Jonathan Crawford Proves Recovery Can Become Leadership

A lot of recovery stories skip the messy parts, but Jonathan Crawford doesn’t. He takes us back to being told he was “the man of the house” at 10, growing up in South Central LA, and carrying pressure that quietly shaped his identity, emotions, and choices for years. When his sister dies by suicide, grief hits with nowhere to go and it becomes the spark for crack cocaine, denial, and a fast spiral into addiction and homelessness.

We get honest about what relapse really feels like, including the guilt that can push you deeper instead of pulling you out. Jonathan shares the moment his body started rejecting the drugs and he realized it was life or death, then breaks down the hard middle of sobriety: too much time, constant triggers, and rebuilding trust one small decision at a time. If you’ve ever wondered why “just stop” doesn’t work, this conversation puts language to the real mechanisms, from survival mode to habit loops, and why repeated attempts can still be progress.

Then the story expands into leadership and purpose. Jonathan talks about walking into a temp agency with no formal education, finding a passion in broadcasting, earning promotion after promotion, and eventually reaching CEO level in telecommunications, all while hiding his past for decades. We also dig into his book, Surviving Jonathan: The 360 Degrees of Resilience, and how emotional, mental, physical, relational, and identity resilience can be built with practical takeaways you can use right now.

If this helps you, subscribe to the Healthy Living Podcast, share it with someone who needs hope, and leave a review with the one line you’re taking from Jonathan’s story.

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Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Well, hello, and welcome to the Healthy Living Podcast. I'm your host, Joe Grombine, and today we've got a very special guest. His name's Jonathan Crawford, and he's a recovering addict, a survivor, and proof that it's possible. He's an executive leader, a keynote speaker, and resilient strategist who turned adversity into authority. For the past two decades, Jonathan's built a legacy of leadership, delivering results, driving transformation, and developing people at every level. And before we go any deeper than this, you've got a recent book out. And, you know, I'd just like to say, Jonathan, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Hey, Joe. Thanks for having me here. It's such a pleasure. Pleasure to be here with you.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Well, it's I it's a pleasure. We were just talking ahead of time, and we've got a lot of similarities in our our life experience. You've certainly become a lot more successful than me, but success is measured in a lot of ways. So I I consider myself very successful in the things that I do. But I would really like to hear about your story. It sounds like you've had a journey that took you down to a dark place, and then you've pulled yourself up out of it, and you're using your experience to help others.

Grief Sparks Addiction Spiral

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Yeah, Joe, I first of again, thanks for having me here. And I really, my story and my book is all about helping people and changing people's lives. And my story starts early on in my childhood, where I was 10 years old and told I was the man of the house. And, you know, as proud as that of a moment that was for me, it was actually the start of a spiral that I would later learn that it drove me down and you know, took away my childhood, stripped me of that, trying to live up to those expectations. And imagine the pressure of a 10-year-old sitting here trying to live that of an adult. And they call it now a parentified child. And from there, through my teenage years, struggling, I first of all, I grew up in South Central LA, and so I had a lot of adversity there, gang violence, drugs in the neighborhood. So it was, it was my my childhood and where I lived was very challenging. And through all of that, by the time I'm 20 years old, I had been dabbling in, you know, marijuana and things. But I had a sister, one of my sisters committed suicide.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

And that moment basically changed my life. I didn't know how to manage grief because I didn't know how to manage my emotions as a child. And from there, I first day I tried crack cocaine.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Ooh.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

And yeah, trying to bury the grief. And from there, my life just spiraled out of control. And one of the things I say about my story is that, and then my book is that my life hasn't been a straight line, it hasn't been a circle, it's been a spiral. And that spiral can be a number of things. And my spiral consisted of drug addiction and homelessness, childhood trauma, this child molestation. There's there's so many things there, a number of rehabs, and then success. But just kind of stand in the story, my drug addiction spiraled very quickly before I knew it. And there was a lot of denial that I had an addiction, family members trying to help me over and over. But nothing changed until I really made that decision that I wanted something different for my life. So after three rehabs and a psychiatric stay, I finally came to a point, this big breakthrough, where I was exhausted. I was totally exhausted with the life that I've been living. Yeah, yeah, tired of it all. But through all of that, never giving up, and that's one thing I want people to recognize is never giving up.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

