Guest on the Show & Tales Podcast
Honored to be to the Show & Tales podcast hosted by Martie McNabb:
“Sobriety Chip That Represents an Entirely New Life.
One of my favorite questions to ask every guest is:
“What did you bring to show and tell?”
Sometimes the answer is a family heirloom.
Sometimes it’s a photograph.
Sometimes it’s something incredibly unexpected.
In this episode, Maria Leonard Olsen shared something small enough to fit in the palm of her hand, but powerful enough to represent an entirely different life.
Her AA sobriety chip.
Maria has been sober for nearly fourteen years, and she carries her chip with her every day. It’s more than a token. It’s a reminder of where she has been, what she survived, and the life she fought to reclaim after addiction nearly took everything from her.
Listening to Maria describe her journey was both heartbreaking and inspiring. She spoke openly about alcoholism, nearly dying from liver failure, losing her marriage, and finding the courage to rebuild her life one day at a time.
That’s what I love about these conversations.
An object that might look ordinary to someone else becomes extraordinary once we understand its story.
As always, I asked my legacy question:
“What happens to this object when you’re gone?”
Maria shared that her son is also in recovery, and she hopes one day he may choose to keep her sobriety chip. The thought of that small token continuing to remind another generation of hope, resilience, and second chances perfectly captures what Things That Matter is all about.
We also talked about her bestselling memoir 50 After 50, her TED Talks, her upcoming book about DNA testing, and how she’s helping people reframe the next chapter of their lives.
One of my favorite takeaways from our conversation was that recovery isn’t simply about quitting something.
It’s about becoming someone new.
When we take time to share the stories behind the objects we treasure, we give our families something far more valuable than the objects themselves.
We leave them context.
We leave them connection.
We leave them a piece of who we are.
So today, I invite you to look around your own home.
What object tells the story of your greatest transformation?
Because it’s never really about the thing.
It’s always about the story attached to it.
To find out more about this beautiful human doing important healing work in the world, visit:
All Social Media: @FiftyAfter50
Maria Leonard Olsen on LinkedIn and YouTube
Listen here: https://youtu.be/vWZ0zbZOJK8?is=HWmY7SNXWM098UON
Subscribe for More Conversations About the Stories That Shape Our Lives.”
