Negativity Be Gone! ft. Bruce W. Brackett

Steve welcomes Bruce W Brackett to share his experience, strength, and hope with you, along with advice on getting and staying sober.

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Find Bruce on all the socials @bwb.positivity and follow us while you are at it  @gAyApodcast

If you are interested in sharing your story, getting involved with the show, or just saying hi, please e-mail me at gayapodcast@gmail.com 

Transcript

Steve: 0:03

Hi everyone, and welcome to gAy A, a podcast about sobriety for the GBT plus community and our allies. I'm your host, Steve Bennett. Martin. I am an alcoholic and addict, and I am grateful for developing more of an in-person sober community. Recently, as of this recording, I'm 793 days sober, and today we're welcoming a guest to share their experience, wisdom, and hope with you. I had the pleasure of getting to know this amazing human being at this year's Gay and Sober Men's Conference. They truly live by their slogan, negativity Be Gone, and I can't wait for them to share their experience, strength, and hope with you. Welcome Bruce W Bracket.

Bruce: 0:38

Hi Steve and hello everyone at Gay A thank you so much for having me. It is a pleasure to be alive and sober today so that we can do things like this.

Steve: 0:47

Yes. Well, it was a pleasure getting to know you and collaborate with you at the conference, but for those who might not have already been familiar with you, why don't you introduce yourself to everyone?

Bruce: 0:56

It was really lovely to meet you too and to work with you. What a great conference, and I am looking forward to next year. Yeah. Hi everyone. I am Bruce Wayne Bracket. I am a certified motivational speaker overcoming from mental health and addiction diseases. I, myself, have a lot of life experience in overcoming from mental health and addiction diseases. I'm a recovering alcoholic and addict, a grateful, recovering Alcoholic and addict and oh my gosh, it has been a journey. It has been a wild journey trying to figure out how to just navigate my own life and how I want to turn. My life into something that I can pass on to others who are also going through the same thing so that people feel less alone. So that's my overall mission. I'm also a portrait artist as well as a social media influencer. Mm-hmm. I guess you could say. And I am living in Pennsylvania original land of the Lenape, and I am 32 years old and just excited about life.

Steve: 2:02

Excellent. And with life being so exciting, what would you say is your favorite part of being sober today? Everything.

Bruce: 2:10

Everything. Absolutely everything. Without my sobriety, I would have nothing. I think a lot of us in recovery and also just a lot of us who haven't figured out recovery yet and our hearts and, and our. Ability, whatever side of being conscious that is. I think we know that without. Without the progression.'cause progression and sobriety can go both ways. One, the disease itself is very progressive and it just gets worse and worse and worse. But when you start to go onto the road of recovery, it is very progressive and it gets better and better and better. So. Everything is better now. I can look at myself and see light in my eyes. I have gained a unbelievable amount of self-worth and self-love that I didn't think possible for myself for many, many years. And my relationships are flourishing. My career is flourishing. My joy for life and just simple things is absolutely amazing. Everything is so much better on this side.

Steve: 3:21

Excellent. And speaking of it gets better, I know a lot of us struggle with embracing our queerness, but what is your favorite part of being a member of the queer community today?

Bruce: 3:32

What is my favorite thing about being a part of the queer community today? I think I don't really know how to answer that other than by saying, Ooh, don't, don't cancel me, but nothing. Mm-hmm. I think that by being who I am, Is very similar to other people who are not in the career community for them being who they are. And I find that equal. I, I do understand, and I have experienced many, many times in my life that we are a marginalized group. In terms of society, but we're not, we are a part of this world. We are all on this planet together. So I think all of our experiences are equally valuable. I, but I guess to answer your question, I, I just really enjoy who I am and how I have been welcomed into. Into those of their lives of how they've welcomed me and how they have either loved or not understood, but still welcomed me. So I think just being me.

