Recovery from any type of addiction is difficult. And while there are many awesome addiction recovery programs out there, what works for everyone else might not work for you. That doesn’t mean you are doomed to continue on the same path forever.
Recovery isn’t one size fits all. You may have to break out of the box to forge a way to your recovery. That’s what today’s guest, Corinne Simpson, did, and she just recently celebrated her 20th year of sobriety! Despite her respect for programs like AA, they just didn’t work for her and what she wanted from her sobriety, so she found something that did. You can do the same.
Listen in as she shares the amazing possibilities and options for recovery that are out there, and how she was able to forge her own recovery and rebuild her life to be what she wanted.
About corinne simpson:
Corinne Simpson (she/her), whom everyone calls Been, is a Virtual Personal Assistant with her own company called Corinne Assistant. Basically, she’s an assistant in your virtual pocket. If you need help with short term projects or everyday administrative duties but don’t have office staff, she’s your solution.
Been has worked as a live theatre stage manager and managed a movie theatre, both in New Zealand, and she’s worked everywhere from law offices to film sets and between. She has a special interest in creative entrepreneurs, queer folks, and writing, but she can absolutely help anyone.
Recently, on August 18th, 2021, Been celebrated her 20th sober anniversary. She loves sharing her story of recovery from alcoholism because as hard a journey as it sometimes was, she happily confirms it was the best choice she ever made. To learn more, you can find Corinne on Instagram.
Mentioned in This Episode:
- Sober Saturdayz
- Sober Synonymous YEG
- Pick Your Poison by Denise Walker
- Detox Podcast
- Sober Curious by Ruby Warrington
- Find additional resources on my website
Transcription:
Lindsay Recknell 0:03
Hello, welcome to another episode of the Hope Motivates Action podcast. I’m your host, Lindsay Recknell. And it is my pleasure to have Corinne Simpson here with us today. Hello, Corinne.
Corinne Simpson 0:15
Hello, Lindsay,
Lindsay Recknell 0:17
I was looking at your name because I know you’d love to be called Been. that That is, you know, the nickname that you people have just adapted into calling you, which I think is brilliant. And we’ll hear a little bit more about that story. But let me share a little bit more formally what you are all about. And then I’ll ask you to share your story with us.
Corinne Simpson 0:37
Sounds good.
Lindsay Recknell 0:38
So Corinne is a virtual personal assistant. Basically, she’s an assistant in your virtual pocket. If you need help with short term projects, or everyday admin duties, but don’t have the office staff. She is your solution. She’s been a live theater stage manager. She’s managed a movie theater in New Zealand. She’s worked in law offices and on film sets. She says she can help everyone. She has a special interest in creative entrepreneurs and writing. But her services are available to anyone who needs us who needs her.
Lindsay Recknell 1:10
brilliant I love that. feels like you can be Johnny on the spot or, you know, Chief bottle washer or whatever that is. So Been, I would love to hear more of your story about how you have used hope to motivate action in your life.
Corinne Simpson 1:29
I would love to tell you specifically about one area that I’m quite proud of in which hope is key. this past Wednesday, which at the time of recording was August 18. I celebrated my 20 year sober anniversary.
Lindsay Recknell 1:47
amazing, incredible!
Corinne Simpson 1:49
Yeah, and that’s, uh, if you had told me 20 years ago, A) that I would get sober and B) that I would stay sober for 20 years, I would have some unpleasant words for you. Because alcohol was just all that I did, really, I managed to hold down a job. And I was what I like to call a functional alcoholic because I hadn’t actually had any real world repercussions yet, for my drinking. I hadn’t lost a job. I wasn’t married. So I didn’t have a divorce. It didn’t have. I didn’t lose kids. I hadn’t, that I know of, injured anyone with my car.
Corinne Simpson 2:30
But I drank all the time. I drank, I think I discovered drinking in college as a way to become more of who I felt I was inside that I just couldn’t be outside. I was raised very religious in a very strictly Pentecostal home. And I had a very happy childhood. This is not an indictment against my parents in any way.
