

(19:50):
you know. But thank God for like some type of
action program of action for myself, you know, in in recovery,
because you can't just be you know, so I can't
just be sober. I had to be in recovery. AKA,
I need some type of programs, yes, that I can
abide by so that I can you know, be a

(20:11):
better human being, since it's not really the alcohol or
the drugs that's the problem. It's my thinking, you know.
And I was just I didn't, you know, not to
get off tangent. But I'm just as crazy when I'm
not doing drugs and drinking. Then when i am, I'll
hear that that that that's really scary. So yeah, I mean,
I you know, I was a sore loser when I

(20:32):
first got sober, you know, and that was something I
had to you know, work on with the I'm going
to get a year what Yeah, yeah, yep, yep, and
you you old man, you got ten years. And and
you know what it was when I got down to
causes and conditions, it was I I just I was insecure,

(20:55):
you know, I had insecurities, fear, I didn't want to
know what it felt like to lose, and also, like
if we really get down to it, a lot of
abandonment issues, you know. So when you have that kind
of foundation from an early age, like myself, then you
want to you don't want to feel anything negative, especially losing,

(21:17):
you know, because it's like it feels like you've been abandoned,
like in some sort of way.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
It was like I've been losing your whole life and right,
and you need to win, right. Yeah, you need to.

Speaker 2 (21:26):
Put yourself on that pedestal because nobody else is going
to And usually when we do that, we set ourselves
up for a little bit of disappointment somewhere for you know,
that's that a type personality, you know, and and that
that can really be damaging. And I think a lot
of people that that suffer from addiction had that type

(21:47):
of personality and that's sort of what leads them down
that you know, that brings that disease on.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
So you said both your parents are both your parents
still around?

Speaker 3 (21:54):
My mom pastor when I was twenty, I would say
it was from an indirect result of this disease. I
found her dead when I was twenty. She was fifty four.
She want to go take a nap, and I heard
her die in the other room. But I had a
friend over at the time. I was helping with the
college course. Like I heard a noise, and you know,

(22:15):
I held that over my head for a while because
I thought I was God and I could like could
have intervened if I you know that like survivor's guilt.
And my dad he's still alive. He will turn seventy
in November. You know, my stepfather's still alive.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
Your dad's a scorpio again, it's his birthday November seventeenth. Yeah,
he's a scorpio. I'm a scorpio. That's why. No that
you know, scorpios are certain.

Speaker 3 (22:40):
Why we don't get along? Is that? Is that why
me and him don't get along?

Speaker 1 (22:44):
I don't know what it depends. It depends.

Speaker 2 (22:46):
There's probably a hell a lot more than just the
scorpio part of that that you don't get along. But
you can leave with that. I mean a lot of
people will say that, oh, you're a scorpio.

Speaker 1 (22:53):
I get it. You know, is he still is? He
still an addiction?

Speaker 3 (22:57):
So my dad is like a white knuckle king. I
share about this a lot. He started doing drugs when
he was thirty when he met my mother. My mom
was like a crazy from what I've heard, it's just
like a maniac at the one at one point, and
she was real pretty and you know, she was a

(23:19):
dancer at one point, and the youngest as well, you know,
so she was the youngest and always and I didn't
fight out until after she passed that. You know my
from my aunt that like she was like she's she struggled,
you know, being the youngest, she would get in fights.
She was like a tomboy kind of. She definitely had
some issues and didn't really you know, like growing up,

(23:41):
you know what I'm saying. And yeah, so my dad
got into drugs. He was like he had all the
isms though from what I can tell, what I'm told,
he had multiple properties. He was like really high up
in Walmart when it first opened, no college education, multiple
different cars, like back then that was like a big deal,

(24:03):
you know. And then he started doing coke with my
mom and he's been suffering ever since. Forty almost forty
years later, he gets like a couple of years sober,
and then it could be like, like you understand, if
you don't get the if you don't have a defense
against the first drink or drug, which is aka the
first thought that puts that into motion, you're sitting duck.

(24:27):
You can be abstinent all you want, but if you
don't have a solution to your problem that you've actively
sought out, you're gonna use again. Period.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
You need to have a plan in place. Yes, it
has to be there.

Speaker 3 (24:39):
There has to be something separating you from the first drink.

Speaker 2 (24:41):
Absolutely, And people are always saying, oh, I don't know
how you do it. Oh I can tell you how
I do it. It takes a lot of work, it
takes a lot of like you said, planning. You've got
to have that in place, knowing it, because if not,
it's pretty easy to go get a drink or you know,
right down the street to get out of where you want.