Steve: 4:47

No, I can certainly relate. I know that so many times,'cause I work in senior living, I'll do something like dye my hair purple and everyone's like, oh no, what are the residents gonna say? But whether they believe in queerness or gay rights or anything personally, they're like, that's Steve and he does crazy things with his hair and we love him and they're cooler with it than a lot of other people. So yeah, I definitely think that being accepted for who we are truly is definitely a great thing to experience. Yes.

Bruce: 5:11

I also really realized that that's not a, a very relatable thing for a lot of people in, in our, on our side or who are identifying in similar ways to us. And I hold a lot of love and compassion in my heart for those people. I do understand that I am pretty fortunate in my mindset of where I'm at today, and that took a lot of work, and that is possible for people who don't relate to that yet. That is possible. So I do see you and just keep going. Excellent.

Steve: 5:49

And why don't you share a little bit about what your journey with alcohol and addiction was like?

Bruce: 5:55

Bad it, it was. Yeah, it plain and simple. It was just, it was ugly, it was bad. A lot of war stories overdoses. So when I first introduced myself, reintroduced myself to drugs and alcohol, and I say reintroduced myself because I was born into detox from fetal alcohol effects and from my birth mom doing drugs while I was in youth Row and. So that is where life began for me, and I didn't reintroduce myself to my addictions until I was 16 years old. I ran away from home and went on a, what I loosely call a fuck tour. I was working as a, as a escort, as a prostitute, whatever you wanna call. That. And along with that type of life came the drugs again. And crystal meth was the big one that I really dove into when I was 16. Sure I tried weed first and it, you know, it, that was such a blimp compared to the rest of my drug use. It escalated very quickly and I went in and out of. Different really dangerous situations and crack houses and living on the streets to. Bathing myself. And, and as embarrassing as it might be, although I've kind of accepted it and owned it bathing in public toilet water when I had nowhere else to clean myself and, you know, flush it and do what I needed to do it, it took me to very, very dark places. I was lying to people constantly losing friendships, stealing from people. In, in that regard of, Hurting myself without really realizing I was hurting myself at that time. I just thought I was having fun. The illusion of what the addiction does. I was hurting everyone around me. And overdoses, hospital stays, jails, institutions, the whole thing. It was really, it was

Steve: 8:01

really ugly. And what changed with that, that started you on your path to recovery? I.

Bruce: 8:08

It doesn't always take hitting rock bottom. Mm-hmm. To start to go in the other direction. And for me it was rock bottom after rock bottom after rock bottom. I would hit that bottom and find a trap door, open it and fall even farther into it. And eventually there, there's always been a little light inside of me that. Wanted the truth and wanted something good and wanted to be on Broadway or a star, or to present myself to the world in a beautiful way with a lot of light, and I am so grateful that in spite of everything that I went to, that light didn't. Extinguished there, it was still just barely holding on. And I think at some point, especially with my overdoses and being hospitalized and being diagnosed with different STDs, H I v, acute Hep C pneumonia, and, you know, and just all, everything, syphilis, I mean, every single one I've had and I, I was really sick. And over my crap and just everything that I was doing to myself, I was over the bullshit. Mm-hmm. And that pushed me to a point of surrendering and to really wanting to do the work eventually. So I did, I started, I made the phone calls, got myself into outpatient. Therapy, inpatient rehabs started really diving deep and doing the work. And it was not fun. It was not easy. There were moments of fun and there, there should be moments of fun. You know, it can't always just be this horrible, it's hard type of a thing. But just going with the experience of it and going along for the ride, buckling up and actually doing it honestly really started to push me in a different direction.

Steve: 10:12

Yeah. And I know art is one of your many passions and talents. How has art played like a role in your life as well as your recovery?

