Rob Best (00:00):
Oh, it feels right. Whatever you want it to be. <laugh>. Yeah. Don’t, don’t tempt to me,
Sevan Matossian (00:07):
<laugh> <laugh>. Um, as I, as I accidentally, uh, I, when I left the podcast, Oh, by the way, hi. Hi, Rob.
Rob Best (00:16):
Hi. Nice to meet you.
Sevan Matossian (00:17):
Nice to meet you too, brother. That’s Caleb down there below in the blue shirt.
Rob Best (00:20):
Yes. Nice to meet you.
Sevan Matossian (00:22):
Um, as I sat down on my computer, I was, uh, the first thing that popped up, uh, was this video from the guest I had on yesterday, and I played it yesterday. But do you care if I just play like 10 seconds of it again? It’s just
Rob Best (00:35):
No, please do. I, I watched that video, uh, this morning.
Sevan Matossian (00:38):
I just love this guy. I just love the shit he says. This is just so good.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Hi everyone. I came to America with nothing but a simple dream. A dream to leave my mark on the world. America owed me nothing except the freedom to chart my own path. Along the way, I met two types of people, those who believed in their own potential and made the choices necessary to achieve their dreams. And those who believed they had no choices.
Sevan Matossian (01:06):
Ah, God. He’s good.
Rob Best (01:09):
Yep.
Sevan Matossian (01:10):
God, he’s good.
Rob Best (01:11):
I thought you were referencing a, like your podcast from yesterday, so. No.
Sevan Matossian (01:15):
Oh, that, that was, that was yesterday, wasn’t it?
Rob Best (01:18):
Was that in there?
Sevan Matossian (01:20):
I think so.
Rob Best (01:21):
Okay. Yeah. I I might have missed that part.
Sevan Matossian (01:24):
Who, who else did I have on yesterday? Did I do two podcasts yesterday?
Rob Best (01:27):
Well, maybe I’m just getting ’em wrong. I, the, the, the guy that was, uh, I forget his name, The dude who was talking about you like meditation and, and that
Sevan Matossian (01:38):
Oh, oh, oh, Scott. Sure. Two days ago. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Well, you’re, you’re more up to date than my wife. My wife’s talking to me about podcasts I did a month ago.
Rob Best (01:48):
Right.
Sevan Matossian (01:49):
<laugh>, how can, how could anyone keep up?
Rob Best (01:52):
It’s true. You do put out a lot of content. <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (01:56):
Hey, I like this, Um, this setup. So you’re in your office and then behind you is,
Rob Best (02:02):
Yeah, this is my living room, actually. This is where I live. I just have a giant sign in my, in my living room now. This is, uh, the Barb Safe Project Gym. Um, this is our own standalone, uh, CrossFit facility, uh, in Phoenix, Arizona.
Sevan Matossian (02:17):
Uh, this is different than Hammer, CrossFit.
Rob Best (02:19):
Yeah. I also own Hammer, CrossFit Central, which is, uh, about a half a mile away from this location.
Sevan Matossian (02:26):
Okay. Wow. Um, what is, uh, Barbell saved Barbell Saves?
Rob Best (02:32):
So, Barbell Saves Project is a nonprofit. We are a CrossFit affiliate. We offer free CrossFit classes for anyone that is in recovery from drug or alcohol abuse.
Sevan Matossian (02:43):
Uh, are you affiliated with the Phoenix guys?
Rob Best (02:46):
Nope, but I, I mean, we, we would consider ourselves like community partners. They’ve moved into Arizona and started to kind of, uh, setting up their program here. And we’re, we’re good friends with, uh, with that, with that company.
Sevan Matossian (02:59):
Right. But they, but they don’t own you. You’re not like a, um,
Rob Best (03:03):
Nobody owns you.
Sevan Matossian (03:04):
One of those bottled waters that Coca-Cola owns.
Rob Best (03:07):
No.
