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Can hitting the trails help you stay on the path to recovery? In this inspiring episode, Rachel and Colin chat with Nick Pearson, founder of Sober Outdoors, about how nature, community, and sobriety intersect. From the slopes to the boardroom, Nick opens up about the accident that changed his family’s life, his personal recovery journey, and how outdoor adventures became a powerful tool for healing and connection.
Prefer to watch instead? Catch the full video episode on Sober Banter’s YouTube channel – click here to watch!
Get in contact with Nick Pearson, Founder & Executive Director of Sober Outdoors
Prefer to watch instead? Catch the full video episode on Sober Banter’s YouTube channel – click here to watch!
Get in contact with Nick Pearson, Founder & Executive Director of Sober Outdoors
Website: www.soberoutdoors.org
Instagram: @soberoutdoors_org
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- (00:50) - Skiing drunk vs sober
- (04:53) - Nick's story
- (07:26) - Relapse
- (10:57) - Sober events
- (14:39) - The start of sober outdoors
- (20:59) - LGBT Outdoors
- (29:26) - Relationships & Dating
- (36:48) - Myspace top 8
- (41:13) - Painting at an abandoned strip club
Creators and Guests
What is Sober Banter?
Sober Banter, a podcast about life without alcohol, is real, relatable, and never boring. Hosts Rachel and Colin share honest conversations about sobriety with humor, heart, and a touch of chaos.
Colin Casey (00:00:06):
Hi, welcome to Sober Banter.
Colin Casey (00:00:08):
I'm Colin.
Rachel Casey (00:00:09):
And I am Rachel.
Colin Casey (00:00:10):
Today we have a guest, Nick.
Rachel Casey (00:00:13):
Nick Pearson, who is the CEO, founder of Sober Outdoors.
Rachel Casey (00:00:21):
Hi, Nick.
Rachel Casey (00:00:21):
How are you?
Nick Pearson (00:00:22):
Good.
Nick Pearson (00:00:23):
I snowed in Denver.
Nick Pearson (00:00:24):
I'm going skiing tomorrow, so I can't complain.
Nick Pearson (00:00:26):
Oh, wow.
Rachel Casey (00:00:27):
Awesome.
Rachel Casey (00:00:28):
I took a call on skiing for the first time.
Rachel Casey (00:00:31):
Oh, wait.
Rachel Casey (00:00:32):
Six years ago.
Colin Casey (00:00:33):
Six years ago.
Colin Casey (00:00:33):
Oh, wow.
Colin Casey (00:00:34):
All right.
Colin Casey (00:00:34):
You got to get back out of here.
Rachel Casey (00:00:35):
You started on the bunny hill.
Colin Casey (00:00:37):
I crushed the bunny hill.
Colin Casey (00:00:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Colin Casey (00:00:40):
Crushed it.
Colin Casey (00:00:40):
Well, when this comes out, we'll take you out.
Colin Casey (00:00:42):
Yeah.
Colin Casey (00:00:43):
Then it got a little bit more difficult to pizza and French fry.
Rachel Casey (00:00:49):
And we weren't sober because we would go to the top,
Rachel Casey (00:00:53):
get off the ski lift and we would get shots and beers because they have like a
Rachel Casey (00:00:56):
whole little bar,
Rachel Casey (00:00:57):
like right when you get off the ski lift.
Rachel Casey (00:00:59):
I mean, typically at least.
Rachel Casey (00:01:01):
And we would also take edibles.
Rachel Casey (00:01:03):
The risk of how dangerous that is.
Rachel Casey (00:01:06):
I broke my wrist snowboarding when I was 14.
Nick Pearson (00:01:10):
And I can't even imagine.
Nick Pearson (00:01:13):
Yeah.
Rachel Casey (00:01:15):
I got super anxious because as soon as we'd start going fast, I would freak out.
Rachel Casey (00:01:20):
And I bet the drugs and alcohol probably played into that.
Nick Pearson (00:01:22):
Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:01:23):
Yeah, definitely.
Rachel Casey (00:01:24):
How do you feel the difference of did you ever drink?
Nick Pearson (00:01:28):
You know,
Nick Pearson (00:01:28):
what's weird is if we get into my story a little bit,
Nick Pearson (00:01:30):
the one thing I didn't do was ski drunk or high.
Nick Pearson (00:01:33):
I mean, I did a few times, but it wasn't a consistent thing for me.
Nick Pearson (00:01:37):
And I saw how it took the edge off because I'm a speed demon.
Nick Pearson (00:01:40):
I love just going down double black diamonds and jumping off the cliff and going
Nick Pearson (00:01:43):
straight down no turns.
Nick Pearson (00:01:45):
My parents used to terrorize my parents when I was skiing with them as a younger kid.
Nick Pearson (00:01:49):
But my mom was actually hit by a drunk skier when she was 18.
Nick Pearson (00:01:53):
And she had to get like 37 or 34 knee surgeries over her lifetime to reset her knee
Nick Pearson (00:02:00):
every few years from this one accident.
Nick Pearson (00:02:02):
So I took it really seriously now.
Nick Pearson (00:02:04):
Funny enough,
Nick Pearson (00:02:04):
I didn't take that to driving drunk as like,
Nick Pearson (00:02:06):
it's fine to drive drunk,
Nick Pearson (00:02:07):
but you just don't ski drunk,
Nick Pearson (00:02:08):
Nick.
Colin Casey (00:02:10):
It's strange how that impacted you like that.
Colin Casey (00:02:12):
It's like,
Colin Casey (00:02:14):
oh,
Colin Casey (00:02:14):
wow,
Colin Casey (00:02:14):
I'm never going to ski or do anything on the mountain,
Colin Casey (00:02:18):
you know,
Colin Casey (00:02:18):
drunk or high.
Colin Casey (00:02:19):
But like you said, goes into the outdoor world.
Colin Casey (00:02:22):
You're like, oh, this is fine.
Rachel Casey (00:02:23):
Well, I think that's because you see it in real life happen.
Rachel Casey (00:02:25):
A lot of people with drinking and driving,
Rachel Casey (00:02:27):
they don't know anyone who's been hurt or been on the opposite end of the drinking
Rachel Casey (00:02:32):
and driving accident.
Nick Pearson (00:02:33):
Yeah.
Rachel Casey (00:02:34):
And
Rachel Casey (00:02:35):
It doesn't become real until it happens.
Rachel Casey (00:02:37):
So if you see your mom get injured by someone who was neighboring skiing,
Rachel Casey (00:02:41):
wow,
Rachel Casey (00:02:41):
this thing really happens.
Rachel Casey (00:02:43):
This isn't just something, some hypothetical.
Colin Casey (00:02:45):
Did that stop her skiing career?
Nick Pearson (00:02:47):
Yeah, ended her skiing career right when she was 18.
Nick Pearson (00:02:50):
She was a bomb skier when she was 18 from what I'm told from my father.
Nick Pearson (00:02:53):
It's hard to go skiing these days with folks and my friends because they don't see
Nick Pearson (00:02:59):
anything wrong with skiing and drinking,
Nick Pearson (00:03:00):
right?
Nick Pearson (00:03:00):
Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:03:01):
Yeah,
Nick Pearson (00:03:01):
I've probably put the fear of God in them and told them that story about 100 times
Nick Pearson (00:03:04):
about my mom,
Nick Pearson (00:03:05):
but they'll still do it.
Nick Pearson (00:03:07):
And they're like, well, Nick, it's scary because, you know, I'm not.
Nick Pearson (00:03:10):
And then maybe you shouldn't be skiing if you're scared going up there and you need
Nick Pearson (00:03:13):
that boost of confidence.
Nick Pearson (00:03:15):
But,
Nick Pearson (00:03:15):
you know,
Nick Pearson (00:03:15):
that's why at Sober Outdoors,
Nick Pearson (00:03:17):
we'll do things like ski days because people tend to go with their friends who
Nick Pearson (00:03:21):
drink a lot and they just get turned off by the whole ski experience.
Nick Pearson (00:03:24):
Pretty much anything in the outdoors gets gets turned off because everyone
Nick Pearson (00:03:28):
celebrates in some way or another.
Nick Pearson (00:03:29):
hiking or biking or cycling with with a beer in their hand right at the end or
Nick Pearson (00:03:33):
during and so um it's nice to go ski with a bunch of several folks like i am
Nick Pearson (00:03:37):
tomorrow so then you don't really have to worry about anyone crashing or like
Nick Pearson (00:03:41):
anyone driving home drunk that was another thing that i rode in some cars with some
Nick Pearson (00:03:45):
friends and
Nick Pearson (00:03:46):
This does not seem like a good idea.
Nick Pearson (00:03:48):
We're driving back from the mountain.
Nick Pearson (00:03:49):
It's snowing.
Nick Pearson (00:03:49):
There's a foot on the highway.
Nick Pearson (00:03:51):
And we're 18 years old drinking beers thinking we're like badass bros.
Nick Pearson (00:03:55):
And then we realized it was stupid, right?
Nick Pearson (00:03:58):
When I look back.
Rachel Casey (00:03:59):
But, you know, that's... But at the time, everyone else is doing it.
Nick Pearson (00:04:03):
Yeah, everyone's doing it.
Nick Pearson (00:04:05):
Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:04:05):
It was the cool thing to do,
Nick Pearson (00:04:06):
especially when I was in high school and in college was growing up in Colorado and
Nick Pearson (00:04:10):
having the mountains right in our backyard.
Nick Pearson (00:04:12):
Skiing was built into the lifestyle here.
Nick Pearson (00:04:14):
It still is.
Nick Pearson (00:04:15):
If you were a good skier and you also know to party on the mountain, you were like the bro.
Nick Pearson (00:04:19):
I thought it was more challenging to ski sober because you had to be aware of
Nick Pearson (00:04:23):
everything around you.
Nick Pearson (00:04:24):
Well, you're really supposed to because I mean, people die.
Nick Pearson (00:04:27):
Right, right.
Nick Pearson (00:04:30):
Pulse going down the mountain.
Rachel Casey (00:04:32):
And you're going double black diamonds in between trees?
Nick Pearson (00:04:34):
That is not... That's where the skill comes from.
Nick Pearson (00:04:37):
Yeah.
Rachel Casey (00:04:38):
Oh, my God.
Rachel Casey (00:04:39):
It's... Yeah.
