This Weeks Letter

"The day I stopped lying to myself wasn’t dramatic."

No rock bottom, no white light, no Hollywood redemption arc.
Just a doctor saying, “You shouldn’t drink anymore.”
And me saying, “OK.”

That was it.
No fight. No denial.
Just… OK.

For years, my life looked amazing and for all intents and purposes, it was.
Career dialed. Beautiful family. The house. The toys. Sushi whenever I wanted.
From the outside, I looked like a man who had it figured out.
But something was obviously wrong.

I couldn’t see it then, but I was living in a well decorated cage.
Pretending was easy I didn’t even realize I was doing it.
But pretending always has an expiration date.

Eventually, my body called me out.
It sent the bill in the form of a hospital bed and a handful of hard truths.
At that point, my life was unraveling and I knew it.
COVID had changed the world, but it was a tectonic shift for me.

That’s when it hit me: the lies we tell ourselves aren’t always loud.
Sometimes they’re quiet agreements. Tiny “I’ll deal with it later” whispers that pile up until later never comes.

So when that doctor said those words, I didn’t argue.
I didn’t negotiate.
I just said, “OK.”
And that single word opened something inside me.

People love labels: addiction, recovery, rock bottom. Neat boxes for messy lives.
I don’t buy it.
It’s lazy thinking.

This wasn’t about quitting “a thing.”
The drinking was a coping mechanism I was using and then abusing.
I couldn’t cope with the present.
I was living in regret for whatever stupid shit I had done yesterday, and fear of what the future might bring tomorrow.

That silly vicious cycle had always been there.
And for a guy like me, it was too much ego and not enough truth.

The shift was simple:
It was the moment I stopped needing to escape myself.
That “OK” became the crack where the light got in.

Because truth, real truth doesn’t need to be shouted.
And you don’t have to like it.
You just have to accept it.

There are a few tricks I use now:
1. I ask “Is it true?” before I react.
2. I use “Yes, and…” when something tries to get under my skin.

Yes, that happened…
And here’s what I’m building now.
Yes, I left a lot behind…
And somehow, I gained everything that matters.

If I ask the question and the answer is no? Its time to move on. Simple.

Honesty. Gratitude. Creativity. Peace. Love.
Not as ideas, as practices.

Every day since has been a rebuild made of “yes, and.” 

This isn’t a story about what went wrong.
I have many regrets and for those, I truly apologize.

I apologize to anyone I hurt.
It probably wasn’t my intent, but my ego got the best of me more often than I’d like to admit.

The difference now is simple: I don’t live in my regret.
I focus on not being a dick moving forward. 😀

The shift was the beginning of what finally felt right.
The Positive Rebellion was born the day I said “OK,” and I didn’t even know it.

That was the day I stopped lying to myself and started living in truth.
Just over a year later, here I am building something that feels good for me.
Something I believe this beautiful, perfectly imperfect world desperately needs right now.

If this lands for you, ask yourself:
What truth have you been dodging?
And what might happen if you asked “Is it true?”…
and then looked yourself in the mirror and said the words:
“Yes, and…”

Thanks for reading.

Enjoy the day.

— Ronnie Brim