Sevan Matossian (03:08):
Wow. That, um, That’s crazy. I had, I I, this is gonna be great. I had no idea. How long do you have to be sober before you can step in there?
Rob Best (03:19):
Uh, 48 hours. Actually, that’s taken directly from the Phoenix. We actually asked them for some advice and some help, and it’s just an arbitrary, uh, you know, line in the sand that says, Hey, you know, if we ask you at the front door, you look high or drunk, you got 48 hours, dude. And, you know, <laugh>, that’s just kind of the bar that we set, uh, to, to, to allow for just about anybody to, to come on in. But obviously it allows us to, you know, if someone looks like they’re really intoxicated or struggling, uh, to, to say, Hey, you know, we do ask that someone’s got 48 hours. Um, why don’t you just come back when you’re, when you’re clean, and we can maybe help find them a resource or, or something like that in the moment. Uh, but for the most part, you know, we’ve, we’ve serviced a thousand clients and we haven’t had any issues like that yet. So
Sevan Matossian (04:07):
If, um, uh, did you ever have a substance abuse problem?
Rob Best (04:10):
Yeah, so I’m, I’m 10 years, uh, in July 16th, uh, clean. So, uh, yeah, I mean, I was, I was a, an an alcoholic and a hard user as a team, just a, an athlete that partied a lot. And then in my twenties, I started, uh, I got addicted to opiates via just painkillers. So recreational use, the, a girl that I was dating had a prescription for like, Vicodin. And, you know, I, I had no idea. I was super ignorant and naive. I, I didn’t understand that, you know, someone like me who, you know, drank four, five nights a week to black out, um, but had no physical dependency on alcohol. Uh, I also would use like recreational drugs like cocaine, hallucinogenics, like, all that kind of stuff. Again, I never developed a physical dependency. And so that bottle of Percocet or Vicodin, whatever we had there, we had, you know, like a hundred count. I did that for, I don’t know, like two weeks straight working at McDonald’s, you know? And I was like, Damn, this stuff is amazing. I have been wasting my time with alcohol every night with a hang on,
Sevan Matossian (05:23):
<laugh>, you’re a winner, so you’re a winner.
Rob Best (05:26):
I was like, This is it. Like, dude, all I need is bottles and bottles of prescription drugs, <laugh>, and I’m set for life. So, you know, then two weeks into that, uh, we run out and this insatiable insanity like overcomes me. And I’m like, Absolutely not. Everything needs to stop. I am freaking the fuck out and I’m gonna go get drugs <laugh>. Cause I’m
Sevan Matossian (05:53):
Losing those exact same ones.
Rob Best (05:55):
Uh, no, I just went and I went and upgraded to, uh, like a higher dosage. Like these, uh, they’re called perk thirties or Oxy eighties. This is back, you know, 15, almost 18 years ago, right? Yeah. Right. When we’re starting to see what we now look back on as like the opioid epidemic, right? Where Uhhuh, the doctors are overprescribing, you know, oxy and perks and all of this stuff, like at an incredible level. So drug dealers, like, uh, the people I associated with were out there, like pre on old women that were getting overprescribed these medications, uh, to buy the excess to sell back to people, right? So, like, how
Sevan Matossian (06:38):
A little side money for grandma, a little side hustle.
Rob Best (06:41):
She doesn’t take it, We’ll take off your hand for $1,200, we’ll turn around on the street and sell ’em for three to $5,000, but at the same time, so I start doing that hustle.
Sevan Matossian (06:50):
So you were an entrepreneur too, at the time?
