Do you really need to hit rock bottom to get clean and sober, or is that just a myth? Today’s guest is living proof that the story isn’t so simple. At 15 years old, Tihani was already using cocaine, experimenting with ADHD meds from the street, blacking out and carving tattoos into her own skin in drug-fuelled hazes. By her twenties she was on benders, remembering the days of the week by counting how many pills she'd taken since the weekend. Yet despite the chaos, she built a successful creative career, performing on global stages and working with brands like Vogue and Red Bull. But behind the glossy exterior was a dangerous secret: addiction was eating her alive.

Eight years cocaine free & no hard alcohol or pills and 2 years completely sober, Tihani reveals the truth about addiction most people never hear. We talk about the illusion of control, the rituals of cocaine use, and why “dry sniffing” was just as destructive as the binges mixed with whiskey. She explains what it felt like to shift that obsessive intensity into wellness, how self-help and trauma therapy saved her, and whether addicts are actually the lucky ones for being forced to confront life’s hardest questions around why we are here and if life has any meaning.

This conversation will challenge everything you thought you knew about recovery. Do you really have to give up everything at once? What about nicotine? What is the actual root cause of addiction? And when the highs fade away, does life without drugs have any real meaning? For anyone who has ever questioned their relationship with substances, this episode is more than a story — it’s a wake-up call and one of my favourite conversations ever. If conversation can be 'art' then this is it.

More on Tihane -

She a genre-blending artist, creative director, and storyteller who’s spent her life chasing truth across continents and soundscapes. Her debut album The War on Love blends vintage R&B, tribal rhythms, and cinematic textures into healing anthems that hit deep. She’s performed on global stages from TEDx to SXSW, and led creative work for Vogue Italia, RedBull, and NY Fashion Week and beneath the success is an honest story about pain, shame, healing — and learning to create from who you really are. Huge thanks!

Oliver is an ambassador for Alcohol Change UK and you can access support here - https://tinyurl.com/5dt5773e

Tihane recommends this book -

https://tinyurl.com/5wn4s8e6

Oliver mentions Sober Dave -

https://www.soberdave.co.uk

Thank you to Gavin Sisters for sponsoring this episode! Visit -

www.gavinsisters.co.uk

and use promo code SCHOOLOFROCKBOTTOM for 10% off!

Podcasting is an expensive passion. To help me keep going, I'd really appreciate it if you could buy me a coffee, thank you!

https://buymeacoffee.com/olivermason1

Or via PayPal - https://www.paypal.me/olivermason1paypal

Topics -

0:00 Trailer & Intro

4:00 A rock bottom moment

7:30 Is a rock bottom required to get into recovery?

10:00 Addiction is on a spectrum!

12:15 Using coke at 15

16:00 Street ADHD meds

17:35 Dry sniffing?

21:10 "Downers weren't for me!"

24:15 Shifting intensity into wellness

26:45 Giving up drugs and alcohol one at a time

30:00 Self help and trauma therapy

34:15 Are addicts lucky?

36:30 Does life have purpose and meaning?

43:20 Cocaine was the ultimate permission slip

45:15 Does Tihane miss cocaine?

47:30 Do you have to give up EVERYTHING at once?

50:15 Sponsor

51:15 What about nicotine?

53:00 What is the root cause of addiction?

55:45 First steps to recovery

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#AddictionRecovery

#SobrietyJourney #SchoolOfRockBottom