A Quick Chat with The Unemployed Alcoholic: Recent Episodes

Aaron Sorrels

I’m Aaron, The Unemployed Alcoholic.

I have struggled with unemployment, alcoholism, depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder.

I have also accomplished and experienced many great things including over 3 years sobriety, 26 years of marriage, a budding career in stand up comedy and a lifetime of curiosity driven learning.

Each week I have A Quick Chat with an interesting person who shares who they are, what’s going well and what they are struggling with.

You will be amazed by how much we can learn about each other and ourselves through just A Quick Chat!

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This week I got to chat with my mom & I am so excited to share her with you.

We talk through her faith, her family and her future as she shares transparently about some good things, like surviving a heart transplant and also some difficult things like becoming a widow after 48 years of marriage and raising a rebellious child who would grow up to become The Unemployed Alcoholic.

I think you'll be encouraged by her story as we all face these challenging times.

Thanks for listening & enjoy the chat.


This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app


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This week I had the privilege of chatting with Dr Jayson Dibble. I first met Jayson about two years ago when we served together on the Laughter RX committee for LaughFest and Gilda's Club in Grand Rapids, MI.

Jayson is a professor of communications at Hope College who draws upon a deep seeded curiosity about the world and a genuine desire to connect with people. He's a scientist, a researcher, a talented communicator and just an all around good guy.

I think you'll appreciate his "humble skepticism" as he shares a treasure trove of information and insights.

Thanks for listening and enjoy the episode.


This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app


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This week I had the privilege of chatting with Erskin Anivitarte, better known as Erskin Music. I first met him several years ago when he led worship at a Celebrate Recovery event I was attending.

This chat gets deep and is packed full of inspirational insights on building the business of full time music, the value of being mission driven, embracing accountability relationships, dealing with the loss of a loved one and so much more.

Enjoy the chat, and check out the song "Grace Made the First Move," included in its entirety at the end of the episode with permission from Erskin Music.


This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app


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She's kinda like a superhero. At home she's known as Mrs. Seymour or mom, and at work she's known as Dr. White. In this episode, Jen walks through some lightning rod moments that led to both her career in Dentistry and her calling to empower other women. Enjoy the episode!


This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app


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In episode 12 of A Quick Chat with The Unemployed Alcoholic, my friend Tim Steele joins me to discuss who he is, what's going well and what he's struggling with. 

He's a Pastor, a comedian and a travel agent who transparently shares about his experiences from growing up in the church through navigating a global pandemic. 

Enjoy the chat!


This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app


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What happens when a young black atheist and an old white Christian connect for a quick chat? An incredibly deep and meaningful conversation happens. 

This week my friend Jonah Elam joins me for a quick chat & we get into some really deep stuff. 

I met Jonah several years back as he was and still is great friends with my son. Since then, I was able to help him get on stage for the first time and even more importantly, I've been able to watch him grow into an incredible young man.


This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app


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In this week's episode, I had the privilege of chatting with my friend Mike Logan.

I met Mike shortly after I started doing comedy in Grand Rapids, MI, and I knew immediately that this guy is going places.

He's a hardworking comedian, showrunner, content creator and so much more.

In our chat he shares transparently about how he has transitioned from a troubled guy to a peacemaker while overcoming racism, depression and delayed furniture deliveries.

Enjoy the chat. And if you do, please leave us a glowing review. In a recent review, Dany Redwine said, "I really enjoyed being a part of this podcast and I felt comfortable the whole way through. Keep it up. You have a good thing going!! Heart heart.

Thanks for the review Dany, and thank you for listening. Enjoy the chat!


This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app


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Welcome to a special edition of A Quick Chat with The Unemployed Alcoholic. In this episode I am chatting directly with you. I'm making a few changes to the podcast, which I'll fill you in on later, but first I'll share the "why" behind the changes. So, I've found that my best approach to mastering new things is to crawl, walk, then run. That works the best for me because I've found the alternative is to run, crash, cry… so yea, crawl, walk, run is way less painful and way better over all. How that translates to something other than running is to do, learn, then grow. The crawling phase is to just find an opportunity to do something you want to master. For me it has been stand up comedy, public speaking and podcasting. So finding an opportunity to tell jokes, speak to a group or publish a podcast has been the first step, the "Doing" or the "Crawling." The walking phase is learning. My entire goal once I find the opportunity to do something I want to master is to learn. This takes all the ego out of it, and ego is probably the number one predecessor to failure. Finally, the run phase is to grow. And I've got this specifically as the final phase because my tendency is to rush this phase, and when I get it out of order, it only ends in tears. Much like the painful alternative to crawl, walk, run is run, crash, cry. I find that I inevitably crash and cry (or fail) whenever I try to grow exposure, compensation, audience size, accolades, recognition or any of the other wonderful rewards before I spend enough time doing and learning. So, I'm in the walking phase of this podcast and I'll be learning and changing things with pretty much every episode. The next change I'm implementing is that I'll be releasing future episodes every other Monday at 7:00 pm in both audio format and my new chalk board video format. This will allow me to "premier" the full chat with the chalk board video on both Facebook and YouTube so I can interact live with you as you watch. Many of these conversations are getting very deep and they are spurring questions amongst listeners. I think this video format will allow us to interact with each other, support each other and ultimately learn from each other as this "Quick Chat" continues to morph and develop. Set a reminder on your calendar for every other Monday at 7:00 pm eastern, beginning September 21. and tune in to "The Unemployed Alcoholic" on Facebook or YouTube. No worries if you mis a premier or prefer watching or listening at a later time as both the chalk board video and the audio podcast will still be available. Thanks for listening. Thanks for being you, and have a great day!