Rob Best (06:52):
I was Arun <laugh>, I was not, I was, I was only focused on getting high, uh, because I was so weak. Like, I couldn’t tolerate that feeling of withdrawal. Uh, so
Sevan Matossian (07:04):
I wanna just stop you one second, uh, and go back. Can I, um, can I be addicted to drugs? And you kept using this word like physical dependency, but could I be addicted to drugs and not, um, like have issues. There’s this like psychological like assessment that you hear with every drug addict. Well, they’re hiding something, or they’re avoiding something, or it’s a coping mechanism. Could it just be that? Like I, um,
Rob Best (07:33):
Yeah, like you’re, you have an insatiable hunger for drugs, <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (07:38):
Well, or, or, I, I, people get mad at me when I say this, but like, if I, uh, it can be 10 o’clock at night and I want some alcohol, and I could just eat, go out in the yard and pick an apple and eat an apple, and that desire for alcohol just completely went away,
Rob Best (07:52):
Right?
Sevan Matossian (07:52):
And, and I’ve had Fred, I’ve talked to, uh, um, years ago I talked to Dave Castro about it. He goes, Hey, dude, you were just chasing the sugar in the carbohydrates and alcohol, and you have the two kind of confused, but there is other times where like, um, uh, a common, a really common thing for me is I get off the podcast and I, and I could just use a drink, right? I mean, I, 99% of the time I don’t, but I just could. I’m just like, Man, a drink sounds good right now and sit outside in my yard and just, But like, does is it, does it, is it always I’m, I’m avoiding something or could I just be just like, like, is it ok, So like nicotine and then it just compiles on top of each other. So like, I used to do nicotine, and at first it’s just to get rid of a little stress. And then next thing you know, I’m smoking a cigarette to any time, any problem comes up, stop my toe, smoke a cigarette, gotta go to work, smoke a cigarette hungry, smoke a cigarette. Did I just use it to just fill every void? That’s
Rob Best (08:44):
Right. That’s right. Okay. That’s why there’s no, there is no line, like, the line itself for where did I break into physical dependency or like full blown addiction. When does that occur? What day did that happen for me? When will that happen for you? Like, we don’t know. Everyone is different. Big surprise. You can’t generalize this stuff. Like you are, let’s say that you do drink after every single podcast, and let’s say that you were doing only one podcast a day, then you increase and
Sevan Matossian (09:11):
It’s in the morning. By the way, the thing that’s weird is it’s like eight 30 and I’m like, you know, I could really just have Titos and soda right now, and it’d be just a chill, right?
Rob Best (09:18):
<laugh>. So let’s say you just start doing that seven days a week in the morning, and now let’s say you stop doing the podcast, and now when you wake up, you just drink anyway, <laugh>. Yeah. You’re just like, well, podcast. And that’s kind of what happened to people during the pandemic, right? I was all these like, uh, professionals especially, and this is, this is my own, um, experience with some of my friends and family is you’ve got these, um, they’re high achievers, they’re professionals. They’re working there nine to five and making a good living. They’ve usually come home, had a few drinks, played with their kids, gone to bed, business as usual. Now all of a sudden they’re working remote and 10 o’clock rolls around. They’re like, We got shit to do. <laugh>. So we start drinking a little bit earlier and a little bit earlier and a little bit more frequently. And then it’s like, dude, I, I think I have a drinking problem like a
Sevan Matossian (10:05):
Year. Yeah. I would crack a, I would crack a kombucha, um, at eight 30 in the morning, and I would hear my wife yell from bedroom, Are you fucking kidding me? During the pandemic? I’d be like, Nope, I’m not kidding you.
Rob Best (10:16):
<laugh>. So, yeah. So I mean, that’s, that’s such an interesting, like, conversation that doesn’t get talked about enough is where is that line? And that’s what happens. Like, right, is like, I’m a teenager. I, I come from a, a really solid family. Good mom and dad, been married over 50 years. My brothers are 10 and 12 years older than me. They’re both, uh, very successful welljust to human beings. And I’m coming up as the baby and the family, and I’m pretty wild. I’m, I’m athletic and you know, in my teens, I think what my parents are witnessing is like, like he’s super social. He loves to be the center of attention. He wants to party. That’s cool. He’s gonna grow out of that. You know? And I didn’t <laugh> instead of growing out of it, it progressed, It got worse until it got to a point where I was fucked. Like, I mean, I was
Sevan Matossian (11:06):
Like, you’re chasing that. You’re chasing that instead of it being kind of an accessory to life. Oh man,
Rob Best (11:12):
I was the partier. Like, I was having a fun fucking time from eighth grade. The first time I black out. Like, it was always about,
Sevan Matossian (11:19):
Wow, eighth grade.
