The Voices for Voices Podcast Episode 41 with Guest, Mental Health Advocate, Adrian Burns
Welcome to the Voices for Voices podcast sponsored by Redwood Living
thank you for joining us today I am Justin Alan Hayes founder and
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I founded Voices for Voices to provide a platform for folks to share their
stories with others as we work to break the stigma around mental health
accessibility and disabilities helping people get the help they need
while also helping them prepare or transition into the workforce with the
Voices for Voices Career Center where we connect Talent with opportunity
for job Seekers and employers from coast to coast and in every industry and job
level at last count we had north of ten thousand jobs that we have posted in our
career center so you might want to check that out okay in today's episode I'm going to be joined by Adrian Burns Adrian is 27 years old and lives in
Cincinnati Ohio, she has been free from any substance for
a full year she has two boys and works into mental
health substance use disorder field space
she helps people get connected to treatment So today we're joined by Adrian via Zoom
thank you for joining us today
awesome yeah very interested as our viewers our audience our listeners
our readers to learn more about you your story kind of where you came from and
where you're at today in what we call it Voices for Voices a brand-new day of
taking things that are challenges in one way or another and turning those
into positives so would you get started
by maybe talking about the early part of your story and your experiences to uh
where you where you were and then we can work into where you're at today and how
people can learn more about you yes absolutely, so I was born and raised
in Cincinnati Ohio I grew up in what I would call a normal childhood both my parents
together they're still together to this day I have an older sister she's three years older than me we had everything we
needed growing up my parents worked hard we grew up middle class
um they both you know they still work they work really hard I noticed that
I always was like I always had social anxiety from a very young age
um I would say since kindergarten since I can remember
um and I you know I would just it was hard to talk to people
um so when I grew, I was experiencing that all in elementary
school middle school and high school when I was sixteen, I was diagnosed with ADHD
and anxiety and that's when I kind of started trying out different medications
from doctors but I didn't see much improvement I started smoking a lot of weed and
drinking to kind of cope with things and I found that when I would drink I had
that the Liquid Courage the confidence that I never had when I was sober and I
really liked that so that kind of started as a weekend thing through High School up until my
senior year I was smoking weed every day and then I started skipping classes which I had never done before getting
suspended from school one quarter in high school I had a 1.3
GPAI barely graduated and then right after college right after
high school I decided I was gonna go away to college, so I went to Northern
Kentucky University and lived on campus and that’s when things really started
to go downhill I started I never went to class I started drinking every day to every
other day experimenting with other drugs and things like that, and I didn't feel like
myself at all unless I was drinking when I was 19 I so I failed out of
college and decided to move back home with my parents and commute the second semester
um which then I never went to class either so then I decided Well I'll take a gap year this year and then I was nineteen
and I got my first DUI I had a telephone pole head-on going about forty miles an
hour I'm lucky to be alive I almost lost my life I broke my collarbone I bruised some ribs
I stretched ligaments in my neck I have permanent nerve damage in my left arm
um really lucky to be here today so that did not
change my Outlook on drinking or anything actually even drinking and driving
um I lost my car and my license for a while, so I wasn't able to so I just
would get rides with friends but I was continuing to drink every day I got a
job as a bartender at a local sports bar and I could drink on the job for free so
I'm like this is great so things really started to progressively
get worse and worse than I lost that job because I was drunk on the job too
much and then I was going from job to job serving mostly
um and couldn't really hold a job for more than a few months at a time because drinking always got in the way I was
either too drunk to go in drunk on the job or too hungover
to wake up and then when I was twenty-one, I found out I
was pregnant with my first boy Kaden he's five now
um and I thought this would be like my Saving Grace this was everything I
needed so I really started to turn my life around I went to school to nursing
school and then I was doing really well throughout the pregnancy staying away
from drugs and alcohol and really trying to just figure out how this next chapter
of my life was gonna go and plan for the future and it wasn't shortly after I had
my son that I went right back to the drugs and the alcohol because that's what I knew
and that's what made me feel safe in a way and so
