The Magic of Sobriety vs. The Illusion of Alcohol with Magician and Educator Michael Six Muldoon

Michael Muldoon is a magician turned teacher who is passionate about using his skills to help educators build powerful connections with their students. Michael decided to quit drinking alcohol to  become the best version of himself, utilizing his passion for magic and teaching.

Growing up in  New York City, Michael faced numerous hardships. At a young age, tragedy struck when his family house burned down, leading to struggles in school and a period of truancy as he grappled with the aftermath of the fire.

Amidst the chaos, Michael discovered solace and purpose in magic. The art of illusion became his sanctuary, offering him an escape from the harsh realities of his surroundings. Through dedicated practice and unwavering determination, Michael honed his skills, finding a sense of empowerment and control in the world of magic which led to work with Magicians Without Borders, an organization focused on helping underprivileged youth get off the streets and pursue higher education. Through his work with  Magicians Without Borders, Micheal decided to pursue a career in teaching. Drawing upon his own experiences, he became a beacon of hope and guidance for his students, instilling in them the importance of resilience, perseverance, and self-belief.

Join us as we explore Michael Six Muldoon's inspiring journey from the depths of drinking to the pinnacle of teaching excellence, proving that with determination and courage, anything is possible.

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Connect with Michael:

• Instagram @sixfingermagic
• YouTube @MAGICSIX
• Website sixfingermagic.com

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Transcript

0:02

Hello, and welcome to the Sober Butterfly Podcast. Today we have a very special guest, Michael. Hi, my name is Michael, six Muldoon, and I'm very excited to be here. Michael Six Muldoon, also known as Magic Mike. No, I'm kidding. only. I call you Magic Mike. Only you. Wow. But oh no, that sounds people are gonna have questions, you guys. You guys start calling him Magic Mike. So I'm not the only one anyway. Michael, you are a magician, hence the nickname, Magic Mike. you are also an educator. You are a TEDx speaker. You are a sober friend. You are just a long laundry list of many things. do you feel like if I accurately describes you as a good intro? It's a start. It's just scratching the surface. So today I'm really excited to have you on because first of all, also just FYI. You are the first male guest we've had on the show. How does that make you feel? I feel honored. I hope I do it justice. That's going to be his greatest accolade. I think this is going to be the top of the resUme now. So I want to talk a little bit about your experiences, obviously in sobriety. what it's like to be a magician and educator. Cause I feel like that is a less common profession, but super cool. And yeah, let's get into it. Let's start from the beginning. Is that cool? Yeah. Let's go all the way back. All the way back. To the very start. No, you're a true New Yorker. So tell us a little bit about what it was like growing up in Queens. Being born and raised in New York and how some of those earliest formative memories have shaped who you are today. Yeah, for sure. I grew up in Queens, New York. So shout out to Queens, my Queens people listening in. I grew up originally in Maspeth and now I live in Ridgewood, which apparently is the fourth coolest place in the world. According to time out in New York, I don't know where they got that from. Someone paid a lot of money for that. That was not supposed to go hard. It's a great neighborhood, but fourth coolest in the world, like in the world, who are they lying to? Come on, but yeah, I grew up in Queens born and raised and so as I mentioned earlier, I lived in Maspeth when I was a child. Eventually we had to leave because my house burned down. That's crazy. When I was 11 years old. And that's kind of where everything started. And I think in many ways, it kind of led me to this very moment. And I say that because Well, let me tell you the story of the house burning down. Yeah, we need to know more about your house. I was in the basement when my brother and his best friend was sleeping over at the time and we hear beeping upstairs and I'm like, Oh, let me go. Well, they, I say, let me go. But they told me to go. Cause I was the youngest one there. So you go check the alarm. So I go check on the beeping and my father's in bed. It was early morning. And he's like, I'll just check the hall. Let me know what's up. I opened the door and you just see. Just smoke. You can't see anything. And the people upstairs are running up and down the stairs. And I guess they were taking stuff and trying to get it out of the house. And I'll go back in and tell my father and my hand, I can't see him in the hallway because there's smoke everywhere. And then he tells me to get out of the building. So I go across the street and then he tells everybody else that was in the house and that's sort of where the, this story begins. My mother wasn't in the house at the time. So my brother goes to get her and she tells me all the time the