Rob Best (11:19):
Eighth grade I drank a bottle of cut shark. And uh, it was just gin from
Sevan Matossian (11:25):
The back. Oh my god, God gin.
Rob Best (11:27):
Oh, my dad found me. My dad pulls up to the house as I’m riding my bike with a buddy drunk, and I ke over in the street and I’m out, and my dad has to pick me up and bring me in the house. And again, coming from the background that we came up in, like, you know, in the eighties and, and things like that, they were, it was probably half funny to them, you know? And where today maybe parents would be far more alarmed than they were back then, you know? Um, I was recreationally drinking with the family probably at 15, like going down to Rocky Point in Mexico, uh, getting a fake ID and, and drinking and having fun at 15, 16 years old. Um, so I was always, for me, it wasn’t necessarily about like filling some void about, I had like some traumatic childhood experience, which is a lot in a lot of cases that that’s absolutely a good reason to, to have a problem, um, justifiable at least. But in my case, that’s, I just wanted to fucking party. I wanted to feel, and that led to like all these other behaviors that would co consequently cause me so many issues. I just didn’t know it. Right.
Rob Best (12:32):
Cheating on girls, right? Like, I’d have a great, great girlfriend get the, you know, captain of the cheerleading team, but I cheat on her all the time with all of her friends. I was that person.
Sevan Matossian (12:41):
Because you were intoxicated? Just
Rob Best (12:43):
Because I was intoxicated, because I was impulsively chasing a good,
Sevan Matossian (12:46):
Because you were handsome and had a nice body boom. Because you didn’t wanna be selfish with your body.
Rob Best (12:51):
No, I wanted everyone to experience it.
Sevan Matossian (12:53):
Yes. You’re a good dude. You’re so misunderstood.
Rob Best (12:56):
We are. So, yeah. So my story was not based in like this traumatic upbringing or anything like that. It was like I was someone who was impulsively chasing good feelings, right? I just wanted to be happy today. I couldn’t make any sacrifices for tomorrow. Fuck going to school. I’d rather get high in the parking lot. Uh, I was just thinking about it on the way here. I was like, I was a good baseball player. I was thrown off the baseball team like five times in four years,
Sevan Matossian (13:23):
All for, I’m drinking.
Rob Best (13:25):
No, just for my attitude. Like, I was a shitty person. Like I was arrogant. I thought I knew better than everybody. How dare this? Like, JV coach tell me how to ground, like fuel the fucking fly ball. You know, I’m a state champion, <laugh>, go fuck yourself. Right? Right. Well, that arrogance, that ego that was constantly fueling these bad decisions. And I didn’t learn that shit until I was 31 years old, until I got sober. So I did a whole 15 years of just using right hard using, and I’d say about eight years of every single day of my life addicted to a substance, whether that was opiates or crystal meth. And I chased that until they locked me up. And that was in, uh, 2011, I think. I got arrested, uh, in locked up for the first, first time. I had done stints in like county jails and things like that for DUIs and, and all that kind of shit, you know, misdemeanor stuff.
Rob Best (14:22):
Um, this one was, I was really, really, really, really fucked up. And I had been up for days using bath salts, crystal meth and Xanax, and maybe I ran out of Xanax, and that was kind of like the, that was the stabilizer for me. And I was scaring the, the drug acts that I was living with, right. These people and I were doing some really nefarious things, uh, stealing cars, writing fake checks, counterfeiting money, like all that kind of stuff. And they were like, Dude, you’ve lost your fucking mind. So they dropped me off, off on a corner. I’m hallucinating so bad. I’ve got a butcher knife.
