Tripping Over Myself the podcast

🎙 Episode 16 — The Lies We Tell OurselvesIn this episode of Tripping Over Myself, I explore the strange connection between addiction, anxiety, and the way we talk to ourselves.I look at how the mind can act like its own form of artificial intelligence — answering whatever questions we feed it — and how, inside alcoholism and anxiety, those answers can quietly turn into fiction we start living by.We talk about:​ How addiction trains the mind to protect itself with lies​ Why anxiety keeps us stuck in worst-case thinking​ The danger of using imagination as escape instead of truth​ And how our own thoughts can become an echo chamberThis episode isn’t about technology.It’s about the questions we ask ourselves — and the answers we choose to believe.👉 Visit my website at trippingovermyself.com

Sometimes the mind doesn’t want truth — it wants confirmation. In tonight’s short bonus, I share how the questions we ask ourselves can keep us anxious, stuck, and believing things that were never true. Full episode on Wednesday.

Before alcohol… before gambling… before any of the obvious addictions… there was something deeper driving it all.The need to be noticed.In this episode, I talk about how chasing attention, approval, and a sense of belonging led me into a life filled with drinking, gambling, and smoking — three addictions all tied to one belief: that I wasn’t enough as I was.From owning racehorses to chasing wins that never came, I was building a version of myself I thought people would accept… while slowly losing everything that actually mattered.This isn’t just a story about addiction.It’s about identity.It’s about the quiet ways we try to earn our place in the world.And what it costs when we believe we have to.If you’ve ever felt like you had to become someone else just to be seen… this one’s for you.

Before alcohol… there was something else driving me.The need to be seen.This Sunday bonus is a short preview of this week’s episode — where that need led me, and what it nearly cost me.

Friendship isn’t always what it looks like on the surface. Sometimes we build friendships around the wrong things — the wrong comfort, the wrong habits, the wrong kind of silence. In this episode, I talk about the friendship I formed with addiction, how it became my escape, my constant, and eventually the thing that nearly took my life.I share the moment everything changed: the coma, the machines, and the four months in a hospital bed that forced me to face the truth I’d been avoiding. This episode is about denial, courage, and the kind of wake‑up call you don’t forget. Sobriety isn’t handed to you — it’s something you choose, again and again.If you’ve ever held onto something that was destroying you because it felt familiar, this one might land close to home.

What happens when the thing hurting you feels like the only thing there for you?In this short bonus, I share a moment that changed how I saw addiction — not as an enemy, but as something that once felt like a friend. This Wednesday’s episode tells the full story.

In this episode, I explore the kind of loneliness that doesn’t come from being alone, but from the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and what we deserve. During the stillness of recovery, I began to see that loneliness wasn’t my home — it was the place I’d been hiding.This episode looks at how loneliness shows up in addiction, in silence, in pressure, and in the moments when we feel unseen. And it’s about what happens when we finally sit with ourselves long enough for wisdom to rise.A reminder for anyone listening: you’re not broken. You’re human. And connection begins within.

A short Sunday night reminder that loneliness isn’t always about who’s around you — sometimes it’s the story your mind keeps repeating. Take a breath tonight. Episode 14 arrives on Wednesday.

Before you listen to the rest of this podcast, I wanted to share a bit about who I am and why I do this.This isn’t built on theory or something I studied — it’s built on lived experience with anxiety, addiction, and everything that comes with it.I’m not here because I’ve figured everything out.I’m here because I haven’t.And this podcast is just me sharing what I’ve learned along the way — in the hope that something in it helps you the way it’s helped me.

In this episode, I return to the early weeks of my hospital stay — a time when everything I used to rely on was stripped away. With no routines, no escape, and nowhere left to hide, loneliness hit harder than ever. But in that exposed place, something unexpected happened: real connection began to break through.From the doctors and nurses who showed up without judgment, to the family who travelled hours every weekend, to the quiet strength of my wife at my bedside — this is the story of how companionship found me when I could no longer outrun myself.

Part 2 of the loneliness series.This is where everything changed.Full episode drops Wednesday. Follow so you don’t miss it.

Title: Loneliness Before the BottleNot the kind where you're physically alone — but the kind where you feel disconnected even in a room full of people.Alcohol creates the illusion of companionship. The drink in your hand feels like friendship — until it wears off and leaves you hollow. I drank to stay lonely. And in that loneliness, I mistook it for comfort.This episode is about what came before the bottle. The ache I couldn't name. And how loneliness doesn't always look like sadness — sometimes it looks like independence.🎧 3 minutes. That's today's sticky note.📱 Follow me:• TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@gerardbradbury.author• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrippingOverMyself.GB/• Website: trippingovermyself.com• My books are available on Amazon worldwide.

I didn’t realize I was dying. I thought I was just sick... just hungover... just going through something I could handle. This moment marks the point when everything fell apart — when I was caught between a hospital bed and denial, unaware that I had been given only days to live. This isn’t a story about strength. It’s about what happens just before you’re forced to face the truth.