when my son was things got progressively worse still after that so when I was
when my son was two this was 2020 when covet happened, I was
a server and I lost my job, and I just got my tax money back and I'm
like I have all this money and I have nothing to do because everything is shut down so
um I decided to leave my son and my family and go stay at a hotel for like
two weeks and just party the entire two weeks straight
um and then I only came back because I ran out of money
um so when I came back home, I was embarrassed I was full of guilt and
shame it was eating me up and that was the first time I experienced withdrawal
from alcohol and I ended up hallucinating for five days straight I had to have my mom sleep
in the bed with me at you know 24 years old
um it was not a fun experience so I
decided I was going to go to treatment and get myself some help and I made it about three weeks and then
I was like oh I got this like I have it all figured out I don't need treatment anymore I'm good to go and shortly after
that I relapsed and that started like this ongoing
two-year about two-year process of I would get around 30 days sober and
then I would relapse because I thought I had it all figured out I would go to treatment for 30 days I had it all
figured out and then I would relapse, and I lost count of how many times I ended
up in the hospital with seizures and hallucinations and just every
withdrawal symptom from alcohol you can imagine I believe it was about ten times in the two years and it was to them and then I did get
pregnant with my second child and he is one and a half
now and I kind of cleaned up my act a little bit
um but then as soon as he was born, I went right back to it and then he was about six months old
and my parents were ready to they're like we can't continue to raise both of your kids
um they were ready to figure out a plan to they were going to keep one of my kids and my other one was gonna go to my
aunt I mean they had everything in place to carry on their life and my kids life
that had nothing to do with me in it wow and that was it's hard to talk about now
um that was hard I had tried treatment in the past to get sober for my family and my son and
that didn't work and I was finally at a place where I was so broken inside
um I had no idea who I was, and I was honestly terrified to find out
um just because I was full of all this guilt and shame and I'm like I don't want to keep living
like this like I was just mentally destroyed
um so I decided I was gonna go to treatment and I was supposed to go
and I ended up going out to the bar because I'm like I want to go out one last time just one last time
and I went home with someone who I thought was a friend I didn't know very well
and I was sexually assaulted, and I woke up and that was the last time I
drank I woke up the next morning I was supposed to go to treatment that morning, but I decided to go out one last time
and that's how it ended so the next morning I woke up I did
check myself into treatment and I'm into promise to myself that I would never put myself in a situation for something like
that to happen ever again and I have kept that promise to myself to this day
um I went to a place called The mindful Healing Center in South Lebanon Ohio
and I it's a women's treatment facility I lived there for six months it was
amazing I mean it was hard work don't get me wrong I really, I knew that that was
going to be the only time I would have in my life to really work on myself to
spend all this time working on myself and putting myself first and I
I did that that's exactly what I did for those six months and I'm so grateful for that opportunity and my parents agreed
that they would keep my boys for you know until I was done with treatment
um but this was it this was their last their last draw they had had enough
um and I don't blame them so during when I was in treatment I worked
on you know I went to treatment and I'm I was 26 years old, and I was having my
mom do my laundry cooked for me clean my room I didn't know how to be an adult
let alone take care of two kids so I kind of learned how to take care of myself when I was there
um and then I ended up getting a little mobile
home and that's what I live in now with my boys it's my first place of
my own with my kids and you know it's our home and I
love it I did go back and do three more months of outpatient at the mindful
Healing Center and when I was there one of the things I loved about
their program is I lived there but you had the freedom of going to outside meetings and church
and I went into I was born and raised Catholic, so I came into treatment I
thought Catholic even though I didn't go to church much or anything I just thought that's how I was raised so
that's what I am well when I got to this treatment facility in South Lebanon all the girls
there are like we go to this Christian Church down the street and I'm like
interesting they're like we attend celebrity recovery there and I'm like well I'm Catholic, but I mean I'll try it
out I ended up falling in love with this place those are I call it my home those are
my people I'm there three days a week still I moved 25 minutes away and I still
am there all the time that’s I believe that's truly what
saved me I got baptized in April there and it's just like a continued