Sevan Matossian (14:55):
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Sure, sure. So, so you’re in the house and you’re in a bad spot and they, they think it’s a good idea to drive you and drop you off on a car. Like
Rob Best (15:05):
Yeah, they think, they think that I,
Sevan Matossian (15:08):
My dad does that to squirrels. He catches
Rob Best (15:10):
To them <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (15:11):
So my dad catches squirrels in his yard and then in a cage, and then drives him like 20 miles away and drops ’em off. That’s
Rob Best (15:18):
Exactly
Sevan Matossian (15:18):
Like, fuck you get outta here, <laugh>. That’s what they did. You?
Rob Best (15:22):
Yep.
Sevan Matossian (15:23):
I I was, Oh my goodness. They
Rob Best (15:25):
Were like, Yep, nope, he’s lost it. He’s unstable. Let’s coerce him into the back of a car. Let’s drive him far away and then leave him on a corner. Wow. So they did. And, uh,
Sevan Matossian (15:34):
How did, and you had the butcher knife in your hand from the house?
Rob Best (15:36):
Yeah, actually I didn’t, I don’t know why I must have let it go, but that was the story I was told was that I had it. Yeah. And I was basically called on because I had climbed a tree in a neighborhood. True story. I can remember the hallucination as if it was real. And I thought that the, the entire ground was shaking, that lava was spewing out of the cracks. Um, and I needed to get away from that. So I climbed up a tree, like a big ass tree. I also was thinking that I had my, at that time he was probably like three years old. I had a three year old son, and I was terrified for him. So I was like, full on like Lion King, hallucinating at the top of a tree holding out this, uh, imaginary child. When the cops are like, Sir, you need to come down from there, <laugh>.
Rob Best (16:25):
And so I get arrested, I spend the night in jail, still hallucinating. I’m, I’m listening to the toilet because it’s talking to me. Um, I go in front of a judge in the morning. There’s a whole, they, they separate me from the group. Uh, they still don’t actually assess that I’m having these severe hallucinations and troubles. I’m then brought into a courtroom with the other people who were arrested the night before. You’re basically getting like a sentence and like, this is what’s gonna happen. Here’s what happens next. We go into the room, It’s white walled, white tile, you know, there’s the judge at the top. There’s all metal benches and rolling handcuffs. And I, my mind again, hallucinating, goes directly to gas chamber. And I’m like, They’re gonna gas chamber me <laugh>. And
Sevan Matossian (17:09):
I was like, Why are the drugs so strong? Why, why after 24 hours you haven’t come down?
Rob Best (17:14):
I
Sevan Matossian (17:15):
For 12 hours,
Rob Best (17:15):
I honestly had nothing to do with it. It had a lot to do with drugs, but I’d also probably been awake for six days.
Sevan Matossian (17:22):
Oh, okay. Okay. So
Rob Best (17:24):
I was on crystal meth and bath salt, and I, and I hadn’t slept in a long time. This wasn’t the first time that this happened. This happens to me every time I do crystal meth. Um, I go and I’ll stay up for days on end. Yeah. And then it gets really out of control until I pass out and I get some sleep, and then I get up and the cycle starts over again. So, for all intents and purposes, this is pretty much like just business as usual. Only this time I ended up in jail. And so I think I’m getting gas chambered and I bolt. So I try to escape the gas chamber. I jail. Um, that doesn’t go well. They cattle prod me, they slam me into the ground. They split my head open. But in that, uh, buffle, I, I strike one of the officers with my handcuffs and, you know, put ’em in the emergency room.
Rob Best (18:13):
So now I’ve got, you know, all these felonies for dangerous drug possession and an assault on a police officer. Uh, and that really sets in motion. Uh, it’s, it’s a godsend to be honest. Uh, it was, it’s those officers that arrested me that day that saved my life. It is those officers that, uh, called my dad that night after that incident when I was back locked up. And I kind of came to, I slept. And they had an honor, an opportunity to meet the real me that they were like, Dude, your son’s a a like a a straight shooter. He’s a good kid. Uh, this is, this is a pretty just fucked up situation that we got. And we just wanted to get him help. And so I spend a week there locked up, and then they send me to rehab. And it’s my first time going to like a 30 day inpatient rehab where you, you know, you sleep every day there.