story, like she was like, yeah, I saw him and I was like so confused cause he came to my job and then he wasn't wearing shoes. Wow. Like he literally ran out the house. Yeah. Yeah. I mean we just took what you just get out. That's exactly what happened. So she had to come back and we had to deal with that and the entire second floor was wiped out. So it's a two family house. So that the house itself was destroyed and we had to to get out of there. And Where did you go? Like where, after your house is destroyed, where do you live? So, yeah. At the same exact time, this is, I guess, I don't know the full story to what exactly was happening, but my parents actually separate at this time. So my mother takes me and Three boys, she has four boys, which takes three of us. And one of my brother brothers was already out of the house at the time. She takes us to my aunt's house and we end up sleeping in a basement on cots until we can save enough money to find a place to live. She slept on like this, like oversized, like chair and had a cot. And sometimes my other brother would sleep on a pool table. It's just what we had available to sleep. We did that for a few months until my mother could save the money to find a place to live, which ended up bringing us to Ridgewood, New York. Okay. So you have this, like. Early formative memory of your house literally burning down. Yeah. And you're dealt to live with the wreckage of that. So what was the aftermath? So your parents separated, you're now living somewhere completely different. And I'm assUming you maybe had to go. Like, like look different for you. So what like and how did you cope with that change? You lose your friends. And I think that was the most difficult thing. And I didn't cope with it very well. I say that because I ended up struggling in school, which is ironic, considering I'm a teacher. So, I lost all my friends. This is, you know, like pre cell phones and texting and social media as being a thing. So. All the friends that I used to play sports with or whatever the case was, I don't see them anymore because it lives too far and I had to continue going to my middle school at this time by taking a bus that I was not familiar with and just travel back and forth. It's all new things, not seeing my father all the time. All of this had a impact and it showed because I have report cards from middle school where I have 55, 55, 55. Right. I've gotten to like argUments and incidents with teachers. Yeah. Then eventually I was pretty much up. I don't know if I was kicked out or my mother transferred me outta the school, but I had an incident with a teacher and then I had to leave the school. So whether that was my mother's choice just to move to a closer school, whether the school forced me out. Right. I don't fully recall, but it didn't change'cause I ended up going to middle, closer to middle school, which is nice'cause it was closer. But then again, now I don't know anybody. I don't have any friends there. Right. So it's, that's gonna be there. And then eventually when I go into high school, all of these things are leading to me cutting school a lot. I see. So I wasn't. a good student, which usually you think, Oh, teacher, you must have been a scholar. That wasn't the case. I actually have a letter from my my high school that says Michael is a danger to others. Oh my gosh. It's so crazy. Cause like sitting next to you, this version of you today, like I would never think that was your history or your past. A lot of people tell me that. But that's, you know, those are the incidences that made me who I am today, right? You go through these experiences and you start to get this understanding. And maybe it was all meant to be. And I think that's a crazy thing to say, but it led me, in many ways, to Magic. Because now that I wasn't seeing my friend all the time, one day he invites me to go to a Mets game. And he's like, I got tickets to the Mets game, let's go watch the game. So we ended up taking the bus to it was, MetLife. MetLife, and that's Jersey. I don't know. City Field. Cityville. Or Shea StadiUm. Are you sure it's not called MetLife? MetLife, no. Not even close. But Shea. And we go watch the Mets, and we're coming back, and he's like, yo, like, I know this funny store. Let's go to this place. So we hop off the bus on Queensborough Boulevard and Grand Avenue is the location, which is ironic because I teach very close to that now. And there's a story between the two called Rogue Magic and Fun Shop. And we go in and he's like, Oh, he's trying to buy some practical jokes and the guy at the counter shows me a magic trick and I'm absolutely blown away and I was like, what in the world? And he was like, I was like, can you tell me how it's done? He's like, no, we don't give away our secrets. And I was like, Oh, so like, how do I learn? How do I be a magician? He's like, yeah. 5 I could tell you Which is ironic, right? We don't give away our secrets, but we'll sell them to you. Yes Everything was a price. Yeah, so Let them know so I end up Spending my last 10 there cause I bought two magic tricks. Okay. I'm like, and then that's it. I was bit by the bug. I go home. I show my mom these tricks. She freaks out. I'm like, I need more tricks. I need to go back and buy more. How much did you spend? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they ended up having a show there every Saturday night. So then I started taking the bus there to go see the shows on Saturday night. I'd pay to watch the show. And then eventually after being there long enough, like Hey, you want to like run the curtains? Like you want to help out something you want to pay for the show. And Before I knew it, I was ended up working in the magic shop and how does this all tie into school? Well, I was cutting school a lot in high school. Now we're cut school to go work at the magic shop. Oh, wow Yeah, and the magic shop was really this interesting place It was like a safe haven because it really took kids that you wouldn't expect and put them all in one place there was Gang members, drug dealers, kids who were doing great in school all in this one place coming together over this idea of magic. And it was fascinating to be a part of that. Interesting cast of characters. Yeah. There's actually ironically Bacardi did a video about the store and some of us and it was called, You cannot use that word. I'm sorry. I'm joking. Oh my goodness. Bacardi did not sponsor this video. They did not. But there was, Bacardi did a video you said? Yeah. So what they did is they picked 25 of the most irrepressible spirits in the world. Irrepressible spirits? Yeah. Wow. Was all kinds of stories. It was a guy who built like a rollercoaster in his backyard for somebody. I forget what it was like. I can't help it. I'm sorry, Michael. But irrepressible spirits. Funny because Bacardi represses people's spirit. Sorry. It's a great video. You want to watch it. It's a great video. I'll plug it. Like if you search like Bacardi magic, I think it's called a magic man. It's interesting and it gives you a little insight into the shop. And in many ways it saved our lives and magic in many ways saved my life. And it's just that kind of weird situation. It really feels like you're having a moment, pun intended, when you're sipping on the lovely and refreshing moment. Now what I love about moment is that not only does it taste delicious, I have my favorite flavors, I love the blood orange, I love the spicy mango, but it's also good for you, which is exactly what I need in my life right now as I'm in my early teens. 30s. It's infused with L theanine, which is great for mental clarity. It also is packed with ashwagandha, which is great for helping to fight stress. It's made with all of these natural botanicals, which really enhances your vitality. It does not contain any added sugar. It's caffeine and of course alcohol free and you can purchase it in still or sparkling. I love a good sparkle moment so that's typically the route I take. In the morning it's great for a boost to start the day versus in the afternoon if you want to beat that afternoon slump and enhance your mental clarity or if you just need like a simple pick me up like for me I love to have a moment after the gym versus going into the gym because it just really helps. Reenergize me. And then in the evening, if you want to wind down after a long busy day and enjoy a delicious mocktail without the hangover, then Moment is great for that too. One of the best parts for me with Moment is I feel like it's a really conscientious brand. They donate 1 percent of all their sales to mental health nonprofits, so you can feel good about supporting greater causes as well. Head over to drinkmoment. com and use my code TSB23 to receive 12 percent off your very first order. Let's be moment bunnies. We can both have moments together. At the same time, my best friend who was a former gang member was presenting at a magic conference. He was competing in a competition and he was doing an act where he talks about, like, how magic saved his life from being in a gang. And in the audience was a man named Tom Verner, who was the founder of an organization called Magicians Without Borders. Wow. So he meets Devante, says, I work with these kids in El Salvador. We do gang prevention there. You should come join and speak to these kids. So maybe fate had its way that day. Bringing that all together and I eventually would meet Tom and I would start traveling with Magicians Without Borders and I would go on to be the vice president of the organization. And for those who don't know, Magicians Without Borders is a non profit organization that uses magic to entertain, educate, and empower at risk youth all over the world. And it's a beautiful organization. Tom is an incredible hUman being and they're doing incredible work. So I, yeah, I served two years as the vice president and it's still something that I hold near and dear to my heart. And did a lot of trips to El Salvador, some to Guatemala. And that's my magic journey. That's beautiful. I kind of want to unpack some of that. So as a magician, there's always this allure, right? That draws people in, which is the magic, which is the way that you can. Distorting truth in ways. How has being a magician changed the way that you view? Everything or does it change the way that you do? It does. 100%. It does. I've really shaped my perspective. In many ways, like there, there is a way of thinking like a magician and everything I see, I think through the lens of a magician and one of my, a friend of mine, Joshua J wrote a great book called how magicians think, which is like, what's the, like, what is the processing, like when we're doing tricks and what tricks do we pick and that kind of thing. But I think on a deeper level, there's also like this processing that happens when we're performing or analyzing a person and you have to know your audience. You have to be able to see the person in front of you and pay attention to where their eyes are looking and control their attention and use all that to your advantage in order to create the illusion that you're trying to create. And magicians historically have long been at the forefront of technology and communication and using all of these things to create the best illusion that they can. There's a lot of technology that's coming out now, like, stuff that magicians have been using for years. Really? Yeah. I don't know if I can give away all the little secrets, but one of the things that magicians use for a specific trick that I can't say because I think You'll be able to connect the dots. They're now using a major league baseball to communicate with the pitchers. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. So it's kind of cool. So it's, so that perspective of always seeing where technology is going, where the world is going and how we can use those things to our advantage to create these illusions, understanding hUman beings and the way they think and how to control attention, these are all methods that we're using to ultimately create a great experience for people. But it also shapes my worldview and how I see things when I go into education, like, I don't know, I don't see it like a normal teacher. It's not just about being here and teaching kids. It's like, how do I make this entertaining? How do I create experiences? How do I create moments of wonder that they can remember for the rest of their life? Yeah. So you're igniting passion. By almost like through this performative aspect of tapping into your work as a magician. Yeah, I'm curious. Speaking of performative measures, I think a lot of performers feel the pressure to perform sometimes and then use alcohol as a means to give their best performance. How did you use alcohol or did you use alcohol when you were? Performing your magic tricks or being in that industry and having an inside look in that world. do you feel that people did use alcohol all the time? It was, yeah, I mean, all the time people were either having drinks before their show or after their show. Like you have a drink before, you know, just to take the nerves off before you go on stage or you're just hanging out with other magicians and you have a few drinks at dinner before showtime. And then you go do the show. I don't know if that's necessarily healthy. I don't know. I mean, it's. Was it like normed? Like, do you feel like it was almost like a societal expectation? Yeah, a hundred percent. Like a hundred percent. Like it was it's, I can't even think of now that I think of like magicians that I'm, you know, friends with or however, that I haven't spoken to a while that I see before they go on show. Like, Oh, having a drink before show or drinking, you know, backstage before the show starts. And I think that's very common and and probably in most performance performances I can imagine. But I've definitely seen that throughout magic being in the magic shop. You know, you know, we're. A bunch of kids that, you know, were hanging out on the streets when we came together in this magic shop. I was introduced at an early age, like 16, 17 to alcohol, thankfully around people who weren't doing, you know, bad things per se. So I felt safe at the very least kind of in a controlled environment, I guess. But yeah, I know it's everywhere, especially in performances and the magic industry. Yeah, there's a, I can think of some great magicians too. And I had some friends that were really phenomenal magicians and, you know, alcohol was just winning and it was throwing them off the game. And I can only imagine how far they could have gone if it wasn't for alcohol being involved somewhere in there. And I can think of, you know, some major names in magic that if any magicians were listening, they would be like, Oh yeah, I know that guy. And You know, it's sad because it probably could have been so much more if it wasn't for the alcohol being involved. Interesting. And so you sort of transitioned. What I don't want to say away from the magic because you still are a magician. Yeah. More full time into the classroom and into education. What inspired that transition for you? Oh man, this is good. So, as I mentioned, I wasn't a good student. And one day I'm cutting school because that's what I did. And I was just a normal day. It was like probably like a Tuesday or something. And I'm working in a magic shop. And we opened like early that day because usually the store opened at like one, but I think that they opened at like 12 and this guy comes in and he's asking, you know, for some recommendations on what tricks he should buy. I show him a few tricks. He picks the ones that he likes. And at some point he turns to me and goes, Hey, like, what school do you go