Getting Over Addiction with Matt Morgan

In this episode, we talk to Matt Morgan, a retired professional wrestler and currently a politician who uses his platform on issues he is most passionate about, and on the forefront, drug addiction. As a 16-year recovered drug addict, he truly has come a long way and is now helping others get recovery and help.

DEC 20, 2022

Episode Notes

Memorable Moments:

  • 01:18 I learned at a very early age that I had to work incredibly hard for something, and the more work I’m willing to put into something, the better results I’m going to see.
  • 02:02 I’ve gotten into 16 years of sobriety now under my belt from opioid addiction to doing what I feel the Lord has put me here to do. And that is to help as many people struggling with addiction as I did every single day.
  • 02:34 I do believe the Lord made me a wrestler, made me seven feet tall, and made me all these different things to use one day to get people’s attention… My job is to use it as a platform to put a spotlight on important issues that I’m very passionate about. Drug addiction is at the top of them.
  • 06:23 The face of addiction is every color of the rainbow. It’s every race, every creed, or every religion, short, tall, fat, skinny, funny, unfunny. It’s an equal-opportunity butt kicker. And I think it’s my job to get that message out there to show everybody that no, it’s not the dude under the overpass on a floor with a needle hanging out of his arm, homeless. That’s not a drug addict. It’s so much more vast than that.
  • 11:21 My addiction specialist made the mistake of telling me he’s never had somebody he’s worked with who has never relapsed. It’s a normal part of the process. If it happens, we just get back on the wagon. It’s no big deal… But what stuck in my head because I’m weird, and I’m very competitive is that he’s never had somebody that didn’t relapse before. So I treat it like a sport and said I’d be this guy’s first. So anytime I’d want to use after two or three days of not using, I wouldn’t do it because I wanted to prove this guy wrong—that you can do it without relapsing.
  • 12:16 Everybody’s different. It was a different story. Our struggle is going to be different. But if it gets to that point where it’s so myopic, where you’re flipping out, like I was in that intersection, because it’s too stressful, calm everything down, slow everything down and say, “All I got to do is stay sober for just five more minutes.”
  • 16:57 I knocked on all their doors not once, not twice, but three times and talked to these residents to find out what their needs were, what they wanted to see done in the city that really wasn’t too far off what I want for my own son—a safe community for him to grow up and prosper that has more special needs services in this community as well.
  • 17:55  Most of my support came from my community who wanted to see a change and wanted to see somebody that had no ties.
  • 18:27  Nobody could tell you what to do one way or the other.

TIP
Tip to Get Out of Addiction:
If you feel like relapsing into substance abuse, calm down and say, “If I can stay sober for just five more minutes, then I can stay sober even longer.”

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This podcast is hosted by Allison Walsh and Dr. Angela Phillips. It is produced by Allison Walsh, Savannah Eckstrom, and Nicole LaNeve. If you’re interested in being a guest on this podcast, please visit www.therecoveryvillage.com/dearmindyoumatter.

Show Contributors

Matt Morgan

Matt Morgan is a former WWE Superstar former American Gladiator, two-time mayor of the city of Longwood, and currently Longwood City’s Commissioner and Advanced Recovery Systems Senior Community Outreach Coordinator in Orlando, Florida.