Corinne Simpson 2:55
But religion, especially that religion is just not for me. And the more that I tried to shoehorn myself and the more that I was shoehorned into that religion, the more what was inside did not match how I was outside. And there were all sorts of things that I knew that I loved, like women, and vampires, and tattoos and all sorts of stuff that my parents were just like, we’re not gonna really talk about that, that I just couldn’t reconcile with how I was being told I should be.
Corinne Simpson 3:26
And so when I discovered alcohol, it was like this key that opened up to me. It opened up Narnia like this fantastic adventure where I could truly be someone else. I could be uninhibited, and I could be sassy and I could be the life of the party. And I understood jokes, because I always felt like Captain America going out and “I understand that reference” because I was so sheltered. And I didn’t want to be… I wanted to fit in, I wanted to be me.
Corinne Simpson 3:54
So when I found alcohol, I just grabbed it and ran. And everyone goes through a partying phase. But with me, it was definitely deeper. I just grabbed on to it to free myself from everything that I didn’t even know I wasn’t expressing my queerness my alternative thought processes, my desire to learn more about the world from a much more worldly, a much more supernatural perspective, you know, my desire to do all of these things to connect with the kinds of people that I just wasn’t meeting in my life.
Corinne Simpson 4:32
So I started drinking a lot. And then I started drinking even more. And then it got to a point where you know, when you go to a restaurant, and the waitress says, Can I get you something to drink? My mind actually only translated that as alcohol. Like it was, I was kind of broken to the point where it didn’t actually occur to me that there was anything else that you could or would drink. To me. That just meant what flavor of alcohol did you want. I would go home at lunch and drink vodka because then you couldn’t tell. And there were a few, one or two very tragic times where I sat down to have a glass of wine at home alone. And then I went back for a refill, and two bottles are empty.
Corinne Simpson 5:18
So I started on the scope. Like it was just a bad scene, because once I unlocked that door to being who I wanted to be, I just wanted to be at all the time. But the irony was when I was drinking, because I was always drinking to excess, I was not the person I wanted to be either. I was too open and too revealing and too vulnerable to the wrong people and not assessing what relationships were good for me and what revelations were good for me and how to get healthier.
Corinne Simpson 5:49
So it was this terrible thing. And I’m very, very fortunate, indeed, that I woke up after a particularly horrible experience that I honestly don’t remember much of, except that I was discovered barefoot in an alley by the friends I’ve been partying with. And they had to pile me into a car and search my belongings for my address to get me home because I couldn’t remember where I lived.
Corinne Simpson 6:18
And I just, I used to have this ritual where every time I woke up after partying, I would just phone everyone that I could remember being with and apologize, even though I had no idea what I was apologizing for, if I was even with them. And eventually I would hit on the person that would be like, yeah, as you should. And I’d be like, okay, right.
Corinne Simpson 6:36
So I woke up that day. And instead of doing my usual ritual, I just went something. This is terrible. I don’t even I don’t even know who I am. Like, I started off doing this to find myself. And now I feel completely lost. And I just hate. I just hate everything. I just hate who I am.
Corinne Simpson 6:54
So instead, I just found my friend who deals with addiction recovery. He was a he’s an addiction and alcohol recovery specialist. And he’s we’re very close, we still write together and read hunter Thompson together, well used to we still do. And so I called him and I said, I need to talk to you. He’s like, sure, what are you going to talk about? I’m like, No, I need to talk to you about my drinking. And there’s just this long pause. And he said, You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting. Like, oh,
Corinne Simpson 7:28
so that was the start of my journey to sobriety. And that was actually on the morning of the 19th, August 18, in 2001. And ever since that phone call, I haven’t had a drink. But it’s not like a fairy tale. I’m not saying ever since I made that call, I stopped drinking. And then I lived happily ever after. It’s really not that easy. It’s really not that easy to quit drinking, if you are in a position where you are drinking too much, or you have recently quit or you are trying to quit, you will know that it is it feels impossible to let go of something that is so profoundly important to you, and that you’re so profoundly addicted to, it’s almost impossible.
