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One on One with Mista Yu
From Pool Shark to Spiritual Guide: The Reinvention of Gina Economopoulos
Gina Economopoulos didn't plan to become an author or an end-of-life doula—these callings found her through a lifetime of struggle, surrender, and eventual transformation. Born into a large Italian-Greek family on Long Island as one of eight children, Gina's early years were marked by physical limitations that left her comparing herself unfavorably to siblings and feeling like "the black cloud" of an otherwise loving home. Despite growing up surrounded by unconditional love and the warmth of New York hospitality (contrary to popular stereotypes), young Gina struggled with self-acceptance.
Everything changed when her mother died from cancer when Gina was just 23. Having no personal spiritual foundation—she describes her parents as having been "her God"—this loss sent her spiraling into a decades-long search for meaning. Her journey took remarkable turns: becoming a Catholic nun seeking peace within convent walls, returning to civilian life as a bartender, falling in love with an alcoholic who later died from the disease, and finally confronting her own alcoholism after hitting what she calls her "dark pit" of complete surrender.
The most powerful revelation in Gina's story isn't just her ten years of sobriety, but how her personal healing transformed naturally into a calling to help others. Now working as an end-of-life doula, she brings presence and peace to those transitioning from life—offering what she herself lacked when watching her mother die: faith, hope, and spiritual support. Her understanding of forgiveness as a choice that frees the forgiver rather than the forgiven demonstrates the depth of her spiritual evolution, including her process of forgiving God himself for what she once perceived as abandonment.
Through her memoir "Shake the Dust Off Your Feet," Gina offers hope to anyone walking through addiction, grief, or spiritual disillusionment. Her message is clear: sometimes our deepest pain becomes our most profound purpose, and the very experiences that break us can ultimately become the foundation for helping others heal. Download the first chapter free at ginaecon.com and discover how surrendering to what seems like darkness can sometimes be the first step toward an unexpected light.
Visit www.ginaecon.com to download the free first chapter of Gina's memoir "Shake the Dust Off Your Feet and Walk: Faith, Sobriety, Self-Discovery and Healing."
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welcome back to one-on-one with mr you. Of course I'm your host. Mr you in studio with us today. On one with Mr you, of course I'm your host. Mr you In studio with us today. Jeannie Conlamopoulos, author and end-of-life doula. Such a great story. I'm so glad to have you on. How are you today?
Speaker 2:Doing very well. How are you?
Speaker 1:Fantastic, Fantastic. You hear that accent y'all. She's from my neck of the woods, so I love this conversation already because we kind of had some great connections regarding my time back home and she's still up there. So I'm getting a little vicarious through her a little bit. But, Gina, we had an awesome discussion in our pre-interview chat. I'd love to hear well, there's so many questions I want to ask. Hopefully we have enough time to do so but let's kind of start from who you are, who was young. Gina, Tell me about your childhood, your upbringing. Let's kind of enlighten our listeners and viewers about that. Go ahead.
Speaker 2:That sounds good. I'll start from the beginning. Yes, my name is Gina Canemopoulos and you're right, I was born and raised up in the northeast Long Islands. I also live in New York. I'm one of eight kids and I am a New York Met fan. I grew up Okay, I mean because Long.
Speaker 1:Island. My mom would love that, but that's not for me.
Speaker 2:I know. Later on, when I lived in the Bronx, I was a Yankee fan.
Speaker 1:Long Island folks always loved the Mets. It's not new, I get it. I grew up around them.
Speaker 2:Because many of the players back then, like Lee Mazzilli and all them, they would be at our school.
Speaker 1:Oh, I loved him, I loved him.
Speaker 2:They would be in our town. So yeah, I get it.
Speaker 1:It's okay, it's all New York, I get it.
Speaker 2:And my parents, coming from Italian and Greek, very loving, very unconditional love for all eight kids. I was born with many physical problems so out of all the eight kids I was the accident prone, the one with surgeries was physically limited, playing sports. So as a child I grew up just comparing myself to my oldest siblings.