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June Colson is a wife, mother, sister, daughter and the winner of the 2020 Clean Comedy Challenge in Nashville, TN.

She developed her comedy chops as both a defense mechanism and a way to connect as she navigated through the challenges of growing up in poverty, being bullied at school and living with both a father's alcoholism and a mother's mental health struggles.

She's joyful, genuine, witty, caring and faithful to Jesus Christ, her Lord and Savior.


This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app


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I’m Aaron, The Unemployed Alcoholic.

I have struggled with unemployment, alcoholism, depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder.

But I have also accomplished and experienced many great things including over 3 years sobriety, 26 years of marriage, a budding career in stand up comedy and a lifetime of curiosity driven learning.

Each week I have A Quick Chat with an interesting person who shares who they are, what’s going well and what they are struggling with.

You will be amazed by how much we can learn about each other and ourselves through just A Quick Chat.

Enjoy the show!


Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/a-quick-chat/message

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Dave McIntyre won $500,000 by surviving 66 days in the wilderness of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, on the TV show “Alone.” Dave shares this story along with who he is, what’s going well and what he’s struggling with on episode 8 of A Quick Chat with The Unemployed Alcoholic.


This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app


Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/a-quick-chat/message

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Whitney Wasson is a comedian, illustrator, writer, sober person and so much more! 

She shares who she is, what's going well and what she's struggling with in this episode of "A Quick Chat with The Unemployed Alcoholic."


This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app


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Thank you Matt Zerilli for sharing what you've learned from your journey through addiction, recovery and comedy!

We cover a lot in this episode. Here's some of the words that jumped out at me from each segment.

Who is Matt Zerilli?

Comedian

Person in recovery

Traverse City, MI

15 years sobriety

Recovery

Certified recovery coach

Drank to excess

Ambivalence

Identity

Connect with people

Acquaintances

Comfort

Crutch

Social identity

Stigma

Treatment

Disease model

Legal vs good

Can vs should

Social media

Gambling

Pornography

Workaholism

Shoplifting

Dopamine

Drunk driving

Knucklehead

Internal vs external

Awareness

Pattern

Intention

Distraction vs enhancement

Therapy

Manic depression

Self medication

Peel back the onion

Sponsor

My problems

Pathways

Impulse to reaction

Relapse

Consistent work

Addictive personalities

Pride

Tears of joy

Feelings

Sober at 27

Control

Joyous and positive

Standup

Writing

Nerd

Obsession

Jokes

Big laughs

Studio Anatomy in Traverse City

Perspectives

Love

Spiritual experience

Laughing together

Magical

Electricity

Stage time

Coronavirus

Challenging

Working out

Practicing

Part of the crowd

Transparent

Positive and enjoyable

The message of recovery

Bars

Questions

Engage

Relate

Mental health

Suicidal thoughts

Human feelings

Kick the door open

Existential comedy

Manic Depression

Therapy

Attacking the stigma

Helping people

Carrying the message forward

What I needed to hear

Laugh at yourself

What's going well?

Quarantine

Overworked

overcommitted

Overweight

Saitic event

Gym

Holistic

A plan

60 minutes a day

40 pounds down

Meditation

Healthy

It sucks

Physical trainers

Running

Marathons

White space

Margin

Healthy habits

Physical self-care

A screeching halt

A collective inhale

Definite mindfulness available

What's one thing your struggling with?

Anxiety

Social

Tom Hanks

WWII

Struggling with addiction

Losing people

Overdose

Try

Loosing touch

Social distancing

Quarantine

Tactics

Check in

Stress

Starting to break

Recovery coach training

Covid shock

Control

Depression

Suicide

Addiction

Tough

Control

Yanked away

Uncharted

Challenges

Good days and bad days

Check in with your people

Doing ok or not

Faith

Mind and heart

Follow through

Connect

A lot can come from a chat

A quick chat

How can people reach you?

MattZerillicomedy@gmail.com

@reallyzerilli instigram & twitter

The Thing podcast on all platforms

theThingPod.com

Reach me at

theUnemployedAlcoholic.com

Cleancomedytime.com

Rate, review, share and subscribe (please).


This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app


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Thank you Lynn Hitchcock for sharing who you are, what’s going well and what you’re struggling with.

Some “hot button” topics in this episode are entrepreneurship, work balance, graphic design, logo design, marriage, family, faith, provision, church, higher power, Jesus, journaling, gratitude, gratitude list, goals, domestic violence, divorce, codependency, COVID-19, illness, worry, risk, support, the serenity prayer, encouragement, external focus, being present, humor, lightning bugs and dogs!

Shout outs to Resurrection Life Church Celebrate Recovery, kentwood community church, Tanzania, inspiredgraphics.org and Anchor


This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app


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Thank you Jay Hunter for sharing your journey through cancer, racism, education, comedy and military service. I appreciate you and your willingness to transparently connect with us. 

You're a good dude my friend!


This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app


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Dany takes us on a deep dive tour of who she is, what's going well and what she's struggling with. There's a lot to connect with in this episode, so prepare to be moved as Dany fearlessly shares. Thanks for being you, and have a great day!


This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app


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Parker shares with us who he is, what's going well and what he's struggling with. What will his journey inspire you to do?


This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app


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Jerry shares who he is, what's going well and what he's struggling with. What will his transparency expose for you?


This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app


Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/a-quick-chat/message