Corinne Simpson 8:13
So it’s with a lot of just plain stubbornness. And a lot of kind of out of the box recovery decisions that I made that I stayed sober, because I think the usual route, especially 20 years ago was just you acknowledge that you have a problem, then you go to aa and then you just go to aa forever, and you get sober. And I did not do that either. I decided there had to be a different way to reclaim my life.
Corinne Simpson 8:44
So I have more or less forged my own recovery. And that’s a lot more prevalent. Now. There’s a lot more options now. For which I’m grateful because as valuable as AA is, and I have nothing but respect for that organization, and for the people going through that journey. 100% if that works for you, great.
Corinne Simpson 9:02
But if that doesn’t work for you, it doesn’t mean that you’re doomed to continue drinking. No one path to recovery is a one size fits all. It’s not a one size fits all. So if a isn’t working for you don’t pursue it. There are lots of other ways you can get sober. I’m here to tell you that I am an AA dropout. And although I have respect for them, I’m still sober. So you can do it.
Lindsay Recknell 9:27
Amazing.
Corinne Simpson 9:29
Yeah, exactly. I mean, I’m not sure I should be proud of that. But anyways, it worked for me so
Lindsay Recknell 9:33
well. But I think that that’s really, I mean, that’s really super key because often we feel like there is only one way we should be doing something. And it’s encouraging actually to hear you say that. It doesn’t have to be that way it can be but it doesn’t have to be if it’s not working for you.
Lindsay Recknell 9:51
I, doyou use the word there’s, you know, that there isn’t one just one way, I’ve heard it said there’s not one recipe to sobriety you know. You get to use all the ingredients you have at your disposal all the tools in your toolbox to get you to where you want to be, which is not just for sobriety, you know, we’re all no different, lots of different things that you’re working towards, you get to take the tools that are working at the time and, and make them work for you.
Corinne Simpson 10:20
Exactly 100%. And I think I do think it’s damaging also to only have one narrative around any kind of addiction recovery, like, Oh, you have to go to an A, or a or whatever, or you have to go to rehab, those things work for some people, and they really don’t work for other people. So there has to be a stigma breaking conversation to say not everyone is going to find the same things useful, and not everyone is going to be able to heal, because that’s kind of what it is. It’s healing.
Corinne Simpson 10:47
Same way, you have to be able to look at your individual needs. And you also have to be willing to look inside and ask the hard question. Why did I start drinking or using in the first place? Why was this my journey? Why did it feel so good? Why did it get out of hand? You have to ask the hard questions. And where do you feel safest? asking those questions, and finding those answers, that’s going to be your path to recovery.
Lindsay Recknell 11:12
And I was gonna ask you, you know, your friend, who you knew you could call on, obviously opened you with welcome arms?
Corinne Simpson 11:19
Yep.
Lindsay Recknell 11:20
What did he do that you knew that that was a safe place for you to start your journey?
Corinne Simpson 11:27
Well, hilariously, I used to drink with him. Just like, if you’re never supposed to do that, you’re supposed to leave everyone that you drank with behind, but I knew that he drank casually because he had already confronted his demons. And he worked with people to help them get sober. And I knew that he worked. I knew I had met friends of his were there, like he helped me get clean. And now I just go for a few beers as I’m like, I’ve just been in his life.
Corinne Simpson 11:53
So I knew I had met the people he had helped. I’d seen how he conducted himself with people. I knew how he conducted himself with me. And he was the safest person in my life who understood even anything about drinking, because I had like, Jekyll and Hyde kind of life. I had like church friends who didn’t know anything about what I was doing leftover from my church days, while I was still extricating myself from that, and it was just like, we don’t talk about that. And then I had all sorts of partying friends, and the only thing we talked about was partying.
Corinne Simpson 12:24
But he understood both sides of me. He knew my whole story. And so I felt very safe to go to him. Because I knew that if I said, I have a problem, he wasn’t going to be like, let’s go for a beer like other people when he’s like, yeah, okay, switching hats. This is my business. This is what I do. I’ll help you out. But he also knew where I was coming from.