Speaker 2:Wow just comparing myself to my oldest siblings, wow, and. And as I, looking back in hindsight, I was insecure with myself. I didn't like myself. I wanted to be like my sisters. How come this is, how come I can't do this? Why can't I play basketball? But I couldn't because, like I said I've I born with all these conditions and my mom would say thank God, you could walk, thank God, which I can. I mean, I was always able to walk, but thank God. And I also felt like the black cloud, you know, the black sheep of the family, or the black cloud. If somebody was going to happen, it would be Gina. You know it would be me, I'll take it.
Speaker 1:So yeah, no, it would be Gina. You know, it would be me, I'll take it so yeah, no, I totally get that.
Speaker 1:I want to ask you something about that, gina, because I think there's an assumption I think that you have a great insight on this there's an assumption that if you have a big family it helps you, it's great for your self-esteem. And the more conversations that I do, the more people I have conversations with, I see that that is not necessarily true. Sometimes the smaller families kind of foster stronger self-esteem in the children. But you have a big family, you come from a big family. Did you see that as a benefit for you to have a big family? Did that help your self-esteem? Did that kind of was it a challenge to your self esteem? Talk about that a little bit if you can.
Speaker 2:Yes, I can. Well, they just loved me. Like you know, I have no complaints about my family. Growing up, I was just a person who kept everything inside. I was yes, it does hurt me. Yes, I don't like myself, I wouldn't say, because everybody loved me. I was known as Gina Lola Brigida. You know I was.
Speaker 1:Oh, I haven't heard that name in years. I know.
Speaker 2:That's who I was named after. So I was like, yeah, I was like this cute person, cute little girl with a smile, I always smile and I think, by nature, you know, with my parents being so loving and kind, you know, by nature I just had that compassion of their service, kind, you know, by nature I just had that compassion of their service, of you know, of loving others and just enduring it, you know, and not complaining. Not complaining, you know, I didn't know what complaining was about. You know my mom would say, you know, thank God, you go walk, thank God you're alive, you know, thank God, thank God.
Speaker 2:But yet I, you know, things just happen. So, you know, growing up and I love growing up in a large family, because when I was growing up in my teens, I wanted to have a large family, I wanted to get married and have eight kids. I wanted to be married by the time I turned 18 and have kids, have like at least six kids by 25. Because of my parents, I had a plan I Go to college, go away, find my future husband and have kids and live a simple, housewife life, you know, and a mother.
Speaker 1:No, no, I get it, I get it. And there's something I want to ask you about. I want to come back to your parents, because you made a comment that kind of blew my mind in our pre-interview chat, so I want to come back to that. But you're in, you're in my slash, your hometown, and we know that it's a melting pot for coaches, but it's also a melting pot for all different kinds of awesome foods and stuff. So tell me, what's the one meal I mean now you got.
Speaker 1:Now you probably have a great answer because you come from an Italian and Greek background and I grew up, grew up, in New York. I Great answer because you come from an Italian and Greek background and I grew up in New York. I've tasted everything, for the most part because I had. All my friends were from different parts of the world, so it was a melting pot in the truest sense. But what's the one meal that you grew up with that elicits the best memories for you? I mean that one meal, like when you have that, you kind of just go back into a really beautiful headspace if I can say that. What's that one meal that brings that back for you?
Speaker 2:Macaroni with my mom's homemade sauce.
Speaker 1:Come on, what's the side of the sauce? Gina, talk to me.
Speaker 2:It was just love.
Speaker 1:No, no, the ingredients I know love's in there A little bit of garlic, a little bit of olive oil and just tomatoes.
Speaker 2:It was just love, because Even as a kid, with my birthday Parties, you know you'd go to a birthday Party and they will have pizza, but my mom would make macaroni for the kids. You know, yeah, because that's how I was and I'm like, oh my god, they don't know what macaroni is. You know, I mean Italian food macaroni and then, of course, the Greek food. My mom was a great cook, so she was able to cook pasticcio and other lamb, so she was able to do that.
Speaker 2:So there was no starving in our house and there was always a delicious homemade meal every night about five o'clock, no matter what, and I could recall going into the kitchen around four and saying Mom, what are we having for dinner? There's nothing on the stove, nothing. Oh, don't worry, I don't know and she'll come up with something delicious.
Speaker 1:In less than an hour. That's what I'm talking about. That's beautiful. I bet y'all had a lot of friends. Open that window up and you have friends coming from everywhere and that's another thing.