Speaker 3 (24:57):
You know, emotional beings, and we act on a and
our emotions are pretty uh I mean my I'll speak
for myself. My emotions are They're pretty strong, they're pretty
emphasized more than normal people, you know. I I'm in
a really a hyper emotional individual, you know. And my
dad he'll get, like I said, I'll get like a

(25:19):
couple of years sober, and then he'll burn his whole
life to the ground in a weekend. You know. And
now he's seventy and like he you know, his last relapse,
I was living with him. Oh you know, I was
living with him. I was like not ready to buy
a house yet. This was like two Christmases ago. And yeah,
I found out that he like relapsed and I was like, wow,

(25:43):
like I got to get out of this, like this
isn't good, you know. And I prayed because you know,
I've my relationship with God is the most important thing
in my life. And I was like God, like this
is I know, this is happening for a reason. I'm
not going to be in my pity pot, Like what
do I need to do? Show me the next thing?
And long story short, I ended up buying my first house.
You know, I had like no money saved. I had

(26:05):
like I literally slept on my mattress with the dog,
my dog, and I had no idea like how I
was going to afford it. Like I ended up getting
grants from the state. Like I knew I'm in real estate,
so like I know how to do all the little
bells and whistles and loops loopholes, and I somehow got
a proof for a loan. There was so much that
had to go into it, and uh yeah, like it

(26:28):
just and you know from there, like I was, I
was terrified, but I knew it was like you know
when you're convicted, like you're like, this is what I'm
supposed to do. But I can't see the next step.
That was where I was at, and it's so scary.
Like it's like when I first got sober, I was like,
I'm in Pennsylvania, I'm in living grin. I've never been here,
you know. I got dropped off. I literally couldn't see.

(26:48):
I didn't have contact lenses, Like I came with the
little drawstring bag, you know, right right, and like I
was like, I don't know what the next steps are.
But I remember before I went into treatment, I was
the same thing. It was like I felt convicted. I said,
I can't do this anymore. I need help, like I
and I genuinely meant that. When I was walking home
after getting high for the umpteenth time, and it was

(27:11):
maintenance at this point. It was walking home. There was
nothing crazy that was going on in my life. I
was working the restaurant job, you know. I was just
living to get high and getting high to live, right,
so like it's a cycle. Yeah, that was like where
I was at at that point. And I knew that
when the person who got me into treatment reached out
to me, I knew I had to go. Like I

(27:35):
was like, I gotta, I gotta do something. Different. I
don't know what that different is, but I have I
have trust because my prayer just was answered in a
few short weeks with no money, nothing, I had nothing,
and it was the same. It's like the same situation.
Like thank God for those situations because it reminds me
that like I'm not in charge, you know, and that
there's a there's a bigger picture for everything that I'm not.

(27:57):
I may not understand, but I need to be a
part of you know what I'm saying. It's like you're
like that little piece of the puzzle and you're like, well,
how is that gonna make the puzzle look like that?
And it's like, well, you're just a little piece, right,
it's a five hundred piece puzzle. You're not that important.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
When the rest of them all come into place, you'll
see it.

Speaker 3 (28:12):
Right, You'll see exactly what it's supposed to right. But
you have to go in the right spot and get
in your like know your place right. And that's kind
of like where I was at. And you know, he's
still he's still sober, but you know, he just won't
really give a program of action a try, you know.
And I've learned to accept that my stepfather's same thing.
He still drinks, and I love him. You know, I've

(28:35):
learned to forgive them. I show up for him. You know,
I get to to show up for him every day,
even though we've had really terrible interactions with one another
over the years to where I was extremely resentful at him.
But I've learned to give grace and forgive and have
love and tolerance, and you know, on my best day
and you know, I get to show up for him today.

Speaker 1 (28:57):
I love that. Yeah, that's awesome. So before we started,
you know, the podcast, we were talking and you had
mentioned in New York when you were in New York.

Speaker 2 (29:07):
Yeah, yeah, tell me a little bit about that. You
ended up in New York, which is out of all
places to go.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
Yeah, yeah, I didn't have anywhere to go. Actually, I
had a charge against the state for putting my hands on.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
My father in New Jersey.

Speaker 3 (29:18):
Yeah, so I was. My mom died in twenty fourteen.
I got introduced to percocets shortly after that, because that's
how that works. When you're in a really dark space
and alcohol doesn't do it anymore, you need something stronger,
and the universe knew that I needed something stronger. Right,
just like it. You know, you could attract light and
you can also attract darkness with darkness, right, And that's

(29:39):
where I was at, and yeah, my life went really
to crap. My dad was actually in the place that
I ended up going to at the time, doing his
geographic change, which people in the program understand, or people
in recovery they understand of like thinking that, like that's
the problem. Really, we're taking us wherever we go. And

(30:01):
that's what he did. He had a couple of years sober,
and I started needing money for things. I stowed my
car at the time. I would get a duy shortly
after this and lose my car and I drive for
five years. But yeah, so things weren't that bad yet,
long story short. I painted this beautiful picture for him.
He was up in the Bowery Mission, which is where