That that was key to to my my journey, uh, no matter how many times I fail. And so turning my life around at that point after 1,592 days of drug addiction, homelessness, dysfunction. Yeah, I I then changed my mindset and started to transform my life into what it is today. And trying to break myself out of the survival mode, which is where I got the title of my book, Surviving Jonathan.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

And about that, that moment, because that's a critical point for people. I've heard a similar story from many people, many, you know, many differences, but many substances, many doesn't even have to be a substance. It can be an activity, it can be whatever it is, an addiction's an addiction. But there's that place from when you make that decision where you get kind of a you get lifted up for a minute, you know, you feel good because you've you've made that change and you can start to own, take agency of your own existence. But then the work begins. And when, you know, when you talk about never giving up, I think that that's one of the critical elements because you're weak as hell. You've made a moment of of ownership of your own life. You've decided to start walking uphill out of the mud and the muck and and and and all the sharp glass and all the stuff that you're stuck in. And it's hard as hell. So why don't you tell me a little bit about that moment in your life?

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Well, I I say that in my book, I talk about how first it was the easiest thing for me was to stay right where I was. That was by far the easiest thing. I when I would think about what I would have to, the work I'd have to put into, you know, just bringing my back, my life back to a point of you know, functioning person in society. Forget all the success and career, just functioning.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Uh, as I as I say, it took a transformation for me to be able to walk into a temp agency to apply for a job for a warehouse job.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

So it was easy to stay stuck. But in that never giving up, as I was saying earlier, it was no matter how many times I would fall, and many times I knew I was going to. I went in a rehab knowing that the moment I got out, I was going to get high.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

The entire time I was in there, one rehab out of the three, for 30 days, I knew I was going to get high. People would bring me money. Hey, do you need a few dollars while you're in here? Yes. And I was just stacking that money, you know, knowing the day that I got out, I was going to get high. And within hours, I was high. But but one takeaway in that, and this is for people going through whatever addiction, whatever challenges, people, families, having, you know, family members in this situation is that many times it takes several times. It's it's not a one and done type of situation. If it is, that's that's very rare for someone to fall and just you know, get them lives, get their life straight and just keep continuing without falling.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

Now let me ask you, when when you got high after being clean for a month or however long it was, did you have a moment of guilt or did you just go, ah, here I am, I'm back to where I want to be?

SPEAKER_00 8:18

That's a great question. Lots of guilt. Because one, going into the rehabs, you're learning resources and tools to help you through the addiction and to reach out when you're having those urges. And for me, I sat silent. Silence is something that I sat in since the child my childhood. And so going out and using and knowing you had resources and tools and people to call, yeah, there's a lot of guilt. There's a lot of guilt because of people that supported you while you were there, and guilt just in what you were doing to yourself. Um, so the greatest person.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

You know, through this process, even if you don't want to, you're you're you're you're looking to see that you know there's a choice involved here.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

That's absolutely a choice. Yeah, I had a choice in the matter. So lots of guilt. Lots. And and I will just say this that guilt led me to want to use more. Oh because I'm trying to bury the pain and the guilt and take that away. So I was hoping it'd go the other way, yeah. No, it it can backfire. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It it absolutely could.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

So so when was the there was a point where you finally made that last you took that last hit and that was it, and you never did it again. Where where was that moment?

