Nicole Poulton - Why Sobriety Was Never About the Drug

Nicole Poulton is a sobriety coach who survived childhood sexual abuse, years of addiction to prescription pills, cocaine, and alcohol, and a near-fatal overdose before rebuilding her life from the ground up.Most people think addiction is about the substance. But here's the problem: it's not. Nicole spent years using drugs and alcohol to numb pain she didn't even know she was carrying, until an overdose forced her to confront just how far she'd drifted from herself. Her conclusion is uncomfortable — addiction isn't a moral failing or a character flaw, it's self-soothing that got away from us. And until you deal with the root, no amount of willpower will fix it.Expect to learn why addiction is really just an unhealthy coping mechanism and not a personality defect, how childhood trauma shapes the nervous system long before we have language for it, why some people convince themselves a habit is "fine" simply because it's legal, what the concept of leverage has to do with getting — and staying — sober, why shame and guilt keep people trapped in the same destructive cycles, how to substitute a harmful coping mechanism without just ripping it away, why sobriety doesn't have to be a daily fight and can actually be joyful, what role community and who you surround yourself with plays in recovery, and much more.This conversation will challenge how you think about addiction, trauma, and what it actually means to heal.