#6 From drug addict to professor and neuroscientist – a story about change with Judy Grisel

What Monkeys Do

“It’s not really hard. You just have to change your whole life”. We can all imagine how hard that must be. Nevertheless, that was the reality Judy Grisel faced, when she took the incredible journey from substance abuse to rehab to becoming an internationally recognized behavioural neuroscientist and a professor in psychology. She has authored the book, ‘Never Enough’ and given one of the best Tedx Talks, I have seen.

In this episode we look at addiction. What it is. How it affects our brain. And how we break free from it. Why? Because breaking an addition is a major change. One we can learn a lot from. Addiction can be many things. It can be an addiction to your phone. Your coffee. Or your daily glass of wine. I have invited Judy to tell us about her personal story and to find out, how we can break addiction and make a change.
JUDY WILL TALK ABOUT

• What is addiction and what does it do to our brain
• How she broke her addiction and her criteria of success
• Why it is critical not to start taking abusive measures before the age of 18
• How finding new (healthy) ways to release dopamine can help you change

ARE YOU TOO BUSY? HERE ARE THE KEY TAKEAWAYS

Are you too busy? Don’t worry, I have collected three key takeaways from the podcast. I hope it inspires you to go listen.

#1 Find new ways to release dopamine

Finding new rewards is critical to breaking addiction. You need healthier ways to get your dopamine. Find new passions; it could be sport, entrepreneurship or an exciting project.

#2 Denial is the first major barrier

As Judy says: “I thought my drug was the solution to my problems. Not the cause”. Denial is the biggest barrier to breaking addiction. Until you become aware of the need for change, chances are, you will never change.

#3 Early is bad

Our brains are plastic and amazing. But if we start drinking - or taking any other abusive measure – too early, it will impact our brains forever. By example, if you start drinking by the age of 14, you have 7x the chance of developing an alcohol problem than if you had waited until you were 21 or longer.