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Yeah, that moment, actually, I remember I was in my apartment and I had gotten high, and my body had begun to reject the drugs. Oh. And so the high was no longer a a good high. It it was it was a lot more that was it entailed, you know, vomiting, things like that. So I remember getting high and sitting there physically feeling like crap. And at that moment, I actually looked at the drugs and I just said there has to be a better way. Jonathan, you've been through so much and you've tried so many times. And you know, it's either now or never, because if you continue down this path, you know, there's I'm I'm going to die at this point. Right. Is what I felt. Um so it became a life or death moment for me. And I chose life.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

I chose life in that moment.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

And and so I assume that, you know, some you started doing different things to take your time up. I mean, I know a lot of addiction is just about passing time, you know, getting through the next day and you know, not feeling. And but after a minute of sobriety on your own without somebody kind of making you do it, all of a sudden there's all this time you got.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Oh, plenty of time. I'm sitting here with no job. Right. You know, nothing but time and and and mental space because I spend so much time focusing on how to get high.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Right.

Triggers Habits And Rebuilding Trust

SPEAKER_00 11:32

How to get my next hit. And so what do I do with that energy? What do I do with that mind?

SPEAKER_01 11:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

That that that time. So for me, it was changing my habits and really recognizing my triggers and spending the time to fight those triggers.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

Spending the time to change those habits. I I couldn't keep$20 in my pocket. Right. So getting a job, working in warehouses and, you know, shipping, receiving, and different places I worked, I'd get a paycheck. But and and I was married at the time, and so I'd give my wife my paycheck and just give me five or ten dollars. You know, just for gas in my car, and I smoked at the time and a pack of cigarettes, right? So it was really breaking those habits. It was really recognizing my triggers and spending time fighting that. And believe it or not, that occupies a lot of your mental space.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

And so it took a few years of me really transforming my life and getting myself to a point where I'm functioning again, rebuilding relationships and trust. Kind of going through some of the 12-step program. And so, but over time, one month, two, 90 days, 60 days, and you know, reaching that year point mark in my life was was significant to a place that I never thought I'd be.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Nice. So, were you married while you were going through the addiction, or did you get married subsequently?

SPEAKER_00 13:05

I was married going through the addiction. Right after my sister passed, I was engaged already, and I felt like life was too short and I didn't want to wait any longer. So I'm I was married at 20 years old. And so with that, and I had two stepkids. So, you know, not along with my bringing myself down in my life, I also had, you know, that on my back is as well, what I was carrying, not so much what I was carrying, but the way that I was bringing this dysfunction into their lives. And so, but you know, I I had a I had someone in my life that really stuck with me through thick and thin.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

And addiction with you, but she no, no, okay, good, good.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

She did, she did not. And so, yeah, so that was that's a whole nother story.

Finding Purpose Through Work

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Yeah, I get it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, let's fast forward a little bit. You you you went from making the decision and and you know, staying the course, and then all of a sudden at one point you made a leap, a leap forward. Why don't you tell me about that?

SPEAKER_00 15:05

So, again, as I was sharing earlier about getting my life and transforming enough to get to a point where I could walk into a temp agency because I had no skills, I had no formal education, and just walking into a temp agency to see what kind of jobs I can find. And I knew I had, you know, talent that someone would give me a chance. And so I walked into a temp agency, got a job in television and broadcasting, and where you know television signals are delivered behind the signal to bring programming to people's television screens. And the moment I walked into that job, I knew within two hours this is what I wanted to do in life.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

All right.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Immediately, I I discovered a passion. Nice. And I didn't know that you know I would stay with it because I had quit so many times in my life before. And that's where the book title, Surviving Jonathan and getting out of my own way. But through that, within my first year, I became a permanent employee within that company within 90 days, and within seven months, I was a supervisor.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Supervising people that had been working there five or ten years. And how'd they change to that? You know, I was, I guess I had really shown and proven myself to a lot of people that I had support from those individuals. I had support from management. But but here's one thing that's key. They never knew about my past.

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Okay, good.