Rachel Casey (00:04:41):
That terrifies me.
Rachel Casey (00:04:42):
I think Evan would love it.
Rachel Casey (00:04:43):
And I know I want to do it sober.
Rachel Casey (00:04:45):
I think I'll... I grew up going every other year.
Rachel Casey (00:04:48):
Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:04:48):
Yeah, yeah.
Rachel Casey (00:04:50):
Anyways.
Nick Pearson (00:04:51):
Anyway.
Rachel Casey (00:04:53):
So, you've been sober since April.
Rachel Casey (00:04:56):
January 2019.
Rachel Casey (00:04:56):
Yep.
Nick Pearson (00:04:57):
I have been for... So, pre-COVID.
Rachel Casey (00:04:59):
Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:05:00):
Pre-COVID.
Nick Pearson (00:05:02):
Yeah.
Colin Casey (00:05:03):
Just before COVID.
Nick Pearson (00:05:05):
Just before COVID.
Nick Pearson (00:05:06):
And I actually got stuck in Sweden when COVID started in the United States.
Nick Pearson (00:05:12):
And so being out there sober within like a year of sobriety was absolutely horrible.
Nick Pearson (00:05:17):
um but yeah it's been a six-year journey now and i just celebrated the six-year
Nick Pearson (00:05:20):
mark and congratulations going into our third year at sober outdoors so that's like
Nick Pearson (00:05:25):
i thought i started it yesterday if you asked me it feels like i started it
Nick Pearson (00:05:28):
yesterday but um looking at back on just kind of the wild ride it's been wow
Nick Pearson (00:05:33):
there's a lot has happened from my being in sobriety to just starting the company
Nick Pearson (00:05:39):
to selling my old company i had prior to sober outdoors
Nick Pearson (00:05:43):
to the career that I've been in.
Nick Pearson (00:05:45):
It's just been a wild ride.
Nick Pearson (00:05:46):
It's been the best gift I've ever given myself.
Nick Pearson (00:05:48):
It's not my golden retriever who might hop on my lap at some point.
Nick Pearson (00:05:51):
But six years, I'm like, man, that's like, I'm getting old.
Nick Pearson (00:05:55):
Because if I'm sober six years,
Nick Pearson (00:05:56):
that means I'm doing something right and I'm growing up and I'm getting old.
Rachel Casey (00:06:00):
So you started Sober Outdoors at three year sober and we've started Sober Banter at three year.
Rachel Casey (00:06:05):
I wonder if there's some correlation at the three year mark.
Rachel Casey (00:06:08):
But how did you originally do sobriety?
Rachel Casey (00:06:11):
Did you go through a 12 step?
Nick Pearson (00:06:12):
I did all levels of care.
Nick Pearson (00:06:15):
And I did.
Nick Pearson (00:06:16):
So I did inpatient.
Nick Pearson (00:06:17):
I did detox, inpatient, PHB.
Nick Pearson (00:06:20):
iop op and then with my therapist and then 12 steps twice once in dharma and once
Nick Pearson (00:06:27):
in aa um dharma is awesome and then there's another program here in denver called
Nick Pearson (00:06:32):
mindfulness and recovery that's even better it just i don't know it gives me all
Nick Pearson (00:06:36):
the excitements but um yeah so i i did two inpatients actually because i the first
Nick Pearson (00:06:41):
time i got an inpatient i was like i've got this i was terrified but i got this no
Nick Pearson (00:06:45):
big deal you go to rehab you get fixed i went to a bougie rehab here in denver and
Nick Pearson (00:06:50):
uh
Nick Pearson (00:06:51):
And yeah, I thought I was fixed when I came out.
Nick Pearson (00:06:53):
And it was a weird time for Colorado because we were going through.
Nick Pearson (00:06:55):
I just remember distinctly coming out of rehab and everywhere there being alcohol
Nick Pearson (00:06:59):
more than what normally there is.
Nick Pearson (00:07:01):
And the reason why is because Colorado changed laws while I was in rehab to where
Nick Pearson (00:07:06):
everywhere could sell normal beer.
Nick Pearson (00:07:07):
So I don't know if you guys know what 3-2 beer is, but...
Nick Pearson (00:07:10):
Oh, yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:07:11):
Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:07:11):
That used to be everywhere.
Nick Pearson (00:07:13):
You can only buy real beer and liquor stores.
Nick Pearson (00:07:14):
Right.
Nick Pearson (00:07:15):
So I get out of rehab and every single store has on it these huge signs that say
Nick Pearson (00:07:21):
full strength beer and beer was my jam.
Nick Pearson (00:07:23):
That was my my go to drug.
Nick Pearson (00:07:26):
And so it was hard for me to stay sober.
Nick Pearson (00:07:27):
I ended up relapsing pretty darn quickly, went to an all men's facility.
Nick Pearson (00:07:31):
The rest has been history, really.
Nick Pearson (00:07:34):
I got a DUI.
Nick Pearson (00:07:35):
I got two DUIs during that relapse that was about six months long.
Nick Pearson (00:07:38):
And I don't want to do this anymore.
Nick Pearson (00:07:40):
You know,
Nick Pearson (00:07:40):
so when I got out of treatment or out of fully out of treatment,
Nick Pearson (00:07:43):
I went to sober living and did IOP and PHP and OP.
Nick Pearson (00:07:47):
And then,
Nick Pearson (00:07:48):
you know,
Nick Pearson (00:07:48):
I transitioned to moving in with one of my sober buddies who I met in sober living
Nick Pearson (00:07:52):
and to living with him for a couple of years.
Nick Pearson (00:07:54):
I just was like, I don't want to do this again.
Nick Pearson (00:07:56):
This sucks.
Nick Pearson (00:07:56):
Rehab is not great.
Nick Pearson (00:07:58):
You're kind of in prison.
Nick Pearson (00:07:59):
And I was in some nice, really nice rehabs.
Nick Pearson (00:08:01):
My second one I went to was even more bougie.
Nick Pearson (00:08:03):
My parents thought, well, let's throw more money at the problem because that's going to fix it.
Nick Pearson (00:08:07):
And the reality, you're not going to go to AA, Nick.
Nick Pearson (00:08:09):
Our sons don't go to AA.
Nick Pearson (00:08:11):
You don't live under a bridge.
Nick Pearson (00:08:13):
And AA has saved my life in many, many ways.
Rachel Casey (00:08:17):
People think AA is so like, and I mean, I was one of them before I got sober.
Rachel Casey (00:08:22):
It's just totally not what I expected.
Colin Casey (00:08:25):
You know,
Colin Casey (00:08:25):
I always thought of it as that scene in Fight Club when he's going to all those
Colin Casey (00:08:28):
different support groups.
Colin Casey (00:08:30):
That's just kind of how I always pictured a dark room with like really bad cookies
Colin Casey (00:08:35):
and donuts and cigarette smoke everywhere.
Colin Casey (00:08:37):
Yeah.
Colin Casey (00:08:38):
Yeah.
Colin Casey (00:08:39):
Kind of the complete opposite.
Colin Casey (00:08:40):
I mean, I'm sure there are rooms like that.
Nick Pearson (00:08:46):
When I went to AA,
Nick Pearson (00:08:47):
my first AA meeting I went to here in Denver,
Nick Pearson (00:08:49):
when I left it,
Nick Pearson (00:08:50):
I was like,
Nick Pearson (00:08:50):
holy cow,
Nick Pearson (00:08:51):
that was really cool.
Nick Pearson (00:08:52):
I want to come back.
Nick Pearson (00:08:53):
Because I was like, oh my God, people drink at eight in the morning like I do?
Nick Pearson (00:08:56):
Weird.
Nick Pearson (00:08:56):
I didn't know that.
Nick Pearson (00:08:57):
I thought I was the only one on the planet.
Nick Pearson (00:08:59):
And then you find out all the wonderful things they teach you about yourself and your ego.
Nick Pearson (00:09:04):
But I was traveling for work.
Nick Pearson (00:09:06):
during that time and i was traveling pretty much all around the country so i had to
Nick Pearson (00:09:09):
see a lot of different aas and i'll tell you there's some hardcore aas where you're
Nick Pearson (00:09:14):
smoking a cigarette they're like handing cigarettes on the door basically and all
Nick Pearson (00:09:17):
right we're gonna get into it you're gonna cry and you're gonna you know and it's
Nick Pearson (00:09:20):
and that's kind of how some of these places operate but i came from uh york street
Nick Pearson (00:09:24):
here in denver which is this this phenomenal clubhouse um that's actually the
Nick Pearson (00:09:29):
largest clubhouse in the united states it's this
Nick Pearson (00:09:31):
mansion from the 1800s.
Nick Pearson (00:09:33):
It's beautiful.
Nick Pearson (00:09:33):
It's three stories high.
Nick Pearson (00:09:36):
And it's just a place of recovery.
Nick Pearson (00:09:37):
It's just an amazing,
Nick Pearson (00:09:38):
amazing experience when you go there and get to see all walks of life there.
Nick Pearson (00:09:41):
But that's what I love.
Nick Pearson (00:09:42):
You get hearing those gnarly stories about about living under the bridge and that I
Nick Pearson (00:09:46):
may never been exposed to in my lifetime,
Nick Pearson (00:09:48):
you know,
Nick Pearson (00:09:49):
where it all ends up going if you don't pull yourself together and lean on
Nick Pearson (00:09:53):
something higher than yourself.
Rachel Casey (00:09:55):
Absolutely.
Rachel Casey (00:09:57):
And so for the outdoors part,
Rachel Casey (00:10:00):
there's something really powerful about the healing,
Rachel Casey (00:10:03):
especially I think in Colorado,
Rachel Casey (00:10:04):
like Texas,
Rachel Casey (00:10:05):
we haven't been as many really serene,
Rachel Casey (00:10:08):
beautiful areas.
Rachel Casey (00:10:10):
Colin, he went to school in Arizona and he's like the mountains.
Rachel Casey (00:10:13):
Every time we travel to Vegas or Arizona, California, he's like, it's so beautiful.
Rachel Casey (00:10:19):
And we went to Sedona and sobriety and that was amazing.