Bruce: 10:21

Art is saving grace in my life. When I first sobered up from crystal meth, I had this image come to my mind of this per, oh, well, I can show you actually. Mm-hmm. I, I don't know if you can see this, this face with this like blue hair and it's very washed out. She's very mysterious. She's very dark. This is crystal stuck in the rain. Yeah. And I have painted her so many times. I am a, a. In terms of art, I'm an acrylic portrait artist and I've done many family portraits and animals and memorial portraits and whatnot. But I do a lot of abstract work like that, like crystal stuck in the rain, and it just has become a way of art therapy, a muse. Whenever I have really hard cravings or I'm in a really depressive spot, I turn to the canvas just to get it out of me and. Put it on something that I can let go of and turn it into something beautiful. And it just really reminds me of the pain that I am turning into something beautiful that allows me to continue and get out of my own way. And it's, it's really rewarding to see how that turns and inspires other people when they do see that art. They don't have to buy it, but when they, you know, and obviously when they do, I feel pretty good about it too.'cause it resonates with them in some way that I not only am connected to the art piece, but now I'm connected to them and it, it creates this really awesome bond that is just priceless.

Steve: 12:10

Yeah. Excellent. And speaking of inspiring people, you are also a motivational speaker. What inspired you to take that part path and what has that been like? It's

Bruce: 12:21

been amazing. It's been a really, really awesome experience. I was very young when I started to become inspired to be go down the road of motivational speaking. I didn't know how to do it. I didn't know why or when or all of the things. I didn't really even know what I wanted to talk about, but I. You know, those pep assemblies in school where the, the people come and they don't do drugs and like all of that. I really enjoyed those and I thought that they were a lot of, a lot of fun and inspiring and I. Moving and, you know, a lot of them made me cry. And I just, I knew from my own experience growing up in a really abusive household before I was removed and then adopted and given the life that I'm so blessed to have my. My loving adoptive mom and dad, they're amazing and they've given me everything. But before that time it was really just constantly dark, surrounded by drugs, alcohol, abuse. So I had a lot of trauma to deal with and I, that has followed me Still to this day. I'm working on it and trying to deal with it and whatnot. So I knew that I could shed a little bit of light and hope. Inspiration to other people who are going through something similar in a different way, but something similar. And then I kind of put that dream on a shelf because I wanted to pursue Broadway and being a dancer I went to a dance academy in Montana, so I, and was performing in the community theater. In every production that came that way. So yeah, I had a lot of different dreams going, and so I followed. My dreams to New York City when I was 18 years old back in 2009 and was auditioning all the time and really put all of my energy into that, and there was constant rejection and rejection and it wasn't going well. So I went and became a dancer in the nightlife as a go-go dancer, and that really just took me back into my old habits and reintroduced me to addictions that I thought I had kicked, but did not, and just went down. The spiraling road again. And this final, this final stint of active addiction and then getting out of it, I just, I, I realized that I'm not going to show up and fulfill those dreams and have that light and me get bigger if I just don't start doing it, how many times am I going to allow the excuse of, well, I don't know how to do this. Stop me. My, I'm, I'm in my own way. So eventually I just started researching. I just started looking up like, how can I get certified? I just Googled it, like Google is amazing, you know, I just Googled it and I followed the, the steps and I went to school. I got my education as a certified international motivational speaker, and that propelled me, especially with the success that. I have been so fortunate and granted by the higher powers that be, that the success of my social media platforms taking off and then showing up with my positivity and my inspiration, and then I realized, oh, I'm, I'm actually already doing it. Mm-hmm. I'm already living that dream without even realizing it. And then that hit me, and then it was. Full on. I was like, okay, now I'm going to show up in every capacity and do this. And I've had really amazing speaking engagements with different organizations across the United States. I have a few already booked coming up that I'm very excited to, to show up and participate and share and just hopefully. Even if I touch one person to allow them to see their potential and their worth for them to show up and be their true self, you know, mission accomplished.

Steve: 16:38

Yeah. Well, I mean, in terms of doing events, I can say you had mission accomplished with GSMs meditation workshops. How would you say thank you, meditation's played a role in your recovery?