(30:22):
I would end up going, okay, which is a homeless
shelter in a Bowery street. Yes, and so he was there.
He was like driving trucks for them, build a life
up there. Still super insane, like looking back on it,
like no solution has been found, no peace, Like there's
no serenity, there's you know, it's just like an individual

(30:42):
who has a problem with alcohol and drugs removed from
that and that's it, right, And long story short, I
was manipulating him, like, you know, making him understand that
he needed to be a father figure in my life
because I wanted his money, right, and he would send
me money for this, send me money for that, like
I get a flat tire every week, Like what do

(31:04):
you mean it's the best thing about sending me two
hundred dollars every week for my kiya? My tires aren't
that extensive. I was a Yeah, I was not a
good person, but long story short, I was like, I
actually need the source here because if I can have
him live here, then I can live with me from
New York even though he doesn't.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
Have a car.

Speaker 3 (31:26):
I knew what I needed to do. Long story short,
I had every the logistics in place. I end up
getting him to leave New York and come live with me,
and we get this really crappy studio apartment in not
a great location. I'm not driving. I call his boss,
his old boss for him. He gets the work. Fan
goes back to commercial cleaning, and he quickly sees that

(31:49):
I am getting high, like very obvious, and then he
relapses and long story short, like things go to crap
really quickly and I get a lot of charges, I
get a duy and I ended up having nowhere to go.

(32:14):
I got kicked out and he's like, I'll take you
to the Bowery Mission. I was like, I don't want
to go, but I knew. I knew I needed to
do something because I just was completely blindsided by how
powerful this disease is. Like it is really powerful, and yeah,
I went. He drove me up there, and I didn't

(32:35):
have anywhere else to go because it was either that
or the streets. No one. I burned all bridges at
this point because that's what we do. You can only
manipulate and steal so many times from someone before they're
you know, they're done with you.

Speaker 1 (32:47):
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
That's kind of like what I did with all the
people that were closest to me. And so I go
to the Bowery Mission And in order to not be
on the streets, you have to be in their shelter
and work held the homeless. Yes, so that's what I
did for like a year and a half, I think, yeah.

Speaker 1 (33:06):
But little service going on.

Speaker 3 (33:08):
Yeah, Yeah, it was cool. I learned a lot about God,
it was really cool. I was super out of my
comfort zone. It was there's a lot of humility attached
to it because I thought I was so much better
than these people who came off the street, when like,
really I was someone who would have been on the street,
you know, Like I had no home to call home.
You know, I didn't have a license anymore, like I did. Literally,

(33:30):
I was like an unmarked person. And I start, you know,
I'm talying my days on my bunk bed, like I
have it like next to my locker, like taped tallying
the days. And that's excruciating.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
I'll tell you that little hashmarks.

Speaker 3 (33:46):
Yeah, like how many days do I have? Now? How
many days? You know? Like I was a psycho. I
just I didn't know what I suffered from, you know,
and back then that was like twenty sixteen, I think
twenty Yeah, twenty sixteen, pretty sure. And I didn't know
what I suffered from, right, So, like I ended up
getting high. I take the Chinatown bus back home to

(34:07):
get like one per thirty or two I think I got.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
And expensive than Chinahoun bus, right, Yeah, they.

Speaker 3 (34:16):
Were even back then. And said I was going to church,
and I did that and then nothing happened, right, and
then I drank and then nothing happened, and then something happened, right,
Because it's like the worst thing that people say that
can happen to someone who's relapsing is nothing. And that

(34:36):
was like completely the case for me. I just didn't know.
I was like, you know, I was like, I I
love God, like, you know, I'm doing all this service
work for people, like I'm good, you know, But there
was no works. Faith without works is dead, you know.
There was no works. And I was a sitting duck,
you know, and I relapsed multiple.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
Times twenty sixteen, end of twenty sixteen, beginning of twenty seventeen.
I actually did work at the Bowery Mission Oh Wow
with a friend of mine and Joshua Combs through Lisa
Gallery Lisa Dreams Sleep Gallery. They would donate mattresses and
stuff like that, and they.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
Were really big with the Bowery. As a matter of fact,
we went up there.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
He used to do haircuts and stuff like that, and
we would do service work.

Speaker 1 (35:19):
Yeah, so it's funny you say that.

Speaker 2 (35:21):
And that was around the end of sixteen, beginning of seventeen,
like January February of seventeen.

Speaker 3 (35:27):
I can't pinpoint exact dates, but I did end up
going up to the East Harlem location, okay, which is
on one hundred and twelve. And second I was living there, Yeah,
and I ended up relapsing and they sent me to
like a sister program in Bridgeport, Connecticut. So I stayed
there for thirty days.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
And he just kept pushing it further.