Rob Best (19:00):
And so I learned some skills. I learned some shit about myself. It’s the first time that I’m like, Oh my God, I, I, I can see now the mistakes that I’ve been making. Like it wasn’t the drugs that were the problem. It was me, <laugh>. It was these, it was that ego and that, you know, that, uh, arrogance that was always getting you into trouble. That, that unwillingness to like, make a sacrifice for future. You, you know, always live in this bullshit. Like one day at a will in my life as if it’s the last day I’m gonna have. So I might as well fucking throw myself a party. And so I get out and, uh, I’m sober for like three months. I meet a girl, we show up to a restaurant, she pulls a bottle of Bobcat out of her purse. And I’m like, All right, let’s do it. And so I relapse. We start drinking. I’m sitting at the bar with this girl, and then all of a sudden insatiable urge to do meth comes over me. So I tell her I’m going to the bathroom. Instead of going to the bathroom, I get in the car, I leave and I go,
Sevan Matossian (20:03):
Oh shit. And
Rob Best (20:04):
I go to a dope house and I spend the next six months there. I violate my probation and I get locked up again. And this time, um, you know, I break down on crying cuz I haven’t been sober for six months. Right. And the judge, you know, I spent a month in isolation. Um, probably the best it was, it was very emotionally painful.
Sevan Matossian (20:24):
Describe that to me. A month in isolation. What’s that look like? You, you just get out an hour a day in the yard or,
Rob Best (20:28):
Yeah, so no. So like, um, so because I had that, that uh, assault against a police officer that, uh, that doesn’t go well for you, for anybody listening. Like, that’s bad. You don’t want to do that. So when I show up now six months later,
Sevan Matossian (20:44):
Well, you can now that was, that was then now you can do whatever you want to cops, right? You get, you get a, you get invited to the White House if you, uh, spit on a cop,
Rob Best (20:53):
Right? Right. So
Sevan Matossian (20:55):
I couldn’t resist.
Rob Best (20:56):
I show up and they, they slap uh, they put colored bands on your wrists here in Phoenix Jail, um, to kind of like designate like house of severe of a criminal are we dealing with here? And they put the most severe band on me, a red band. And the guy who pulls me off puts me immediately in an isolation room where I spend like 24 hours there. And he’s like, comes in after 24 hours and he is like, this is gonna be bad for you. You know? And from now, from what I understand, it’s like, you know, you striking an officer here is gonna cost you now that you’re back. And so they take me up to a legit, like, this is where the worst or the worst are. It’s a really, really isolated, like if the shower is in my cell, there is no, there’s concrete, uh, bed. They don’t give me sheets or anything soft to lay on. Uh, probably for like a week. I don’t see a human face for, I don’t know, three weeks.
Sevan Matossian (21:51):
And so wow.
Rob Best (21:52):
I’m in there freaking out detoxing. And also I’ve got those tools that they got me in rehab to evaluate myself and I’m lost it. You know? Now I’m just in that like loathing self pity. I’m this horrible father. I’m this horrible son. I’m a terrible brother. I’m embarrassment to my family. Yeah. You know, I’m just living in it and no one’s showing up to see me anymore. Right. So it’s over.
Sevan Matossian (22:19):
Yeah.
