John talks with Mary Beth O’Connor — retired Federal Administrative Law Judge, author of the book “From Junkie to Judge: One Woman’s Triumph Over Trauma and Addiction,” childhood trauma survivor, addiction overcomer (sober since 1994), board member of the SHE RECOVERS Foundation, trainer, speaker, and wife.

Listen to this episode to learn more:

[00:00] - Intro

[02:06] - Mary Beth’s bio

[04:01] - How childhood abuse led Mary Beth to use drugs at 12

[06:05] - Escalation of her addiction during her teenage years

[07:11] - Negative consequences she experienced

[08:33] - Affording drugs in high school

[09:55] - Deciding to enter rehab at 32

[11:06] - The process of recovery

[13:47] - How anxiety and PTSD impacted her addiction and recovery

[15:54] - Impact of anxiety on while in school

[17:17] - Mary Beth’s recovery journey from the trauma

[18:36] - Societal expectations of instant success

[23:03] - Mary Beth’s recovery plan

[26:05] - Completing college while also pursuing recovery

[26:53] - Going to law school at 39

[28:49] - Her husband’s commitment to their relationship

[31:06] - Mary Beth’s experience at a law firm

[32:48] - What is a Federal Administrative Judge?

[34:15] - Outro

NOTABLE QUOTES:

“The life of having a meth use disorder—it’s not a happy life. It’s pretty miserable. But I knew that I had to deal with my trauma because if I didn’t, I was never going to really be happy.”

“Don’t think about what it’s going to take for you to get out of the building today. Think about what it’s going to take you to get out of this room, and then once you get out of this room, into the hall, and so on.”

“It’s helpful to listen to what worked for other people. It’s helpful to read other ideas because they’re sources of information that may help you. It’s just that you’re the decision-maker.”

“It took a long time and a lot of work for me... It was a lot harder and took much longer for me to recover from the trauma than from my substance use disorder.”

“One of the dangers of our society right now is that everywhere we turn, there are promises of instant success or instant changing of a problem into something that’s great. That’s not reality. If you spend a lifetime tying knots in your rope, you can’t expect to have them all untied just because you took a pill or you went to an hour with some shrink.”

USEFUL RESOURCES:

https://junkietojudge.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-beth-o-connor-8aaa4b121/ 

https://x.com/MaryBethO_ 

https://www.facebook.com/marybeth.holuboconnor/

“From Junkie to Judge: One Woman’s Triumph Over Trauma and Addiction” (https://a.co/d/fBuYR61)

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EPISODE CREDITS

Intro and Outro music provided by Jeff Scheetz - https://jeffscheetz.com/