Bruce: 16:50

Oh, it's a huge part. It's a huge part. I, I know if I,'cause some days I don't wake up and the first thing I do is not a half hour meditation with my singing bowls. Sometimes I wake up, I go outside, I go for a walk, and then life starts. You know, we've got a lot of projects happening and if I miss that meditation or I miss something in my routine, My whole day is just a little wonky, and then I, I have to sit back and be like, okay, did I do this? Did I do, did I meditate today? Did I, did I pray? Did I go for a walk? It's played a huge part. It's honestly where I do my best thinking. Mm-hmm. It's where I can connect to. Power greater than myself. It's where I can recharge. It's where I can push through craving. It's where I can feel safe. It is a fundamental tool. In my recovery, and it doesn't always have to be with the singing bowls. I can just go outside, put my feet on the ground, sit for five minutes and just breathe. But yeah, honestly, it's where I do my best thinking. Mm-hmm. And that in itself can become addictive, but in a healthy way. So it, yeah, it's, it's really beautiful and I wouldn't change it. Yeah,

Steve: 18:18

I can certainly relate. I know that I've learned that meditation similarly doesn't always need to be listening to the playlist or the YouTube video or the, this, that, or the other thing. And it can just be having those couple moments of like peace and clarity. Yeah. And self-reflection. So with that, you mentioned how that as part of your routine that kind of helps keep you sober and so positive. What else is part of your rou wellness routine?

Bruce: 18:42

Well Showing up. Mm-hmm. Showing up for myself, showing up for others. Having a a, a discipline to be consistent. That takes practice. That does not happen overnight. That takes a lot of practice and meditation, obviously, like you just said, it doesn't have to be sitting down and listening to the audio or doing a movement meditation. There's so many different types of meditation. Just going for a walk is movement meditation. Station. Tai Chi is very meditative doing something. Repe painting brush throats is meditative. You know, knitting a garment is meditative. That, that's a talent I don't do. But for those of you who do it, kudos going to bed early, going to bed early without staring at blue light like your phone or the tv. Turn the TV off, turn your phone off an hour before you are like, okay, I'm going to bed. Mm-hmm. Reading, reading a book, reading different articles, stimulating your, your mind and your brain eating well as well as you can. I love me some cookies, like, you know, like but eating well, staying so hydrated. By the way, here's a cup of love. It is water. Mm-hmm. So staying hydrated. Key. Key. Key, yes. Yes. Stay hydrated. Water, I think is the secret of life. Not only do you need to have water and stay hydrated, but your brain actually craves the vision of water, the sound of water, and the smell of water. And by allowing yourself to have. Access to that, whether you're going for wa, you know, and like in New York City, you really kind of have to like get yourself to the Hudson or to the East River to have any type of access for water. But oh my goodness, do it for 20 minutes. You will feel even if the this much better, you will feel better. So water is the secret of life. Staying open-minded. Not shutting myself off to learning new experiences or learning from others, or just learning new knowledge. Staying open-minded and accepting of that is also huge. Not just to grow in your own recovery journey, but to grow as a person. I, you know, and. I kind of feel put on the spot. There's so many other things that I think I do. Oh, that's

Steve: 21:09

a, that's a wonderful start and you can always sprinkle somewhere in through the rest of the episode. Okay, great. Yes, thanks. Excellent. And when I first met you and was doing my research for G S M, I thought negativity begun was just kind of your tagline, but it's actually a tour that you're doing next year. Can you tell us a little bit more about that concept in tour?