blessing every day shortly after I graduated treatment
I so I knew I wanted to work in the mental health and addiction field but I
wasn't sure what that looked like for me I know you have to have for most jobs a certain amount of time clean which I
didn't even have a year yet at this point you had to have degrees or certificates I didn't have any of that
so I saw online that Mercy Health was hiring for
um it's a screening and referral specialist is what it's called and it's really, it's through AmeriCorps
AmeriCorps partnered with Mercy Health so it's like an 11 months they don't like the term
volunteer they like the term service so it's like an 11-month service position and I'm like this is perfect because now
I have a chance to give back to the community when the community has done so
much for me and they've poured my cup you know they filled me with love when I couldn't love myself, they've reached out
um in every way possible and I was super excited for the chance to give even just a part of that back
um so I am in the emergency department right now at a hospital in Cincinnati
and I'm there screening patients that come in that
might be at risk for substance use disorders and then if it's something they're interested in getting them referred out
to treatment from there and getting to share part of my story with them
um and then I like the flexibility of the role that I have now because I also can
meet with any patient that's there I have resources for utilities food housing all different kinds of stuff so
it's a really unique position and I am networking and meeting with all
different kinds of people that are in this field and all different kind of organizations
um and you know I'm really excited to see where
the next year takes me after this term is over it's up in August and I'm working on my certification
for my chemical dependency counseling assistance license right now and my peer
recovery support license or certificate so that when I'm done with this, I will come out with both of
those and then 11 months experience in the field
um to see what I'm what's up next for me yeah that that's absolutely fascinating
um the Story the experiences and how descriptive you were sharing that uh
thank you just have a few questions to me follow up on being diagnosed at
a younger age I guess how did how did that make you feel did it make you feel like okay I'm
different than other people that I guess how
that how did that make you feel because I myself I wasn't diagnosed at a young age but through
taking too many colon cough pills and overdosing on that was put on
antidepressant did a little bit of counseling, but I was able to say no I
don't like the way this makes me feel I just want to do the minimum counseling
therapy so could you just re relive that and just share like how that made you
feel is it just like okay I got to do this I'm going to do it and then there's going to be a time where it ends and
then I don't have to do this yeah it made me feel it did make me
feel different and I kind of already felt like an outcast so
Now you know the fact that I am diagnosed with these things and have to take medication
for it didn’t help that fact at all and I was prescribed Adderall, and I knew
a little bit about it at 16 but not much but it caused me to lose like fifty
pounds and I was I was I wouldn't say overweight, but I was you know a little
heavier and then I it's like I had the body I
that I thought I wanted but I wasn't eating and like looking back at pictures I was far too skinny
um and that started like this ongoing process of now like having body image
issues which I still carry with me to this day yeah that's yeah just the correlation
just talking to you and others like us that have been through
situations that being diagnosed at an earlier age can I have pros and pros and
cons but with maturity and going through social situations I myself was
socially I'm saying socially awkward but unless I was taking something I felt
like oh I can't go here unless I drink unless I do other things and even to
to this day with the medication and the therapy when I go to
places where I don't really know people, I'll just like stand off to the side I won't let go and really talk with
that now if they asked me a question, I'll talk their ear off I won't stop talking so
kind of like those two sides and so my wife she it it's interesting because
when I met her, I was still going through some of the well not some
but the alcoholism part of my life and so the person she met was different
then than kind of now where it's like I'm instead using my energy to try to
help people I was using my energy to pregame to go out to meet people just do
whatever because I thought that's just what life was and so when I
went into the hospital for five-day inpatients day and came out she's like who is this person like they're like
so part of her wanted that old person of when we met but that wasn't like the
healthy me that was that was like yeah, we're going to having fun and we're traveling but it was always with the
kind of supplemental alcohol and other things had to be involved to go do
it and so that that's been a tough thing to kind of get through and
then even with the medication some people need it some people don't one of
my big stigmas or accepting that I needed help was I don't want to have to