Speaker 2:I give my parents a lot of credit and my mother. We always had an open home, open house. So if you did come home with somebody you didn't have to really ask. Mom's like, okay, we'll just put an extra pound of pasta or spaghetti, you're always welcome Holidays people. We wake up and it's like, oh, who are you? Oh, okay, you're so-and-so's friend, sister's friend. Okay, come and join my mother. I speak so highly of her because one Christmas Eve my sister's friend stayed over a male friend and he had nowhere to go but he's on our couch Christmas morning. So my mom took a gift from every other male in the family, their gifts to give to him. So he had something to open because it was last minute. Everyone loved our house. We were the Econ's house and everybody enjoyed coming over our house because we were just so loving and fun.
Speaker 1:I love this. I want to get into a more serious question. I want to ask you something else before that, but I got to say this because this is a battle that I seem to be fighting all the time, for years now, about the perception of what New York is like and what New Yorkers are like. The perception of what New York is like and what New Yorkers are like Now, when we had some of the most tragic times in our country's history, we've seen the resilience of New Yorkers and resilience is a theme in your story that we're going to get into a little bit. But I love what you said, because that's emblematic of what New Yorkers are really like.
Speaker 1:Now we just read about in magazines what you see on TV shows and reality TV, what you just described with your family, and how you treat people, how you love folks. That's the New York that I remember. That's the New York that I grew up in People who are Jewish, scandinavian, italian, greek, german. I grew up around that kind of vibe where people were just loving to each other and they weren't suspicious, they weren't cold and standoffish, they were. You know, they were like that. So thank you for sharing that. That's a fight that I think I have to fight. I have to defend all the time, but you proved that it really is true and all my fighting was worth it, because it's a real thing. You laid it out. That was your life. That's what New York is really like.
Speaker 1:I hope that viewers and listeners kind of catch that, because it's not what they see on TV. That's TV and drama. It TV and drama. It's not what New York is all about. There's other parts that are just so beautiful, like your story there. But if everybody here's a question for you, gina when you Everybody up north most times not everybody, but most people they decide to leave the north and move to the west. Or they move south because of the weather, they're tired of shoveling, snow and the blizzards, etc. Or you used to hustle and bustle of living in a metropolitan city. What made you stay up north and not move to the?
Speaker 2:west or to the south, like a lot of other folks did like me. Well, you know, once again, the only time I moved out was when I went to college. I went to Connecticut. I wanted to be close to home, but yet far away. That's not moving from New York, that's the same, I know, to Connecticut.
Speaker 1:I wanted to be close to home, but yet far away. That's not moving from New York. That's the same.
Speaker 2:I did have dreams, you know, later on to travel, because once again, my father took us. We always traveled wherever or somewhere. You know, we're always in the car, traveling, visiting other siblings or visiting places, and I love to travel. So part of me, okay, I wanted to get married, I wanted to have kids and I wanted to travel. I did want to go out West, but that was later on. That wasn't right then and there my next step was to go to college. My dad, being so generous, put all eight of us through college. Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:Yes, so that's amazing. It was two things. My father, I mean, he accomplished many things, but two things he wanted to do for us is to pay for our education, and he did. He was a hardworking man and this is going back in the late 70s, early 80s, and my brother was the last in the early 90s. He paid for all of our college education and he also wanted us to go away so we could experience life. So, once again, gratitude. I was just so thankful. I always said I'm thankful that my mother married a Greek and my dad married an Italian, because back then it was unheard of two Greek and Italian getting together, plus all my relatives on the Greek side and on the Italian side. I love them, but they came from a more stricter background.
Speaker 1:I want to get into that soon too, yeah.
Speaker 2:I always said that was my prayer. Back then I was like, thank God, my mom married a Greek and dad married an Italian. Because we had the opportunity that's why everyone loved our house to come over. There was food in the refrigerator and it was always welcome. I mean, yeah, we yelled, but that's the Italian, that's natural but it wasn't like anything.
Speaker 1:It was more loving, more loving and a lot of laughs. Yeah, I used to hear it many a day and many a night in my own neighborhood, so I totally get that. One final question about just about geography kind of helped me out with. I asked you this question because I'm just curious about your perspective, especially nowadays, in 2025, a lot longer than a lot farther away than it was when I was living there. But what's the best and worst thing about living in New York slash New Jersey? What's the best thing and what's the worst thing in your opinion?