Lindsay Recknell 12:46
Amazing, amazing. And so I’ve never heard anyone articulate their sobriety story quite like you do in such a little an intelligent and really insightful way. Like you’ve obviously done the work. And I mean, for 20 years, you’ve been on this journey. So, you know, it feels like you’ve got some things figured out.
Lindsay Recknell 13:07
And then I really liked what you said about kind of the reason that you embrace drinking the way that you did, because it lets you give away some of those inhibitions and things like that. And so then you, you know, 20 years ago, you decided I’m not going to do that anymore. How did you become the woman that you are the person that you are? You know, how, what, what tool Did you find that could work for you sober?
Corinne Simpson 13:38
So I did go to AA. one of the things I did is I met up with my friend, we met up that same day. And he gave me just one of those quizzes where they kind of it’s just like, it’s meant to make you confront room drinking. So when we met up, he was like, well, let’s just fill this out. And I had already between the time of phoning in between the time of meeting him, I had already come full circle to decide that I didn’t no longer had a drinking problem. But I went to meet him because he was my friend. Because that’s what you do. You just rationalize, it’s like, well, I found him in a moment of hangover weakness, but I don’t actually have a problem.
Corinne Simpson 14:09
So he’s like, okay, humor me and fill this quiz. So I was like, Oh, fine. So I filled it out. And to my surprise, I ended up in the top 90 percentile of, if this is your score, you really might want to look at your drinking, and here are some ways that we can help you and I was like, What? That’s not but I don’t have and he’s like, hey, this doesn’t tell you whether you do or don’t, but you called me. And this is the tool in my toolkit. And, you know, maybe we want to talk about this a little further than you just saying, I made a mistake and calling you.
Corinne Simpson 14:45
So I was just like, Damn, I don’t even know what to think. So he gave me a whole bunch of information about a chapter close to me. And then every day I would phone him and be like, Well, I didn’t drink today, but I haven’t gone to aa and he’s like, Okay, good for you for not drinking, and we talked About that, and then I would write I was into poetry then. So I wrote a lot of really terrible poetry about alcohol, which we’re not going to ever read.
Corinne Simpson 15:09
And, and then, one day, I finally went to a meeting close to me, and it was really eye opening. It was impressive. And they were wonderfully inviting and welcoming. And three of the people there afterwards, there were these older gentlemen, they took me to a Wendy’s because they’re like, well, we always go to Wendy’s, or we go somewhere that doesn’t serve alcohol, because it’s safer. And, and then they bought me a burger. And they just talked about their experiences, and they were lovely. And I was so just confronted by what they have to do.
Corinne Simpson 15:42
But it was after that, but I decided I also didn’t want to do AA because A) they talked about a higher power a lot. And I was in the process of leaving a church. And more importantly, because they were like, hey, so this, this meeting that you just went to, meets every Tuesday and Thursday, but we’ll tell you where we go on Mondays and Wednesdays and we’ll tell you where we go on Fridays. And we’ll tell you where we go on Saturdays. And I was like, hold up, how many meetings do you go to? And they’re like, well, we go every day. That’s how we stay sober.
Corinne Simpson 16:13
And I was like, good for like good for you. I am not discounting that journey, if that’s what you need to stay sober and to and to make yourself healthy. I applaud that I’m not judging, but I did not want that I was really young. Still. When I got sober. I drank a lot in a short period of time, like things got out of control very fast, like Will Ferrell, that escalated quickly. I was like an alcoholic? How did this happen?
Corinne Simpson 16:40
So I was like, I’m pretty young, I don’t want to, in my mind, trade my dependency on alcohol for a dependency on meetings. Because to me, it kind of was the same thing I wanted my life back to live, I didn’t just want to do something else that just wasn’t drinking, but still consumed all of my time. So that’s why I decided not to go to AA. I’m like there’s got to be a better way. So I did something else.
Corinne Simpson 17:05
Instead, I dropped everyone and everything that I had been drinking with. And I got all new friends. And I didn’t go to any of the places where I had drank I mean, cutting out a huge swath of bars and also restaurants that I had frequented, and cutting out friends that I drank with, and not because they’re bad people, but because I just needed to do it for my own sanity. So I befriended new people. And I tried all sorts of new restaurants.