Rachel Casey (00:10:23):
magical we went and did signed up for a meditation in the vortex which we were told
Rachel Casey (00:10:31):
this vortex i originally thought it's a special spot in the mountains in a cave but
Rachel Casey (00:10:37):
it turns out the vortex is kind of just everywhere but i really do wish we had
Rachel Casey (00:10:42):
something more where we could do a little more physical you got to drive pretty
Colin Casey (00:10:47):
Yeah, we're in Dallas, so there are places in Texas, but Texas is very big and spread out.
Rachel Casey (00:10:52):
And then you've got to risk getting ticks and mosquito bites.
Rachel Casey (00:10:55):
I feel like in Colorado,
Rachel Casey (00:10:57):
how do you feel safety-wise,
Rachel Casey (00:10:59):
too,
Rachel Casey (00:10:59):
about wildlife,
Rachel Casey (00:11:01):
animals,
Rachel Casey (00:11:01):
or emergencies?
Rachel Casey (00:11:03):
When you're doing events of hiking or whatnot.
Nick Pearson (00:11:06):
Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:11:06):
For me, it's not, it doesn't scare me because I've just been growing up here my entire life.
Nick Pearson (00:11:12):
You know, we camped every single summer and tail ends of the season.
Nick Pearson (00:11:16):
And so, I mean, just last season we had a bear the size of my car.
Nick Pearson (00:11:19):
I drive a Grand Cherokee for reference and,
Nick Pearson (00:11:21):
Walked through our campsite on a summer outdoors trip and I was just like,
Nick Pearson (00:11:24):
everyone just don't move.
Nick Pearson (00:11:26):
I don't know what to do.
Nick Pearson (00:11:27):
You don't know what to do.
Nick Pearson (00:11:28):
Do not run.
Nick Pearson (00:11:29):
That's all I know is do not run.
Nick Pearson (00:11:30):
And it just casually walked through our site and it was just this amazing experience.
Nick Pearson (00:11:33):
But,
Nick Pearson (00:11:34):
you know,
Nick Pearson (00:11:34):
honestly,
Nick Pearson (00:11:35):
the more things I worry about is people injuring themselves potentially or
Nick Pearson (00:11:41):
potentially using on a trip.
Nick Pearson (00:11:42):
And that's happened before, too.
Nick Pearson (00:11:43):
So.
Nick Pearson (00:11:44):
It's not really the nature or wildlife or anything like that.
Nick Pearson (00:11:48):
It's about someone falling on their butt and suing me or something.
Nick Pearson (00:11:52):
Because a lot of people,
Nick Pearson (00:11:53):
when they get fresh out of treatment and they're a few months or weeks into
Nick Pearson (00:11:58):
sobriety or even a few days,
Nick Pearson (00:12:00):
68% of our client base is in their first six months of sobriety.
Nick Pearson (00:12:05):
And so they're biting at the bit to do everything.
Nick Pearson (00:12:07):
And they usually go on harder trips than they probably should be going on.
Nick Pearson (00:12:11):
You do not need to be going on a seven mile hike when you're withdrawing from opioids, buddy.
Nick Pearson (00:12:16):
This one guy.
Rachel Casey (00:12:17):
So how do you explain that to them?
Rachel Casey (00:12:18):
Do you have a nice way to be like, hey, how about we like push back, reevaluate?
Nick Pearson (00:12:22):
Yeah, we are.
Nick Pearson (00:12:23):
We're actually introducing that for the coming months.
Nick Pearson (00:12:26):
We haven't in the past two years because we tried to make everything as accessible as possible.
Nick Pearson (00:12:29):
But I quickly learned what I thought was going to be this hardcore backpacking company.
Nick Pearson (00:12:34):
You're going to get sober out on the trail.
Nick Pearson (00:12:37):
It very quickly turned into like three mile hikes on the weekends because we wanted
Nick Pearson (00:12:42):
to service everyone in all walks of their recovery,
Nick Pearson (00:12:45):
whether they're just sober today,
Nick Pearson (00:12:48):
this morning,
Nick Pearson (00:12:48):
whenever it was,
Nick Pearson (00:12:49):
or they've been sober for 30 years.
Nick Pearson (00:12:51):
And so we do want to make things a little bit more complicated for those more seasoned folks.
Nick Pearson (00:12:56):
that come to us and want to be able to go on backpacking trips with,
Nick Pearson (00:12:59):
you know,
Nick Pearson (00:13:00):
some of their,
Nick Pearson (00:13:00):
maybe they did 15 milers with their buddies,
Nick Pearson (00:13:03):
backpacking trips that took 15 days,
Nick Pearson (00:13:05):
but their buddies still drink and they don't have anyone to do it with.
Nick Pearson (00:13:08):
I'd love for us to be an outlet for them or someone who's never backpacked in their
Nick Pearson (00:13:11):
life and wants to go on a two day trip with us.
Nick Pearson (00:13:15):
So it's just, you know, it's really, it's people's mistakes that I worry the most about.
Rachel Casey (00:13:19):
Do you have more men, women, equal?
Nick Pearson (00:13:21):
I'd say more women.
Nick Pearson (00:13:22):
I'd say almost two-thirds of our clientele are women.
Nick Pearson (00:13:26):
Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:13:28):
And the only thing I can chalk that up to is,
Nick Pearson (00:13:32):
you know,
Nick Pearson (00:13:33):
I think women are just more,
Nick Pearson (00:13:35):
no offense,
Nick Pearson (00:13:35):
gentlemen,
Nick Pearson (00:13:36):
they're more go-getters when they're ready to get sober.
Nick Pearson (00:13:38):
And they're just like, F this, I'm staying sober.
Nick Pearson (00:13:40):
And I made a decision.
Nick Pearson (00:13:42):
And once I made it, it's done.
Nick Pearson (00:13:43):
Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:13:45):
When they're getting sober or they've been sober,
Nick Pearson (00:13:47):
they are more willing to try a lot more things.
Nick Pearson (00:13:50):
And one of the biggest challenges we run into is just getting people out of their
Nick Pearson (00:13:53):
comfort zones coming to us,
Nick Pearson (00:13:56):
right?
Nick Pearson (00:13:56):
Who wants to sign up with a hype with 25 strangers on a Saturday morning and you're
Nick Pearson (00:14:00):
sober and it's 9 a.m.
Nick Pearson (00:14:02):
You don't know a single person there and you have to go out and meet 25 people and
Nick Pearson (00:14:07):
put yourself out there.
Nick Pearson (00:14:08):
and be uncomfortable in your own skin and all those things.
Nick Pearson (00:14:10):
And so we find that the women are just like,
Nick Pearson (00:14:13):
hell yeah,
Nick Pearson (00:14:13):
I'm here to show up and kick your ass off.
Nick Pearson (00:14:15):
Excuse my language.
Nick Pearson (00:14:17):
That's awesome.
Rachel Casey (00:14:18):
Yeah, I would have to.
Rachel Casey (00:14:20):
I'd be scared I wouldn't be able to do it.
Rachel Casey (00:14:21):
What if I can't finish?
Rachel Casey (00:14:23):
What happens then?
Rachel Casey (00:14:24):
Do you just leave me and come back?
Nick Pearson (00:14:26):
No, no, no.
Nick Pearson (00:14:28):
It's a group effort.
Rachel Casey (00:14:29):
Fair?
Nick Pearson (00:14:30):
Yeah, bear spray for that.
Nick Pearson (00:14:32):
Honestly, the woods are so safe.
Nick Pearson (00:14:34):
They're so safe.
Nick Pearson (00:14:35):
When's the last time you heard about someone getting mauled by a bear?
Colin Casey (00:14:39):
I'd like to know how you came to wanting to start what you're doing now because you
Colin Casey (00:14:43):
did have a background in...
Colin Casey (00:14:45):
kind of outdoor activities and managing those things together.
Colin Casey (00:14:49):
And as we said,
Colin Casey (00:14:50):
around that three year mark,
Colin Casey (00:14:51):
you kind of was like,
Colin Casey (00:14:53):
you know what,
Colin Casey (00:14:53):
I want to do something and give back.
Colin Casey (00:14:55):
So you sold the company that you did have to start this.
Colin Casey (00:14:58):
So what led to that?
Nick Pearson (00:15:00):
So originally, Sober Outdoors was a professionals group in the outdoor industry.
Nick Pearson (00:15:06):
I work in the outdoor industry or have my whole career going on like 18 years now,
Nick Pearson (00:15:10):
which is insane on the brand side of things.
Nick Pearson (00:15:12):
So think like North Face,
Nick Pearson (00:15:14):
Patagonia,
Nick Pearson (00:15:15):
Spider,
Nick Pearson (00:15:16):
that side of the business,
Nick Pearson (00:15:17):
working for them at corporate level.
Nick Pearson (00:15:20):
um and there's these big trade shows they have and on the sales side of things you
Nick Pearson (00:15:23):
take rei out to dinner and everything is just boozy right and so when i got sober
Nick Pearson (00:15:28):
and i was in sales and i was responsible for managing some of these bigger accounts
Nick Pearson (00:15:32):
even the smaller accounts taking them out to dinner and having even just a few
Nick Pearson (00:15:36):
glasses of wine was terrifying how was i going to be successful in this job and how
Nick Pearson (00:15:41):
was i going to go to a trade show and and
Nick Pearson (00:15:43):
and put my brand out there for the man who I was working for, whoever it was at the time.
Nick Pearson (00:15:48):
Happy Hour started at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.
Nick Pearson (00:15:50):
You were having meetings with people with shots of vodka and beer,
Nick Pearson (00:15:53):
depending on whatever booth you're at.
Nick Pearson (00:15:55):
And I was scared to do it,
Nick Pearson (00:15:57):
so I started a professionals group,
Nick Pearson (00:15:58):
and I kind of quickly realized there aren't a lot of sober people on the
Nick Pearson (00:16:01):
professional side of the outdoor industry,
Nick Pearson (00:16:03):
or at least people that want to tie their name to an organization.
Nick Pearson (00:16:06):
I think it was more tying their name to an organization than anything,
Nick Pearson (00:16:09):
because I found a lot of sober people.
Nick Pearson (00:16:11):
And so the second iteration was the LGBTQ side of it, which I'm a gay man myself.
Nick Pearson (00:16:18):
I'm in the LGBTQ community.
Nick Pearson (00:16:19):
And I thought, that's a pretty underserved community, right?
Nick Pearson (00:16:22):
Like, let's get them outside.
Nick Pearson (00:16:23):
Let's help them in their recovery.