Speaker 2:I mean, the best thing where I live today is by the beach. That's the best thing.
Speaker 1:I love living by the beach.
Speaker 2:That's the best thing.
Speaker 1:I love living by the beach.
Speaker 2:I mean, the worst thing is that I believe like today is so different than it was years ago. I mean like today, like today, it's so like back then. It was so like you were more free to trust people, to welcome people here. You have to put your arms, you know, guards up, you have to be careful. Back then we were like, yeah, you know, and we felt safe. I'm not, you know, today I still feel safe, but I do other extra precautions to make me feel safe where living. You know, as a child, you know, years ago we didn't, you know, we didn't think of anything. And then you know, as a child, you know, years ago we didn't, you know, we didn't think of anything. And then you know, with the technology and all that, that's a different story in itself, so it makes a lot of difference. But today, I have to say, you know, being by the beach, which I love, where heaven and earth meets that's the most great part is positive place that I'm living today.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. I get that. I used to run around as a kid man. I used to run around for blocks way away from home, didn't have a care that I would get lost or anything would happen, just having fun. I'm just now try that in 2025. I don't think that's going to be exactly the same.
Speaker 1:I want to get into your book for sure. But I want to get into your book for sure. But I want to ask you a question about your the strong ties of tradition in your family. That was very important that you kind of shared that in our pre-interview chat. You had a lot of uh, your family has strong adherence to religious standards and I think that's really strong, especially in italian, probably more on the catholic side there and on greek side I think. I don't know if it's Protestant or if it's Catholic there too, but you felt like the mindset you had kind of hindered your faith at all because you had this strong tradition and it wasn't a lot of room for movement in faith and stuff. Do you feel like that was a big part? You even said something that I thought was incredible. You said that your parents were your God. That blew my mind once. So I want to hear about that comment you made and, of course, your challenges and experiences with the strong tradition in your family. Go ahead.
Speaker 2:Yes, we were raised Catholic, my father being raised Greek. When he married mom, he came into the Catholic Church.
Speaker 2:So, all eight of us. You know, we received all our sacraments and I was, and the time I was born and receiving my sacraments, I didn't like church. You know what I mean. I wasn't the cool person. So we went to mass. My parents were devout, they were always devout. It received all my sacraments and of course, my mom wanted me, wanted me, to do that extra prayer group, you know, at the church and I'm like no, because as a kid I had my family's love and support and I did believe my parents were God, because I did the best I could to follow what they told me to do. You know, living a good life. I did the best I could to follow what they told me to do. You know, living a good life.
Speaker 2:But yet, at the same time, I'm in, I'm in the 80s, with other friends and there's whether it's peer pressure or, once again, I don't feel like I have to prove myself to other ones. You know, be a people pleaser and all this. Like I and I wanted to be the center of attention among my friends, like a group, I was kind of looking for myself because here, you know, I'm with my parents, my mother, you know, very devout, I mean, my father provided for us. We never, you know, gone hungry or anything like that. But yet I compared myself to the students or the classmates. I go look what they have and look what you know we don't have. But we had it. But it was just something more than a grandioso, you know, like I mean they would come in driving their Camaros and Trans Ams and I've come in driving my little Cheveque, you know, and so it was sort of like a peer. I don't want to say peer pressure, but it was my own way of searching to be accepted, to find a group to belong, and it was just quite for me.
Speaker 2:I felt it was kind of difficult because I had a family who was. My parents were very traditional morals. I'm so glad you know like what was. You know sports was more important than buying. You know whatever you know like back then. And so, yes, I always, and that's why I think that saved me in my life, that I thought my parents were. You know God and their love surrounding us. You know their unconditional love just build, building ourselves up, building ourselves up. But it was the outside of my family. I was looking for that acceptance and that love, the world, whatever you want to call it, the schooling, the friends, which I mean. I had many friends, everybody loved me, I knew everyone, but I just did not feel like I connected, really connected, because I didn't like myself.