Corinne Simpson 17:29
I remember I made a new friend and she introduced me to sushi at that time. So like her and I would go out for sushi. That was something I never would have done while drinking. So it was like, new habit forming. And then, like about a year after that I actually moved to Alberta. And just because my sister and brother in law were living in Edmonton at the time, I didn’t move to Edmonton, I stupidly moved to Lacombe for a boyfriend. Don’t do these things. There’s not an answer to anyone’s problems don’t move to Lacombe for- But I digress.
Corinne Simpson 18:01
So I did that. But what it allowed me to do was to present myself to all new people as a sober person. So instead of hiding it instead, because a lot of people their instinct is to hide the fact that they’re in recovery, hide the fact that they had a drinking problem. I did the opposite. I just said, Hi. I’m, I’m being and I’m, you know, I’ve just moved here and they’d be like, Oh, sure, you know, Andres, for dinner, want a glass of wine, I’d be like, actually, I don’t drink. I’m in recovery. I’m a recovering alcoholic. And I just spread the word, I just basically turned my whole social circle into my accountability circle.
Corinne Simpson 18:33
So I basically turned my whole life into a and I never stopped doing that. Anyone who knows me can tell you that one of the first five conversations ever had to meet with me involved. Hi, I’m in recovery. So I don’t drink and they would just be like, great.
Lindsay Recknell 18:51
But I love that you put it out there up front, because I’m so a lot of people know that. I mean, I started this work in hope because of a journey through family addiction, and alcoholism. And so many of the lovely people that I’ve had the opportunity to have conversations with whether it was at a meeting or in recovery. It was that how do we have these conversations with people who aren’t sober or people we don’t know yet?
Lindsay Recknell 19:23
So good on ya for just putting it out there and saying this is who I am. And I mean, it’s one of the things. The very first time I ever met my husband, he said to me, we’re planning our first date. He says, Well, I’m in recovery. So we got to go somewhere without drinking. Sweet. Let’s do that. You know, and I just had so much respect for him throwing it out there right at the beginning, because then the stage was set. The expectations were good, and he could know if I was good with it. And then we could move on, move forward or if I wasn’t he could just move on with his life. So I really appreciated that about him and I imagine the people in here I’ve also appreciated that about you.
Corinne Simpson 20:02
Yes, I yeah. They seem to it also says that they also appreciate it because they know how to proceed. Like they, if we go out for dinner now, I can be around people having a glass of wine, but sometimes I can’t. So they’ll just ask, if we go out for dinner, they’re like, Oh, I would really love to try this glass of wine with this. How do you feel about that? And then most of the time, I say, Sure, I’m fine with that.
Corinne Simpson 20:24
And then sometimes I have said, I don’t feel good with that today. And they go great, no problem. And then they’ll disorders that no, like, it just creates this power in your life and this sense of beautiful support. And it does inspire hope, because people are so receptive, because I think society teaches us that this is something we should be very ashamed of having had an addiction at all and be in recovery. Like you should kind of hide that. Don’t tell anyone. I even tell employers. I don’t care. I’m just like, if you can’t accept me in my recovery, you can’t accept me at all. The end.
Lindsay Recknell 20:57
I love that. I love that. So people that are listening who are thinking I’m, I’m an adult. You know, how if I was to go on this journey and give up my partying life, how do I even make friends without having to move? But how do I make friends as an adult? And not only that, but as a sober adult? Do you have any ideas about that?
Corinne Simpson 21:21
I do. I actually make friends. I’m a little bit like my mother, she can make friends in a supermarket lineup. Like the exact opposite. My dad’s like, let’s just not like let’s just keep our own Council and my mom’s like, Oh, hey, like, so I’m very much like her in that way.
Corinne Simpson 21:39
But there are some sober groups that I am part of. like, I’ve met a bunch of sober people in Edmonton, and we meet mostly, recently, obviously online. I was part of a group called sober Saturdayz, I helped run it with Katie Deegan that is now based out of Vancouver, Katie and I are still friends. But I don’t help run that anymore. And that she actually has set it up as a place to party with sober people.