Speaker 3 (35:49):
Oh yeah, yeah, like I had nowhere else to go.
But at this point, my mom had lawsuit money and
I got tens of thousands of dollars, and I thought,
I was like, I've arrived. But my best thinking was
let me buy like a new watch, and you know,
let me buy I'm in New York, let me go
to the designer stores. Like, first of all, I should

(36:10):
have been reinstating my license. I could have got an apartment.
That's how insane I was that I was not restored
to sanity. I had not done any work on myself, right,
And that's why it's so hard to be a dry
drunk or you know, like just someone removed from the
drug of choice, like we are still just as nuts.
And that was me, you know, if not more nuts, yeah,

(36:31):
I was Yeah, if not more nuts, right, because n't
realize that right, right, Like I would go and feed
like homeless people with like cheeseburgers from McDonald's with the
money that my mom left me. And then I would
go to like the Birdberry store and buy a five
hundred dollars shirt to justify the good works that I did.
That's how nuts I was. Yeah, meanwhile, I'm walking everywhere.

Speaker 2 (36:53):
It's that entitlement stage. We all go through that so much,
Egest Shane. There's so much entitlement and we think that,
you know, we're.

Speaker 1 (36:59):
Owed some thing. Yeah we did well, oh yeah, I
mowed whatever. And I think what.

Speaker 3 (37:04):
It was is I was just so excited to like
not be in complete bondage of alcohol and drugs. It
still had me, but I was I was getting a
couple months here, a couple of months there, and I
was like getting a taste of like you know, I
was also using like exterior things to try and fill

(37:25):
an into your void and it felt good. And then
it wore off, right, and I was right back to
the races, and like, I think twenty seventeen and then
I went on another two year run until I got
sober twenty nineteen. What's your date July fifteenth. Nice yeah, nice,
Yeah in the summer. How did that happen? I mus Yeah,
really screwed.

Speaker 1 (37:44):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (37:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:44):
I mean at least mine was October twenty eighth, right
before winter, because I knew I needed to do something
at the end.

Speaker 1 (37:50):
Yeah. Yeah, So you know, it's.

Speaker 3 (37:52):
Bad if I had to get sober in the summer.

Speaker 1 (37:54):
Not many people do that. Most people go back to
it in the summertime. It's like, oh, it's nice out.
I could do that.

Speaker 3 (37:59):
I could be on the street and night.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
Yeah, I could handle that.

Speaker 3 (38:02):
Trust me. That was what I normally would do, you know.
But something intervened and I was ready.

Speaker 1 (38:08):
Did you have a relationship with God? Then?

Speaker 3 (38:12):
I had a great relationship with God for the most part,
you know, I had the religious aspect of God really
was the kicker for me. Like that was really hard,
it was, it was. It was difficult, you know, religion
is tough for me. But when I actually got sober

(38:34):
this time, I understood that I was deemed a viable
relationship if I chose to seek it with God. And
that was the pivotal moment that completely altered the trajectory
of my life. I started to understand that, like God
is like my best friend. No matter how many times

(38:57):
I've messed up, They're always like He's always there to
pick me up and brush brush up, brush me up,
you know, and and uh be like hey, you know,
do better next time. You know, you got this, you know,
And like I didn't understand that I was deserving of that,
But I always knew there was something greater. I always
knew like I was exposed to it, like even like
in high school, but I was just so in self.

(39:22):
I was in like a discovery phase too, like we're young,
you know, like I didn't grow up with religion. I
didn't grow up with God. My mom prayed behind closed doors,
you know, like she didn't really no one pushed it
on me. I wasn't a CCD kid, you know, And
looking back on it, like it was exactly how it
was supposed to be. Because my relationship with God now

(39:42):
is so personal, it would have never been able to
be like that, I think if I had to unlearn because.

Speaker 1 (39:48):
You're very Christian. Yeah, very Christian, which is very interesting. Yeah,
you know on many levels, yes that you are. You
are very Christian. When I say very Christian, you're Christian
you're up there.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
Yes, and coming from the walk of life that we
come from and other parts of our lives.

Speaker 1 (40:10):
That's very interesting that you you know.

Speaker 3 (40:13):
So for example, we'll dive into that. So I was
super resentful at the Bowery because they are Christian based
in space and I am a gay man, and that
was a huge in the beginning. I didn't understand I
would get really resentful, right, Like, I just I didn't
have a pro Like, I didn't have any understanding. So

(40:36):
I was like, oh, well, like I was a victim.
I was a victim. I was like, oh, you're worried
about like me, like being gay instead of me being sober.
And it's like, first of all, like the place there
is to help homeless people get back on their feet
and like become citizens. They don't really they're not like
they didn't practice twelve Steps or anything like. It was

(40:56):
mainly just like learn about God, you know, and like
God will help you. But in this case, like I
got resentful and that's what kind of pushed me out
of there. But I did build a foundation in there, right,
and I was always open minded, So.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
Which is very very cool and very cool that you're
open about it.

