Share
Everyone has a dream. But sometimes there’s a gap between where we are and where we want to be. True, there are some people who can bridge that gap easily, on their own, but all of us need a little help at some point. A little boost. An accountability partner. A Snooze Squad. In each episode, the Snooze Squad will strategize an action plan for people to face their fears. Guests will transform their own perception of their potential and walk away a few inches closer to who they want to become ...
…
continue reading
Manage episode 518843009 series 1341947
Content provided by Chase Chewning and Operation Podcast. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Chase Chewning and Operation Podcast or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://staging.podcastplayer.com/legal.
In this moving Veterans Day episode of Ever Forward Radio, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Benjamin Forest opens up about his personal battle with depression, grief, and identity loss after 25 years of service — and how psychedelics became a catalyst for healing, love, and authentic living. He and Chase explore the mental-health crisis among veterans, the epidemic of loneliness and suppressed emotion in men, and how plant medicine, breathwork, and community can help reconnect us to meaning and purpose. Forest shares insights from his book Trip of a Lifetime: The Psychedelic Guide to Healing, Loving & Living, explaining that true recovery requires vulnerability, relational healing, and learning to open the heart — whether through psychedelics or other integrative practices.
Follow Ben @benjamin.forest.bliss
Follow Chase @chase_chewning
-----
00:00 – Introduction & U.S. mental-health statistics
02:22 – A cultural depression: loneliness, disconnection & anxiety
04:29 – Playing a role vs. discovering the authentic self
07:07 – The military, identity, and emotional suppression
10:30 – Masculinity, vulnerability, and the loneliness epidemic
13:00 – Grief, alcohol, and the cost of unprocessed emotion
15:30 – Healthy masculinity and belonging after service
18:00 – The biology of belonging & the need for community
20:10 – Losing identity and brotherhood after leaving the military
23:10 – Lessons learned from 25 years in uniform
24:30 – Healing, loving, and living: wounds and relational repair
27:30 – Learning to love well and open the heart
28:45 – Doing life "right" and rediscovering joy
31:00 – Psychedelics as heart-openers & catalysts for healing
34:30 – Veterans leading the way for psychedelic legalization
38:40 – Alternatives to psychedelics: breathwork & somatic therapy
44:00 – Integration: applying lessons after the trip
46:50 – The danger of ego, money, and misuse in plant-medicine circles
49:50 – Writing Trip of a Lifetime and lessons learned
54:30 – Advice to young service members: asking for help is strength
56:16 – What "Ever Forward" means to Benjamin Forest
-----
Episode resources:
- Watch and subscribe on YouTube
- Learn more about Benjamin
947 episodes
))