to? And I go, Oh, I got a Grover Cleveland high school. And he's like, no way I worked there. Oh no. And he looks at me through squinted eyes and he goes, it's a little early to be out of school, isn't it? It's like noon on a weekday. Like, but wait, why are you here? And then I looked at him and I was like, it's a little early to be out of work. Like, what are you, why are you here? And we ended up having a great conversation. I told him about how I hate science class and he gave me the same science teacher every year. And she would drive me crazy. And then he told me about how he loved magic. And he actually made an agreement with me, and he said, if you meet me each day on my lunch break, I'll teach you science for half the period, and then you can teach me magic for the other half. Wow. And he used it, and it actually got me into school for a pretty good amount of time before I started cutting again. But you know, one of the things that was Difficult about being in school is that I wasn't like, I wasn't like a dUmb kid. Like I was a smart enough kid that I was in class. I'd get my work done and then I sit there with my cards in my hand and my teacher would yell at me, tell me how I'm never going to amount to anything, how I'm wasting my time with those deck of cards, put them away. And like, just basically crushing my dreams that I had of being a magician. But here's this one guy who believed in me and not only believed in my dreams of being a magician, like he embraced it and said, Hey, come teach me. And that's, you know, that, how many times do you hear? Teachers asking students to teach them something, you know? Right. That's rare. Exactly. So, you know, he gave me this self-confidence, this belief in me. And so that's one of the aspects to why I became a high school teacher, because I wanted to be him. I wanted to be the teacher that can see kids and understand their passions and have them believe in themselves so that they can reach those things too. That's beautiful. And on the other side of that is like with Tom Verner, when we were doing Magicians Without Borders, we would raise money and pay for kids to go to school, like high school. In El Salvador, you have to pay to go to high school college and all that kind of stuff. And we're raising money to put these kids through school. I mean, I eventually, I did end up doing my associates in business, but like I saw we were paying for these kids to do their schooling. I was like, you know, maybe I should like finish and do more schooling, you know, like be the example for these kids. So I ended up deciding to finish my bachelor's degree. And while that was happening. My mother worked in a school and she was like, Hey, we need a school aid. It's a light job. It's only a few hours a day, but you can do this since you're not gonna be traveling, doing the magic anymore. You can do this to make some income while you're going to school, which I ended up doing. And other teachers in the school was just like, Oh, these kids love you. You're like, they push me. Like you should, you'll be a great teacher. You should really consider it, consider this. And eventually I was like, you know what? Let me do this. So like, I got pushed by somebody else actually gave me a plan. There's a gentleman, Eric Checo, who I work with, great guy. He was like, dude, like, I'll just tell you what I did. Like I did this. And I ended up going to the teaching fellows, which is a program. And that's how I met you. So, everything comes full circle. Like life doesn't happen by accident. So, and that's how I went to teaching. So I became a teaching fellow, studied political science and then ended up becoming a special education teacher. Amazing. At this point in life, what was your relationship like with alcohol? It wasn't anything like crazy. Like it wasn't to the point that I'm imagining you're like mid twenties. Yeah, well this is right. So I mean, I got into teaching at like, I think I started teaching at 30. I was a school later, like 27, 28. Cause I was coming back later. Yeah. Definitely was, you know, like traveling and doing magic. There's a lot of alcohol involved. You go to any magic convention, they have these major magic conventions. You'll find all the magicians hanging out at the bar. And it's just so normalized to always be drinking and working on magic. So for those, for the, during those times that I was hanging out with magicians, there was a lot of drinking going on. And then when I moved into education it wasn't so crazy. I mean, I think just normal stuff but no norm, the normal is not okay. Right. This idea of normal alcohol usage is not okay. Right. Because there's no such thing as normal alcohol usage. It's legit just poison, right? If you're ingesting poison over and over again, it's never going to be okay. And. The I guess the turning point for me It wasn't necessarily like this major bad thing happened Like I can definitely have incidents of like when I was drinking like I was stupid. I should have said that I should have done that Like that regret waking up hungover wasting your days headaches, but there was a point in my life where I said to myself I want to be the best version of me, whatever capacity that is. And to do that, you have to