Nick Pearson (00:16:25):
And then I thought even then, you know, we did that for a short few months.
Nick Pearson (00:16:28):
And even that's too small.
Nick Pearson (00:16:30):
So let's just open it up to everyone.
Nick Pearson (00:16:32):
And at first it was, you know, sober people.
Nick Pearson (00:16:34):
It's like, nope, we're still going too small.
Nick Pearson (00:16:35):
So sober curious folks, allies, everyone else in between.
Nick Pearson (00:16:39):
And so...
Nick Pearson (00:16:40):
I'm lucky enough that I kind of took my knowledge of growing up in Colorado,
Nick Pearson (00:16:44):
the outdoor industry,
Nick Pearson (00:16:45):
working in it,
Nick Pearson (00:16:46):
owning a ski company prior to this,
Nick Pearson (00:16:47):
and then now doing this whole time,
Nick Pearson (00:16:50):
being able to kind of
Nick Pearson (00:16:52):
do what I want, but also have the knowledge to put it together in a pretty easy way.
Nick Pearson (00:16:56):
Oh, I know all these great camping trails.
Nick Pearson (00:16:58):
Let's go hike on them and go camping on them.
Nick Pearson (00:17:00):
And that's all I have to do is just get people to sign up.
Nick Pearson (00:17:02):
And I get to go camp and be sober for fun and for work.
Nick Pearson (00:17:06):
Let's do it.
Rachel Casey (00:17:07):
I have to ask then, because there's got to be a wild one.
Rachel Casey (00:17:11):
What's your wildest kind of story?
Rachel Casey (00:17:14):
Obviously not naming names,
Rachel Casey (00:17:16):
but do you have one where you were like,
Rachel Casey (00:17:17):
whoa,
Rachel Casey (00:17:18):
wasn't expecting that on a camping trip or
Rachel Casey (00:17:21):
Or what was the wildest ride you had?
Nick Pearson (00:17:24):
Probably, there's been some crazy ones with just...
Nick Pearson (00:17:27):
People in really early sobriety going off on other people.
Nick Pearson (00:17:31):
Sex is almost like the newcomers versus the old timers.
Nick Pearson (00:17:35):
So that was kind of fun to sit back and watch.
Rachel Casey (00:17:37):
Is that an age thing too?
Nick Pearson (00:17:38):
It's a huge thing as well.
Nick Pearson (00:17:40):
But honestly, you know, in every one of our campouts, it's kind of funny.
Nick Pearson (00:17:44):
Mostly our campouts,
Nick Pearson (00:17:45):
our hikes,
Nick Pearson (00:17:46):
there's not enough time spent with each other for the old timers to start building
Nick Pearson (00:17:49):
resentments towards the youngins and vice versa.
Rachel Casey (00:17:52):
Let's do a 10th step campfire, guys.
Rachel Casey (00:17:55):
How was your day?
Rachel Casey (00:17:56):
Who are you mad at?
Nick Pearson (00:17:57):
You know,
Nick Pearson (00:17:58):
I think probably one of the biggest things that have been a surprise to me is just
Nick Pearson (00:18:03):
mitigating some of the conversations that someone who may be,
Nick Pearson (00:18:07):
this might be their first sober thing they've ever done ever.
Nick Pearson (00:18:10):
They've never been to an AA meeting.
Nick Pearson (00:18:11):
They've never been to anything in there.
Nick Pearson (00:18:13):
Like I said earlier, typically people bite off more than they can chew.
Nick Pearson (00:18:16):
And then they come and hike with us crazy sober folks.
Nick Pearson (00:18:19):
And we're talking about,
Nick Pearson (00:18:20):
oh,
Nick Pearson (00:18:20):
my God,
Nick Pearson (00:18:20):
this time I stole my mom's wedding ring to sell it for some crack.
Nick Pearson (00:18:23):
And like then I bought it back from the store so I could sell it again.
Nick Pearson (00:18:27):
You know,
Nick Pearson (00:18:27):
like we have these crazy stories and it kind of scares people off to come back into it.
Nick Pearson (00:18:31):
And so I have to kind of almost hold hands with some of these newcomers that it's like.
Nick Pearson (00:18:36):
Yeah, because a lot of people, they tell their war stories.
Nick Pearson (00:18:37):
That's how we connect, right?
Nick Pearson (00:18:39):
Like this crazy time in my life and here's how I connected.
Nick Pearson (00:18:42):
Oh my God, you did that too?
Nick Pearson (00:18:44):
Cool.
Nick Pearson (00:18:44):
And now let's go finish this hike together.
Nick Pearson (00:18:47):
And some of the newcomers, they're just like, what did I just get myself into?
Nick Pearson (00:18:50):
Oh, trust me.
Nick Pearson (00:18:51):
I know you went to that liquor store at 8 a.m., sweetie.
Nick Pearson (00:18:53):
Like time will tell us.
Nick Pearson (00:18:56):
So,
Nick Pearson (00:18:57):
um,
Nick Pearson (00:18:57):
and you know,
Nick Pearson (00:18:57):
the bear,
Nick Pearson (00:18:58):
the other,
Nick Pearson (00:18:58):
uh,
Nick Pearson (00:18:58):
that was a good one that,
Nick Pearson (00:19:00):
um,
Nick Pearson (00:19:00):
that we've come across.
Nick Pearson (00:19:01):
That was a pretty scary one.
Nick Pearson (00:19:02):
Cause that was the first time I had encountered an animal when I was like,
Nick Pearson (00:19:06):
when people like weirdly look up to me on the trips and I'm like,
Nick Pearson (00:19:09):
you guys,
Nick Pearson (00:19:09):
I'm just a normal dude.
Nick Pearson (00:19:10):
I don't even, I wasn't even a boy scout by any means.
Nick Pearson (00:19:12):
Like, I just know how to camp from like my own thing.
Nick Pearson (00:19:14):
So camping with 20, 25 people and having bear come through.
Nick Pearson (00:19:19):
All I know is don't move because if all my other friends were there,
Nick Pearson (00:19:21):
they'd all be running and screaming too.
Colin Casey (00:19:24):
The activity so far just been in the Colorado state or have you tried to?
Nick Pearson (00:19:29):
We've got a Portland chapter and then a Boston chapter and then an Austin chapter too.
Nick Pearson (00:19:35):
But Austin is more indoorsy stuff.
Nick Pearson (00:19:37):
So they haven't really quite taken over our name yet.
Nick Pearson (00:19:40):
okay like rock indoor rock climbing type rock climbing and things like that yeah
Colin Casey (00:19:44):
okay i know that's big here because we don't have a lot of mountains but we have a
Colin Casey (00:19:48):
lot of rock climbing gyms yeah yeah parts of and austin's got a lot of bike trails
Nick Pearson (00:19:53):
and lakes where you can go canoeing and stuff yeah so and we would like this to be
Nick Pearson (00:19:58):
a national program of some kind now we know in ohio can't exactly like in a
Nick Pearson (00:20:02):
cornfield go
Nick Pearson (00:20:04):
But we're going to try and make it the best for everyone.
Nick Pearson (00:20:06):
You can go ice fishing.
Nick Pearson (00:20:08):
You can go ice fishing.
Nick Pearson (00:20:08):
It's true.
Nick Pearson (00:20:09):
You can.
Nick Pearson (00:20:10):
And I've always wanted to go, even though I hate fishing.
Nick Pearson (00:20:12):
But I think there's something cool and peaceful about sitting on some ice,
Nick Pearson (00:20:15):
freezing your tail off.
Nick Pearson (00:20:17):
I never would have thought that was cool years ago.
Nick Pearson (00:20:19):
But yeah, so we've got really four chapters.
Nick Pearson (00:20:22):
The majority of it all happens here in Denver because we've got really the big
Nick Pearson (00:20:26):
backyard here with everything you possibly want to do in the outdoors.
Nick Pearson (00:20:30):
So I'd love to see Seattle open up.
Nick Pearson (00:20:34):
You know, even like Albuquerque and other parts of the country open up with other chapters too.
Nick Pearson (00:20:38):
It's just hard to manage some of that all from Denver because I'm doing my thing here in Denver.
Nick Pearson (00:20:44):
We've got ambassadors learning their thing out in Seattle or Austin,
Nick Pearson (00:20:48):
you know,
Nick Pearson (00:20:48):
wherever they might be trying to like build a chapter.
Nick Pearson (00:20:51):
I've got some marketing money for you,
Nick Pearson (00:20:52):
but you've got to hit the ground and go out and pass out cards and try to get
Nick Pearson (00:20:55):
people to these events.
Nick Pearson (00:20:56):
Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:20:57):
You know, it's an interesting ride.
Nick Pearson (00:20:59):
And we've worked with another organization called LGBT Outdoors that is actually
Nick Pearson (00:21:04):
very similar to our setup of our organization with ambassadors and things like that.
Nick Pearson (00:21:08):
You know,
Nick Pearson (00:21:10):
right now we're focusing on partnerships to be able to grow some of our offerings
Nick Pearson (00:21:13):
here in Denver and then replicate that.
Nick Pearson (00:21:15):
So think of like nature-based therapy hikes.
Nick Pearson (00:21:18):
But, you know, that's not every hike.
Nick Pearson (00:21:20):
It can be ones that you want to go on.
Nick Pearson (00:21:21):
Maybe you want a therapist-led one.
Nick Pearson (00:21:24):
Um,
Nick Pearson (00:21:24):
we do already on the back end of sober outdoors,
Nick Pearson (00:21:27):
help people find treatment as kind of an out of our pastime.
Nick Pearson (00:21:30):
It's just,
Nick Pearson (00:21:30):
it's part of our business that I didn't know was gonna be a part of our business,
Nick Pearson (00:21:33):
but,
Nick Pearson (00:21:34):
um,
Nick Pearson (00:21:34):
it,
Nick Pearson (00:21:35):
we probably helped three to five people find treatment a week.
Nick Pearson (00:21:38):
Um, awesome.
Nick Pearson (00:21:40):
Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:21:40):
So really what that looks like is our community outreach folks,
Nick Pearson (00:21:43):
like picking up the phone and being like,
Nick Pearson (00:21:44):
do you have a bed available?
(00:21:45):
Um,
Nick Pearson (00:21:46):
And if we want to get more funding as an organization,
Nick Pearson (00:21:49):
we need to have credentialed people picking up the phone and being like,
Nick Pearson (00:21:51):
hey,
Nick Pearson (00:21:51):
do you have a bet available for my client around the HIPAA things and so on.
