432 A Navy Seal's Story of Sobriety After Shame, Secrets, and Addiction
What happens when the thing that was supposed to save you - the mission, the badge, the identity - becomes the very thing addiction destroys? And what do you do when you are a trained Navy SEAL, built to be a hero, and you cannot even save your own son from a pandemic scare because you are too deep in a three-day meth binge to pick up the phone?
Today I sit down with Dr. Tony Dice - Navy SEAL, PhD, and author of After the Trident: A Navy SEAL's Battle with Secrets, Shame, and Addiction. Dr. Dice spent years serving alongside legends like Jocko Willink, then gave up his SEAL career to protect his drug use - until a moment of devastating clarity brought him to his knees and into treatment.
In this episode you will learn:
- How growing up in extreme isolation with an alcoholic father shaped his addiction before it even started
- Why high performers are especially vulnerable to addiction - and how the same obsessive drive that builds careers can quietly destroy everything they love
- How Tony sold his car to fund his own rehab stay, and what that moment of willingness meant for his recovery
- The holistic change model Dr. Dice discovered in 12-step recovery - and why it maps directly onto proven therapeutic frameworks
- Why gratitude is not just a feeling - it is an action word, and why Tony has it tattooed on his leg next to a handcuff key
So without further delay, please enjoy this episode, and let me know what you think!