Hiding The Past For Decades

SPEAKER_00 16:51

Okay. I for many decades. Yeah, I'll get to that in the story. But I went on to just achieve seven promotions in 14 years. The first company I worked at within the first five years, I ended up managing the department. I started as a temp, managing 60 to 70 people. And and at that point, I just felt like there's nothing I can't do. And that was the same thing I told myself on my drug addiction. If I could just overcome this, there isn't anything in life that I just can't do. This would be the hardest thing you would ever have to overcome. And to this day, that that still remains. Yeah. So yeah, so I exceled, and 14 years later, I was appointed board, I was appointed board, board board appointment president and CEO of a telecommunications company and doing satellite services for customers around the world. So that that was you know my success story.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

And where all my uh dysfunction and pain became perspective, and that perspective became purpose, and and that's where I am today.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

No It seems that you've chosen to take your experience to help others now, but what point did you feel that that was a tool you were gonna use and and use in that way?

Writing A Book To Help Others

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Yeah. I didn't realize that. I I I knew probably midway through my career, I I knew that I was in a position to help people. But I also still felt like I was struggling. Although I had achieved the success, there was still a lot of unresolved issues, unresolved healing that needed to take place before I could even help anyone else. Also, there was a fear of me and and people knowing more about me. Right. And so for my throughout my career until I wrote my book that was published last year, no one in my industry knew this side of job.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

How many years total has that been?

SPEAKER_00 19:11

30 years. Wow. 30 years last year, my former bosses, board members, employees, no one ever knew. So a lot of fear and coming forward, a lot of vulnerability and being able to tell that story. But I knew that it needed to be told in order for it to have impact and for it to really me to get to a place where I was really providing purpose to people's lives.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

So a year ago or so, or probably closer to two years ago, you decided I'm gonna tell this story. I mean, you know, a lot of people, I I I'd say this to a lot of authors. We have a lot of authors on the show. And you know, many of us have a story, have a book in our that we could write, but very few of us actually write the book. And what, you know, you didn't have formal education, formal training. You've you've you're an entrepreneur, you've figured things out as you go. I'm very similar in that way. What told you, okay, I could write a book that people want to read?

SPEAKER_00 20:19

Well, besides people telling me you need to write a book.

unknown 20:24

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_00 20:25

Because I had been told that so many times throughout my life. You need to write a book. And but you know, it'd go in one ear out to the other. And I didn't really think I had the skills or you know, capable of, I mean, I could do it, but was it would it really be a story? Would it really write it in the right way?

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Yeah.

Mentoring Coaching And Speaking On Resilience

SPEAKER_00 20:42

And so I it took me six years to write the book. And what started as a story became more of a I I needed the story to have more impact. And I needed there to be not just my story, but what can people do when they're in similar situations, whether it's addiction and whether that whether that's you know, habits of weight loss, whether that's addiction, whether it's gambling, whether that's whatever it may be, whatever, whether it's career path and leadership. So I then started taking more time to write and develop myself so that I could articulate the story. And in that process, I learned more about myself. And I was able to map my life out and why I became the person I am. Why do I struggle in relationships? Why am I always living in survival mode? So um, so a lot of evolution came from writing the book. And over time, I just I guess I just got better at it.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

And telling my story. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Yeah. So and I had enough time to to teach myself too.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

So all right, all right. Yeah, I love the light in your background says never give up. You know, that's that's that's my mantra as well.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

Through yeah, I that's that's that's what my saying is never never give up. Never give up. Um yeah, never.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

So I I the notes that I have say that you're you you do some mentoring and public speaking, and I'm curious. Obviously, you got a leadership position, so that puts you in a spot where people want to learn from you. What sort of people do you take on in that role?

SPEAKER_00 22:32

Well, mentoring, so there's different things. So I mentor, I coach, and then there's speaking. So mentoring, I don't really have a specific person that I take on. I think it's more of you know, what I whom I've connected to, or you know, who can I help. But that's all ages. And people that are struggling, it doesn't have to be again addiction, it could be career path.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Oh, yeah.