Rachel Casey (00:21:56):
Did this start off as an organization or how did you really start this off?
Rachel Casey (00:22:00):
Because even we as a podcast, do we want to go nonprofit?
Rachel Casey (00:22:05):
Do we want to do organization kind of thing?
Rachel Casey (00:22:06):
Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:22:07):
was to like get people together in the professional standpoint.
Nick Pearson (00:22:10):
But like, I just wanted to go grab coffee with strangers, right.
Nick Pearson (00:22:13):
That knew what it was like to get,
Nick Pearson (00:22:15):
to be sober at like one of these outdoor events where people are,
Nick Pearson (00:22:18):
you know,
Nick Pearson (00:22:19):
Patagonia has a booth bigger than my house and it's all closed off to the public
Nick Pearson (00:22:23):
and so on.
Nick Pearson (00:22:24):
But it was a hobby.
Nick Pearson (00:22:25):
And then,
Nick Pearson (00:22:26):
you know,
Nick Pearson (00:22:27):
I was working for a sunglass company up until September of this past year and
Nick Pearson (00:22:32):
And each time I've come across a moment of growth with Sober Outdoors,
Nick Pearson (00:22:36):
it's been like,
Nick Pearson (00:22:37):
when I first started it,
Nick Pearson (00:22:38):
my therapist was like,
Nick Pearson (00:22:39):
Nick,
Nick Pearson (00:22:39):
if you don't do it,
Nick Pearson (00:22:39):
it's never going to happen.
Nick Pearson (00:22:40):
So you might as well just do it.
Rachel Casey (00:22:41):
My therapist told me to do this podcast.
Rachel Casey (00:22:42):
So yeah, I mean, it's funny how... Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:22:46):
And then,
Nick Pearson (00:22:47):
you know,
Nick Pearson (00:22:47):
the next iteration was my friends kind of telling me like,
Nick Pearson (00:22:50):
no,
Nick Pearson (00:22:50):
no,
Nick Pearson (00:22:50):
no,
Nick Pearson (00:22:51):
like you need to do this.
Nick Pearson (00:22:52):
Like...
Nick Pearson (00:22:52):
make it bigger open up portland open up here like and just kind of grow it is
Colin Casey (00:22:57):
naturally i was gonna ask how's the support from friends and family when you said
Nick Pearson (00:23:01):
you wanted to do this in transition i mean my dad is he's still a little uh he's
Nick Pearson (00:23:07):
still a little like you need to go work a real job but he's so supportive of it
Nick Pearson (00:23:11):
that like he sees the success that we've had and you know i have people come like
Nick Pearson (00:23:17):
you know initially like
Nick Pearson (00:23:18):
He would come to some of my events and he would just see how excited people were to be there.
Nick Pearson (00:23:24):
How something like a small that I put together has like 25, 30 people showing up to it.
Nick Pearson (00:23:29):
I put together my first event, my first actual Sober Sober Outdoors event.
Nick Pearson (00:23:33):
And it was a hike.
Nick Pearson (00:23:34):
And I remember like 17 people showed up and I was literally cuffing myself.
Nick Pearson (00:23:38):
How did these people find me?
Nick Pearson (00:23:39):
On our website, we had like 300 people see us in like two months.
Nick Pearson (00:23:43):
How did they find me on social media?
Nick Pearson (00:23:45):
I have like barely 100 followers.
Nick Pearson (00:23:47):
And we put up some ad in a few places, a paid ad, and just word of mouth.
Nick Pearson (00:23:52):
And once that started, the sky was the limit in terms of getting people involved.
Nick Pearson (00:23:57):
And so it's still really small compared to where I want it to be.
Nick Pearson (00:24:00):
And I was working a cushy job.
Nick Pearson (00:24:02):
I'll tell you,
Nick Pearson (00:24:02):
working at Nonprofit Life is...
Rachel Casey (00:24:04):
But it sounds like that also,
Rachel Casey (00:24:06):
that was some of the things that led you to the path to be able to run this efficiently.
Rachel Casey (00:24:10):
You kind of have the training, if you will.
Nick Pearson (00:24:12):
Yeah, definitely.
Nick Pearson (00:24:14):
And honestly...
Nick Pearson (00:24:15):
I think you just have to like decide,
Nick Pearson (00:24:17):
like,
Nick Pearson (00:24:17):
you know,
Nick Pearson (00:24:17):
I was really kind of unhappy in my career.
Nick Pearson (00:24:19):
I'm working at this particular company back in the fall.
Nick Pearson (00:24:24):
I had a conversation with my friend and sponsor who was an old sponsor of mine.
Nick Pearson (00:24:28):
And he's just like,
Nick Pearson (00:24:29):
again,
Nick Pearson (00:24:29):
Nick,
Nick Pearson (00:24:29):
if you want to do this and make it like into really what you want to do,
Nick Pearson (00:24:32):
you got to put all your eggs in one basket by that.
Nick Pearson (00:24:35):
Don't worry about your company, leave your company and go do sober outdoors full time.
Nick Pearson (00:24:39):
And I was like, but
Nick Pearson (00:24:40):
the winters are slow for us.
Nick Pearson (00:24:41):
He's like, you're making excuses for every reason not to do this.
Nick Pearson (00:24:45):
So we're going into our first season with me on deck and I literally work seven days a week.
Nick Pearson (00:24:51):
Nonprofit life is so much more, so much more busy than corporate America.
Nick Pearson (00:24:55):
Sometimes I look back and I used to think I worked a lot.
Nick Pearson (00:24:57):
Now I'm on my phone like 24 hours a day.
Nick Pearson (00:24:59):
Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:25:02):
I think I've got staff around me.
Nick Pearson (00:25:04):
Lori, who handles a lot of my PR stuff, for example, she just is so great.
Nick Pearson (00:25:10):
She's able to, all right, Nick, here's what you need to know.
Nick Pearson (00:25:12):
She's like, I have 30 minutes with Nick.
Nick Pearson (00:25:14):
This is all I get with him for the next two days.
Nick Pearson (00:25:16):
And then he'll be out the door with partnerships.
Nick Pearson (00:25:18):
I speak at a lot of treatment centers here in Denver.
Nick Pearson (00:25:21):
It's just, it's amazing.
Nick Pearson (00:25:23):
I love it.
Nick Pearson (00:25:23):
I absolutely love it.
Nick Pearson (00:25:25):
Like just being able to go to detox centers where I've detoxed.
Nick Pearson (00:25:29):
And speak to people and be like,
Nick Pearson (00:25:31):
look,
Nick Pearson (00:25:31):
guys,
Nick Pearson (00:25:31):
I was a punk when I was in here and I never thought I'd run a nonprofit.
Nick Pearson (00:25:36):
I never, especially one that helps people get outside.
Nick Pearson (00:25:38):
That just seems like way too much work.
Nick Pearson (00:25:40):
I'd want something super lazy where people just give me money.
Nick Pearson (00:25:43):
But, you know, here it is.
Nick Pearson (00:25:44):
I'm like doing this and seeing these people that really are struggling in that moment.
Nick Pearson (00:25:48):
And they kind of see you in their eyes and they're like, oh, my gosh, like.
Nick Pearson (00:25:52):
I can get sober.
Nick Pearson (00:25:54):
It is possible.
Nick Pearson (00:25:54):
I'm seeing real life putting up.
Nick Pearson (00:25:56):
I remember I did some service work at a detox center literally a year to the day
Nick Pearson (00:26:02):
that I went to treatment.
Nick Pearson (00:26:03):
It was my first day sober in my entire adult life.
Nick Pearson (00:26:06):
A year later, I went to this detox center and I was like, you guys, it's real.
Nick Pearson (00:26:10):
Seeing that on those people's faces,
Nick Pearson (00:26:11):
it was like,
Nick Pearson (00:26:12):
one day I need to give back more than just coming and doing a service.
Nick Pearson (00:26:16):
Here we are,
Nick Pearson (00:26:16):
like,
Nick Pearson (00:26:16):
just trying to change some people's lives one outdoor adventure at a time,
Nick Pearson (00:26:20):
you know?
Rachel Casey (00:26:21):
Oh, that's awesome.
Colin Casey (00:26:22):
Now that you're six years sober,
Colin Casey (00:26:24):
what has changed throughout your sobriety of what you do now to kind of stay sober?
Colin Casey (00:26:30):
Because I know, I mean, we're only three years.
Nick Pearson (00:26:33):
That's a long time, guys.
Colin Casey (00:26:34):
Yeah.
Colin Casey (00:26:35):
But we've gone through dips and changes of how I found a good routine of going to
Colin Casey (00:26:40):
the gym and going to meetings and seeing my sponsor about twice a month.
Colin Casey (00:26:44):
I've gotten into such a good routine mentally and physically.
Colin Casey (00:26:48):
And I was just curious to you, what do you do to stay kind of in that...
Nick Pearson (00:26:53):
Yeah,
Nick Pearson (00:26:54):
a lot of work I do just in my day to day helps me stay sober and like my program
Nick Pearson (00:26:59):
has become pretty laxed.
Nick Pearson (00:27:00):
I'll just be honest, that's full transparency.
Nick Pearson (00:27:02):
And I would say just like something that I've learned over the years,
Nick Pearson (00:27:07):
it used to be the small things that would trip me up in my sobriety.
Nick Pearson (00:27:10):
And then it became the big things that would trip me up, right?
Nick Pearson (00:27:12):
And so the three-year mark, the two-year mark, whatever mark I was kind of crossing.
Nick Pearson (00:27:16):
And trust me, I've come real close to the bottle multiple times, like really, really close.
Nick Pearson (00:27:21):
But I've had friends and family to be there.
Nick Pearson (00:27:23):
I'm like, no, don't do it, Nick.
Nick Pearson (00:27:25):
And here's how we're going to keep you away from that.
Nick Pearson (00:27:28):
is just like not learning how that life's going to happen and it's going to happen
Nick Pearson (00:27:32):
when you least expect it.
Nick Pearson (00:27:33):
Two years ago, I was celebrating a milestone and lost my job.
