EP 440 A Giraffe Named Feelings | Dr. Jeremy Goldberg

Jeremy Goldberg is back on the podcast with a book he spent five years trying not to write.A Giraffe Named Feelings is a memoir about the parts of his life he spent years avoiding, numbing, or simply not knowing how to talk about.We get into his parents’ divorce, his mom’s alcoholism, his own relationship with alcohol and drugs, getting cheated on, sobriety, and what happened when he finally let his parents read the stories he had written about them.We also talk about writing from the wound versus writing from the scar, why abstinence became easier than moderation, and what betrayal actually takes from you beyond the relationship itself.And we end with one of my favorite stories in the book: Jeremy returning to his childhood home decades later and finding his six-year-old handprint still pressed into the concrete.Men, come train with us in The UNcivilized Nation:https://www.manuncivilized.com/thenationGet A Giraffe Named Feelings:https://substack.com/home/post/p-192337555CHAPTERS:00:00 Jeremy Goldberg Returns02:45 A Giraffe Named Feelings08:38 The Book He Tried Not to Write11:56 The Story Behind A Giraffe Named Feelings16:39 What His Parents’ Divorce Meant at Six22:14 Letting His Parents Read the Book27:14 Do You Have the Right to Tell Your Story?30:05 Why He Couldn’t Ignore the Book37:54 Writing From the Wound vs. the Scar42:37 Confronting His Own Substance Use47:29 When Drinking Is Just What Everyone Does48:14 Awareness, Acceptance, and Action53:34 Traver on Quitting Alcohol58:31 What Being Cheated On Does to a Man01:02:51 What He Wishes Someone Had Told Him01:06:07 Heartbreak as an Opportunity01:08:54 The Grief of Losing a Future Together01:10:28 Returning to His Childhood Home