take medication the rest of my life if they put me on it that's I automatically
thought about the worst thing that could that happened it wasn't like oh I might be put on for a couple years and
weaned off it was just oh if I start it's never gonna end and that's
been part of what's kind of kept me sober is by accepting myself kind of like where
you got to the point you're like all right like I'm at Rock Bottom I need
to make a change for me and I can't do anything I can't help others can't help my children and really give back
to others if I don't help myself and that's just it's just so just
so interesting now the treatment part I found that was another stigma or thought of oh
my gosh I'm going to treatment I don't want to be one of those people that goes like hi
my name's Justin and these are all the things about me but that was kind of
correlating to your story of when you're able to focus one hundred on yourself you know there's no phones you know it's
literally just you living the most basic life or they're feeding
you and if you need medication, you're going to bed a little bit early you're getting up early you're
doing some Therapeutics maybe some art therapy music what have you but I kind
of look back to that time of oh my gosh I don't have to worry about what if
what's going to happen in the future, and I know my phone and there's obviously the social media and all the
studies about phones and addictions and how it affects the brain but I definitely
felt like once I was removed just from that I was like oh my gosh I can actually think I don't have to
constantly check and see what Google think see what social media thinks how many likes did I get or do I have how
many shares and I went all the way back to a flip phone when I left kind of treatment and
you know people were like laughing and I had to really get over two things one is that everybody's not everybody but many
people are like wow like you have you have a flip phone I remember uh
traveling soon after the Chicago's and after I was, I was released to do a
speaking engagement and I was at the top of the Sears Tower which is now the Willows Tower, and they have kind of the
if you go all the way up, they have the glass where you can step out and kind of look all the way down and out and I was
like I want to take a picture because I'm afraid of heights and the way I got over that if I was flying somewhere and
I would drink and so I was at a point where it's like okay I'm kind of doing something that's like a big fear
and so I got a couple pictures, but the funny part was when I handed my
phone it was a flip phone he's like where's your phone and I was like this is my phone and so like looking back the
pictures are a little bit grainy and but so I had to kind of get over that of being a little bit different in that way
and then the kind of social awkwardness of joining organizations and putting myself
in kind of unfamiliar social situations of being
with whether it's workers or organizations and they have happy hours and they want you to come and if you
don't you can stigmatized like oh well Justin he never comes to any of our uh
external events and part of it was the social awkwardness and the other
part is I've always gone and had a drink and then one turns into two and two turns into three and so I'm going to be
in a situation where I'm just being I can't think of the word now but it's
just things are just dangling in front of me like Justin like the music's playing and the it and people are having
a drink and what do I do what do I drink do I go up and get ice water or bottled
water and so getting over that I was huge and being kind of five
years plus removed from it makes things a little easier now because I
don't think about it I was like okay if I'm gone here I either if it's too
too much and I just don't do it so I kind of pull myself out withdrawal from it but if I'm in a situation like all
right I have to go I at least have to show my face I have to be at this thing this luncheon and there's
going to be a bar there that I'll just get sparkling water or regular water and
just not really worry about it and I think
in my head it was tougher to get over than actually like in practice of I'm
making like this huge deal or yeah, some people are like what do you mean you know drink just have one like are
you driving and it's like no like I don't I don't drink I remember being in
in Greece over the last summer and
after I ate dinner, they brought a complimentary shot of I
don't know if it was vodka or what it was their local alcohol and that
was just like a custom that like they just do they're like okay we have your dinner and then here's your drink and even though I had I was drinking uh
sparkling water I was like what do I tell them like nobody will know if I
just do this one shot like I'm thousands of miles away but then I knew that one
would lead the two and then it was it was just more of more trouble that it
was going to lead to so I mean I commend you for gone through his as tough as it was and
and it is the kind of work through to go through things and kind of you learn and you're like okay I'm gonna go try
this treatment and then a little bit later it kind of relapse and try and try
um and I think just with anything you try it enough and then something just like clicks and in your mind where it