Nick Pearson (00:27:38):
Two days later,
Nick Pearson (00:27:38):
after I broke up my boyfriend,
Nick Pearson (00:27:40):
two days later,
Nick Pearson (00:27:41):
self-induced overdose,
Nick Pearson (00:27:42):
like in like six days,
Nick Pearson (00:27:44):
three horrible things happen.
Nick Pearson (00:27:45):
That's one of the closest I've ever been to like losing my mind.
Nick Pearson (00:27:48):
But I think it's just realizing that you're not safe from the big things either.
Nick Pearson (00:27:52):
So you always need to just be like, you can't let your guard down.
Nick Pearson (00:27:55):
That's one thing, like even doing all this
Nick Pearson (00:27:57):
lackadaisical work about my own recovery.
Nick Pearson (00:27:59):
If I wasn't doing this,
Nick Pearson (00:28:00):
I'd be sure as hell going to a meeting probably a couple of times a week,
Nick Pearson (00:28:03):
if not more.
Nick Pearson (00:28:04):
I'm just trying to, and same with you guys, you guys are doing this podcast.
Nick Pearson (00:28:08):
So you guys have purpose and you're talking to people every day.
Nick Pearson (00:28:10):
Like I,
Nick Pearson (00:28:11):
if I didn't have purpose,
Nick Pearson (00:28:12):
like I do now that would,
Nick Pearson (00:28:14):
I probably wouldn't be here,
Nick Pearson (00:28:15):
you know,
Nick Pearson (00:28:15):
where I am in my recovery or just like all the trials and tribulations I've experienced.
Nick Pearson (00:28:20):
So yeah,
Nick Pearson (00:28:21):
But mindfulness and recovery is one way that I still stay engaged in my own program,
Nick Pearson (00:28:25):
which is just a take on Dharma.
Nick Pearson (00:28:27):
It's just a little bit different.
Nick Pearson (00:28:28):
It's a program here in Colorado.
Nick Pearson (00:28:30):
This guy, John Bruna, amazing, amazing guy.
Nick Pearson (00:28:33):
If you guys ever get him on your podcast.
Nick Pearson (00:28:35):
Oh, my gosh.
Rachel Casey (00:28:35):
I feel like I've heard that name.
Nick Pearson (00:28:37):
Yeah, he's just amazing.
Nick Pearson (00:28:38):
I'll shoot you a book recommendation by him.
Nick Pearson (00:28:41):
And, you know, just working with other people, even outside of Sober Outdoors.
Nick Pearson (00:28:46):
Like I have friends who call me and they're like, my mom is finally getting sobered.
Nick Pearson (00:28:50):
Can you talk to her?
Nick Pearson (00:28:51):
And, you know, it's like, dude, I don't have time.
Nick Pearson (00:28:54):
And I don't have time.
Nick Pearson (00:28:55):
I don't have time.
Nick Pearson (00:28:56):
Oh, yes, you do.
Nick Pearson (00:28:56):
Nick, you have time to pick up the phone and call us.
Nick Pearson (00:28:59):
this woman or this friend or like a friend of a friend of a friend stay in it.
Nick Pearson (00:29:03):
And I think that's what keeps most people sober past a certain mark is just giving back.
Nick Pearson (00:29:08):
That's why the treatment centers are full of all these people that,
Nick Pearson (00:29:11):
you know,
Nick Pearson (00:29:11):
eventually got sober and here they are giving back.
Nick Pearson (00:29:13):
And then same with folks like you and me and people that are really hell bent on AA
Nick Pearson (00:29:18):
and staying in the program,
Nick Pearson (00:29:19):
like they're just always giving back.
Nick Pearson (00:29:21):
And I think that,
Nick Pearson (00:29:22):
I don't know of another way to stay sober.
Rachel Casey (00:29:27):
Are you, are you with someone who's sober?
Nick Pearson (00:29:29):
Are you with, if you are currently single, I've done both.
Nick Pearson (00:29:33):
I've done someone in the program and someone out of the program.
Nick Pearson (00:29:37):
I wouldn't recommend dating someone dating.
Nick Pearson (00:29:39):
That's not sober.
Nick Pearson (00:29:40):
Personally.
Nick Pearson (00:29:41):
I did that.
Nick Pearson (00:29:42):
And just the disconnect between like, I cannot have a drink.
Nick Pearson (00:29:46):
You know, one is too many a thousand is not enough for me.
Nick Pearson (00:29:49):
Like,
Nick Pearson (00:29:50):
he just didn't understand that.
Nick Pearson (00:29:51):
Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:29:51):
That's one of us.
Nick Pearson (00:29:52):
And they're like, Oh yeah, I did.
Nick Pearson (00:29:53):
I get that.
Nick Pearson (00:29:54):
You don't have to explain yourself.
Nick Pearson (00:29:55):
And so I found that I was just like,
Nick Pearson (00:29:57):
not wanting to have to explain those silly little things about sobriety that really
Nick Pearson (00:30:04):
it's like,
Nick Pearson (00:30:04):
all I needed to do is just say I'm sober.
Nick Pearson (00:30:06):
And that was enough to the person that I was seeing that was in recovery.
Nick Pearson (00:30:10):
And, uh,
Nick Pearson (00:30:11):
And then,
Nick Pearson (00:30:11):
you know,
Nick Pearson (00:30:11):
when I got out of that relationship,
Nick Pearson (00:30:13):
I got into a relationship a year later with someone who was drinking.
Nick Pearson (00:30:16):
I thought I was maybe ready to go date someone that was like a normie.
Nick Pearson (00:30:20):
Like a normie.
Nick Pearson (00:30:21):
Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:30:22):
Well, I can go be normal too.
Nick Pearson (00:30:23):
And I was like, this is just disastrous.
Nick Pearson (00:30:25):
I'm going to drink over this person if I don't like get out of this.
Nick Pearson (00:30:28):
And I'm glad I did.
Nick Pearson (00:30:30):
And then I got laid off and then my best friend died.
Nick Pearson (00:30:34):
I'm glad I got out of it.
Rachel Casey (00:30:35):
It's over because drinking wouldn't have helped any of those scenarios.
Rachel Casey (00:30:38):
You know, taking a drink wouldn't have...
Rachel Casey (00:30:41):
In my head, that was what I tell myself.
Rachel Casey (00:30:45):
For any situation, would taking a drink make it better?
Rachel Casey (00:30:49):
It would only just ruin it more.
Rachel Casey (00:30:50):
Now I can show up.
Rachel Casey (00:30:52):
I can do things.
Rachel Casey (00:30:54):
Have you considered if there's partners for people that are...
Rachel Casey (00:30:59):
a sober Al-Anon if you will like sober outdoors Al-Anon do you let like partners or
Rachel Casey (00:31:04):
stuff go along for the ride if they're like hey my partner's an alcoholic but we
Rachel Casey (00:31:08):
want to go hiking together you know obviously not using while you know they
Rachel Casey (00:31:12):
shouldn't be drinking around all the alcohol but yeah
Nick Pearson (00:31:15):
Yeah,
Nick Pearson (00:31:15):
there's a zero tolerance policy,
Nick Pearson (00:31:16):
but like,
Nick Pearson (00:31:17):
you know,
Nick Pearson (00:31:17):
we actually encourage it because we want,
Nick Pearson (00:31:19):
you know,
Nick Pearson (00:31:21):
allies essentially to be like to see that we are normal people.
Nick Pearson (00:31:25):
We're trying to break down the stigmas like my family.
Nick Pearson (00:31:28):
I come from a generational generation of generational alcoholics.
Nick Pearson (00:31:32):
Right.
Nick Pearson (00:31:32):
And everyone in my family is an alcoholic.
Nick Pearson (00:31:35):
And they just thought when I was turning my life over sobriety,
Nick Pearson (00:31:38):
I was going to become this boring,
Nick Pearson (00:31:39):
like useless,
Nick Pearson (00:31:40):
sitting at home doing nothing,
Nick Pearson (00:31:41):
totally my thumbs.
Nick Pearson (00:31:42):
And the first six months I was because I was like, I'm going to go crazy.
Nick Pearson (00:31:44):
I'm going to go drink if I leave my apartment.
Nick Pearson (00:31:47):
But then I kind of learned how to do it on my own.
Nick Pearson (00:31:49):
And so we want people to see that this is like a fun group of people that,
Nick Pearson (00:31:54):
you know,
Nick Pearson (00:31:54):
you are a human being.
Nick Pearson (00:31:55):
You're not a stigma.
Nick Pearson (00:31:56):
You're not morally inept or you're any of these things that live out there about
Nick Pearson (00:32:00):
people that have substance use problems.
Nick Pearson (00:32:03):
You know, and for the time being, I don't know if this is going to change or not.
Nick Pearson (00:32:06):
You know, it's a federally recognized disease.
Nick Pearson (00:32:08):
Right.
Nick Pearson (00:32:08):
So it's like this is something that I think a lot of people don't know about addiction.
Nick Pearson (00:32:13):
And even if you tell them that to their friends and families,
Nick Pearson (00:32:15):
they're like,
Nick Pearson (00:32:16):
oh,
Nick Pearson (00:32:16):
I didn't know that.
Nick Pearson (00:32:16):
It's like, yeah, it's actually such a disease that it's actually federally protected.
Nick Pearson (00:32:21):
And we don't take one hard approach or another at Summer Outdoors like this is a disease.
Nick Pearson (00:32:27):
a disease of the mind or it's this or that or another.
Nick Pearson (00:32:30):
We welcome everyone's belief into what addiction is because it is so misunderstood.
Nick Pearson (00:32:34):
But my own personal belief and what does come through in some of our literature is
Nick Pearson (00:32:38):
for this time being,
Nick Pearson (00:32:39):
this is a federally recognized disease.
Nick Pearson (00:32:41):
That's why we're going to look at it and that's why we're going to treat it.
Nick Pearson (00:32:43):
So...
Rachel Casey (00:32:44):
Yeah, that's a great outlook.
Rachel Casey (00:32:45):
I love that.
Nick Pearson (00:32:46):
Yeah.
Rachel Casey (00:32:47):
So I think that's cool that you let partners go along because I think we're kind of an anomaly.
Rachel Casey (00:32:52):
Most people either one gets sober or one doesn't or yeah,
Rachel Casey (00:32:57):
how we were drinking buddies that got sober together.
Rachel Casey (00:33:00):
I didn't.
Nick Pearson (00:33:01):
And again, one in a million guys.
