Karla Adkins was successful, active in church, and working in health care—and yet she was dying from alcohol-related liver failure. When Karla’s doctor called and asked if she was OK, Karla said she thought she was dying. Her doctor was honest: “I think you are too.”

Yet even surviving liver failure wasn’t enough to make Karla stop drinking and find true freedom. Months later, she returned to drinking because she had never addressed the reasons she needed alcohol in the first place.

In this episode, the author and sobriety coach joins host Jon Seidl to discuss alcohol addiction, anxiety, relapse, and the comparison trap that keeps people convinced their drinking isn’t bad enough to be a "real" problem.

Karla also shares how she gave alcohol jobs, why shame kept her silent, and how science, compassionate support, radical vulnerability, and above all her faith in Jesus helped her pursue something deeper than sobriety.

Get Karla's book: And She Came Tumbling Down: Breaking the Bonds of Alcohol and Creating a Life of Freedom
Visit Karla's website
Follow Karla on Instagram: @karlakadkins
Get Gospel-centered addiction recovery resources and help at veritasrecovery.org
Follow Jon: @jonseidl
Order Jon's book: Confessions of a Christian Alcoholic
Watch this episode ad-free at The Vertias Daily

We explore:

— How anxiety first made alcohol feel like an answer for Karla
— What it means to give alcohol a “job”
— Why successful people can still experience life-threatening addiction
— How cognitive dissonance allows us to explain away dangerous drinking
— Why comparing quantities can keep people from seeking help
— The moment Karla discovered that her liver was failing
— Why shame made exposure feel more frightening than death
— How Karla returned to alcohol after her first hospitalization
— Why consequences alone cannot create lasting freedom
— What alcohol does to anxiety, sleep, and the brain
— The importance of compassionate, judgment-free support
— Why sobriety and freedom are not the same thing
— How science, community, vulnerability, and faith can work together
— What Gospel-centered recovery offers beyond “just pray more”

Karla Adkins was successful, active in church, and working in health care&mdash;and yet she was dying from alcohol-related liver failure. When Karla&rsquo;s doctor called and asked if she was OK, Karla said she thought she was dying. Her doctor was honest: &ldquo;I think you are too.&rdquo;
Yet even surviving liver failure wasn&rsquo;t enough to make Karla stop drinking and find true freedom. Months later, she returned to drinking because she had never addressed the reasons she needed alcohol in the first place.
In this episode, the author and sobriety coach joins host Jon Seidl to discuss alcohol addiction, anxiety, relapse, and the comparison trap that keeps people convinced their drinking isn&rsquo;t bad enough to be a "real" problem.
Karla also shares how she gave alcohol jobs, why shame kept her silent, and how science, compassionate support, radical vulnerability, and above all her faith in Jesus helped her pursue something deeper than sobriety.
Get Karla's book: <a href="https://amzn.to/4iPjmXG">And She Came Tumbling Down: Breaking the Bonds of Alcohol and Creating a Life of Freedom</a> Visit Karla's <a href="https://www.karlaadkins.com/">website</a> Follow Karla on Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/karlakadkins/">@karlakadkins</a> Get Gospel-centered addiction recovery resources and help at <a href="https://www.veritasrecovery.org">veritasrecovery.org</a> Follow Jon:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/jonseidl/">@jonseidl</a> Order Jon's book: <a href="https://amzn.to/4opuOt">Confessions of a Christian Alcoholic</a> Watch this episode ad-free at <a href="https://jonseidl.substack.com/t/podcast">The Vertias Daily</a> We explore:
&mdash; How anxiety first made alcohol feel like an answer for Karla &mdash; What it means to give alcohol a &ldquo;job&rdquo; &mdash; Why successful people can still experience life-threatening addiction &mdash; How cognitive dissonance allows us to explain away dangerous drinking &mdash; Why comparing quantities can keep people from seeking help &mdash; The moment Karla discovered that her liver was failing &mdash; Why shame made exposure feel more frightening than death &mdash; How Karla returned to alcohol after her first hospitalization &mdash; Why consequences alone cannot create lasting freedom &mdash; What alcohol does to anxiety, sleep, and the brain &mdash; The importance of compassionate, judgment-free support &mdash; Why sobriety and freedom are not the same thing &mdash; How science, community, vulnerability, and faith can work together &mdash; What Gospel-centered recovery offers beyond &ldquo;just pray more&rdquo;

Jon Seidl is the bestselling Christian author who became an alcoholic, not the other way around. It's usually the other way around. Or is it? "Confessions of a Christian alcoholic" (based on the book by the same title) is all about real stories, radical vulnerability, and remarkable comebacks of people who have struggled with alcoholism and addictions of all sorts. The show features interviews with fellow addicts and alcoholics as well as professionals in the fields of trauma, faith, and addiction recovery. Because let's be honest, we're all addicted to something. "Confessions" is a place for the desperate, the downtrodden, the destitute, and especially, the drunk. But it's also a place of hope and healing. Jon found sobriety after decades of struggling, but more importantly than finding sobriety, he found Jesus. In every episode, he gets radically vulnerable as he explores what it looks like to be on this journey of messy sanctification. Visit christianalcoholic.com for more resources.

Jon Seidl is the bestselling Christian author who became an alcoholic, not the other way around. It's usually the other way around. Or is it? "Confessions of a Christian alcoholic" (based on the book by the same title) is all about real stories, radical vulnerability, and remarkable comebacks of people who have struggled with alcoholism and addictions of all sorts. The show features interviews with fellow addicts and alcoholics as well as professionals in the fields of trauma, faith, and addiction recovery. Because let's be honest, we're all addicted to something. "Confessions" is a place for the desperate, the downtrodden, the destitute, and especially, the drunk. But it's also a place of hope and healing. Jon found sobriety after decades of struggling, but more importantly than finding sobriety, he found Jesus. In every episode, he gets radically vulnerable as he explores what it looks like to be on this journey of messy sanctification. Visit <a href="http://christianalcoholic.com/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://christianalcoholic.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1747239325727000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1G-752Q-1dyjq6GN5gt7xw">christianalcoholic.com</a> for more resources.

Jon Seidl is the bestselling Christian author who became an alcoholic, not the other way around. It's usually the other way around. Or is it? "Confessions of a Christian Alcoholic" is all about real stories, radical vulnerability, and remarkable comebacks of people who have struggled with alcoholism and addictions of all sorts.

Confessions of a Christian Alcoholic with Jon Seidl

Dying from Alcohol and Still Not Able to Stop: Karla Adkins on Why the Comparison Trap Is So Dangerous

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/5e27a451-e6e6-4c51-aa03-a7370003783c/clips/7ab20816-2435-4bed-aaec-b4c00140050f/transcript