When Julia Machinshok lost her mother suddenly to pancreatic cancer in August of 2006, her world seemed to get out of control overnight.

At the time, she was drinking and partying very heavily and didn’t visit her mother the day before she died due to being hungover. The spiral of guilt and upset led her down a spiral of deep depression and alcohol abuse, and she found herself losing her job, having her car repossessed, and ending up without a place to stay at 8 months pregnant.

All of this was very traumatic for Julia. She was also repressing trauma from childhood, which she had not yet come to understand.

In 2014, things finally started to take a turn for the worse. Julia had been battling depression, alcoholism, and poor mental health in general. She began having horrible nightmares that would not subside, so she sought help from a psychiatrist.

The psychiatrist put her on a bunch of heavy-duty psychiatric medication, which didn’t seem to help.

The medication drug Julia into a place of numbness, and having her life slip slowly in and out of her control for years became too much. She attempted suicide twice.

Julia knew she had to take radical control of her life if things were going to change.

She sought out a therapist who she had once seen in the past who began specializing in a holistic approach to treatment.

Through months of work with mindfulness, hypnosis, and working through past experiences, Julia was able to conclude that her life and experiences were completely within her control.

She no longer takes medication, has been sober for four years, and now works as a case manager at a substance abuse treatment facility. Immediately, she knew it was where she belonged. She works with a phenomenal team, loves the work she does and feels fulfilled in knowing she is helping people live better lives.

On this week’s episode of the Get the F*ck Off Podcast, I had the true pleasure of having a conversation with Joe Conley, host of the Brutally Sober podcast, and the Alcoholics Anonymous Deprogramming Podcast on YouTube.

Joe and I clicked right away. Maybe it’s just because we’re both no-bullshit East Coasters, or maybe it’s because we have a lot of similarities in our relationships with alcohol.

This conversation was very raw and real and explored many topics such as Joe’s experience in rehab, Alcoholics Anonymous, the science of drinking, our personal struggles with alcohol both past and present, sobriety during COVID, spirituality, enlightenment, identity, and being a fucking curmudgeon.

I absolutely loved talking with Joe and hearing about his life and experiences.

In August of 2018, Russell Barlow went on vacation with friends for the sixth year in a row. He found himself drinking to blackout for most of it, in the throes of a deep depression.

Following that trip, he was diagnosed with Bipolar 2, or as he calls it, “Bipolar Lite.”

What followed was a several-year process of waking up. The diagnosis was just the first step to a constant process of evolution and change.

In this episode of the Get the F*ck Off Podcast, we talk very intimately about Bipolar 2, mental health, and the stigma associated with it.

We talk about the pandemic, and the necessary pause that allowed for a respite in the American obsession with constant motion; a pause that allowed for some to experience a much-needed break from the assault of grueling jobs where they were undervalued.

We also talk about the importance of well-being.

Russell and I both worked in the hospitality industry for a large portion of our lives, which we use as a lens to examine the importance of work-life balance.

We also discuss the nationwide restaurant employee shortage and the dated mindset of the industry that imperatively needs to change its value system to become more person-centered.

Back in 2015, I thought about jumping in front of the train every day. It signified a much larger problem- that I was not living my life purposefully. This podcast is about hope and change, and taking control over your own life.