Speaker 2:But you know, at that time as a kid and, plus, god wasn't really in my life. You know, like I said, my parents were God. I didn't have like a relationship with some families that have grown up with a Christian relationship, whatever faith Like. I didn't know what the word faith was either. Probably at the time Same here.
Speaker 1:No, I get that. That makes a lot of sense. I mean, that's powerful though. Your perspective on your parents. That's deep. A lot of people I mean that's powerful though your perspective on your parents that's deep. A lot of people probably wouldn't admit that, but it's really true in a lot of cases. I think. I have to admit that was kind of my situation with my mom too. I saw her and my grandmother as religious examples, you know, and I tried to live up to that and try to please them. It's powerful. No relationship with God at all, like you said. So I get that. You talked about losing your mom and how that was a defining moment for you. Can you talk about that a little bit, how that kind of affected your life?
Speaker 2:Yes, it did. I went to college, graduated and then my parents at the time moved from New York to Pennsylvania, semi-retired because of my. They had my brother. My mother was 49 years old when she had my younger brother. Yes, so when they retired Stephen was probably like 10 years old, 11, 12. And they went to PA halfway to go to Florida because my sister and her husband was in Pennsylvania. So they thought there would be, you know, a great place for Stephen to grow up, to go in high school and et cetera. So at this time I graduated college in 89. They were already in Pennsylvania. I go to Pennsylvania and here I got a social work degree. I don't know how, but I did.
Speaker 2:And I mean.
Speaker 1:I graduated.
Speaker 2:It makes sense. Okay, it makes sense Because my reason to go to college was to have fun and drink, and that's what I did. And I did social work because it was the easiest subject, one would say, and I partied a lot. So here I come home, living with my parents. I have a social work degree as well, as I became a pool shark because that was like my favorite hobby, being a pool shark, I'm going to talk about that.
Speaker 2:Well, but in that I became a bartender. So here I'm bartending, 23 years old, and that's when my mom was diagnosed with cancer after a couple of years living with her, and at this time I established a friendship relationship with my mom. You know we would go out for lunch, you know, and everything. She didn't like me bartending but she never said don't bartend, she goes. Oh, you're never gonna find a nice guy, because here I didn't have, I didn't find a guy in college, I wonder why, but anyhow. So, uh, yeah, my mom was diagnosed, uh, with cancer back in 1991, four to six months to live bone cancer.
Speaker 2:And I happened, like I always say, it was me that was home with her, with my dad, and we took care of her. And my younger brother, steven, went off to college like the day after diagnosis and she did. She died in January of 1992, five months later, of her original diagnose and it was bone cancer. So it was the first time of grief. It's the first time of watching someone you love die. Once again, I didn't have any faith. I'm 23 years old. I want my mom. So, yes, I did go back to the Catholic church in a way of praying, bargaining God. If I pray this Hail Mary, the rosaries came out of my mom. She was always devout. And saints different saints, padre Pio, I don't know who they are, but I'm like, okay, if I say this mom will be healed, if I do, this mom will be healed.
Speaker 2:And I felt like nothing worked because my mom wasn't healed and so when she died, I just I witnessed, you know, my mother passing away with pain, but I didn't have any faith, I didn't have hope, I didn't have life, I didn't have God in my life. So it was like hell to me. Now, in hindsight, it was like being in hell seeing someone like that with nothing, like with nothing in your heart, mind or soul. So, it was painful. So that was a defining, one of my defining situations in my life.
Speaker 1:I'd imagine it has to be different. I want to get into a little bit of your book. I know that you had multiple situations where you dealt with some tragedy and lost. I want to try to come back to that after some questions about your book and everything. But for all those that are viewing and watching this and listening to us, if you have any questions for Gina in regards to just challenges in your faith or maybe you can connect with having a family that has strong traditional values, or you also live up in the North and you have a different perspective of that area and what you're seeing, by all means, you know we'd love to answer your questions.
Speaker 1:Jump into the comment section, drop those there. We'll answer those as soon as we can, but continue to watch, continue to keep listening and we just thank you for that. So, gina, you have a book called Shake the Dust Off your Feet and Walk Faith, sobriety, self-discovery and Healing. Can you talk about this memoir, kind of talk about what you were trying to accomplish? What was the inspiration for this book? Get into that for us.
