If you haven’t caught the latest episode of People’s Party, then you’re missing out on some seriously deep conversation between Talib Kweli and Dax Shepard, in which two longtime friends cover everything from Detroit gentrification to their shared love of Raising Arizona. Near the end of the podcast, Dax discusses his 15 years of sobriety and drops the hard truth that his life would look very different had he not stepped away from cocaine.
“Well,” he says, “I wouldn’t have a family without sobriety first and foremost. Bell would’ve never signed up for the old version of me.”
He also speaks to how his sobriety has awakened a part of his life he never thought he’d get back — that sheer love of life that feels exclusive to childhood.
“If I could isolate like the reward of sobriety… when I was 12-years-old, I woke up and it was game on. It was fucking party time… everything was on fire, I was thrilled to be on planet Earth. And then I discovered getting fucked up which was awesome for 10 years but that 12-year-old fire, that passion to be alive… I just thought if I could ever get back to the point where when I walk out my door I’m thrilled to go on an adventure with nothing in me but oatmeal? That’s the goal, and I can honestly say for about the last seven years, I’m on fire to be alive.”
Another thing we really appreciate about the guy is he doesn’t make us casual drug-takers and occasional psychedelic warriors feel like shit for wanting to partake.
“I’m the most pro-drugs and alcohol sober person you’d meet,” Shepard says. “I don’t think anyone should leave planet Earth without doing mushrooms and ecstasy. I hope my children do mushrooms when they get older. I hope they not do cocaine because that, in my experience, will make you not allowed to do all the other things.”
That has to be the most empathetic take on drug use from a former addict we’ve ever heard, but we’re not that surprised to hear it from Dax. The dude is just chill, check out how he defends his wife’s occasional recreational drug use.
https://twitter.com/daxshepard/status/1042494423349702656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Dax’s comments on sobriety begin at the 56-minute mark, but be sure to check out the full interview for more gems as the two friends chop it up.