Going in Blind with Zach Tidwell
Going in Blind with Zach Tidwell
Podcast Description
Curiosity is currency. It’s been an ever-present force in my life, carrying me to my highest highs and through my lowest lows. I’ve always needed to know how things work, but as I’ve grown older the lens of that wonder has widened. Going in Blind is a vessel for exploring that curiosity together.So join me as I dive into all of it— from speaking with builders, thought leaders and revolutionaries, to discussing stories of hard-earned accolades and harder-learned lessons each week.New episodes drop every Monday, along with the first Friday of each month.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast explores themes of curiosity, personal growth, resilience, and diverse human experiences. Episodes have included discussions with individuals from journalism, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and nonprofit sectors, addressing topics like creative pursuits, overcoming adversity, and the therapeutic aspects of outdoor activities.
Cultivate your curiosity. It’s one of the most undervalued currencies we have.
Going in Blind is where Zach Tidwell sits down with scientists, military operators, entrepreneurs, athletes, authors, researchers, and people with extraordinary stories to explore the ideas, experiences, and perspectives that shape their lives.
Every conversation is an opportunity to see the world through someone else’s eyes—not that Zach will be able to see it; he’s completely blind. But his own experiences, from serving in the Marines to skiing, rock climbing, whitewater kayaking, entrepreneurship, and competing in martial arts without sight, have given him a unique perspective from which to explore the lives and ideas of his guests.
Families of people struggling with addiction often do everything out of love: bailing them out, paying the rent, trying harder and harder to fix it. After four decades of working with addiction, Dr. Michael Barnes has reached a difficult conclusion: those loving solutions can become part of the problem.
Dr. Barnes is a licensed marriage and family therapist, author of “When the Solution Becomes the Problem,” and a former professor at the University of Colorado Denver. Over 40 years in the field, he has worked with families at every stage of addiction, from those facing it for the first time to those who have organized their entire lives around it for generations.
In this conversation, we explore the part of addiction that rarely gets talked about: what it does to everyone around the person who is using. We look at why “just stop enabling” feels shaming when no one teaches families how, how transgenerational trauma shapes what feels “normal” at home, and why many people who started using young need habilitation, not rehabilitation. Along the way, Zach shares his own experience with alcoholism, rehab, and the guilt and shame that fuel the cycle.
Those lessons now shape Dr. Barnes’ trauma-integrated approach to family programming, where the whole family heals together: learning to manage fear, rebuild boundaries, and move from codependency to prodependency.
00:00 Podcast Intro
01:26 Meet Dr. Michael Barnes
06:24 What Is Transgenerational Trauma?
11:36 How Families Organize Around Addiction
13:50 Why “Just Stop Enabling” Feels Like “Just Say No”
19:28 The Family Mobile: How Addiction Affects Siblings
25:33 Rehabilitation vs. Habilitation
33:44 Sober, But Emotionally 15
38:15 Addiction as a Chronic Disease
40:50 What Is a “Family in Recovery”?
48:39 The Two-Second Test
54:27 Codependency vs. Prodependency
58:16 The Basketball & Tennis Ball Analogy
1:03:26 There Is No Such Thing as an Unmotivated Family
1:04:40 When Dr. Barnes’ Son Was Hit by a Car
1:15:31 How Addiction Treatment Has Changed in 40 Years
1:24:43 Where to Find Dr. Barnes
Learn more about Dr. Barnes and his work: https://www.drmikebarnes.com/
Want To Know More About Zach
Website: zachtidwell.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556533676388
Instagram: @ZachCTidwell
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-tidwell-9076852ab/
X: @ZachCTidwell Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/going-in-blind-with-zach-tidwell/id1787306128
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/51IxT43v95otwaXDkyr6FW
#GIB #GoingInBlind #Addiction #Recovery #Codependency #FamilyTherapy #Trauma #MentalHealth
Disclaimer
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