RecoveryBridge.app Founder Burk Jackson: Bridging the Gap in Sobriety Support 

What happens in the “quiet hours” of recovery when the meetings are over, your sponsor is asleep, and the cravings start to scream?In Episode 624, I sit down with Burk Jackson, a man who has been walking the path of recovery since October 20, 1994. With over 31 years of lived experience, Burk knows that while clinical treatment provides the foundation, it’s the human connection that provides the fuel for a lifelong change.After decades of seeing people fall through the cracks of a fragmented support system, Burk founded RecoveryBridge.app—a revolutionary, 100% free digital platform that ensures no one has to […]

You Don’t Have to Do This Alone: Why Connection Matters in Recovery

My name is Burk Jackson. I’ve been in recovery for 31 years, and I’ll be honest with you — it hasn’t been a straight line. I’ve made mistakes. I’ve stumbled. I’ve had moments where I wasn’t sure I’d make it through. I’m not going to pretend otherwise, because pretending otherwise isn’t why I’m here. Connection Is the Foundation of Recovery But here’s the one thing I’ve never stopped doing, not once in three decades: staying connected with other people in recovery. That might sound simple. It wasn’t always. There were stretches in my earlier years where I was traveling overseas […]

What 31 Years Sober Taught Me About the Gap Nobody Talks About

It’s 11pm. You’re not in crisis. You’re not going to drink. But something is pressing down on you — a loneliness so specific and so quiet that you wouldn’t even know how to describe it to someone who hasn’t been there. You’ve done everything right. You go to meetings. You work the steps. You have years, maybe decades, of sobriety behind you. And still, tonight, you pick up your phone and scroll through your contacts — and you’re not sure who would actually answer. Or who would really understand if they did. If you’ve been there, you know exactly what […]

The Loneliness Epidemic: Why We’re All So Damn Lonely and What We Can Do About It

Welcome to the 21st Century Welcome to the 21st century, where we have more ways to connect than ever before, yet somehow, we’re all lonelier than a penguin in the Sahara. Let’s cut the crap and dive into why this epidemic of loneliness is sweeping the globe and what the hell we can do about it. The Stark Numbers First off, let’s look at the cold, hard facts. A study by Cigna in 2020 revealed that over 60% of Americans reported feeling lonely, a significant jump from previous years. In the UK, a 2018 report by the Office for National […]

The Sins of the Fathers: A Reflection on Heartbreak, Loss, and the Legacy I Never Wanted to Leave

I’m a 53-year-old man, and if I’m honest, I’m no stranger to heartbreak. Life has dealt me my fair share of it—broken relationships, lost dreams, and mistakes that can never be undone. But what haunts me most is how my own struggles, my own sins, have seeped into the lives of my three grown children. I don’t have much contact with them these days, and though the reasons are many, I often wonder if the biggest one is the unspoken pain that I’ve passed on without meaning to. When you’re young, you think you have all the time in the […]

The Village of All Saints

Toto Santos strikes me as a unique little spot of culture and creativity nestled into the hills of Baja. It’s a beautiful little community that expounds on the creativity brought here by the people looking for an escape, so maybe it would be categorized as escapist creativity.The Pueblo itself is unique and enchanting, with most locals waving at everybody as they drive by. I’ve found that welcoming nature and lack of suspicion of “outsiders“To be more unique here than in other places. There was a level of suspicion of Americans and Canadians in Lo De Marco that I found to […]

Looking down the barrel

It’s funny that I’m in the last week of my time in Lo De Marcos. After almost eight months of being here and establishing a simple life, it’s interesting to see how I feel and what I want as the deadline looms. Someone asked me if I was ready to leave, and my response was, “absolutely not”…. As the adage goes, though- “it’s better to leave when you want to stay than stay when you want to leave.” That’s certainly the case for me today as I sit on the beach listening to a podcast as I write this. I […]

Tuesday’s Grief

Just feeling sadness today, feeling a bit of melancholy around the fact that this part of my journey is coming to an end. What’s next has yet to really reveal itself… I know that I’ll spend the summer in New Mexico, at my little home, seeing Mark, seeing Jen, doing some trips, working on my writing, and working on my projects. And maybe that’s what I need to focus on more? What does it look like to make these journal entries? What does it mean to do something more, something different? What’s next? Where does the inspiration come from? What […]

Why the heck do we worship vacations?

  Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from. ~ Seth Godin I mean, seriously, we all seem to have this bizarre obsession with them. We eagerly anticipate their arrival, mourn their impending departure, and then proceed to mope around like we’ve lost a dear friend once they’re over. What’s the deal? Let’s break down this absurd love affair with vacations, shall we? First off, it’s during these supposed blissful breaks that we convince ourselves we’re in control. Oh yes, control freaks unite! We revel in the […]