Speaker 2 (41:15):
Because first of all, you know, being a gay man
and being Christian sort of doesn't mesh. Oh yeah, as
you know very well. Yeah, it's a lot. That's a
lot to unpack right there. It's like going from one
addiction to another. It's like what the hell is at
yeah you know, yeah yeah, but you know you seem
to make it work pretty well for yourself.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
Yeah, yeah, it's it. I used to be the person
at like the Pride events who was like yelling at
the people preaching that like you're not supposed to be gay.
Like I was like absolutely out of control, Like I
had so much hatred in my heart. And if it
wasn't for finding the program that I found the way

(41:56):
that I found it, which wasn't in a church mass
or worship on Sunday, then I wouldn't be able to
sit here and say that my faith is as strong
as it is, you know, like it was it was
perfectly put in place, Like every every single thing that

(42:18):
happened in my life was perfectly articulated to make me
believe the way that I believe today. You know, like
what nothing happened by accident, right, and yeah, today I
know I'm like kind of like an outlier, and I
don't know what that means yet. But I also it's
like I used to like I needed a label, right,

(42:39):
Like who am I?

Speaker 1 (42:41):
Okay?

Speaker 3 (42:42):
Like I thought it would be the job or like
you know, I'm like I'm a part of a community,
like the LGBTQ community, and that's great, right, But like
today I'm just Anthony. I'm a servant of God and
whatever else falls underneath that.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
And you're a dynamite real estate agent. Yeah, yeah, you
went from you went from being homeless, living in a
rescue living in squalor conditions at times, sharing a studio
apartment with your your father, both getting high, both getting high.

Speaker 1 (43:14):
We're probably getting high six and.

Speaker 2 (43:15):
A half years in recovery now, and you are an
amazing real estate agent. I follow your journey because I
I just need to take the test and I can
do the real estate, you know, because I love to
talk and I could sell, but.

Speaker 1 (43:30):
I haven't done it yet. But I follow your journey
because you're passionate about it. Why real estate?

Speaker 2 (43:34):
Everything you could have done? Why real estate? You could
have done anything? I mean, we're addicts. We're good at things.
We're good at entrepreneurship.

Speaker 1 (43:41):
Yeah, but why real estate.

Speaker 3 (43:43):
I don't usually share this, so it's kind of funny
you're going to share it now in twenty seventeen when
I was in the Bowery. So I was in the
Bowery in twenty seventeen, Okay, I think it was twenty seventeen,
so yeah, end of twenty seven. Anyway, I came there
with a suitcase with dirty clothes and one book. And

(44:09):
the book was The Cell by Frederick Eklung, who was
on a million dollars listing. Yeah, yeah, he like has
an insane story. Came from like Sweden with a pair
of shoes and a dream. Always was a hustler, like
sold like I think mail to his like neighbors and
stuff like newspapers or something. I can't remember exactly, but

(44:30):
his story, Like I just remember, we'd have to get
up at a certain time every morning they turned the
lights on, and you'd be in a bunk bed. I
was on the top bunk, and you know, once they
turned the lights on, you had to get up, and
it was always at six am, yep, and you had
to go downstairs and get ready to you know, whatever
your job was. If you had to help cook make breakfast, whatever.

(44:51):
You'd have to like mop and things like that. If
there was code blue, like in the winter, you had to,
you know, make sure they pick up all the sleeping
bags and like make sure everyone got out and into
the world at a certain time. And we had a
little bit of downtime and I would read that book
and I was like, I'm in you know, the concrete jungle,

(45:13):
Like I had like like a vision. I was like,
I think I can do this, you know, even though
I couldn't wrap my head around it. I had this
like conviction like this is I'm supposed to be doing
real estate and I didn't know anything else of it.
And I didn't do that for quite some time, like
until twenty twenty one or two, due to COVID, you know,

(45:36):
and obviously getting sober, like I needed a little bit
of time under my belt, and uh yeah, like I
knew that I knew that I knew I didn't know
how Once again that like understanding and trusting God is
in control, and like if you know you have a conviction,
just know that it will come to fruition. Just don't
try and think it to death on when or how or.

Speaker 1 (45:56):
Why how long have you been doing real estate.

Speaker 3 (45:59):
Now this is my technically my fourth year, so roughly
four years.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
Yeah, and you're killing it. You're I'm saying it. You
don't have to.

Speaker 2 (46:09):
I mean your look was like I am, and you
didn't want to sound like that person like I am.
But you are killing it. You're doing an amazing yuay.
You know you're you're posting what you're selling, I mean,
the proofs and what you're doing. You know, how do
you feel about your life at this point compared to
where you were six years ago when.

Speaker 1 (46:27):
You were starting this recovery journey.