What The 360 Resilience Model Means

SPEAKER_00 22:59

It could be a number of Things. I feel like my life is, and that's where the in my book titled The Three Sixty Degrees of Resilience, because it's not, it's full circle, it's full spectrum of your life and all aspects of what happened in mine. So, so that mentoring is it's it's there from whomever I feel where I'm connected. I feel I have to really say. And then coaching, I also coach people from leadership to career to, you know, I young adults. Right now I'm coaching my son through something, you know. So I so I I really combine the mentor and the coaching. And then the speaking, I go out, I speak where there are again people that I feel I can be inspirational.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Uh huh.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

I speak where I can provide leadership development, where I can provide insight for organizations looking to build resilience within their organizations, within their teams, within their operations. So it's a pretty wide scope there. But most importantly, I'm where it feels purposeful.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

After all my success, I I come to realize that that wasn't providing me a purpose. And writing this book and helping people is what does it for me.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

So the book itself, why don't you tell me kind of in a nutshell? I mean, I know that there's a lot of personal stories in it, but tell me, you know, about the book. What is the book all about?

Final Lessons And Where To Find Him

SPEAKER_00 24:31

The book, Surviving Jonathan, the 360 degrees of resilience. It's it's a book that what started is the combination of a memoir versus professional growth. And I struggle with that because it's like, okay, usually you have to stay in one lane, but that's not my story. My story is not a straight line. It's not a circle. My as I started early, my my life is a spiral. And that 360 represents the spiral. 360 covers, and the book covers emotional resilience, it's mental, it's physical, it's relational, it's identity. And that's what the book covers. It's it's it's all of those areas of someone's life, of my life. And in the book, there are takeaways and exercises that people can use to help them where they are, where they're going, where they've been, or where they may have a family member. And yes, the stories are there to let people know that you're not alone. There's someone like you in different areas of your life, and that that someone is me. And uh and the book is very raw. I don't hold anything back in telling my stories. And I and that scared me for a minute for a while as I was writing the book. Jonathan, are you actually going to share this story? But I but I needed to for my own healing and what it can the impact it could make. So so surviving Jonathan is really could be a mirror for someone surviving yourself.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

And I am starting to build a community around that.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

Absolutely. I says I'm looking forward to reading it. I have a copy and I I've glanced through it a little bit, but I'm gonna I'm gonna dive in and you know, it's interesting. Many of my guests uh we have a conversation, we get to know each other a little bit, and oftentimes they'll come back and go deeper into a topic. And I certainly would hope that we could do that one day.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

Oh, I absolutely would love to.

SPEAKER_01 26:31

I absolutely well, as always, I I run out of time before I run out of questions, but is there a thought that you would like to leave our listeners with that would kind of sum up your your whole presence?

SPEAKER_00 26:47

Yeah, I would actually. One thing is that you don't have to overcome your story. You learn how to use it. And resilience isn't circling back to what was or where you used to be, it's becoming something new. And the hardest person to the hardest thing in life or person you'll ever have to face is yourself, and holding that mirror up and looking in is a start. And growth starts with the moment you stop blaming and start accepting accountability for your life, and that is what changed my life. And that's one thing I like to kind of leave your listeners with. And and I'd love to come back on your show and explore more. And I love that as well.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

Well, tell us how do we get a hold of you? How do we find your book and all that good stuff?

SPEAKER_00 27:42

My book is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. It also you can find it on my website at mrjonathancrawit.com. You can find me on LinkedIn at mrjonathancroffer.com as well as on Instagram, mrjonathanproffer.com and Facebook. Same same thing, Mr. JonathanCrawpert.com.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

Fantastic. Well, Mr. Jonathan Crawford, it's been an absolute pleasure. I've really enjoyed this conversation, and you have such an inspiring way about you of taking a real difficult chunk of life and turning it into a tool that can help anybody do anything.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

Well, it's been such a pleasure, and I really appreciate you having me and giving me this opportunity to share my story with the world. And uh and I look forward to more.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

Fantastic. Well, this has been another episode of the Healthy Living Podcast. I'm your host, Joe Grumba, and I'd like to thank all of our listeners for making this show possible, and we will see you next time.