Corinne Simpson 22:06
So they do like they’re Cali sober, which means they still embrace marijuana and micro dosing, but they’re not drinking. So if that’s what you’re seeing, because I know that there are a lot of sober curious people who are like, I would still like to raise because I am still 20. But I do not want to drink and like look that up because you can still party without drinking. I attend.
Corinne Simpson 22:29
Or I just recently attended a group called sober synonymous here in Edmonton, and they meet online and then sometimes they get together offline and go to the fringe or whatever. And they’re just a bunch of like, queer and trans and super inclusive, amazing people who are sober, and who are clean and sober and who just every week, they just share stories and thoughts and how their weeks going. And they’re just amazing.
Corinne Simpson 22:55
And then I also found this woman named Denise Denise Walker, she’s sober. I met her through sober Saturdayz, and she has authored a book of sober poetry called pick your poison. And the whole book is her thoughts on her sobriety and her sober journey and letting go of alcohol. And she now has a podcast called detox Podcast, where each episode is her breaking down the experiences that inspired each poem in the book.
Lindsay Recknell 23:22
Amazing.
Corinne Simpson 23:24
So there’s literally tons of ways that you can you don’t have to stop partying, you don’t have to stop being super queer and going to fun drag shows and going to the friends, you don’t have to stop podcast. Like, if you just need 100%, sober support. There’s something here for everyone basically.
Lindsay Recknell 23:40
Do you see? Do you see that increasing? Like, would you have had would you have answered in the same way? even five years ago, 10 years ago?
Corinne Simpson 23:49
No, no. So sobriety, and the sober curious movement is really a modern, it’s a very modern thing. It’s become almost trendy. And it was actually the sober term, sober curious, was created by a woman out of New York who wrote a book on the subject and opened The Silver bar. sober curious, is a thing. It’s kind of a trending topic.
Corinne Simpson 24:11
But the reason that it’s staying relevant and it’s taking hold is because there is a very big shift to people being healthier and doing more things in modern moderation. People want to have the balance of exercise and a good diet, they want to do less harmful things for themselves. They want to enjoy themselves, but they also want to be able to get up the next morning at six o’clock for that meeting and hit the promotion, right.
Corinne Simpson 24:35
They want to go for one or two drinks, that’s it or maybe they want to still have the meeting up with colleagues culture at the bar but they only want to drink mocktails. and so it’s being embraced because people are like, yes, this is what I want. I want to pursue the corporate track but I don’t want alcohol to necessarily be part of it. I want to still like, be me and have my wits about me. So it’s kind of recent that there are this many options but there Definitely are options.
Lindsay Recknell 25:01
I love that. And we’ll definitely share so many of the links that you talked about. My friend, Abby, she talks a lot about on her podcast as well. She’s also sober, she’s going to be coming up on a year, just, you know, pretty quick here. And she’s found a number of groups online. She’s gone on vacation with these folks, you know, they plan trips away, because that’s something that my husband and I really experienced when he first got sober is we love to travel.
Lindsay Recknell 25:28
And when you travel, you go find a patio somewhere, right? You know, alcohol has always been part of those trips. I mean, heck, you go to Mexico to an all inclusive just to drink. So that was a transition, especially at the beginning to build those new habits in your teams like you, like you speak about getting to enjoy those things without having alcohol in your background.
Lindsay Recknell 25:54
Tell me a little bit more about those habits, actually. Because I’m a huge habit advocate. I think most anything is possible if we could habitual eyes it? And did you find that creating those new routines really helped for you? And how did you create some new routines?
Corinne Simpson 26:14
So I did, I would. I, very recently, like a couple months ago, I’ve been diagnosed with ADHD. It’s often misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all in women, especially older women. But it explains so much of my past behavior, which is why I bring it up. Because I’ve always been a very fixated, obsessive person. Like if I find something that resonates with me, we just do that. And that’s very ADHD. Great that dopamine hit for your, you know, that what brings you that feeling of excitement, you’re always looking for that.