Speaker 2:Yes, First of all, I never wanted to be an author. I never wanted to write a book. It's just through my life experience. After my mom died I continued, went through a lot of other pain and tragedy. In my book it'll say that I was a former Catholic nun. I became a nun after my mom died, searching I was a searcher, searching for that peace and that serenity within. Couldn't find it. I didn't find it after really mom's death. I didn't find it in the convent. In the convent I experienced a lot of pain and suffering. There I got rejected, kicked out. It's all in the book. And then, as my journey continued, that's not easy to do.
Speaker 2:No, no, especially everybody loved me. I don't know why the sisters didn't like me. I mean, the sisters were very dysfunctional and once again trying to fit in, trying to please, and you know what God did for me, what I couldn't do for myself, and I just kept moving forward. And so then I started my other new life of the age of 42. I don't know what it was, but I went back to bartending and so you asked me about my book. My book is about my life, my journey, step by step, path, chapter by chapter, one, trauma after another trauma, a little bit of joy and then a little trauma, and then, finally, sobriety. And because during that time, when I went back to bartending, I did meet a gentleman his name was Danny. So I said, oh yes, my, my life is being fulfilled. I met someone who loved me, loved him, but he was an alcoholic. So I'm like, oh, my god, not again. You know what I mean like something more, more, more and um. But then, yet you know, tragically, he died.
Speaker 2:He died from the disease two and a half years later, once again I'm searching. I guess that's my key thing is I was just searching for the meaning of life, for the purpose of life, but most of all I was searching for Gina inside and through. After Dandy's death, that was my down dark pit, you name it. I surrendered, I gave up to life, I wanted to die, I didn't want to live and I thought my purpose was to suffer Really. I really had such an estate of grace mind saying OK, I'll just endure all pain, bring it on, bring it on to me, whatever it may be. But then, yet yet, I ended up finding myself in the rooms of a really wide Danny, an alcoholic, died and these people are living. And then I'll make a real long story short because it's all in my book. One day at a time, I came to find out that I am an alcoholic and that I have 10 years of sobriety today and in the last 10 years, Congratulations.
Speaker 2:Thank you. I come to find out who Gina is. She's lovable, she's loving, and there's freedom inside and I could hug her today. And I continue to grow in my faith. And one thing I share with you is when, after Danny died, I was so angry with God Because by this time, when I left the convent, I had married God. So when I left the convent, I felt like I divorced him. Like you know, I was like you, stay on your side.
Speaker 1:That's a kind of book. Right there I divorced God.
Speaker 2:I divorced and then when Danny died, I was like, forget it, you're on the couch, I don't want nothing to do with you. How could you do this to me? And yet, coming into the rooms and realizing who I was, I I a new relationship, renewed my love for God and have a new faith, new hope, new love, you know, new life, uh, as a sober woman of faith today. So then that's all in my book and that's why I had written it. I wrote it.
Speaker 2:I wrote all the pain out when Danny died about 11 years ago, and when I was writing about the pain of with him, the pain of the sisters came up. Because I held it, as I told you earlier, I kept everything inside. I kept everything inside and it just ate me away and it paralyzed me. I kept everything inside and it just ate me away and it paralyzed me. And so I put I put like 180 pages away of full of pain, and then, when I came into recovery, I'm full of life and recovery that I continue to write, and somebody encouraged me, say you need to publish it. You need to publish a memoir just to spread that message of hope and strength that you're not alone. Do not be discouraged If I can do it anybody, you know it's miracles.
Speaker 1:Those are the best. If I can do it, you can do it too. Those are the best ones, definitely, that's an incredible story, gina, I'll talk about that at the end of the show again. Would you offered to allow our listeners to download a free chapter of your book? Is that still available?
Speaker 2:That is still available.
Speaker 1:Gina Econ dot com Right.
Speaker 2:Yes, you can read the first chapter. It's free there. And if anyone wants to contact me it's not even regards to the book or anything I am there. You can contact me through that and I'd be more than happy to reply it or to help or to listen or to share.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Okay, I want to ask a few more questions. Hopefully we can try to get it. We're doing good. Your stories are incredible. Thank you for being transparent and sharing this stuff. This is amazing. This is incredible stuff to me. When you were in your program you're involved in with alcoholics and non-alcoholics, there's always been a stigma about them and whether it really works in the step program and everything. What did you learn from this program that you felt like worked for you, with so many questions, the long term value of being an AA. What did you? What were the benefits for you? What did you gain from that time in that program?
