EP 21: Erik Allen — Breaking Through Addiction, Abuse And Isolation

Good Dudes Grow

For a lot of folks, CBD is a tool in their toolkit for breaking out of addiction and ending destructive cycles in their life. At the end of the day, that’s what this show, and our belief in CBD, is most about — ending toxic cycles and beginning healthy ones. And that’s why we felt we had to hear from Erik Allen on the show.

Erik Allen’s life started out normally enough, with Sunday school and Little League games. But when he was 11, his parents got divorced, and his life started to go nowhere fast.

His mom’s new boyfriend, an extremely abusive alcoholic, moved the family to a tiny town in Montana with a population of 1,200 people. There, the abuse intensified, and one night Erik had to come to his mom’s defense with a cast iron skillet. After that, he was more or less on his own, and he turned to drugs — particularly hallucinogens — for an escape. Fast forward a few years, and by age 21, he was already $28,000 in debt and had filed for bankruptcy. Holding down a job didn’t come easily.

“If I didn't like something at work, I would be like, ‘Peace out’ and just quit, and so I had like a ton of jobs,” he says. “Everything from working at a tech shop to working at Hot Topic to being a maid at a hotel for one day. I got fired after a day because I couldn't make the bed right. I mean, I would hop around from job to job.”

One of those jobs ultimately wound up being at Universal Records, where the pay wasn’t good — for the first six months, he wasn’t paid at all — but the perks were: “Over a two-year span, I probably went to 135 concerts. I was backstage living that rock star lifestyle.”

But he wasn’t happy, and he was continuing to abuse drugs and alcohol. Until one day, a girl came into Starbucks, where he worked nights, and asked if he wanted to go to church with her. On this episode of “Good Dudes Grow,” Gary and Erik talk about his path to becoming sober, his life today as an MMA business owner and podcaster, and how CBD works for him.

What You'll Learn:

• How Erik became an entrepreneur who helps other entrepreneurs and MMA fighters be successful (and what those two groups have in common)
• How, after being arrested for having a bong in his teens, he thinks of the industry today
• Why, as a sober person, Erik feels he’s still able to benefit from CBD
• And much more!

Favorite Quote:

“I'm fascinated with people's stories, and especially break-through type stories, if somebody's going through something and they're able to break through that — break addictions or break through divorce, abuse, the failures of bankruptcy, whatever it is — and then make it big.”

— Erik Allen

Connect With Erik

Erik Allen Media

LinkedIn

Facebook

How to get involved:

Gary Roberts is the founder and CEO of Pure Body Zen, a company based not only around creating and selling high-quality CBD products, but one that is on a mission to change the landscape on how mental health and addiction are treated. Gary has founded a non-profit called Promises Recovery Centers for those who need it as well as creating the first-ever educational training facility for Physicians, Therapists, and Mental Health advocates using innovative therapeutics like psilocybin, Mdma, and LSD.

You can learn more about Pure Body Zen on their site, on LinkedIn, and on Instagram.

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to visit the show on Apple Podcasts and leave a rating and review! We love hearing from you!

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