184: Showing Up Anyways - With Leslie Patricia

Leslie Patricia: Drunk Driving Crash, Childhood Trauma, and 9 Years Sober | Rock Bottom with RyanRyan interviews author Leslie Patricia Lohr, who shares her sobriety date (Oct 31, 2017), alcohol as her main addiction, and a childhood marked by generational abuse, alcoholism, and instability. She describes becoming a high-functioning alcoholic who drank heavily, experienced withdrawals, shame cycles, and strained relationships, while her father later got sober but died of liver cancer and her mother died young while still drinking. Leslie’s turning point was a severe drunk-driving crash after drinking at lunch and a hockey game, leaving her with major injuries and legal consequences, plus the haunting realization she could have killed someone. Early sobriety involved SMART Recovery, therapy, and intense grief and suicidal thoughts, but she never relapsed and rebuilt her life through endurance training, fitness and nutrition credentials, and writing her book, Showing Up Anyways, about forgiveness and embracing her inner child.00:00 Losing Mom Young01:26 Sponsor Break02:39 Meet Leslie Patricia04:20 Sober Date Basics05:45 Family Trauma Roots09:33 Teen Drinking Escape10:53 Functioning Alcoholic Life14:01 Parents Deaths Impact16:49 When Drinking Got Noticed18:49 Worst Days and Withdrawals22:53 Wake Up Calls and Shame24:37 Crash That Changed Everything27:59 Aftermath and No Harm Reduction29:57 Host DUI Reflection31:08 Crash Aftermath31:50 SMART Recovery Lifeline34:10 First Year Sober36:40 Healing Self Loathing37:48 Fitness As Recovery40:56 Turning Journal Into Book43:29 Hardest Chapters46:39 Second Chance Mindset48:50 Leaving Meetings Behind52:56 Advice Just Do It54:37 Meaning Keep Showing Up56:49 Book Quote And Farewell