The only real judgment that exists is the one we place on ourselves.I wrote this down the morning we left for Portugal. My anxiety about flying had been building for a week. And on top of it, I was tangled up in worry about our little rescue dog, Frankie — how would she handle a flight from Canada to Portugal?The mind can't drain the anxiety swamp once it starts filling it. You drown in "what ifs" that have nothing to do with reality.But then we landed. Safe. Sound. Uneventful. All the stories I'd written in my head dissolved the moment reality showed up.This episode is about what it's like to live inside the wait, the worry — and what happens when the present moment wins.🎧 3 minutes. That's today's sticky note.📱 Follow me:• TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@gerardbradbury.author• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrippingOverMyself.GB/• Website: trippingovermyself.com• My books are available on Amazon worldwide.

In this episode, I open up another layer of the story — the moments we hide, the choices we question, and the quiet truths that shape who we become. Episode 9 looks at the turning points that force us to confront ourselves with honesty, even when it’s uncomfortable.It’s about awareness, accountability, and the small shifts that change everything. If you’ve been following the journey so far, this chapter brings the emotional weight and clarity that ties so many threads together.

After receiving a life‑changing letter, Gerard enters the hardest stretch of his journey yet: the waiting. In this episode, he talks about the days that felt like years, the fear that settled into every quiet moment, and the urge to escape the pain the only way he used to know how.With a newborn at home and three lives hanging in the balance, he forces himself to face the truth sober — one cigarette, one phone call, one breath at a time.This is the story of living in the space between what you fear… and what you hope isn’t true.

Episode 7 – The LetterIn this episode, I read from my first book Tripping Over Myself and share the moment that shook my life at its core — the day a letter arrived that changed everything.What began as a normal trip to the mailbox turned into fear, panic, and the kind of uncertainty that makes the world feel unsafe in an instant. I talk about shock, silence, and what it’s like to carry something this heavy alone.This episode is about vulnerability, waiting, and learning how to face the unknown without running from it.

Comfort Becomes A Cage —Episode 6 – Spoken sticky notes on anxiety and alcoholism. Short, real stories from my life. No filler, just the moments that matter. 2–4 minutes. New episode every Wednesday. What starts as relief can quietly turn into routine. In this episode, I share how alcohol stopped being something I used and became something I lived inside—and how avoidance slowly replaced direction.

In this episode, I continue Chapter One of The Trails and Trials of Addiction and Anxiety and talk about how my first drink felt like relief — and how that relief slowly became a way of avoiding life.I reflect on how anxiety, loss, and the need to fit in shaped my relationship with alcohol, and how uneventful days quietly turned into years I didn’t know I was losing.This is a story about trading one set of chains for another — and what it takes to find courage again.

"I used to think that the first drink I ever took was a mistake. But looking back, it didn't feel like a mistake at all. It felt like relief.""When you’ve lived your whole life with constant noise in your head, silence feels like safety. But for me, that silence was a trap. I thought I was learning how to survive, but really, I was just learning how to disappear.""In Episode 5 of Tripping Over Myself, we’re going back to the beginning—to the moments where relief turned into reliance. If you’ve ever used a 'safety zone' to hide from the world, this episode is for you. Join me as we untangle the knots.""Click the follow button on Spotify to catch the full episode. I’m Gerard Bradbury, and I’ll talk to you soon."

In Episode 4, I share a lighter story from my past—when I thought I was headed to Nashville with a hit song and a $49 money order. It’s about hope, naivety, and the part of us that still wants more, even in the middle of addiction and anxiety.

In Episode 3, I reflect on how anxiety shaped my identity long before alcohol entered the picture. I talk about silence, avoidance, and the inner world I built to feel safe—and how that world slowly became isolating.

Episode 2 Before alcohol ever entered my life, my mind was already loud.In this episode, I continue Chapter One of The Trails and Trials of Addiction and Anxiety and talk about the inner world anxiety built long before drinking became part of my story.I reflect on growing up inside a constant loop of fear, imagined judgment, and self-doubt—and how silence, not intoxication, was what I was really searching for.This episode explores how anxiety can quietly become an identity, how isolation can feel like safety, and how the search for relief can lead us down paths we don’t yet understand.

In this first episode, I read from Chapter One of my book The Trials and Trails of Addiction and Anxiety and reflect on the moment I first learned how to quiet the noise in my mind.At thirteen years old, I didn’t understand anxiety, self-doubt, or why my thoughts never seemed to stop. I only knew that alcohol brought silence — and I mistook that silence for peace.This episode explores the early link between anxiety and alcoholism, the stories we tell ourselves as children, and how a search for relief can quietly turn into a long detour from ourselves.This podcast is about clarity — looking back with honesty, compassion, and understanding.Take care of yourself. We’ll talk soon.