Rob Best (22:19):
Best thing that ever happened to me, the judge then, instead of sending me to, to the year automatic that I was gonna serve in prison for the violation, she’s like, they, the people from the rehab, my brother’s there, uh, he has a buddy that’s a judge, like everyone’s writing in saying like, give him, give him one more chance. The judge, uh, God bless her, she, she goes, You got one more chance. We’re gonna arrest you to rehab. We’re gonna arrest you to the outpatient three months after that. So if you don’t show up for this shit, you are immediately in violation and you’re gonna be serving some severe prison time for that. Right. For that. So backed with that, backed with my, uh, the support of my family and such, I, I go back to that exact same rehab. I was just there nine months before I do my 30 days. And this time I’m like, fuck it. Whatever you guys tell me to do, I’ll do. I’m not gonna resist that at all.
Sevan Matossian (23:10):
When you went to rehab the first time, do they tell you, um, watch out for a hot chick with vodka bottle in purse? They would tell you
Rob Best (23:17):
A hundred percent. The hot chick with the vodka bottle was in my rehab with me. Like we met there.
Sevan Matossian (23:22):
Oh, awesome. Awesome. Hundred percent. Yeah. Fucking, I love it. <laugh>. I fucking love it. Uh, hey, that must be the craziest thing at Yeah. At rehab, I would think, like you can’t have the boys and girls together. Like what a great, um, supplement, uh, just shitloads of sex, uh, when you’re getting off a 10 year bender. Just like, well I gotta do something.
Rob Best (23:50):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (23:51):
Wow.
Rob Best (23:52):
That’s a whole rabbit hole.
Sevan Matossian (23:53):
Yeah. Are
Rob Best (23:57):
You? So now I’m like, Dude, I’ll just do whatever it takes. And, and I’m ironically enough, I fall in love again while I’m there. <laugh>. So I
Sevan Matossian (24:06):
In rehab, in rehab again. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Of
Rob Best (24:09):
Course I did. Yeah. And this time though, uh, I’ll say that because I took the advice of wiser people than me, it ended up being an opportunity for me to find out what it was like to have a mature relationship with a, with the opposite sets. So imagine if you were my sponsor, right? You’re, you’re already like, wow, this is a bad idea. But I
Sevan Matossian (24:32):
Know, and as a sponsor that I’m someone who’s been sober for 10 years and is like supposed to be there for you 24 hours a day in case some shit gets sideways for you. Right. Okay. Right.
Rob Best (24:40):
So Yeah. Or the counselor’s there, right? Like, they’ve been down this road before, man, fuck, they work there, They watch this shit happen all the time. So they’ve got some good
Sevan Matossian (24:48):
Strategies. Yeah. It’s textbook shit, right? Yeah. It’s textbook, right. I, I think I, I have all my friends who’ve gone to rehab that I feel like that’s what happens. They go, if they don’t meet someone in rehab, then like at some, they go to some, a year later they go on some retreat somewhere and like Colorado with like 5,000 addicts and, and they end up meeting someone there.
Rob Best (25:08):
A hundred percent. I mean it’s like the first and most prominent reason why we go back out to that lifestyle is always sex
Sevan Matossian (25:17):
<laugh>. It’s Oh, okay. Yeah. That too. Yeah, sure.
Rob Best (25:19):
I’m sorry. It’s always cause we fall in love, right?
Sevan Matossian (25:21):
I mean, it’s a high arousal stimulus. It’s a treat just like a fucking line of coke. Right?
Rob Best (25:26):
A hundred percent. So you can see why
Sevan Matossian (25:28):
That, but in your naked body against someone else’s is, is fun. It’s just if, if you don’t think that something’s wrong with you, you’re wired wrong.
Rob Best (25:35):
Yeah. So again, like that comes naturally to us. And um, and there’s nothing wrong with that. What’s wrong with it is our, our, like all the systems that we have set up for, like why, like Right. We’re not analyzing it. Like, hey, you can’t just, you know, act on these like primitive emotions all the time. So you have to have some self control around this type of situation. So they tell me like, I can’t, I can’t communicate with her now at the end of this stint that we’re doing in rehab. And I say, Okay, so we don’t, and she plays along too. She’s gonna be mature too. And then when we get out, they’re like, you guys are both gonna live in sober livings. Right? Which means that she goes and lives, uh, in a structured environment with other women who are going through the same thing led by counselors right now she’s gonna spend the next three months in a sober living environment and so am I.
