Eric Zink doesn’t draw back when he talks about his all-time low. He’s lived it greater than as soon as.
“I attempted getting sober at 23. I didn’t get sober till I used to be 36,” he informed Prime Instances. “My lifestyles has been destroying it, rebuilding it, having a fantastic lifestyles for like a 12 months or two, then self-sabotaging it again to simply not anything. I used to be drained, guy. I used to be simply drained.”
Lately, Zink is a psychological well being mentor and social media content material writer who has grew to become his lived revel in with habit, trauma, and restoration into one thing honest and impactful. His virtual platforms now succeed in masses of 1000’s of people that attach along with his no-bullshit storytelling and uncooked vulnerability.
However his trail right here used to be anything else however easy.
Trauma Underneath the Floor
Zink’s tale is steeped in tragedy. He misplaced his spouse to suicide in 2015. Two years later, his father additionally took his lifestyles. Within the wake of those losses and his personal near-suicide strive, Zink spiraled into habit, secrecy, and disgrace.
“You inform other folks you’re a coke addict, they have a look at you sideways,” he stated. “So I simply informed everyone I used to be an alcoholic… I didn’t know any higher. That’s roughly the place I began.”
Rising up in what he describes as a privileged family with a health care provider father, Eric didn’t face overt abuse or overlook, however trauma, he stresses, can take many paperwork. “It filters in several tactics,” he stated. “I do know what it’s love to be forgotten by means of my oldsters… wandering round Kmart as a child, on the lookout for my ma and pa who forgot me. After which they arrive again yelling at me as it used to be my fault.”
For years, medicine and alcohol stuffed a void. “It might simply roughly make the sector move silent for a little. And I simply fought for that as a result of I didn’t know the way else to do it,” he stated. “That used to be the scariest factor alcohol made me really feel standard.”
At the back of the Curtain of Functioning Dependancy
Some of the sobering revelations in Zink’s tale is how lengthy he used to be in a position to take care of appearances. On the top of his habit, he used to be incomes $40–50K a month as a common supervisor for RV dealerships. To the out of doors global, he appeared wildly a hit.
“Didn’t have a dime to my title,” he admitted. “I used to be spending 15 grand a month on coke, hookers, and alcohol. I wasn’t anything else. I used to be an addict. That’s what I noticed myself as.”
Zink believes society nonetheless fails to snatch how high-functioning habit works, particularly with components like alcohol and cocaine. “I’ve labored with individuals who make silly cash and are doing coke each unmarried day. The volume of functioning coke addicts I’ve met is insane.”
This disorder, he provides, is ceaselessly tied to undiagnosed psychological well being prerequisites. “Numerous addicts I’ve labored with prove to have undiagnosed ADHD. In order that they self-medicate. And yeah, it really works. Quickly.”
When the Likes Turn out to be a Drug
After getting sober in 2017, Zink grew to become to social media as a type of remedy. To start with, it used to be only a sounding board. “It wasn’t for somebody else. It used to be for me.”
The platform grew speedy. His TikTok following reached just about 2 million. All of sudden, the validation and a spotlight changed into any other habit.
“I had an enormous god complicated. I believed I used to be going to modify the narrative on psychological well being,” he stated. “I’m now not a health care provider. I’m none of that shit. And I noticed my habit transferred to social media.”
The crash used to be exhausting. He deleted his accounts. Then, inspired by means of his now-wife, he returned with new limitations. “I began treating it like a trade. That method, it wasn’t about ego. It used to be about serving to other folks and protective my peace.”
The Upward thrust of Psychedelics and Rewriting the Laws of Sobriety
When requested in regards to the rising use of plant medications in habit restoration — psilocybin, ayahuasca, ibogaine — Zink is open-minded however wary. “Should you’re doing it with lend a hand, and also you’re seeing certain effects from it, nice,” he stated. “All of us recuperate in several tactics.”
Zink has attempted kratom and documented each the revel in and withdrawal signs. He has additionally explored dietary supplements like Ashwagandha and lion’s mane to control anxiousness and strengthen mind restoration. However he avoids romanticizing any substance.
“Other people get defensive, however I went during the withdrawal. The stressed legs, the cold and hot flashes, the lack to consume. That shit freaked me out.”
He additionally demanding situations strict abstinence laws in some restoration circles.
“This complete factor we pontificate, that it needs to be absolute abstinence, is bullshit,” he stated. “Anyone who’s on an SSRI, you’re now not abstinent. If weed is helping you sleep and now not shoot up, then extra energy to you.”
In 2024, Zink started EMDR remedy, a trauma-focused means in the beginning evolved for veterans and primary responders. It’s been a turning level.
“It makes use of your eye motion to tug trauma from the emotional aspect of your mind to the logical aspect,” he defined. “In order that it not controls you.”
Along remedy, Zink maintains a private wellness toolkit: day-to-day walks, tune, lifting weights, a strict regimen, and finding out ADHD and degree one autism, either one of which he has been identified with. “Regimen brings me calmness the place I’m now not freaking out inside of,” he stated.
He additionally runs a mentorship platform and helps the Sunflower Sober app, which provides peer strengthen, journaling gear, and neighborhood. “Step one is simply admitting you’ve gotten an issue,” he stated. “Everybody already is aware of. You’re the one one nonetheless mendacity.”
Leaving the Door Open
Eric Zink isn’t looking to be a savior or a guru. He’s simply being actual, and that’s what resonates.
“I simplest percentage in regards to the medicine I’ve achieved,” he stated. “I’ve had other folks inform me they had been getting excessive staring at my movies. However one thing I stated caught. One thing were given planted. And that’s all it takes once in a while.”
He’s now not absolute best. He nonetheless wrestles with trauma, anxiousness, and ego. However he’s truthful about it. In a global stuffed with noise, that honesty can really feel like a lifeline.
“I don’t use it anymore. And I know the way to experience my lifestyles now. That’s what I will be able to be offering.”