you just I used to sleep in all the time and so I was like now I would like to get up at somewhat earlier in the morning
and I would be more less cloudy thinking and those types of things and those are
kind of some of the positive effects that come from it but it's just remarkable like the changes I I'm
sure that you've seen in in yourself once you put your put yourself first and
just said even though I've been told well you know Justin; you know you were super narcissistic then and you know
putting yourself first you know that's kind of like very similar, but I disagree I think you're putting yourself first to
kind of go out and party to skip family activities to skip things or kind of
just us as human beings like just things like we should do skipping those things to
the accepting self and putting yourself first like we're talking about is just okay like removing certain things from
our lives putting other things healthier in it value the time we spend with
our children and the significant others and family and
and if we don't have a significant other if we're dating just being more particular about who we meet and who
we you know let in with the story because like you I mean I'm very vulnerable when
things come up I'm very open about it but like many things it just puts us in a vulnerable state to just even
share like with a total stranger and then to put you know come on a podcast and then not sure who's going to see it
and you know what are they going to think about me and I just
love the place where you're at and putting yourself first how
how did it make you feel once you started to put yourself first versus how
it would make you feel when you thought you know the substances and alcohol was kind of the way to go like okay well
it's this is just how we do it we go out it makes me feel good the liquid courage versus that feeling versus now where
where you're at can you maybe compare and contrast those two for you yeah, it's
it's going out to the bars and going home with different men, and you know
that was that was who I was and that's all that I was yeah
and today you know I have a clear head I can think straight, and I do you know I do put myself
first today and that's because I know if I don't put myself and my spirituality first
um that everything else I'll lose because I've been there before
um so it does feel good to be able to do that today great can
you keep touch on maybe the spirituality aspect of sounds like that's a that's a big part of what what's helping and
and that's what I also noticed with myself of as I was starting recovery the
therapy and the medication and those are only doing so much I still felt that there was
something missing I was I was in a loving and still am I loving marriage
at the time coming I recover I did we didn't have our daughter at that time but now I'm able to kind of think
more clearly but that that phase it was just making those
those changes were huge for me uh
what were you know going into the bringing the faith into it where in my instance I
still fell I felt like I was performing you were like oh I'm performing at a high level I'm a high performing human
being I'm goal oriented and you know I want to save the world and I'm going to do all these big things which
we do early but I mean put putting
words in mouth but for me it's like oh okay well I'm gonna put these huge goals
out here now and put my energy toward towards that but the faith aspect I
still felt like there was something missing it wasn't until I met with my pastor and was kind of like okay
and I was in between jobs I just lost a job, and I was like I'm
you know where the mental health could have taken another step back of like okay here's another hurdle what do I do
now I have these you know let's say 75 percent of things are kind of kicking on
all cylinders but there's still that 25 percent of how do I be more fulfilled if that's a that
that's a term but when you kind of made that shift of in myself also growing up
Catholic and then moving away from the church and then kind of coming back into it or kind of similarities you
you and I have but yeah like where When Faith started to really come in as like
an option of like oh okay like I'm not going to really think about I'm just gonna do it and I like the way it makes me feel and I'm just going to continue
to do that yeah for me I'm like I had tried everything
else I had been a tons of times I've been to the hospital ten plus times
um trying to detox safely nothing that I did worked
um so I think just having something bigger than myself to believe in and put
my faith in was huge and one of the reasons that I did drink so much is
because I had this massive hole in my heart that I thought only alcohol could
fill and alcohol was my best friend until it wasn’t until it just made this hole bigger
um and I found that you know Jesus is the only thing that
can fill that hole and that has filled that hole in my heart alcohol never did as much as you know you want to say
everything else in my life my family and myself felt that that that's not the
case for me Jesus is what filled that for me
um and it gives me a community of people who have hope and strength and who have our other broken people that