Corinne Simpson 26:48
And so, some of the habits I developed as coping mechanisms spoke to my obsessions, like, believe it or not, the TV show CSI got me through a lot, because I just got obsessed with CSI. And as my sister likes to say, I will happily support any addiction that isn’t destructive to you. There’s really nothing destructive about CSI, except that you annoy the crap out of everyone by talking about it endlessly. But I just loved it. Like if I felt low, or I felt tempted, or I felt, oh, I’m not at a bar, I would just put on CSI and watch it.
Corinne Simpson 27:20
I also did, as I mentioned, a lot of writing, as I am a writer and I was heavily into poetry. So even though I never shared that poetry, because it’s all terrible. I did write a lot of poetry. And it is interesting to look back on. I also kept a sober journal just talking about what I felt and what it was like day by day.
Corinne Simpson 27:38
And I developed an obsession with sushi. And then I started tracking down new friends who like sushi, so we could go for sushi together so that I could have like this whole other social circle, like, I just basically, dove into interests of mine that were not alcohol, which I realized I actually have a lot once you take alcohol away. And then I just tried to find people who would also be interested in that or who would support that, and I just focused on them.
Lindsay Recknell 28:04
Amazing, amazing. Love it. I cannot even believe that we’re coming to the end of our time together. And there is one question I asked everyone that comes on my show. And that is Been, what gives you hope?
Corinne Simpson 28:18
Truthfully, in the context of this journey, what gives me hope is, despite how bad things can seem, and how dark life can get, there is always someone who will stretch out a hand to you, if you look up.
Corinne Simpson 28:37
I’m always always always reminded of that quote from Mr. Rogers mom. And he was talking about how he was sad by the news and how terrible the news was. And his mom told him, in any story, though, look for the helpers, because the helpers are always there.
Corinne Simpson 28:55
And that’s kind of like what I did. I had one person that I knew I could count on, and I did actually reach out to them. And then I had another friend who wanted to see me and not drink and I just clung to them. There’s always someone who is willing to do that. You just have to be willing to like stretch your hand out and take hold.
Lindsay Recknell 29:15
I love it. That feels very hopeful that the future will be better than today. If you only look for the helpers. I love it.
Lindsay Recknell 29:22
This has been a really excellent conversation. You have inspired hope in me and I know that your story will resonate with the audience that’s listening. And hopefully, they will also take some motivation from hearing you and recognize that it doesn’t have to be this way for them, either. So thank you very, very much for sharing your story with us. It takes a lot of courage to talk out loud. And yeah, I just really appreciate you being here. So thanks.
Corinne Simpson 29:47
Thank you, Lindsay.
Lindsay Recknell 29:48
Take care.
Lindsay Recknell 29:52
I hope you enjoyed this latest episode of the Hope Motivates Action podcast. These episodes are a labor of love inspiring conversations. hopeful people make my heart happy. If you also love this episode, it would be amazing if you could go to Apple podcasts and leave a review five stars if you’re into it. It’s these reviews that encourage Apple to promote this podcast to their network and the more people that listen, the more hope we can spread into the world.
Lindsay Recknell 30:16
Don’t forget to check out the show notes of this episode to find all the links to my guests’ books and other resources referenced in this episode. You’ll also find the link back to my website where you will find additional support and resources for you, your team and your community.
Lindsay Recknell 30:29
I truly believe that the future will be better than today. By taking action over the things we can control and hearing from these guests on these episodes. I know that an even more hopeful future is totally possible. I’m always looking for inspirational guests so if you or anyone you know would like to be a guest on the show, please reach out you can find me on the contact form of my website at expertinhope.com or by email at Lindsay@expertinhope.com.
Lindsay Recknell 30:56
When I was a teenager when my sisters were leaving the house to go out for the night, I always made it a point to remind them to call me if they needed me. It was my way to tell them that I cared and would always be there for them. I’d love you to know the same so all of you listening out there Call me if you need me.
Lindsay Recknell 31:10
Again, thank you for your love and support to this podcast, my work in hope and your intentional focus on making your future better than today. After all, hope without action is just a wish.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Lindsay Recknell | Expert in Hope | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram
Listen to this and all episodes of the Hope Motivates Action podcast wherever you listen to your favourite content.