Speaker 3 (46:29):
I feel like I finally have that purpose right, Like,
I know that I'm building a story that needs to
be used none other than to help the next person
who was in that dark space. I didn't have that
growing up, you know. I think that my why is
to help break like show other people that they can

(46:50):
break generational curses. And I read that every single morning.
And I used to always try and figure out my why.
I was in the multi level marketing in high school
and I thought that was like the thing, and they
were always like, you have to find your why, you
have to find your why, and I'd be like, yeah,
my why is this my why? Is that. And it
wasn't until like two years ago or a year and
a half ago that I actually figured out my why
and that was it. Every time I read it, I

(47:13):
could be like, you know, wanting to quit, and I'll
read that and I'll go run ten miles like it
gets me that fired up because I know that is
my purpose, you know, and getting in you know, getting
into the business. Like it happened like perfectly. I didn't

(47:34):
have to really do anything. But what I can say
is that to see myself where I'm at now, like
I would have never been prepared for that if it
was given to me and I was not sober. And
helping other people get sober, that's what I do. Like
my success is owed all to God and helping other
people get sober. I just focused those two things. Anytime

(47:56):
I'm like off the beam, I'm like, all right, I'm
not helping enough people. I'm not being enough, and I'm
not I'm not connecting with God enough, you know, because
when I do that, and I was told always to
do that, that's where the success comes. Like it's like
it's not even a big deal, you know, all those
things that I was like, oh my god, I couldn't
ever imagined like having those. I have them, and they're

(48:17):
not that cool. They're just a part of the journey
to show other people like, yeah, like you can you
can have your own house and you could make it
look amazing, and you can have your dream car at
thirty one and you have your car. I have my car.

Speaker 1 (48:32):
You have your license back. First of all, I have
my license back, you know.

Speaker 2 (48:35):
Which right there in itself for anybody who doesn't know,
when you are in active addiction and you lose your license,
getting your license back is like winning the lottery.

Speaker 3 (48:46):
Yeah, because I had money to get it back, and
my brain was like, nope, not license. Nope. I was like,
how's that going to help me? I could you have
people drive me around? Yeah, or I'll uber I'll ride
my bike, or I'll have them bring it to me. Yeah.
I haven't bring it to me out pay extra.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:00):
But the insanity, Well, thank god I didn't, because I
probably would have killed someone or myself, you know, another
god moment, because I did not need to be driving.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
You know, that's the entitlement we have and we're in addiction. Yeah,
you know, so you did, So you have your dream
car now? Yeah, you love your car. Yeah, that's awesome,
and you're selling homes and you're having a life, you're
working out, you work out right, Yeah, that's a religious
thing you do for yourself, which is definitely solving that
body issue.

Speaker 1 (49:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:29):
Yeah, on a good day, on a good day, it's
always going to be there. It's like something it's just
like your disease of addiction is always going to be there.
It's just learning how to respond to the way it
makes you feel, right, And it's like an everyday battle.
Like lately, I fell off the beam, like eating like crap.
I was doing a year and a half of like rigidity,
like kind of treating it the same way I did

(49:50):
with drugs and alcohol, and I just you know, I'm
not going to die if I need a piece of chocolate, right,
So it's like it's easy to justify doing that. And
I realize so much, like how much I love the
effect produced by sugar flour things like that. So like
that's something now I'm like trying to like work through
and revisit, and you know, because I don't want the

(50:11):
fear of like going back to where I was, like
I was like fifty pounds heavier than this. You know,
when I first got sober, I was drinking like a
milkshake at night, you know, and like that's better than
obviously getting loaded.

Speaker 1 (50:20):
Absolutely, yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
Yeah, But if you're working out, you drink a milkshake
at night, If you work out every day, you do that, right,
you can Unlike you know, the last week where I
didn't work out and I was eating like a pinea
ban and Jerry's every night because I was in a
depression moat, you know.

Speaker 1 (50:31):
Yeah, and you get.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
That point, but you so you know in six and
a half years, you are living proof that in our
month recovery month right now.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
Recovery is possible.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
Oh yeah, coming from somebody was thirteen years of age
with no guidance, no support, sort of just figuring it
out on your own, following the leads of parents that
were also in that and step parents and stuff to
where you are now. What's something that if you had
a chance to look back and tell young Anthony you something,
What would you tell that young Anthony?

Speaker 3 (51:05):
That's a great question, thank you. I would say that
the pain's worth it. You know, I was so scared
of suffering, but suffering is absolutely necessary in life. So
being able to understand and have a good relationship towards
suffering and pain and knowing that it's not in vain.

(51:28):
There's a purpose behind it. And the only way you
can have that purpose behind it is having a relationship
with something spiritual that drives you that you can submit
to and understand is in control. Like if you didn't
if you didn't time when you were popping out of
your mom's you know what, then you're not in control. Right.
Make it as simple as that, Right, Like we didn't
get to pick when or how or why we're floating

(51:50):
on a big rock in the middle of darkness, you know,
So like you just kind of have to like roll
with the punches and like, yeah, it all sucked when
I was in it, but like, thank god I went
through it, you know, because now I have something that
I can, like a gift that I've earned through that
to be able to pass on to someone else. Now
hopefully I'll do that for the rest of my life.

