9 things I learned from a drug addict
Life lessons from Mike Majlak in his book “The Fifth Vital”
I recently read “The Fifth Vital” by Mike Majlak.
You may know Mike as 1/2 of Impaulsive with Logan Paul.
Mike also has a popular YouTube channel called The Night Shift and recently started a burger chain called 10/10 Burgers.
But Mike suffered from addiction to opiates and alcohol during his childhood and early adulthood.
“The Fifth Vital” covers Mike’s early life and how he overcame addiction and turned his life into a success in many ways.
These were my biggest takeaways and favorite quotes from his book, which I highly recommend.
1. Avoidable pain is a problem
Pain is the physical or psychological suffering that reduces a person’s quality of life. The opposite of suffering is happiness. If human beings are to live full, happy, productive lives, then pain must be addressed in all its origins, causes, significance, management, and remedies.
The name of the book, “The Fifth Vital” actually refers to pain, the fifth vital sign doctors use along with body temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure.
Mike was suffering from the pain of addiction as well as the pain he was causing the people around him.
Addiction is a tricky one because it’s both within your control to fix and outside of your control to fix, which can make the pain and moving on harder.
“The pain won’t last forever. Just hang in there. Stick it out and you will come out the other side. You can do this.”
Many things that feel good in the moment can have damaging effects far beyond the moment.
Free yourself from harmful evils because the clarity and motivation you will experience from getting clean and sober will be the bedrock for your real route to success.
“Meaning is possible even in spite of suffering — provided that the suffering is unavoidable. If it were avoidable, however, the meaningful thing to do would be to remove its cause.” — Viktor Frankl
2. Living out your potential is your purpose
It was time for me to accept what my life had become, to take responsibility for my actions and stop blaming everyone else. The only way I was going to get clean was to realize that I was the only one who could truly fix me.
It really just comes down to us to fix ourselves and put ourselves in a position to reach our potential.
It is what we are meant to do.
Find out your unique gifts and give them to the world and the people around you.
“For what matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy into triumph, to turn one’s predicament into a human achievement. When we are no longer able to change a situation…we are challenged to change ourselves.” — Viktor Frankl
“If you just keep doing the right thing, good things will happen to you. That’s just the way the world works.”
My mom was right when she’d said that with hard work, patience, and doing the right thing day after day, good things would eventually come my way.
I realized that anyone could have anything they wanted in this world. They just had to believe and take the necessary steps toward a better life.
3. You need a human connection
Human connection can be one of the most powerful antidotes to human suffering and pain.
We are meant to be in groups and interact with other humans.
We’re becoming more and more lonely thanks to the internet and social media.
We may interact with more people online, but that does not replace in-person interactions, which we desperately need.
We as humans are only as strong as the people around us.
Family is so important and you should never take it for granted.
Lean on your people. Talk to friends, family, or therapists…whoever you can. The feeling I get when I leave my therapist’s office is second to none. It feels like someone has lifted a fucking rock off my back.
Be good to other people. Take a second to make someone’s day. Smile. Talk to the lonely. Help the elderly. Do something to make someone else feel good. Anything.
4. Take it one step at a time
To be honest, I’m not exactly sure how I got to where I am today. It involved a lot of putting one foot in front of the other. Trying new things with confidence that I’d succeed. Looking to always be better than the day before.
A lot of us have a hard time delaying gratification.
We want results now, or we want to skip all of the work and just have the prize.
The best things are built one day at a time. One step at a time.
“Take it slow. Nothing is going to happen overnight.”
If you were able to get here, you can get wherever you need to go next.
5. Stay positive
I try my best to greet everyone I meet with a positive vibe. I take the time to hear people’s issues and try to help them through their problems. I want to brighten people’s days, and I seem to do pretty well at it.
A positive mindset produces positive results.
I’m not sure if that is a fact, but it helps.
At least I know poor thoughts, produce poor interactions.
Do your best to stay positive that things will turn around, you will succeed and overcome any obstacle.
“It’s a mixture of God and working really fucking hard. Connecting with like-minded people. Staying positive when every sign says otherwise.”
During my rides, my favorite soundtrack was by an artist named Mac Miller. His music was my escape. It was all about good vibes, rising out of shitty situations, putting on a smile, and persevering.
6. Never give up
The most important concept anyone will ever need to grasp in life is the notion to not give up, not ever.
The book is a story of Mike never giving up.
He had so many roadblocks and was in the worst situations, surrounded by bad people, but he kept hope for a better future.
It didn’t matter if he was in a hospital bed, in rehab, had been robbed, he never once gave up.
You will not give up in the face of adversity. You will look every obstacle, every hurdle, every demon in its face. You will lower your shoulders and drive through that motherfucker without hesitation or regret.
You will not give up. You will get through this. Just keep moving forward.
7. Addiction impacts everyone
This is the way of addiction. Everyone becomes a casualty.
This was covered a bit in point 1, but a life of addiction hurts more people than yourself.
If you’re lucky enough to have someone who loves you, know that you are hurting them if you are addicted to something.
The whole situation is painful.
Getting clean is both for yourself and the people around you.
I knew the best way I could help her was to do well in my life and to eliminate the worry she’d had about me for so long.
8. Exercise
Exercise helped ease my depression and anxiety, which I found to be one of the most important aspects of my recovery.
Mike was overweight and had poor health habits.
His way back was through bike riding, which he initially wrote off as lame.
Slowly he started biking and slowly the weight came off.
The movement and exercise helped him feel much better and was a healthy activity to keep him busy.
Sweat. The natural release of “feel-good chemicals” in your brain that comes from exercise will help you fight depression or anxiety.
9. Recovery
No matter how long a person was sober, addiction was never truly beaten.
Once you’ve been addicted, you will always be addicted.
Even if you no longer take part in the activity, you can’t ever go back.
Recovery is a long process of acceptance, resilience, and discipline.
You must stay on top of it.
“Do what works for you.”
Any time I would get an urge to do something unworthy, I would ask myself, “Would your family, friends, or God want you to do this? With all that you’ve accomplished, all you’ve beaten, is this worthy of the man you have become?” This helped keep me solid and focused on my sobriety.
“Hang around the barbershop long enough, and you’re gonna get a haircut.”
Recovering drug addicts should not drink alcohol. First, alcohol affects judgment. Second, it can lead to bad decisions. Third, it can potentially act as a replacement for drugs.
Always stay busy. But the most important part was to stay busy with the right things….healthy, productive pursuits that furthered one’s growth.
Save this list in Twos:
Read all of my notes on “The Fifth Vital” by Mike Majlak:
