Jason Gots, podcaster and author of Humanity is Trying: Experiments in Living with Grief, Finding Connection, and Resisting Easy Answers, on the nature of human suffering, living with grief, and the Buddhist approach to addiction and self-discipline. In the episode we discuss:

-Jason’s drinking history and what led to him getting sober curious

-How Buddhist ideas and practices have influenced his relationship with alcohol

-The conversation with his father than helped his sober curiosity stick

-Having a lot of “drunken poets” as his early heroes, and letting go of his romantic associations with booze

-How a culture of “survivalism” has been passed down the generations, and different generations’ responses to this

-What the show Euphoria shows us about shifting motivations for substance use and abuse

-The role that alcohol and other substances played in his relationship with his sister, and in her death in 2015

-Medicating our grief – for both the people and the things we have lost, and the things we fear we will never be able to have

-Self-discipline as both punishment and liberation – and the role of “friendly curiosity” in supporting healthy new habits

-The Buddhist concept of “the middle way,” and why it’s so hard to achieve this – through moderation – with a substance like alcohol

Learn more about Jason and his work HERE, get your copy of Humanity is Trying HERE, and listen to the Clever Creature podcast HERE.

Big thanks to Ghia and Athletic Brewing for partnering on this episode. Get your Ghia at DrinkGhia.com and get $10 off your first online order with the code CURIOUS. Order your Athletic brews at Athleticbrewing.com and  use the code RUBY20 to receive 20% off your online order of any beer or Daypack sparking water products.