(52:12):
You know, I only focus on a day at a time.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
But so, right, I love the fact that you said
it's a gift that you could pass on to somebody.

Speaker 3 (52:18):
It's such a gift that's such a poetic Yeah, you
understand it, Like just that just being able to not
obsess about how you're going to get the next drink
or drug, that obsession being removed. I was always told
early on, like it'll be removed. I'm like when, when
When When when they're like, just keep doing the stuff

(52:38):
that's laid out. You're not anyone special, keep showing up,
keep living differently, keep praying, and it will be removed.
And it was removed. And no, I wasn't that unique, right,
And now it's like I get to be able to
tell other people like, yeah, it will be removed.

Speaker 1 (52:56):
Unique now than you were then.

Speaker 3 (52:58):
Yeah, I didn't really know what I was. I didn't
really know I was. I was whatever you told me.
I could, you know, whatever you needed me to be.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
What a lot to deal with too, I mean you
were dealing with, you know, coming from homes, a home
where you were dealing with, you know, addictive parents. You know,
growing up gay is is Uh, that was the thing
to you very difficult. It's something you didn't even touch
on that probably underlying somewhere, because let's face it, you
know that's a very difficult thing to grow up, you know,
regardless of what age you're in or what you know,

(53:25):
stage are in, you know, and not just that trying
to figure out everything else, you know, the way everything
that goes along with it.

Speaker 1 (53:31):
Man, you've arrived. Ye, you've arrived.

Speaker 3 (53:33):
I don't have it all figured out, but I just
show up and I you know, I try and like,
who can I help today? Like?

Speaker 1 (53:40):
Love that?

Speaker 3 (53:40):
God? Here do you need me to help today? Let
me not think about myself for five minutes?

Speaker 1 (53:44):
You know, like I love it.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
So do you do meetings? You do, the rooms you do,
you have a home group and everything, all things, everything
you do, all the things that.

Speaker 3 (53:53):
We don't want to break with anonymity.

Speaker 2 (53:56):
I hear you, and I asked, because I think people
don't realize. People think that once you you go clean.
And I really hate that word clean because I really
I've ever dirty. I mean some things like dirty. But
you know, once you do that, once you hit your
sobriety and you start your recovery journey, that's when the
real work begins.

Speaker 1 (54:15):
It is not easy. People are like, oh, it's easy.
From there.

Speaker 2 (54:17):
It's harder than that it's ever been to get sober exactly.
You know, the hardest thing to do is stay sober. Yeah,
to work at it.

Speaker 3 (54:25):
Especially when you get some time and there's you know,
if once you figure out what you suffer from, like
with ego and things like that, it's it's a never
ending battle.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
Yeah, the ego just takes over in a different way, then,
doesn't it. That's all right though, because you recognize it.

Speaker 3 (54:38):
I'd rather have a takeover with you know, the right
sound mind and understand, like, have an awareness of how
I'm acting then be unaware and just let it run
rampant and affect and ruin everything and everyone around me.
You know.

Speaker 2 (54:54):
So you know, you do all these things. You you're
very focused on your career, which you know is a
great thing you should. What do you do for yourself?

Speaker 3 (55:03):
Oh, I don't.

Speaker 1 (55:05):
Say workout either, It don't.

Speaker 3 (55:08):
Late lately it's been learning to have a good relationship
with traveling and gaining new experiences. I used to be like, oh,
it's pointless to spend money on a trip, like it's
not going to make me money, and that's not true.
I have gone on seven trips. This will be my
seventh in a couple of weeks. In one year, I
went from you know, I'm an alcoholic, so I went

(55:28):
from not flying in a plane once every like two
years to literally seven.

Speaker 1 (55:32):
Every three months. Oh yeah, I know. It's all or nothing, right, right,
all or nothing? Where you're going?

Speaker 3 (55:38):
Where's your I'm actually going to Florida, okay, with our
recovery group down that, Like our big recovery is really
big down there. For people that don't know, I'm going
to be going to West Palm, I am. I am
actually house hunting for a second property and my company
we're working on getting logistics together in God's time. I'm

(55:58):
not going to rush it, but I will the broker
of record for my company, Agent O six, down in
West Palm, love it and sell down there as well
as up here.

Speaker 2 (56:08):
So I used to live in South Florida. I know
that recovery media very well and I love it. It's great.

Speaker 1 (56:13):
A lot of people. You know a lot of people there.
It's you.

Speaker 2 (56:16):
I always tell people you don't have the biggest gang
in the in the country recovery. Yeah, biggest gang there
is biggest gang. So your your real estate company, it's
Agent O six.

