[powerpress]
The media is asking the wrong question about Tiger Woods.
Why would he do this? Why would someone with so much to lose behave so irrationally?
That question presupposes rationality. And rationality is the first thing addiction obliterates.
I know this firsthand. In 1996, I got two DUIs in two months. Logic never entered the picture. That’s the nature of addiction: cunning, baffling, powerful. A state of derangement in which the prefrontal cortex simply isn’t running the show. You don’t weigh consequences. The risks don’t register. There is only the compulsion.
But there’s a second layer worth sitting with.
Tiger Woods, Todd Marinovich, Shia LaBeouf. There’s a Venn diagram that connects them. Domineering fathers. Love that was transactional, earned through winning rather than freely given. Those environments produce extraordinary talent. They also leave scars. And scars left unhealed don’t disappear quietly. They metastasize into self-destruction, into substance abuse, into a spiritual emptiness that no trophy can touch. What Gabor Maté calls the hungry ghost. It doesn’t care how many majors you’ve won.
Which is, I think, what’s really driving Tiger’s comeback at 50. Not competitive fire. The void.
So instead of judgment, I’d ask for empathy. This is a person in profound psychic pain, navigating a disease that doesn’t respond to logic, under a media spotlight that none of us could fathom. My hope is simply this: that the pain becomes intense enough to overwhelm the fear of doing something different.
“Childhood wounds become adulthood problems.”
- RICH ROLL
In this, my second solo episode, here’s what I get into:
- Addiction, Irrational Decision-Making & Rich’s Personal History
- Unconscious Self-Sabotage in High Achievers
- Childhood Trauma, Domineering Fathers & Transactional Love
- Gabor Maté’s Hungry Ghost & Tiger’s Comeback
- The Elevator Metaphor & Hitting Bottom
- A Call for Empathy & Words for Anyone Currently Suffering
For those who prefer a visual experience, the conversation is available on YouTube. As always, the audio version streams wild and free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Peace + Plants,
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