18. The Surprising Similarities between Surfing and Addiction

In this episode, I dive into a discussion with author Thad Ziolkowski about the interesting and unexpected parallels between surfing and addiction, and his discoveries from his new book The Drop: How the Most Addictive Sport Can Help Us Understand Addiction and Recovery. Thad explains why it makes sense that he turned back to his first love - surfing - to get away from an unsustainable life of alcohol and drugs, the importance of finding joy to fill the void where addiction once lived - even finding healthier addictions - and how others can use similar tools to do the same.

Thad Ziolkowski is the author of the memoir On a Wave, which was a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award in 2003, and Wichita, a novel. His essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Slate, Bookforum, Artforum, Travel & Leisure and Interview Magazine. He has a PhD in English Literature from Yale University and is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is the Associate Director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the Graduate Center, CUNY.

You can be one of the first to get a copy of Thad’s book The Drop: How the Most Addictive Sport Can Help Us Understand Addiction and Recovery, releasing July 6th.

I’m also obsessed with knowing all about you, so please follow (and DM!) me on Instagram, Facebook and my website. We’re in this together and the journey is going to be so awesome.

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