Speaker 1 (56:24):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
So if people want to find you on social media
Instagram wherever, how would they find you?

Speaker 3 (56:30):
For real? Esax my Instagram handles Anthony dot Wilson dot zero.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
Six, Anthony dot Wilson dot zero six. Yes, and then
you also have an Instagram for your real estate for
agent o six do.

Speaker 1 (56:42):
You have still yes?

Speaker 3 (56:43):
You it's get age six Get agent o six Yep, yep,
and we work. We're an awesome company. I I they
fell on my lap. I wish I had time to
kind of jump into it, but they fell on my lap.
It was all God. I just was like, God, I know,
it's just getting a real estate. No, it's time. I
just don't want to be put in the drugs, infidelity,

(57:05):
all the things like the the low bar being set
in a lot of the industry, to be honest with you.
And I found this company well, God pushed me into it.
And now I'm the team lead of the whole entire company.
And you know we're are our mantra service over sales
and all of our signs say love your neighbor. So
it fit right with my Christian values.

Speaker 1 (57:26):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (57:26):
Without even having a try, I just was like, I surrender.
I don't know what's going to happen. I know that
you'll you'll look out for me, right, And it fell
on my lap. I was waiting tables and and I
waited on my broker who has now been my broker
for almost four years and taught me everything I know.
And you know, and that's where and I'm we're on
the on our way.

Speaker 2 (57:47):
Well, your passion is there for sure on social media.
I see that, and like I said, you know, we
never have enough time in an hour to past. And
that's why I always want to say to people, You're
always welcome to come back. Oh man, the invites there
because you have show much to share and so much
to offer. You know, if there's you know, there's so
many people that are out there still during this you know,
during National Recovery Month, there's so many people out there

(58:08):
that are still struggling, still going through it. You know,
what's something you could tell them why they're going through it?
What's what's some words of advice, not even wisdom, just
an advice.

Speaker 3 (58:19):
I mean, you have to ask for help. You can't
do it alone. It's impossible, it's impossible.

Speaker 1 (58:26):
Have you gotten better at asking for help? Anthony A
little bit? A little bit, I.

Speaker 2 (58:30):
Say, I could picture you still having a little bit
of a tougher exterior day with that, Like, I don't
need your help I'm not.

Speaker 3 (58:37):
You know, progress not perfection.

Speaker 1 (58:38):
I am not perfect, and you admit that then too, I.

Speaker 3 (58:42):
Admit all my false flaws, all the things today like
I'm free, I'm at peace, and uh, I actually love
the person who I look into the mirror at, which
is a blessing, you know.

Speaker 1 (58:54):
So I love that.

Speaker 2 (58:56):
That's actually a really good place for us to sort
of because not many people can say that when they
look in the.

Speaker 1 (59:02):
Mirror that they love the person they see.

Speaker 2 (59:05):
So hearing you say that, my friend, means that you
have arrived, because it takes a lot to recognize that.
So I appreciate you saying that. Yeah, it really was,
like I got children. It took time, you know, because
I always say the day that I went and I
said this is enough is when I looked in the mirror.
I didn't know that person. I didn't like that person.
Now I look in the mirror, I'm like, oh, yeah,

(59:25):
that scar, that's it.

Speaker 1 (59:26):
I'm okay with that. So it's cool to hear that.

Speaker 3 (59:29):
That's awesome. Everyone deserves it in life.

Speaker 1 (59:31):
So amazing.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
Well, I'm so glad that we had this chance for
you to come over here to unpack a little bit
of what we did.

Speaker 1 (59:37):
I mean, there was a lot.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
There, There was a lot, and you shared and I
think your story is really an instruction manual for somebody
else coming up. So I'm hoping somebody listens to this
and sees this and says, I want to reach out
to Anthony because I understand everything from the weight to
the family to everything, and your story is definitely.

Speaker 1 (59:55):
One to inspire. So thank you so much for sharing
that having me. Oh my gosh, great. I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
So everybody, if you want to follow Anthony, it's Anthony
dot Wilson dot six that's on Instagram. Get agent o
six on Instagram, Anthony Wilson on regular social media for Facebook.

Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
And I appreciate TikTok too.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
Yeah, no, tickt I don't do TikTok okay, Yeah, you know,
I just can't do TikTok.

Speaker 1 (01:00:18):
I'm way old for TikTok. Youre kidding. I'm still doing
a tari pong You kidding? Come on now?

Speaker 2 (01:00:23):
So yeah, awesome, But thank you so much for being
of course, and everybody there is hope, don't ever give
up hope. There's two people sitting here right now that
are living proof that recovery is possible and it does work,
so remember whatever it does you stand for.

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
Be a voice. This is Brick Carpenter on Muslim Media.
Have a great listen your dad