act with integrity to yourself. So, I mean, you have to say something and then act in accordance with that, make your words, match your actions for you, not for other people. And I think I was fortunate in that sense that it really came down to me, you know, I think, you know, other people. And they try to change for other people because they feel bad for the way they acted or said something to someone or did things like that. So they go down that route. I just really wanted to be a better version of myself. And I didn't like where I was when I drank. Not that I was even that bad. It's just it just wasn't in alignment with the person that I wanted to be. And I think that's such an important thing to ask yourself is like, who are you? And who do you want to be? And what is the best version of you look like? And then if you create this blueprint of this is the best Michael and These are the things that show that this Michael is being the best him right? I can wake up each morning and act in accordance with that. I think that's integral. Like, this idea of wanting to be the best version of yourself and visualizing what that looks like, I think is important. Right? But the added piece that is often overlooked is what actions. Must this person do in accordance to becoming that version of self, because it's one thing to just, you know, have a vision of what this person looks like and does. And it's a completely different thing to actually do the work and show up and do the work and make mistakes along the way and fail and then pick yourself back up and realize that, like, just because you messed that up doesn't mean that it's over. You just have to take every day as it comes to once again, keep working towards that version of self. Yeah, and you say something so important there, this idea of. And I say that because one of my students recently did an interview with me. She interviewed me for a English project she was doing in class. And one of the questions she asked me is like, if you're like one thing people should know about being successful, what would it be? And I try to be very honest with my students. Like I had to explain that six. To be successful and success itself is ugly. It is not pretty. And I think we're often sold the illusion that It's gonna be a beautiful thing, and I'm gonna just try and I'm gonna make all this money and all these dreams are gonna happen. No, it's dirty. It's ugly. You have to grind it out. You have to wake up every morning and make difficult choices. I think even Colonel Sanders were from KFC was rejected over a hundred times. Wow. Before he ever sold his recipe. Yeah. I mean, most people would give up out the, like the fifth note or seventh. No. Maybe even the 20th. No. Gets a 99 nos and you still keep going. Yeah, because it's ugly. But what you don't see that you just see all the KFCs everywhere and you see Colonel Sanders everywhere. You're like, Oh, must have been easy. But it's not. And if you're choosing to be successful in something going into anticipating, it's gonna be difficult. It's gonna make your life a lot easier. Yeah, because if you think it's gonna be all sunshine and rainbows, it's not, I love that quick connection to sobriety. They're this illusion of what sobriety looks like even like, I think I try to be mindful as someone that has a platform that it. Tries to one hand showcase all the beauty and positivity in the ways in which my life has changed and transformed for the better and sobriety. Like, that is true. But at the same time, the work that went beneath the surface, like the pain and the agony and like the uncomfortability of what that process look like in becoming this version of self was not pretty to your point. Like, the success of me getting sober was not a linear path. It was very much like trial and error. I failed at certain points. I've had many. Day ones, I didn't nail it my first try. And I think like, to your point, being transparent with other people and forthcoming with your story, right? Like, so with your student, for example, like giving that very like clear definition of success, being messy is messaging to her that like, it's not going to always look the way you think, or the illusion of what you think success looks like, because I think so many people use that as almost like there. And then when they themselves go through the process and it doesn't feel the way that it's supposed to look or what they thought it would look like, they give up. Yeah. And that's the part that like, I think less people talk about in life and sobriety and whatever, however you want to define success for yourself. It's like, it is ugly. It is messy. And it doesn't always work. The first time you try ordered one hunt. I think Mike Tyson says that everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Oh, that's get ready for those punches. No, they're coming. No matter what you're trying to do, what you're trying to achieve, it's going to be ugly and get ready for that battle. And you have to be persistent and you have to keep at it and knowing why you're doing it and what you're after and checking in with yourself every once in a while to make sure I'm on track to what I'm going to do is going to be so valuable on that. For me, it