Being Addicted to Founding a Record Label w/ Blake Mathews | The Hopeaholics Podcast #340

In this episode of The Hopeaholics Podcast, Blake Mathews shares his story of addiction, adoption, and finding faith through music. Adopted at birth and raised in a Jewish household in Phoenix, Blake started DJing weddings and bar mitzvahs at 13 and built a career in music and nightlife while quietly hiding a worsening addiction for over a decade. By the time he moved to Nashville in 2014 to chase a career in the arts, he was a high functioning alcoholic leaning on psychedelics, convinced they made him a better artist, while the people closest to him had no idea how bad it had gotten.Blake opens up about hitting bottom in Nashville, calling his dad for help, and getting into treatment within 48 hours, only to relapse after walking away from music entirely and moving back to Phoenix. He found lasting sobriety on a sober hike up a mountain he stumbled onto by chance, and he's been sober since. Today, Blake is the founder of Sober House Records and co-founder of Formerly Intoxicated, a nonprofit bringing music and healing arts into treatment centers and prisons. He shares how a chance encounter with two strangers praying in a coffee shop changed everything, and how he turned his pain into a mission: redemption is real, prevention is possible, and recovery is for everyone. #TheHopeaholics #redemption #recovery #AlcoholAddiction #AddictionRecovery #wedorecover #SobrietyJourney #MyStory #Hope #wedorecover #treatmentcenter #natalieevamarieJoin our patreon to get access to an EXTRA EPISODE every week of ‘Off the Record’, exclusive content, a thriving recovery community, and opportunities to be featured on the podcast. https://patreon.com/TheHopeaholics Go to www.Wolfpak.com today and support our sponsors. Don't forget to use code: HOPEAHOLICSPODCAST for 10% off!Follow the Hopeaholics on our Socials:https://www.instagram.com/thehopeaholics https://linktr.ee/thehopeaholicsBuy Merch: https://thehopeaholics.myshopify.comVisit our Treatment Centers: https://www.hopebythesea.comIf you or a loved one needs help, please call or text 949-615-8588. We have the resources to treat mental health and addiction. Sponsored by the Infiniti Group LLC:https://www.infinitigroupllc.com Timestamps:0:00 Intro1:26 Meet Blake Matthews2:27 Handing flip flops to a barefoot stranger in 100 degree heat4:33 The fentanyl crisis hiding in plain sight6:14 The DM Chad got this morning7:13 Chad's stance on calling it fentanyl poisoning9:43 Adopted at birth, and the search for belonging12:12 Functioning addict, DJing weddings since age 1313:50 Chasing music to Nashville, and hitting a wall17:21 The night he called his dad19:09 What his graduation photos actually showed20:31 Moving home, and walking away from music22:00 Relapse, one beer with an old friend23:00 The mountain hike that changed everything26:40 The recover out loud movement29:08 Connection as the opposite of addiction31:35 The lie that drugs make you more creative33:51 Bringing music into treatment centers and prisons35:15 The starving artist trap47:01 First job in recovery, teaching kids life skills49:20 Leaving it all to go full time into Sober House Records51:22 Opening his first sober living home53:39 Raised Jewish, and why Jesus was a bad word56:19 Two strangers praying in a coffee shop57:25 The 10pm Bible study that didn't end until 4am58:21 The night he gave his life to Jesus1:01:34 Inside his album, Unbury Your Burdens1:03:11 Still wrestling with depression after finding faith1:04:22 Stacking wins1:05:43 The fastest way out of depression1:09:08 How his family sees him now1:13:11 What Formerly Intoxicated actually does