come together there's just something that is so wonderful about broken people coming together and sharing their
experience strength and hope at celebrate recovery at my church in a step study
um that you know you just you come in and you're like I'm screwed up and
they're like you came to the right place yeah, you're at the right place really like yeah there's nowhere else you can
really do that and feel like at home doing it just the vulnerability that's at the
church that I go to, and you know it took me a lot of tries I when I was trying to
get sober I was on this hunt to find the perfect church and I was only going to
Catholic churches because that's what I was born and raised as that's what my parents were born and raised as that's
what I knew so it took me going to treatment and this was the only church that was nearby
that I was able to go to and I just was like I'll try it out
um and you know God knew that I believe he placed me there because he knew that's what I needed yeah and I just
want to share a little bit for our viewers our listeners our readers the show isn't all about a favor not
trying to push anybody in One Direction or another I think the big takeaway is the bigger that we want to think of
things bigger than ourselves you know go from inward to outward and whatever
somebody in a healthy manner uses in our situations are similar but if
somebody's watching listening reading about it just thinking again like the
things that are bigger than okay like and I often think well when I'm no
longer living like how are people going to remember me are they going to remember the party and Justin are they
going to remember the philanthropic and the helping Justin and even looking at
very famous celebrities when they pass away, they once many years pass people
kind of forget about them and I know that that'll happen for me at
some point but I think the better that I can do I'll be able to have that Legacy be a little bit longer than if it
was just that again that short, short term and like you with me it was like
okay going to the bar or meet people go home with them and it was just like this
it just felt like oh it's just a well-oiled machine this is just kind of like how things go and
and that was even like huge for me just going from like okay I'm going for my life of meeting and going home with
people I never knew ages like I didn't know who they were what were they or you
know what they stood for internally to okay now I'm in a
long-term committed marriage that I was like I don't have a choice and we all
have choices but you know being at the point of like okay like I'm I can spend my even energy with that of looking and
meeting somebody on a dating app or having to go to the bar and those
types of things that's just more energy that I can use in a positive manner, and it sounds like with you as well you're
just we're just taking that energy and that time the I mean I'll call it
mental exhaustion that somebody runs marathons, and they get really tired and
they can they're sweating, and they can feel the aches and, in their joins, uh
with mental exhaustion it's still exhaustion that there's still time where we might just need the take a
break and whether that's read a book or just hang out and listen to soothing
music or go to a church go to a group where we're able to be accepted that
those are things that help fill up that space instead of continuing to be like oh okay well I'm meeting somebody on
Friday so what about Saturday and I'm like okay then what about it's all this time and energy and it just feels so
much just so much more like it's worth living and not saying that if somebody's out
there they have a glass of wine and they're in a different situation these
are our situations that we're sharing so not everybody is in our situations have
gone through what we are and where we're at so this again this
isn't a program to tell somebody like oh you can't listen to your doctor if your doctor tells you to you know have a have
a glass of wine or if you have a different lifestyle that's completely okay, we're just here sharing our
experiences for those individuals that might be in a vulnerable spot where
they're like I've been through everything I've gone through these ten different ways I've gone through a treat
man I've gone to the hospital I've been on medication I don't know what's next
and it was kind of life worth living you know at that point
so today you know you talk a little bit about where you're at professionally but
where do you where do you want to get to you talk about some of the certifications that you're doing but
kind of where do you see yourself kind of growing in the next few years professionally
yeah, in the next few years I would love to
um either do like Outreach for a treatment facility or be a chemical dependency counselor
or do some type of case management for you know a treatment center
um that's in the next few years and then like down the road I'm thinking maybe like 10 years or so
um I would love to open up a non-profit to start a non-profit
um helping you know people that are struggling with substance use disorder oh that's awesome everybody's
listening reading watching we'll have some contact information for
Adrian if that's if you're in a position and looking for somebody you
know reach out to Adrian that that's what's in in her future of what she