Rob Best (26:24):
And while we’re there, we’re also not going to meet up and we’re not going to communicate. They let us text each other. So they set some ground rules. We both agree we’re gonna stick and adhere to these ground rules. So three months go by and this is how we behave. And then we have an opportunity to meet up afterwards. And we do do and we date. And you know what we figure out? We’re, we’re, we’re really probably not made for each other. Uh, and that’s okay. Um, I think you’re wonderful and I think, uh, you know, you really helped me through this really difficult time and you kind of helped me to have like, what was my first real mature relationship and I wish she the best. She says the same to me and that girl is still sober today and so am I. Oh that’s, And so we go on to have another relationship, Right. I’ll go on and have another relationship and I’ll try to behave in that same way because I had so much success. This is the first time I’ve ever dated somebody who at the end of it, she doesn’t hate me.
Sevan Matossian (27:21):
Wow. Yeah, yeah,
Rob Best (27:23):
Yeah. So I do it again and again. And that’s kind of, you know, that’s kind of like the model for how do you change someone’s psyche? Like how do you change someone’s behaviors? Um, it’s, it’s through positive experiences like you, if you, if you want me to change some ill behavior that I have, you know, help me to see, I gotta have it first the positive way and then I gotta see that that is better than the way I used to do it. Cuz the way I used to do it was lying and manipulating and it caused me all this stress and anguish even if I didn’t realize it. But man, the way of living that I used to have was so exhausting compared to the, the person I am today. Like, I really strive for like honesty, integrity, like character, like I really do. And it’s not because I’m a fucking good person. It’s not cause I’m a nice person at all. I’m not. My wife will tell you, but it’s because that way of life is far, far less stressful and painful than like,
Sevan Matossian (28:16):
Hey, it’s, I don’t understand why anyone ever buys a pit bull. It’s, it’s a great dog. It’s a sweet dog. I understand. They’re so well, they’re so loyal. I I fully get it. Yeah. But do you know how much stress that dog adds to your life? Because unlike a chihuahua that bites is the, is the most biting dog in the United States. It bites you and it runs away when you’re, when your pit bull finally decides to snap it, it, there is no, it it’s not, it’s it’s always going for the kill shot. Right. It’s always gonna shake the fucking victim to it’s death. All my friends who’ve had pit bulls, I’m like, dude, it’s crazy. Added stress to your life. I bet you Caleb has one. You have a pit bull on Caleb.
Rob Best (28:53):
Oh,
Sevan Matossian (28:53):
I have a border Col.
Rob Best (28:55):
It’s already,
Sevan Matossian (28:56):
Yeah, that dog Jacob Hener has fucking Jacob Corgie. Yeah. Corgie low stress dog. First of all, your jackass if you have a dog, I have two. Like, why the fuck did you get a dog? But just, it’s just unnecessary stress. But if you get one, then you get one that you’re like, have to be on edge, it’s gonna bite someone. That’s what it must have been like hanging out with you back in the day when you were fucking level 10. Yeah. It must have been so stressful. You pull up to the house, everyone’s like, fuck, he’s here in a stolen car, You know, <laugh>. Well, yeah. I mean, I’m in the bathroom just trying to enjoy some coke. Yep. And you pull up in a stolen car with the cops following you
Rob Best (29:32):
<laugh>. No.
Sevan Matossian (29:33):
Yeah. You suck as a friend.
Rob Best (29:35):
I did. I mean, I would, I mean, yeah, I’m, I’m like my buddies that I, that I’m friends with now, they weren’t all like me, you know, I, I really veered off the path. And, uh, when I would get connected with them, like they would bring me up for like a camping trip up north to like a fancy cabin or something. And they’ll tell you like, fucking robs in the back seat, blacked out at eight o’clock in the morning on the right up snoring, like.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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