Bruce: 21:27

Yeah. So negativity be gone just. Flew out of my mouth one day on a TikTok and it was my first viral video. Mm-hmm. And that I mean, the rest is history. I just, I was like, okay, people connect to this and there's a lot of negativity in the world and we need more positivity and uplifting. Things. So I'm going to do that. And I did. And so negativity be gone is on all of my fans. Mm-hmm. And you were doing a fantastic job and keep moving forward and all of these little slogans. So it was a slogan at first, and then it became a movement. Really quickly that I was like, wow, this is, this is really something here. That is not only inspiring to me, but it obviously is inspiring to many other people. So let's just keep doing this. And it does not mean that I'm not going to acknowledge negativity, that I don't think that negativity is real. Negativity is very real. I've been on many dark sides of. My life. I have been stuck in a negative mindset for a very long time and it wasn't getting me anywhere'cause I was manifesting that, I was putting that out. I was speaking, I was speaking poorly. I. To myself and about myself and about others, and it was all equally coming back to me. So changing that up and starting to put out more positivity and speaking better about myself and taking these actions.'cause it's not all about talk. You have to do the actions. Otherwise you're just talking shit. In my opinion it really just progressed into this thing. So, There is a tour coming out in 2024 that I'm very excited about, and it will be. In tandem with my book tour and I will just be presenting my experience, strength and hope, reading from my book, and sharing a lot of positivity and some goofy aspects and maybe a few songs along the way. So that is very much in the works right now. It takes a lot to put that underway. Get theaters lined up, get coffee shops lined up, bookstores. To have all of it be a green light and go, so, and I'm doing it myself. So I don't have a team, I don't have an agent, I don't have a manager. I have my partner, Teo, who is very supportive and helps, helps me do this. But even, even he at some point is like, no, no, no. You, you do this, this is you. Yeah. So he pushes me in a really great way and when I feel frustrated and everything, he really steps in and he helps. And he will be along on the tour for as much of it as possible. So it will be my first one and I'm very excited about it. I am very excited to meet those who have supported me along the way and Just to honestly hear their stories as well, because it's a two-way street. Mm-hmm. My following, my friends, my fans, whatever you wanna call them the production of my book. Seeing my book underway is very exciting and challenging and a wild ride. You know, I've never written a book before. Hell, I've hardly even read a book before. No, I'm just kidding. But I, it, it, it, yeah. Seeing the book and I think it will be something. Other worldly to actually hold the book in my hand when it arrives. I'm probably gonna cry for five hours and that's okay. Because it's been a goal of mine for a very long time. I've been working on this book on and off over the last 14 years, so to see it actually come through is huge. And I am looking forward to the sequels that follow it. It's not just gonna be a one book and done type of a thing. There's going to be at least two more books to conclude the whole story. I love a good trilogy. Yeah. As well as a book of, and I think the book of quotes will be called Negativity Be Gone. Mm-hmm. So I'll do a book of my quotes that. People have latched onto and that I've latched onto myself and that will probably have a lot more of my artwork in it. And just continuing with my speaking engagements and just following that path and where that will take me, I think that it's limitless and very exciting. I think I'm gonna learn a lot and it will be. It will be great, and I'm just gonna manifest that, so hopefully it'll take me to a TED Talk one day. So, we'll, we'll manifest that as well. I,

Steve: 26:28

I'll help manifest that for you. Thanks. Excellent. Thanks. Is any last advice for people struggling with their recovery? Oh,

Bruce: 26:40

this is, this is always a tricky one. Mm-hmm. Because not. It's not cookie cutter. Mm-hmm. What works for me may not work for someone else. But don't let that discourage you. Be extremely gentle with yourself. Equally as important. Be honest with yourself. Are you enabling yourself to continue bad behaviors? Are you allowing others to enable you to continue bad behaviors? Do you really want to get better? Do you really need to get better? Ask yourself these really deep, honest questions and answer them honestly, and show up and do the work. But be really gentle with yourself. I don't know how many times I have beaten myself up. Tried to just end it all because I relapsed, and it took me a long time to realize that my addiction. My own mental health and my thought process is beating me up enough already. So why am I gonna beat myself up more? And when I would relapse, and for the last few in the past, the last relapses, I. I let go of the guilt and the shame immediately, and I found it so much easier to bounce back from that relapse instead of just wallowing and that self pity and everything.'cause it, it's that negativity that we're putting out and we're manifesting and then it's easier to stay in that. So to be gentle with yourself when you mess up, own it, get back on, keep moving forward. And to show up for the, to show up for the help. To do it. Yeah. That

