Tom Pelphrey

And he's my father.

And that sadness, I realized like, oh, what was I being sad about before?

Right.

You almost felt shame.

Shame, but also it just like shocked me into like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, there's real things, you know?

Oh my gosh.

But that experience was wild and something that no one had talked about before, or at least I hadn't paid attention to or read about or anything.

But my dad died.

There was grief, but there was just also like this,

terrible fear i just felt like i was on the edge of the abyss like it brought my own mortality everything rushing at me in a way it was also this realization that unfortunately probably too many people have this realization much younger than i was but that nothing is guaranteed and whatever you think is there for sure that makes you feel safe it's not like the anvil of impermanence hit you

Yes.

I was not in any place mentally, spiritually, physically to grapple with or to understand or to have a practice around.

And it really rocked me.

What year did you get sober?

October 1st, 2013.

It was six years later, give or take.

What was your trajectory?

It was like a slow burn.

I hadn't worked in over a year.

I was in a considerable amount of debt, broke, worried about not being able to pay my rent, all the things.