wants to do and I think the lived experience is one of the best experiences if not the
best you can go to and get an education and we can get certifications and
that and I think those are kind of checking the boxes for an industry but
the actual coming to the table is saying well okay I'm recommending things because I've been there and here are
things like I haven't worked and they're probably not going to work for you and here are some things that may have uh
contributed to the positive spot that I'm in in my life so those recommendations are not just coming
from a book smart individual it's coming from somebody that has book smarts but
also has that that lived experience like okay you think that I don't know how you feel in this situation maybe we don't
know and one hundred of the situations but there's many situations where we talk where
things are very similar of how they make you feel like okay how does it make you feel getting ready to go to the bar
and having a few drinks and the thought of meeting somebody new and
going home with them and those things versus okay well it comes after
that like after that that day you know what if that's one day a week what about the other six days what are you doing
those other six days is it all the build up to that point where you're
trying to pack as many things as possible in into that day and that's what I love can
you maybe share about the lived experience and just at like a high level of how you think that that is
because it is a great quality to have for somebody who's watching listening
reading about this podcast of saying I'm in that same spot I don't have that certification nobody's going to take a
chance on me because I'm not clean for the amount of time that I need to be just having that that lived experience
of to maybe touch on that if you could yeah, I
um a long way I know from my personal experience like I said I work in the emergency
department and I'm really there as a volunteer when I have a patient come in that's struggling with substance use
disorder and you have nurses and doctors that come in with degrees I mean doctors
that went to school for this for 10 years and they're trying to talk with a patient and
then I come in with no degree no certificate just you know come in and tell the
patient like hey I understand what you're going through I'm not another person coming in here telling you
have to do this and that I’ve been through it I've been sitting in the same bed that you're in right now I know how
you feel it’s like that it builds up this like unspoken trust
immediately and opens a patient up to like wow okay this isn't just someone coming in telling me how I need to start
living my life and what I need to stop doing it's someone that has been there that can relate to it
um and I you know before I went through everything I did I
had no idea what my purpose in life was and I'm so grateful for hitting rock
bottom and hitting it as hard as I did because I found my purpose in life through that and now, I get to share that
experience strength and hope with others I don't think if I would have gone through that I would
I have found my purpose in life, and you know being at the very bottom like it
just makes you so grateful for all the things in life when you've been that low
so I'm really grateful for all of it absolutely so we've kind
of reached the end of our time today is there anything we did we
didn't cover that you want to touch on before we kind of get to the contact information is there any area that you
want to maybe dive a little bit deeper in we do have time for that if that's something that that you'd like to do
um yeah just one thing I wanted to share really quickly I know I talked a lot about church and spirituality and that's
part of my journey and what's worked for me I work with a lot of patients who
um are not interested in that and that is one hundred okay I think just trying out
different things until you find what works for you is you know will be huge in the long
run yeah that's I one thousand percent so support that that it's trying
different things different things work for people in different ways some
things may work for you work for me might not work for others or vice versa and works for you but not for me and uh
and I and I think that's just that's part of having that that kind of clean thought process to start going through
not that you're going through an Excel spreadsheet but you're just going through like more healthy ways like okay
well I somebody's mentioned church and I'm 45 years old and that just hasn't
been for me maybe I'll go to go to church and just commit to maybe doing
that one time and then have that be like okay what's the worst that happens I go and spend an hour a couple hours at
church and then if that's something that I want to pursue then you can
move forward if not but yeah just going through the healthier ways and instead
of okay well I'm going to go from substance one the substance two drug one and two in those routes I think that's
for our audience that that's what we're really trying to get across fine find healthy ways for you the
help fill to use Adrian's term to fill your cup so you can fill others
cup and that this can't stress that how important that is that we can't share