was the, I was just checking it. Like, what do I have to do today to be the best version of me? And then tomorrow I start again, what do I have to do today to be the best version of me? I like the emphasis of like today, like this, like in the moment present, because I think we can get overwhelmed. If we try to think about all the longterm things that we have to do to get to this version of self. It's like, no, in this moment, like what's the. Bite sized action stuff that you can take that's in alignment to becoming this person. Yeah. And you're redefining the best you every day. And you understand that it's not going to be the same. You know, even like here, like I'm not the person today that I was yesterday. Right. And tomorrow I'm not gonna be the same person I am today. I'm going to leave here with something, a conversation that we had, whether it was before this or during this. I'm going to be thinking about that. It's going to change my behavior in some way or the way I word something. So we're constantly evolving. Well, I don't know if everyone's constantly evolving. I think that you are taking the Approach and you're having a mindset that is open to change and growth, but that's the point. I'm trying to think. I think that is uncomfortable for people and to it sucks. It's a lot of people prefer this sometimes just stay. How they know themselves to be, even if that person or version of themselves is sick, because it's just like easier that way you have to face the truth. And that's where it gets difficult, right? Because you have to be honest with yourself and others. And that is where the challenge is, you know, this idea of, like, you know, when people do these 31 day challenges, I'm not going to drink or in January or whatever the case is, you know. Then they go back to drinking in February and they say, look, I did it. Yeah, I was able to do it. I proved my point. I proved to the world that I can stop drinking. Well, that's an illusion. Yeah, because you didn't stop drinking. You pause drinking and there's a distinction there and distinctions matter. Yeah. So you didn't prove to anybody that you could stop drinking. You just. Prove that you can hang for a few days and not drink. And then you go right back to it. The moment there's an opportunity that you feel good about yourself, that you sold yourself on this illusion, then you start pursuing it. And that's where thinking like a magician comes in, right? It's understanding the illusions that we're telling ourselves, why we're telling ourselves these illusions and trying to get to the actual truth of it. So I think the honesty piece that you mentioned is integral and. Just moving into, well, what was some of your reasons for wanting to quit drinking? I feel like you tap into this, but I'd like to hear a little bit more. Like, do you feel like, cause it sounds like you weren't like a problematic drinker per se, even though we can both agree that alcohol is a problem. Yeah. And I've always had, like, everyone has those stupid moments where like, I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have said that. And thankfully nothing, no rock bottom. Yeah. So nothing's so crazy where like I need an intervention or something. Thankfully especially considering I come from a family of alcoholics, that's, you know, it could have been far worse. I think also part of that was in the back of my head too. Like, you know, you really have to be careful because, you know, that's a continued blood, unfortunately the big changes were, like I said, like, what is the best version of me? And I wasn't in shape. We had covert times where I put on a ton of weight and I was like, well, that's not who I am. That's who I am in this moment, but that's not who I am in general. And I wanted to be healthy and I have some back issues that I have to be worried about. So losing weight is going to be beneficial for that. And if I really want to be successful, right, I have my own drives, my own motivations. I really want to like impact the world and share ideas that are valuable and contribute to the world and leave some kind of contribution to the world that makes this world a better place. And to do that, you have to really. Be acting in a way that's in a line to those dreams. And then I had to ask myself, well, what is the value of alcohol for me? What does value do for me? What does alcohol, sorry, what does alcohol do for me? And really like nothing. It actually hinders all the things that I thought it was doing. So on one end, it's like, Oh, it takes off the nerves comes my anxiety. But again, that's just an illusion, right? Because is alcohol really removing the anxiety or is. that a band aid, not a solution? Rhetorical questions. Yeah, because yeah, because then I got to actually, or I should be doing is, well, why do I have anxiety? What is it that's holding me back? What parts of my insecure about myself? And how do I address? The real root causes like anxiety, for example, without the need to drink, because as you mentioned, it's just a scapegoat and then usually the thing that you're using to, self medicate or self soothe exasperates. The condition even more. Yeah. So for example, if you're using alcohol for anxiety, like, Oh, I want it, it