The Addiction Story Behind a Beloved 'Parks and Rec' Writer with Stephanie Wittels Wachs

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Carl Radke (1:00)

Hey guys, I'm Carl Radke, and welcome to More Life. On today's show, we have Stephanie Wittels Wachs. She is the CEO of Lemonada Media, and she is the author of The Last Day, How to Stop Losing Our Loved Ones to the Opioid Crisis. Today's episode and today's conversation is a really, really important one. Something very near and dear to my heart, which is really understanding addiction and the disease, and really how to communicate to your loved ones, how to better understand the struggles that people are going through as it relates to addiction. I think this conversation can really help a lot of people, and her book especially is helping a lot of people out there. So I'm so excited if you got to listen to this conversation. Excited to dive in today here at Soft Bar, coming live here in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have Steph Wittels Wachs today on More Life. Welcome to More Life.

Stephanie Wittels Wachs (1:56)

Hi.

Carl Radke (1:56)

Thanks for coming in. Thanks for having me.

Stephanie Wittels Wachs (1:58)

Thank you so much.

Carl Radke (1:59)

Is it summer or fall, in your humble opinion?

Stephanie Wittels Wachs (2:02)

It is fall.

Carl Radke (2:03)

I think it's still summer.

Stephanie Wittels Wachs (2:05)

Why? That is objectively not the right answer.

Carl Radke (2:07)

I'm not ready to turn it over yet.

Stephanie Wittels Wachs (2:09)

It is September, my friend.

Carl Radke (2:11)

I know. Labor Day is kind of the sign, but I like a couple, like two week window after Labor Day.

Stephanie Wittels Wachs (2:15)

You want to hold on to the summer.

Carl Radke (2:17)

I think September's still summer.

Stephanie Wittels Wachs (2:18)

Are you a summer guy?

Carl Radke (2:19)

Just a little bit.

Stephanie Wittels Wachs (2:20)

You like summer. Is that your favorite season?

Carl Radke (2:22)

It is.

Stephanie Wittels Wachs (2:23)

Even before the summer stuff?

Carl Radke (2:25)

Absolutely. And I cherished the beach. I loved the beach growing up. Oh, I love that. To be able to do a show called Summer House, which, funny enough, we barely go to the beach. We go to the beach once or twice a season.

But we did just finish season 11

Stephanie Wittels Wachs (2:40)

Yeah. How are you doing?

Carl Radke (2:41)

I'm still here.

Stephanie Wittels Wachs (2:42)

You're still here.

SPEAKER_5 (2:43)

You live to tell the tale.

Carl Radke (2:44)

What's funny is even after last summer ended, everything was great. Everybody felt good.

SPEAKER_5 (2:48)

The clouds were high.

Carl Radke (2:50)

Great summer. Right. Fast forward. Yeah. Little did we know. So anyway, this podcast is called More Life, as you know.

Stephanie Wittels Wachs (2:56)

Yeah.

Carl Radke (2:57)

Which the lore of Summer House back in the day, I used to say more life because it was one of my favorite things to drunkenly say.

But as I've gotten sober and just lived my life more intentionally, more life is really just my mantra. So I'm curious.

Stephanie Wittels Wachs (3:12)

It's very profound.

Carl Radke (3:13)

It is. I had to kind of take that.

Stephanie Wittels Wachs (3:15)

Yeah, that is really, that's...

Carl Radke (3:16)

I think sometimes taking that pain or that embarrassment and turning it into something more meaningful is kind of how I wanted to wrap my arms around it.

Stephanie Wittels Wachs (3:23)

Totally.

Carl Radke (3:23)

Because for a while I was embarrassed of that moment. I'm curious though. This isn't about me. This is about you.

Stephanie Wittels Wachs (3:28)

I mean, let's talk about you.

Carl Radke (3:29)

Do you have a saying that you live by?

SPEAKER_5 (3:31)

Oh.

Carl Radke (3:32)

Or do you have a saying that you say out loud to your team, to your friends?