when we don't have the energy and myself gone through kind of the uh
the phase of at the kind of the lowest point for me I
lost forty pounds I wasn't eating I was down to eating carrots and hummus my
body was telling me my mind was telling me well Justin you're allergic to this you're allergic to that and it was
basically my body's way of shutting down it was taken all those dominoes that I
hadn't dealt with all that guilt all that shame that ended up being 138 different things that were like okay I
feel bad how this relationship then I felt bad about how I treated this person about not including this person and
all those things it's like oh my gosh all those things were inside me that I was just trying to say okay well I'm
just gonna I'm gonna move on from it and some of us I can do that but
I know for myself I wasn't able to it really hit that point where it just overwhelming that where the energy was
sucked out I was in bed crying my wife was like why are you crying and like get up you know you're
you're the male you're the husband like what what's going on and I think that's also part of
you and I and the audience they just have to figure what works for us that even if it is a loved one very close to
us they do have our best in mind but if they haven't gone through some of the
things that we have it's tough and I know for me if I haven't gone through a situation to give a recommendation, I'd
probably say the same thing like what's going on like you don't have that bruise you don't
have that sprained ankle that I can see it's just this your words and I'll see you yeah
that Brokenness that we are as at that low point and by finding whatever works
in the healthiest way is what we recommend and if faith
is part of that and church is part of that then go that route if it's not find
find something that fills that that spot so how can how can our
audience get in touch with you or just find out more about you if they say wow and he did you have a very powerful
story and experience and I know it's going to resonate with many of our
audience members so as someone says Hey like how do I find out more about Adrian
or reach out to her or just follow what she does and follow her on that Journey on that path that she's on and then my email is adrian.burns35@gmail.com
[Music]so either of those ways I'm easily available
that's awesome thank you so much for coming in Zoom
um that because of kinda things have been a little bit easier now with the
virtual world of being able to patch people into the studio and so big thank
you to the studio big thank you to Adrian for joining us and really reliving some of that vulnerability that
it's not easy to talk about things even if we're and what can be perceived or thought of
as a better spot that recovery is not something that okay, I'm recovered
from my knee surgery I'm recovered from my sprained ankle the recovery is a day-to-day process that we're we just
have more Tools in that tool belt today than we had at a different point
um so yeah just a big thank you for joining us and we'll include your contact
information and our show notes and we wish you from that voices for
voices for me for everybody you know the best of luck and not in not that
it's going to take luck to continue on but the best of luck in in your journey wherever that takes you whatever
other new doors that you find maybe some doors close either doors open but I
know that your stories and it's an inspiration to me and it's inspiration to the audience to be able to be
vulnerable and to share not only the lows but kind of those higher points of yeah you can get through it
might not seem as like for me it might not seem as glamorous as maybe some other ways that
the May the party lifestyle might show but you're going to feel a lot better in inside and you have more of that
emotional aside tied to what you're doing versus just like okay I need to
I need to just work for that paycheck to go out and party and to do those things like okay I need to do that but
then I also I need to I'm a human being, so I have emotions and I think that's
that's huge so yeah thanks again for joining us Adrian and we
we will be watching for your next steps in the future
thank you so much for having me Justin absolutely take care take care
do you or someone know or shop at amazon.com if so please consider
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we want to thank you as we do at the end of every episode for joining us on the
Voices for Voices podcast in a humongous super special thank you
to Our Guest today Adrian Burns not only for joining us but going through the
low points and the high points and how what she's doing today is truly
making a difference in the in the lives of others so we want to again thank her for her time, and we wish her the best of
luck in everything she does in the future from Voices for Voices our board
everybody that's associated with us our sponsors so until next time I am Justin Alan
Hayes founder and executive director of Voices for Voices host and humanitarian
we hope you have a great day and please like Adrian be a voice for yourself or
somebody else in need [Music] [Applause]
[Music] thank you
Please donate to Voices for Voices, a 501c3 nonprofit charity today at: https://www.voicesforvoices.org/shop/p/donate
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