A Quick Chat with The Unemployed Alcoholic
By Aaron Sorrels
I have struggled with unemployment, alcoholism, depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder.
I have also accomplished and experienced many great things including over 3 years sobriety, 26 years of marriage, a budding career in stand up comedy and a lifetime of curiosity driven learning.
Each week I have A Quick Chat with an interesting person who shares who they are, what’s going well and what they are struggling with.
You will be amazed by how much we can learn about each other and ourselves through just A Quick Chat!
A Quick Chat with The Unemployed AlcoholicJun 17, 2020
Deno Sorrels
This week I got to chat with my mom & I am so excited to share her with you.
We talk through her faith, her family and her future as she shares transparently about some good things, like surviving a heart transplant and also some difficult things like becoming a widow after 48 years of marriage and raising a rebellious child who would grow up to become The Unemployed Alcoholic.
I think you'll be encouraged by her story as we all face these challenging times.
Thanks for listening & enjoy the chat.
Jayson Dibble
This week I had the privilege of chatting with Dr Jayson Dibble. I first met Jayson about two years ago when we served together on the Laughter RX committee for LaughFest and Gilda's Club in Grand Rapids, MI.
Jayson is a professor of communications at Hope College who draws upon a deep seeded curiosity about the world and a genuine desire to connect with people. He's a scientist, a researcher, a talented communicator and just an all around good guy.
I think you'll appreciate his "humble skepticism" as he shares a treasure trove of information and insights.
Thanks for listening and enjoy the episode.
Erskin Anivitarte
This week I had the privilege of chatting with Erskin Anivitarte, better known as Erskin Music. I first met him several years ago when he led worship at a Celebrate Recovery event I was attending.
This chat gets deep and is packed full of inspirational insights on building the business of full time music, the value of being mission driven, embracing accountability relationships, dealing with the loss of a loved one and so much more.
Enjoy the chat, and check out the song "Grace Made the First Move," included in its entirety at the end of the episode with permission from Erskin Music.
Dr. Jennifer White
In this episode, Jen walks through some lightning rod moments that led to both her career in Dentistry and her calling to empower other women.
Enjoy the episode!
Tim Steele
In episode 12 of A Quick Chat with The Unemployed Alcoholic, my friend Tim Steele joins me to discuss who he is, what's going well and what he's struggling with.
He's a Pastor, a comedian and a travel agent who transparently shares about his experiences from growing up in the church through navigating a global pandemic.
Enjoy the chat!
Jonah Elam
What happens when a young black atheist and an old white Christian connect for a quick chat? An incredibly deep and meaningful conversation happens.
This week my friend Jonah Elam joins me for a quick chat & we get into some really deep stuff.
I met Jonah several years back as he was and still is great friends with my son. Since then, I was able to help him get on stage for the first time and even more importantly, I've been able to watch him grow into an incredible young man.
Mike Logan
In this week's episode, I had the privilege of chatting with my friend Mike Logan.
I met Mike shortly after I started doing comedy in Grand Rapids, MI, and I knew immediately that this guy is going places.
He's a hardworking comedian, showrunner, content creator and so much more.
In our chat he shares transparently about how he has transitioned from a troubled guy to a peacemaker while overcoming racism, depression and delayed furniture deliveries.
Enjoy the chat. And if you do, please leave us a glowing review. In a recent review, Dany Redwine said, "I really enjoyed being a part of this podcast and I felt comfortable the whole way through. Keep it up. You have a good thing going!! Heart heart.
Thanks for the review Dany, and thank you for listening. Enjoy the chat!
crawl, walk, run
I'm making a few changes to the podcast, which I'll fill you in on later, but first I'll share the "why" behind the changes.
So, I've found that my best approach to mastering new things is to crawl, walk, then run.
That works the best for me because I've found the alternative is to run, crash, cry… so yea, crawl, walk, run is way less painful and way better over all.
How that translates to something other than running is to do, learn, then grow.
The crawling phase is to just find an opportunity to do something you want to master.
For me it has been stand up comedy, public speaking and podcasting. So finding an opportunity to tell jokes, speak to a group or publish a podcast has been the first step, the "Doing" or the "Crawling."
The walking phase is learning. My entire goal once I find the opportunity to do something I want to master is to learn. This takes all the ego out of it, and ego is probably the number one predecessor to failure.
Finally, the run phase is to grow. And I've got this specifically as the final phase because my tendency is to rush this phase, and when I get it out of order, it only ends in tears. Much like the painful alternative to crawl, walk, run is run, crash, cry. I find that I inevitably crash and cry (or fail) whenever I try to grow exposure, compensation, audience size, accolades, recognition or any of the other wonderful rewards before I spend enough time doing and learning.
So, I'm in the walking phase of this podcast and I'll be learning and changing things with pretty much every episode.
The next change I'm implementing is that I'll be releasing future episodes every other Monday at 7:00 pm in both audio format and my new chalk board video format. This will allow me to "premier" the full chat with the chalk board video on both Facebook and YouTube so I can interact live with you as you watch.
Many of these conversations are getting very deep and they are spurring questions amongst listeners. I think this video format will allow us to interact with each other, support each other and ultimately learn from each other as this "Quick Chat" continues to morph and develop.
Set a reminder on your calendar for every other Monday at 7:00 pm eastern, beginning September 21. and tune in to "The Unemployed Alcoholic" on Facebook or YouTube.