Steve: 28:24

is all excellent advice. And even with decades of recovery under someone's belt, they could still be a grouchy, cranky pants. So what advice do you have for people struggling with to stay positive? Yes,

Bruce: 28:37

they can absolutely be. Not Okay in many other ways. I, I, I I really hope to do the work for myself that I do. I don't become that, and I think I am. And again, I hold a, a place in my heart for those. I have a lot of compassion for people who don't get that. But I'm sorry, can you repeat the

Steve: 28:57

question? Advice for people struggling with positivity. Oh yeah.

Bruce: 29:01

Okay. Well, again, like I've said, it's. I really believe in manifestation change. One thought when you catch yourself thinking or saying something negative about you or someone else. One, don't ever do that to someone else.'cause that's mean and we don't like that. But I, I've been guilty of that. I've done that in my past. I think we all have and learn from it. But really, really be careful when you are. We'll change it in terms of speaking about oneself. You're speaking negatively about yourself. Immediately build the practice of then replacing it with something positive and keep practicing that. Keep doing that over a period of two weeks. You will find that over those two weeks, you're pulling yourself out of a negative mindset and reintroducing yourself into a more positive frame. So it does not happen overnight. It's not an easy thing to do. It is so worth it when you do it and it provides so much more of what you've been wanting the entire time. When you start to follow through with that footwork, you'll see that you're actually starting to live it and it becomes really intoxicating in its own positive way. I think that there's a lot of power in positivity so much, so much more so than on the negative side of things. I think that love wins. If we look at every, every religion, not to get into that specifically, but just to the point of if we compare and put together what each religion is trying to say and trying to convey, or every version of spirituality and what that is and what that's trying to convey, what to my understanding is, is that it's love. Mm-hmm. It's all just trying to say love, love is a beautiful thing. It's a positive thing. It's uplifting. And if we can move in any way closer to that, not only will you have a better experience in life, but you'll see that others will vibrate off that and Show up for yourself. Be your own advocate because you can, and you're worth it. And my father's three dos. Mm-hmm. Do your best, do no harm and do for yourself every single day so that you too can eventually do for others. If you find that you're not able to do for others in this very moment, that just means that you need to be doing for yourself. Mm-hmm. So that you can eventually do for others. I think that with that being said, it is always really rewarding just in terms of self. To do something for someone else without having to broadcast it, without having to tell someone that you did that, without having the expectation of receiving something back from that, just to do one thing for someone else in kindness and in love. Your life will become so good. It will become so good, I promise you. Alright.

Steve: 32:17

And when it does become so good and they wanna reach out and thank you. How can people find you on all the socials?

Bruce: 32:25

On all, well, I am kind of on all of the socials, YouTube thread, Instagram TikTok. Patreon cameo, all of it is the handle of bwb dot positivity, and my website is bwb art.com, which is the whole spectrum of what it is for bwb. And. That's basically it. All right.

Steve: 32:54

Well you've given me my homework for my show notes, but I'll link over to all of that for people. Thank you so much, Bruce. It was a pleasure getting to

Bruce: 33:02

catch up. Thank you, Steve. It was really great to catch up with you, to see you and to be a part of this podcast. Thank you. Yes.

Steve: 33:10

And while you are following Bruce, make sure you're following us while we're at it at Gay podcast, which is mostly me using Instagram and TikTok. Now, TikTok is new and for more time with Bruce and I head on over to my Patreon page where we're gonna try two new things, video recording and spending the new post-show topic wheel. I'll also share the video with Bruce so that he could share with his patrons as well. And follow us wherever you're listening so you can get new episodes when they come out every Thursday. Until next time, stay sober friends.