Speaker 2:Oh, I gained myself happy, joyous and free within, because I come to realize that I was. That's what I was looking for. I was stuck, I was stuck, I was paralyzed by fear, I was paralyzed by anger. And this 12-step program, which it does work. It does work every day, I have to say. I'm an alcoholic. I go to meetings, I have sponsors, talk to another alcoholic, do what the program does and it has brought me such freedom and such joy to live this life and, like I said, it brought God back into my life, a higher power. Live this life and, like I said, it brought God back into my life, a higher power. Just to remind all of your listeners is that AA is a spiritual program. It's not a religion program. So it's a real deep spiritual program.
Speaker 2:Explain that? Because people think when they hear about God they think it's religious church and people have all gotten trauma from church in some form or fashion. But yet AA brings you a spiritual program, brings you a higher power. So your higher power could be God. Your higher power could be a chair.
Speaker 2:Your higher power, I hope not but it's something that's not you that will help you not pick up the drink that day and when you're in that state of mind, that is the most important. If I don't drink today because of that chair, oh my God, I have a great day Because, as we know, the disease is cunning, baffling, insidious and it does kill. It killed my fiance, so I know where it can go. So anything, that is not you, that is not me a higher power you could call God, you could call Buddha, you could call the group, you could call the nature whatever is holding is not allowing you to pick up that drink out.
Speaker 2:One day at a time, you get filled with more like god or light, and and, and you do when you work the program and when you talk to another alcoholic, you're not alone. You know we all have the same. You know disease and we all want that same recovery because we know what it's like to be in hell. We know what hell is like and we don't want, we wouldn't wish that on our worst enemy. But this is a program that helps us to stay out of hell and to grow in our sobriety.
Speaker 1:I totally understand that. I understand that I wasn't in the program and it always felt to me like you were also doing it for the people who were in the program, because they were in the same place of weakness and struggle, and every day that you came back and you kept holding on to the rope, that had to do something for them too. Right, so that came back and you kept holding on to the rope. That had to do something for them too right.
Speaker 2:So that's one of the things I love about your story. I love that, yes. And one last thing is because that's why, when you go into these rooms, you'll see, you'll hear people with 30 years of sobriety, but they need that meeting for that day to keep them sober. 30 years will keep them sober because they know how important it is and to hear the newcomers come in and to let the newcomers know, yes, it does work. It ain't easy in the beginning, you know, because we either want to drink or we want to get. You know what it is. Last thing I'll say is because pain comes up. And what is alcohol? It's what anyone does with pain. They run to an alcohol. They'll, you know, run to a drink. They don't want to feel pain. They don't want to feel fear or worry and anxiety. They have something else to medicate them and that's what the program does. Any 12 step programs helps you not to medicate and to live life on life's terms in a healthy way.
Speaker 1:I love it. Are you going to be up against it? I have three more questions. I love it. All right, gina, we up against it. I have three more questions. I had actually had way more than that, but these three questions, I think, will be a fitting way to end our episode. So let's see if we try to get through these three questions. So tell me briefly what is an end-of-life doula and why did you decide to become one? Go ahead okay.
Speaker 2:End-of-life doula is a uh, a non-medical approach to those who are dying. As a transitional, as being present, my service entails of helping a family when they call me to assess. What do you need? You know, is to help that person who is dying to transition from this life to the next, and whatever I could do for the family. Everyone is different. Everyone has their different ways, different beliefs, it's you know. Everyone has their different values or anything. So I try to go in and bring a peaceful presence to them to say, hey, it's okay, or what would you like? You know, like I said, everyone is different and the reason why I do this is because of my own personal faith, like I shared with you I was when I different.
