In this segment of the YouTube video, Dallas Bragg and a co‑speaker discuss the challenges that follow quitting meth and chemsex. While stopping substance use is described as the “easy part,” the real work involves processing lingering emotions, learning to be vulnerable, and rebuilding connections with other gay men. They talk about the fear of being liked, the need to lower guards, and how sharing emotions through one’s work can aid recovery. The conversation is candid, supportive, and highlights the emotional labor required to move beyond addiction toward authentic relationships.
It's— look, quitting meth is the easy part. Now you have to get to work. Now you have to roll your sleeves up, right? But it's that letting go of this emotion, but also coming into connection with other gay men and being vulnerable and putting your guard down and passing, like you said, passing some of this emotion through, which is what you do with your work, right?
Yeah. I mean, I think we've both been there, Dallas, where we're like, are they gonna like me?
Yeah, right. You know?
And like, what happens if they don't? don't like me. I think that's the part where we get stuck is we feel the rejection. And the 2 things that we want is a sense of belonging and a sense of being loved. Right. That is our 2 desires, I believe. And I just really wonder, I am curious how much we really buy into the stories. What happens if that person doesn't like me? Right. Is my life going to fall apart? Am I a terrible person because they don't— my family no longer loves me? Because that sounds ridiculous when you say it out loud, right? If this person doesn't like me, no one's ever going to love me and my family's going to hate me. And I'm like, it sounds ridiculous as I say it. And we don't say it out loud because then we won't, you know, we won't believe what's happening inside. And I think sometimes we just have to, like, normalize what the conversation is happening upstairs and realize that in many ways we've been programmed to believe that as true. Yeah. Because