No worries if you mis a premier or prefer watching or listening at a later time as both the chalk board video and the audio podcast will still be available.
Thanks for listening. Thanks for being you, and have a great day!
June Colson
June Colson is a wife, mother, sister, daughter and the winner of the 2020 Clean Comedy Challenge in Nashville, TN.
She developed her comedy chops as both a defense mechanism and a way to connect as she navigated through the challenges of growing up in poverty, being bullied at school and living with both a father's alcoholism and a mother's mental health struggles.
She's joyful, genuine, witty, caring and faithful to Jesus Christ, her Lord and Savior.
Who is The Unemployed Alcoholic?
I’m Aaron, The Unemployed Alcoholic.
I have struggled with unemployment, alcoholism, depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder.
But I have also accomplished and experienced many great things including over 3 years sobriety, 26 years of marriage, a budding career in stand up comedy and a lifetime of curiosity driven learning.
Each week I have A Quick Chat with an interesting person who shares who they are, what’s going well and what they are struggling with.
You will be amazed by how much we can learn about each other and ourselves through just A Quick Chat.
Enjoy the show!
Dave McIntyre
Dave shares this story along with who he is, what’s going well and what he’s struggling with on episode 8 of A Quick Chat with The Unemployed Alcoholic.
Whitney Wasson
Whitney Wasson is a comedian, illustrator, writer, sober person and so much more!
She shares who she is, what's going well and what she's struggling with in this episode of "A Quick Chat with The Unemployed Alcoholic."
Matt Zerilli
Thank you Matt Zerilli for sharing what you've learned from your journey through addiction, recovery and comedy!
We cover a lot in this episode. Here's some of the words that jumped out at me from each segment.
Who is Matt Zerilli?
Comedian
Person in recovery
Traverse City, MI
15 years sobriety
Recovery
Certified recovery coach
Drank to excess
Ambivalence
Identity
Connect with people
Acquaintances
Comfort
Crutch
Social identity
Stigma
Treatment
Disease model
Legal vs good
Can vs should
Social media
Gambling
Pornography
Workaholism
Shoplifting
Dopamine
Drunk driving
Knucklehead
Internal vs external
Awareness
Pattern
Intention
Distraction vs enhancement
Therapy
Manic depression
Self medication
Peel back the onion
Sponsor
My problems
Pathways
Impulse to reaction
Relapse
Consistent work
Addictive personalities
Pride
Tears of joy
Feelings
Sober at 27
Control
Joyous and positive
Standup
Writing
Nerd
Obsession
Jokes
Big laughs
Studio Anatomy in Traverse City
Perspectives
Love
Spiritual experience
Laughing together
Magical
Electricity
Stage time
Coronavirus
Challenging
Working out
Practicing
Part of the crowd
Transparent
Positive and enjoyable
The message of recovery
Bars
Questions
Engage
Relate
Mental health
Suicidal thoughts
Human feelings
Kick the door open
Existential comedy
Manic Depression
Therapy
Attacking the stigma
Helping people
Carrying the message forward
What I needed to hear
Laugh at yourself
What's going well?
Quarantine
Overworked
overcommitted
Overweight
Saitic event
Gym
Holistic
A plan
60 minutes a day
40 pounds down
Meditation
Healthy
It sucks
Physical trainers
Running
Marathons
White space
Margin
Healthy habits
Physical self-care
A screeching halt
A collective inhale
Definite mindfulness available
What's one thing your struggling with?
Anxiety
Social
Tom Hanks
WWII
Struggling with addiction
Losing people
Overdose
Try
Loosing touch
Social distancing
Quarantine
Tactics
Check in
Stress
Starting to break
Recovery coach training
Covid shock
Control
Depression
Suicide
Addiction
Tough
Control
Yanked away
Uncharted
Challenges
Good days and bad days
Check in with your people
Doing ok or not
Faith
Mind and heart
Follow through
Connect
A lot can come from a chat
A quick chat
How can people reach you?
MattZerillicomedy@gmail.com
@reallyzerilli instigram & twitter
The Thing podcast on all platforms
theThingPod.com
Reach me at
theUnemployedAlcoholic.com
Cleancomedytime.com
Rate, review, share and subscribe (please).
Lynn Hitchcock
Some “hot button” topics in this episode are entrepreneurship, work balance, graphic design, logo design, marriage, family, faith, provision, church, higher power, Jesus, journaling, gratitude, gratitude list, goals, domestic violence, divorce, codependency, COVID-19, illness, worry, risk, support, the serenity prayer, encouragement, external focus, being present, humor, lightning bugs and dogs!
Shout outs to Resurrection Life Church
Celebrate Recovery, kentwood community church, Tanzania, inspiredgraphics.org and Anchor
Jay Hunter
Thank you Jay Hunter for sharing your journey through cancer, racism, education, comedy and military service. I appreciate you and your willingness to transparently connect with us.
You're a good dude my friend!
Dany Redwine
Dany takes us on a deep dive tour of who she is, what's going well and what she's struggling with. There's a lot to connect with in this episode, so prepare to be moved as Dany fearlessly shares. Thanks for being you, and have a great day!
Jerry Priest
Jerry shares who he is, what's going well and what he's struggling with. What will his transparency expose for you?