Sobriety VS Recovery

A few years ago, a football buddy from boarding school called me for one of his daily check-ins. I was supporting him as he tried to rebuild his life after his latest jackpot with addiction—a run that landed him a one-year stint at a correctional rehab facility in Connecticut.

We’ll call him Jack.

At the time, Jack was working for a construction general contractor and had turned $2,000 into nearly $500,000 trading stocks. He called me, ecstatic, telling me about his "system" and some online stock tip connections he had made. But I could barely focus on his excitement—I knew he had stumbled onto something interesting, but it wasn’t sustainable.

“Jack,” I said, “you’re gambling. Your elementary understanding of trading is nothing compared to the giants who move markets—firms like Renaissance Technologies. And yet, you’re sitting on a 45,000% gain in three months.”

I added, “Your addiction has just shifted forms. Take the money, pay the taxes—what are you thinking?” (I’m sure there were a few added expletives in there.) Jack brushed it off and told me to relax. “I’m stopping at one million,” he said.

A week later, we spoke again. I had just started a YouTube channel about my life in recovery. Jack pitched the idea that we start a channel together—mixing stocks and sobriety—and make money off it. That’s when I asked him, “Jack, what’s the difference between sobriety and recovery?”

He didn’t know. In true addict fashion, he gave me a smooth-sounding, bullshit answer. I told him I was open to collaborating, but I wasn’t going to become some get-rich-quick scammer on YouTube, masking addiction with trading strategies to gain followers.

About a week later, I said something I’ll never forget:“Dude, please stop with this day trading stuff. What you should start doing is investing in your sobriety—or you’re going to lose it.”

You’re probably wondering—did Jack make it to a million?

Unfortunately, no.

Shortly after, he stopped showing up to work. His stocks dropped to the pink sheets, his trading account was locked, and he was burning through his remaining $50K, getting high, drinking, and living in hotels. He abandoned his family. I haven’t heard from him since. It's been almost 18 months. I later learned he’s been in prison for over a year and, according to a family friend, he doesn’t have a dime to his name.

So I’ll ask you:What’s the difference between sobriety and recovery?

If you don’t know, that’s okay. Just don’t bullshit me—unless you’re a real addict.

Even clinicians and recovery professionals often confuse the terms sobriety, abstinence, and recovery. Now sober and in recovery for nearly eight years, I’ve developed my own understanding. I’ve listened to many perspectives and witnessed a wide range of paths to freedom from drugs, alcohol, and process addictions.

Some stories are more conventional than others—but I’ve learned to embrace them all.

One common thread I’ve found: nearly everyone living in long-term sobriety talks about connection, process, and some degree of healing—mental, physical, or spiritual. Growth, awareness, and community are the backbone of recovery.

What We're Building with Investing in Sobriety

The mission of Investing in Sobriety is to connect with people from all walks of life who have powerful, personal recovery stories.

In each 15-minute video segment, we’ll hear our guests’ history, how they got sober, how they stay sober, and what life looks like today. We’ll dig into the blueprints of their recovery journeys—what’s worked, what hasn’t, and what they’ve learned about themselves along the way.

Our goal is to deliver real, unfiltered insights into what it means to invest in yourself, your sobriety, and your recovery.

The power of this project lives in the diversity of stories—and in our ability to show that there’s more than one way to build a life that matters.