Speaker 2:And the reason why I do this is because of my own personal faith, like I shared with you, when I was with my mom. I had no faith, no hope, no love, no God, and it was hell. It was hell. I know where my mom is. My mom is in heaven, my mom is with her God, she's at peace, and so it's like, wow, I want to go there and I want to bring everyone there that I can, to go there, to transition to wherever their God is, wherever their peace is, wherever their home is. You know, and that's what my belief in things and also I love Mother Teresa, and this is where it grew when I was a nun is to give the dying the dignity to die. No matter what you are, who you are, on the streets, on this, whatever, whatever, whatever you did or didn't do, know that God loves you and that you have a place to go in his mercy.
Speaker 1:So I love it. Now, I heard so much of your story. I heard things that we didn't get a chance to even talk about live here, but you mentioned forgiveness as being very, very important for you personally. Now, through all that we heard in this live interview, I didn't hear any areas where you were holding anything against anybody. They may have done it against you, but share really briefly why forgiveness is so valuable to you, based on what you experienced well, the person I've truly blamed in my heart was God.
Speaker 2:I was angry, I blamed him for everything. How could you? Why? Why, why I had to forgive God, believe it or not, you know, yes, god forgives me, but as a person, as a relationship, it's like a heart to heart and with me, forgiveness. And now I do practice it every day. If I get angry, I try to learn to forgive. I ask for that grace. It's not a feeling, it's a choice.
Speaker 2:And forgiveness is so important because, to be honest, when you have a resentment or anger towards somebody, you're feeding yourself poison and they don't even know it. They don't even know it. So, if you forgiveness and I'm not saying to go out to the person and say, hey, let's have coffee and tea with you, you know what I mean you don't have to do that Like, oh yeah, I forgive you, come on, come on over. No, you don't have to. It's all because in your heart, and forgiveness totally frees and heals your heart, as you forgive, as you let go, especially the past, we hold on grudges. Today, life goes on. Yes, I could get angry. Aha, I could get angry. What do I do with it?
Speaker 2:It doesn't have to control me. Do I need to forgive? Did I make okay? Do I need to go apologize to someone I'm sorry, or to apologize to God? Okay, god, you know my heart. Tell me what to do.
Speaker 1:No, I love that. That's fantastic. Last question for you, gina, and this is a great conversation. Sorry, we couldn't keep on going longer, but this is where we are. But if you were not an end-of-life doula and you weren't an author, what would Gina be doing with her life?
Speaker 2:do you think? Oh, today I would just continue to be, god willing, a sober woman, working my program one day at a time and reaching out to other, know someone, and especially the families that um have lost someone to the disease, like overdose, because it is a stigma, uh, it's, it's. It is difficult and but yet you know, they're just beautiful people that die. So I would do a lot of hands-on work in that area it is a name fest.
Speaker 1:is it called sponsor? What's the what's the what for this? Is it called a sponsor? What's the task?
Speaker 2:It could be a sponsor. It could be a sponsor or it could just go. I mean, I have done.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Or just going to different events. You know that host addiction awareness. You know just to be present, just to be present to people, to families, because I've been there. I've been there I mean I'm on the both sides of the fence and and and, but now I could see you know more things differently, and the key thing for me is just to be present to people. I don't need to say anything if they ask me okay, just to be present, just to be. I can't. There's nothing more I could say about that. It's just to be present and listen.
Speaker 1:That's what we all need. That's a lesson that we could all learn from, because that's not. Some of us are not even present in our own lives. So no, I totally get that. You are my favorite member of the Econ family, that's for sure. Thank you for joining us and thanks for being a part of this show. You made it. You made the show better than I. Thank you For all those that are listening and watching.
Speaker 1:Today, gina offered to allow you to download a free chapter, a free first chapter of her book. Shake off, shake the dust off your feet, excuse me, and walk face to variety, self-discovery and healing a memoir by gina econ. Uh, you can go there, wwwginaeconcom. You can go there and download the free copy. I mean free first chapter. Excuse me, I'm so sorry I'm gonna give away your whole book. Sorry, gina econcom, you can get a first chapter free of her book. Thank you, gina again for joining us. It was fantastic. I'm sure we'll stay in touch and hear more of your great endeavors and all the great things you're going to be doing and all the books you're going to continue to write, probably, but we'll see. But excited to have you on and thanks again for doing this.
Speaker 2:Thank you, and thank you to all your listeners, and if nobody told you that they love you, today, I do.
Speaker 1:They did not, but Thank you.