Rachel Casey (00:33:04):
It's very, um, I like the name sober ally.
Rachel Casey (00:33:08):
I wrote that stuck in my,
Rachel Casey (00:33:09):
I'm like,
Rachel Casey (00:33:10):
man,
Rachel Casey (00:33:10):
that's such a good,
Rachel Casey (00:33:11):
it's a,
Rachel Casey (00:33:11):
so that's what you want to be.
Rachel Casey (00:33:13):
I'm an ally.
Rachel Casey (00:33:13):
If you need it, you know, I'm here.
Rachel Casey (00:33:17):
And it's funny because you probably get to the outdoors and,
Rachel Casey (00:33:20):
and you're not really thinking about it.
Rachel Casey (00:33:23):
being sober not being sober like sure it's just you're in the you're able to be in
Rachel Casey (00:33:26):
the moment yeah yeah yeah do you do meditations and stuff on the yeah we do we do
Nick Pearson (00:33:32):
we typically start with some sort of guided meditation or we challenge people to
Nick Pearson (00:33:37):
think about a certain principle or something to think about throughout the trip we
Nick Pearson (00:33:42):
have fun like we tie it to something fun at the end like
Nick Pearson (00:33:45):
we'll get we'll do a gear giveaway and it's like do you remember what i said at the
Nick Pearson (00:33:48):
beginning of this most people don't but we try to encourage them to do a five
Nick Pearson (00:33:51):
senses hike or anything that they can make their own personal experience with it
Nick Pearson (00:33:56):
better and then and to get some of those bigger grant money that we are looking at
Nick Pearson (00:34:01):
uh to grow our programming is like we'll need to have therapists doing some of
Nick Pearson (00:34:04):
those like
Nick Pearson (00:34:05):
nature-based hikes where they do challenge people a lot more to just do more than
Nick Pearson (00:34:10):
just the hiking.
Nick Pearson (00:34:11):
And I think that it will actually really resonate with people because everyone I've
Nick Pearson (00:34:15):
ever talked to that's done therapy and they've done it outdoors,
Nick Pearson (00:34:17):
which my therapist used to take me on walks all the time.
Nick Pearson (00:34:20):
I was like,
Nick Pearson (00:34:20):
dude,
Nick Pearson (00:34:20):
I wanted to go on a walk every time I went to therapy and she wouldn't let me
Nick Pearson (00:34:24):
because it would be snowing outside.
Nick Pearson (00:34:25):
But I thought that was amazing.
Nick Pearson (00:34:27):
And like, why can't we offer that back?
Nick Pearson (00:34:29):
Obviously it's not going to go on five hikes a week or five hikes a day, but like,
Nick Pearson (00:34:32):
How can we make a group therapy or something like that into a more accessible thing for people?
Nick Pearson (00:34:38):
Because one, cost is a barrier for therapy.
Nick Pearson (00:34:41):
We can't just hand a scholarship to everyone that needs to go to therapy.
Nick Pearson (00:34:44):
And then two, how do we make therapy more accessible to people?
Nick Pearson (00:34:47):
Maybe a group setting at the top of a mountain is the way to do it.
Rachel Casey (00:34:51):
I think that sounds like a great idea.
Rachel Casey (00:34:53):
And if anyone listening knows any connections on how to help get Sober Outdoors
Rachel Casey (00:34:59):
some grants to be able to do things like that,
Rachel Casey (00:35:02):
please go.
Rachel Casey (00:35:03):
And I know your website, Sober Outdoors, and it's .org.
Rachel Casey (00:35:07):
And all the content, your website is laid out so beautifully.
Rachel Casey (00:35:11):
Like it's very easy to navigate.
Rachel Casey (00:35:13):
The pictures speak for themselves.
Rachel Casey (00:35:15):
Yeah.
Rachel Casey (00:35:16):
I did not have a hard time.
Rachel Casey (00:35:18):
Everything's very well labeled of, Hey, you want to do this.
Rachel Casey (00:35:21):
You want to look at this contact information events.
Rachel Casey (00:35:24):
You even have the past events.
Rachel Casey (00:35:25):
So if you want to see some of the things you've done already,
Rachel Casey (00:35:28):
I really liked an upcoming events on your webpage.
Rachel Casey (00:35:33):
So as well as there's Instagram,
Rachel Casey (00:35:35):
which I feel like that's the new,
Rachel Casey (00:35:38):
I feel like Facebook's kind of falling off.
Nick Pearson (00:35:40):
I do too.
Rachel Casey (00:35:41):
Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:35:42):
But it's weird to get a lot of, a lot of people my age, I'm 36.
Nick Pearson (00:35:48):
I thought 36 year olds didn't use Instagram and stuff, let alone Facebook, but they do.
Nick Pearson (00:35:52):
Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:35:53):
And like they do a lot.
Nick Pearson (00:35:55):
I don't use social media that much anymore.
Nick Pearson (00:35:57):
I have to do it for work for sober outdoors.
Nick Pearson (00:36:00):
But the amount of people my age that still use Facebook blows me away.
Nick Pearson (00:36:03):
I'm like,
Nick Pearson (00:36:03):
what are these?
Nick Pearson (00:36:04):
Cause they'll reach out to me for all sorts of questions.
Nick Pearson (00:36:06):
And like,
Nick Pearson (00:36:07):
you know,
Nick Pearson (00:36:07):
and I'm like,
Nick Pearson (00:36:08):
who,
Nick Pearson (00:36:08):
like what 38 year old that loves like everything I love is still using Facebook and
Nick Pearson (00:36:13):
people do,
Nick Pearson (00:36:13):
man.
Nick Pearson (00:36:14):
I mean, it's, it's, I think there's still a market there.
Nick Pearson (00:36:17):
You know, now we just have to figure out how to use some of those other, uh,
Nick Pearson (00:36:20):
social media tools that are a little,
Nick Pearson (00:36:22):
like,
Nick Pearson (00:36:22):
controversial,
Nick Pearson (00:36:23):
but,
Nick Pearson (00:36:24):
like,
Nick Pearson (00:36:24):
people decide to go down that path.
Nick Pearson (00:36:26):
Like, we've had multiple people ask me, are we on Blue Sky?
Nick Pearson (00:36:30):
And I'm like, I don't know what that was until, like, a week ago.
Rachel Casey (00:36:32):
Yeah, I just made a Blue Sky, and I'm like, I don't know what this is.
Rachel Casey (00:36:37):
And I get, I'm just already...
Nick Pearson (00:36:39):
You're like, it's another one.
Rachel Casey (00:36:41):
There's so many.
Rachel Casey (00:36:42):
And then now Pinterest is coming back.
Rachel Casey (00:36:44):
And I don't know how that,
Rachel Casey (00:36:45):
and especially if you're outdoors,
Rachel Casey (00:36:47):
I would say Pinterest is apparently cute.
Colin Casey (00:36:49):
You just want to go back to Zynga days where there was just one.
Rachel Casey (00:36:52):
Man, I love doing code on Zynga.
Rachel Casey (00:36:53):
I love Zynga.
Nick Pearson (00:36:54):
No, I'm talking MySpace, the top eight, just to start drama, guys.
Nick Pearson (00:36:57):
Yeah.
Rachel Casey (00:36:58):
Yeah.
Rachel Casey (00:36:59):
Oh, my.
Rachel Casey (00:36:59):
You'd have a hard time probably picking a top eight today.
Rachel Casey (00:37:01):
Yeah, probably.
Rachel Casey (00:37:02):
Hard because on you're like,
Rachel Casey (00:37:04):
you know,
Rachel Casey (00:37:04):
I don't even want to do this because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.
Rachel Casey (00:37:07):
And I don't want anyone having resentments.
Rachel Casey (00:37:08):
And can you imagine going to your sponsor and being like, I'm not in their top eight.
Nick Pearson (00:37:12):
I'm mad about it, bro.
Rachel Casey (00:37:16):
I had that feeling 1000%.
Nick Pearson (00:37:18):
Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:37:19):
Like I saved that man's life and I'm not even in his top eight.
Nick Pearson (00:37:21):
Like get out of here.
Rachel Casey (00:37:22):
I'm number three.
Rachel Casey (00:37:23):
Why am I not number one?
Rachel Casey (00:37:25):
Like my ego is number one, you know, and I can only imagine.
Nick Pearson (00:37:29):
It's high school all over again.
Nick Pearson (00:37:31):
Yeah.
Rachel Casey (00:37:31):
You want to go in my, you want to be my top eight?
Rachel Casey (00:37:34):
Yeah, right.
Rachel Casey (00:37:35):
Your sponsor's not in your top eight.
Nick Pearson (00:37:37):
You're not taking it serious enough, apparently.
Rachel Casey (00:37:39):
You're not taking it serious.
Rachel Casey (00:37:39):
If you don't put your sponsor in your top eight, what are you doing?
Rachel Casey (00:37:43):
And then you think of that.
Rachel Casey (00:37:44):
Was the T-Mobile did the thing, the emergency contact bubble when they had the sidekick?
Colin Casey (00:37:51):
Well, there was the My5 or something like that.
Colin Casey (00:37:54):
Yeah, something.
Nick Pearson (00:37:55):
My5, I think, yeah.
Rachel Casey (00:37:55):
I'm glad that life isn't about hierarchy anymore.
Rachel Casey (00:38:00):
It's very...
Nick Pearson (00:38:02):
I don't know about that, but yes.
Rachel Casey (00:38:06):
At least I don't feel, even when we get messages or Instagram of
Rachel Casey (00:38:11):
anyone who like reaches out to come on the pot,
Rachel Casey (00:38:14):
it's like,
Rachel Casey (00:38:15):
yeah,
Rachel Casey (00:38:15):
we want to boost you ever because they're helping.
Rachel Casey (00:38:19):
Like,
Rachel Casey (00:38:19):
so helping it's all,
Rachel Casey (00:38:22):
I don't look at it as like,
Rachel Casey (00:38:23):
oh,
Rachel Casey (00:38:23):
I don't want,
Rachel Casey (00:38:23):
I'm competing against like this recovery podcast or,
Rachel Casey (00:38:28):
or event.
Rachel Casey (00:38:29):
Like, I'm like, no, go do it.
Rachel Casey (00:38:31):
Go you like I'm, I'm for it.
Rachel Casey (00:38:33):
I'm for it.
Rachel Casey (00:38:34):
So it's a really nice turn.
Nick Pearson (00:38:36):
On an ideal day,
Nick Pearson (00:38:38):
me doing less events outside and people naturally finding their groups within our
Nick Pearson (00:38:42):
group and them going on their own campouts is the most beautiful thing to me,
Nick Pearson (00:38:45):
right?
Nick Pearson (00:38:45):
Like they meet their community through an event of ours that likes going outdoors.
Nick Pearson (00:38:49):
And then suddenly we don't have to like,
Nick Pearson (00:38:51):
do any sort of the pulling people together on a Saturday.
Nick Pearson (00:38:55):
So we've got a member side of our website that folks actually – it is kind of like
Nick Pearson (00:39:00):
social media now that since we're talking about it.
Nick Pearson (00:39:02):
It's just a platform we use called Mining Networks, but it interacts similar to social media.
Nick Pearson (00:39:08):
If you go on a hike and you want to meet up with that person later, go meet them.
Nick Pearson (00:39:11):
Because if it means less work for me, that's better because it means I get to focus on –
Nick Pearson (00:39:15):
Other things I want to do.
Rachel Casey (00:39:17):
It's the same like when I get a sponsee and I'm like,
Rachel Casey (00:39:20):
hey,
Rachel Casey (00:39:20):
if you ever want to get a different,
Rachel Casey (00:39:21):
it's not going to hurt my feelings.
Rachel Casey (00:39:22):
The most important thing for me is that you are staying sober.
Rachel Casey (00:39:26):
So if that means that it's not with me, our schedules don't align.
Rachel Casey (00:39:30):
That's fine.
Rachel Casey (00:39:30):
And people get so weird about it.
Rachel Casey (00:39:32):
They're like, yeah, I don't want to.
Rachel Casey (00:39:34):
It's listen.
Rachel Casey (00:39:36):
If you're finding a time that you can go hike with someone and it's beneficial for
Rachel Casey (00:39:40):
the both of y'all to stay sober.
Colin Casey (00:39:42):
Do it.
Rachel Casey (00:39:42):
Do it.
Rachel Casey (00:39:43):
You know,
Rachel Casey (00:39:43):
I love the positive support versus I've been in other works of life where it's all
Rachel Casey (00:39:52):
like better than versus let's just all group and help.
Rachel Casey (00:39:57):
And that's what I love about the sober community.
Nick Pearson (00:39:59):
So I was going to say, I didn't know, like, I'm sure you guys find the same thing.
Nick Pearson (00:40:02):
Like I'm on a lot of partnerships calls every day and we're just trying to find or
Nick Pearson (00:40:07):
partner or be a better partner to our existing partners.
Nick Pearson (00:40:10):
And, uh,
Nick Pearson (00:40:12):
And it's just so easy and fun to talk to people in the industry because we're all
Nick Pearson (00:40:15):
in this game,
Nick Pearson (00:40:16):
whatever we want to call it,
Nick Pearson (00:40:17):
to help people at the end of the day.
Nick Pearson (00:40:19):
Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:40:20):
That's the goal.
Nick Pearson (00:40:21):
Sometimes I feel like I'm pulling my hair out and I'm like,
Nick Pearson (00:40:23):
I have to remember I'm doing this for the one end goal of helping that person stay
Nick Pearson (00:40:26):
sober and everything.
Nick Pearson (00:40:27):
And I'm like, when I get the days over, I'm like, so effing worth it.
Nick Pearson (00:40:33):
I think everyone feels the same way in the industry.
Nick Pearson (00:40:37):
I wouldn't call this a treatment industry or the support industry.
Nick Pearson (00:40:40):
We're going to be this weird quasi,
Nick Pearson (00:40:42):
like go to therapy at the top of a mountain,
Nick Pearson (00:40:44):
but also we're not going to do that because you can do this.
Nick Pearson (00:40:46):
Right.
Nick Pearson (00:40:47):
Like, still don't know what our game plan is.
Nick Pearson (00:40:49):
But,
Nick Pearson (00:40:49):
you know,
Nick Pearson (00:40:51):
I love talking to other organizations,
Nick Pearson (00:40:52):
even if they're similar to ours in some way or another.
Nick Pearson (00:40:55):
There's a few others that are kind of similar to ours,
Nick Pearson (00:40:57):
but they're very location-based,
Nick Pearson (00:41:00):
just in their one part of their...
Nick Pearson (00:41:02):
country and so but like there's no competition here right like we're all in this to
Nick Pearson (00:41:06):
help and like why would I want to compete with you trying to compete for what donor
Nick Pearson (00:41:10):
dollars like that seems pretty like political in my opinion you know so like let's
Nick Pearson (00:41:15):
try and help this person whether they like
Nick Pearson (00:41:18):
Painting at a, you know, at an abandoned strip club versus going hiking.
Nick Pearson (00:41:22):
I don't know.
Nick Pearson (00:41:22):
Like we had one of those with that.
Nick Pearson (00:41:24):
I went to a sober event.
Nick Pearson (00:41:25):
That was an abandoned strip club painting at an abandoned strip club.
Nick Pearson (00:41:28):
It was really cool.
Rachel Casey (00:41:30):
Very specific example.
Rachel Casey (00:41:31):
Yeah.
Rachel Casey (00:41:32):
I know.
Rachel Casey (00:41:32):
I know.
Nick Pearson (00:41:34):
I had just,
Nick Pearson (00:41:35):
I like,
Nick Pearson (00:41:35):
I've kind of forget about it till it's times like these that I'm getting
Nick Pearson (00:41:37):
interviewed or something comes up and I'm like,
Nick Pearson (00:41:39):
yeah,
Nick Pearson (00:41:40):
I've done that.
Nick Pearson (00:41:40):
Like literally sat there in an, it's probably hard to repurpose that building for anything else.
Colin Casey (00:41:46):
Exactly.
Rachel Casey (00:41:47):
So it's like, I mean, it's sober too.
Rachel Casey (00:41:49):
Am I right?
Colin Casey (00:41:50):
It'd be hard to move a chase bank, you know, in that building with poles.
Colin Casey (00:41:54):
Yeah.
Nick Pearson (00:41:54):
Let's make it a community center.
Nick Pearson (00:41:56):
Cause why not?
Rachel Casey (00:41:57):
I mean, just, you know, all we're doing is not drinking.
Rachel Casey (00:42:00):
We can do anything in the world we want.
Rachel Casey (00:42:02):
We just don't put alcohol in our bodies anymore.
Rachel Casey (00:42:04):
you know and it's cool how that that works well thank you so much for coming on
Rachel Casey (00:42:08):
nick uh please every all links are in the bio uh if you want to contact him again
Rachel Casey (00:42:14):
sober outdoors.org is out the best way to reach you and i mean it has a lot of
Rachel Casey (00:42:20):
contact information on there it's very awesome and if you even want to just go look
Rachel Casey (00:42:24):
at the events coming up there are awesome pictures
Rachel Casey (00:42:27):
It's going to tell you maybe you can go fly out to Colorado and do one.
Rachel Casey (00:42:30):
We have family in Colorado, so we might have to come stop by.
Colin Casey (00:42:33):
Yeah, we have family in Denver area.
Rachel Casey (00:42:35):
If I can finally get healthy, that would be cool.
Nick Pearson (00:42:38):
Yeah, get healthy and then come out to Denver.
Nick Pearson (00:42:40):
I'll take you guys on a sweet trip.
Rachel Casey (00:42:41):
I was like... Yeah, that'd be so cool.
Rachel Casey (00:42:43):
Our five-year-old would...
Rachel Casey (00:42:45):
be he's the outdoorsy yeah he he rock climbs the big big big ones he loves the
Colin Casey (00:42:51):
indoor rock climb i will have a heart attack that's hard work dude that's hard work
Colin Casey (00:42:56):
it's a good honor good on no he has no and he's also he really likes the two um uh
Colin Casey (00:43:03):
What is it?
Colin Casey (00:43:04):
What do you do when you rappel down?
Colin Casey (00:43:06):
Yeah.
Colin Casey (00:43:07):
And he really likes it.
Colin Casey (00:43:08):
And I took him to one place.
Colin Casey (00:43:09):
And when he got to the top and it was time to belay, they lowered him down really slowly.
Colin Casey (00:43:14):
And he got down.
Colin Casey (00:43:15):
He's like, that was really slow, Dad.
Colin Casey (00:43:19):
Mad at the person who let him down because he wanted it faster.
Colin Casey (00:43:22):
Yeah.
Colin Casey (00:43:22):
I was like, I don't want to tell you.
Rachel Casey (00:43:25):
yeah uh evan he he's definitely an alcoholic like i'll go ahead and and he is uh he
Rachel Casey (00:43:33):
never one is not enough for this child like of anything well he's got some good
Rachel Casey (00:43:37):
parents there so all or nothing yeah well we've we tell him you know mommy and
Rachel Casey (00:43:41):
daddy don't drink anymore and we don't have alcohol because colin's parents do
Rachel Casey (00:43:46):
drink and yeah we explain you know
Rachel Casey (00:43:50):
I never thought I'd have to explain to my son.
Rachel Casey (00:43:51):
I thought he'd always know what a bottle of Jameson would look like because that was our life.
Rachel Casey (00:43:56):
It's almost his name.
Rachel Casey (00:43:57):
We were going to name him Jameson after Jameson.
Rachel Casey (00:44:00):
And, you know, thank God we went with Evan.
Nick Pearson (00:44:03):
So that was our secret bootleg drink we like to have from Evan.
Rachel Casey (00:44:08):
Well, we thought Jameson Casey sounded like a good name.
Rachel Casey (00:44:12):
Yeah.
Rachel Casey (00:44:12):
Evan Casey is so much better.
Rachel Casey (00:44:14):
And yeah.
Rachel Casey (00:44:16):
And again, we're very thankful to be so we're thankful to connect with you.
Rachel Casey (00:44:20):
And if you have any other questions,
Rachel Casey (00:44:23):
I was like,
Rachel Casey (00:44:23):
I'll put everything in the link below so they can contact you if you have any questions.
Rachel Casey (00:44:28):
for any colorado listeners too if you have any grant friends because sober friends
Rachel Casey (00:44:33):
have friends let's let's get sober outdoors to expand and get the connects they
Rachel Casey (00:44:37):
need so that's awesome all right