increases it, like, it's just like, Oh, if I don't have it now, I feel like, Oh my God, I can't function. I can't socialize. I can't be this extroverted great version of myself without it. And it's like, no, what can you supplement in place of that? Or how can you tap into a friend of mine says that like, a lot of the things that we think we're using alcohol for. We actually have within ourselves, we just have to learn how to unlock it. So it's just a matter of like free tuning or fine tuning, how to actually be that version of yourself. So if you're using it to be this extraverted person where you are that person, it's just a matter of like extracting that version of yourself without using alcohol. It's already in you, obviously. So you're able to. So one of the great things you can do is find passions that allow you to do that thing for me going on stage. Is that right? Like, yeah, I mean, without drinking. Yeah, like I just did a performance for my school Friday night and it was great. And it felt so being so good up on stage and I get to be a little crazy and energetic and I don't get to do that all the time. But in those moments on stage, that's where I really get that thrill because I have these passions that I can then yeah. Take the things that I'm missing or looking for in my life and find healthy ways to access those things and tap into those things and to work on those things. So one of those things that, you know, like, let's say you do have like, Oh, it helps me be more social or whatever the case is. That's a great time to learn things, to be more social. Yeah, you can be a magician. Okay. Maybe you can't be a magician. I mean, you could, you can join my YouTube channel. I do teach some card tricks there. It's not a shameless plug. This is actually a recommendation. It's like a conversation. Yeah. I learned some basic card tricks. I teach self working card tricks. We call them, which is like, you just got to remember the steps. You don't have to have like, any dexterity or sleight of hand. You can go to my YouTube channel, learn a few of those tricks, and then you can have a conversation with somebody and open up a conversation and do so in a way that's healthy. You don't have to rely on alcohol to do that. Huh. So, you know, it's beautiful. Yeah. And obviously it doesn't have to be magic. That's just my thing. It could be your thing too. You're welcome to join me. Whatever the thing is for you. I know people like dance and ZUmba and all these kinds of things are going to be beneficial. Joining a book club with shared passion. You can get all the things that alcohol gives you, but you just have to look deep within yourself and ask yourself, what is it that you really need? Right, and I think you know, that's it's not easy. Like I said, it's not pretty but it has to happen, right? Like you have to make that jUmp because if not, what's the alternative? Yeah. Yeah, and then you are living in a world of illusion Right alcohol is not reality. No, that's the key. I think so many people Think that alcohol is the solution without recognizing that it's the problem and till it becomes a true problem and they're forced to reckon with themselves. Yeah. And I think most people have a, listen, you can either wait to rock bottom and then you have to deal with yourself. Yeah. And it's going to be even uglier than if you just say to yourself, let me deal with it now and do so because of my choice. And that's a scary place to be. I get it. I trust me. I promise. I promise you. I know how difficult it is to look at yourself and say, I'm a jackass when I drank or damn, like, I really don't love myself like that. Like, I feel down that actually made me think of something like some people think that alcoholism is a progressive disease and considering like your shared background that you mentioned about your family. Do you feel like? That could have been a track or a pathway for you. Yeah, a hundred percent. I mean, yeah, a hundred percent. Cause I've seen it with multiple family members and I've heard stories of family members that was too young to remember meeting. And yeah, that's a, that's an easy track to fall into. And you know, what's that saying? Like. You can only be as successful as your five closest friends, right? Like your immediate circle. Yeah, your circle matters and your family's your closest circle in the early upbringing and they're going to have a great influence over you. And then, you know, seeing the negative side effects of alcohol and what that looks like and making my own mistakes with drinking and just like stupid stuff you would say or do. And you're like, that's not really me. And then all of that is just really because you're afraid to face yourself. I was afraid to just accept who I was as a person. And I was afraid to like own this idea of being my best self. Take ownership of yourself. Like what? Like to say that, like, I can't be fit and healthy because it's easy to point to everything around you and say, Oh, I work too hard. I got work and I got this and all the excuses that we give ourselves. But imagine the power of just taking ownership of your life and saying, Oh yeah, I'm a little chubby, but you know whose fault that is. That's mine. No, that's the power. That's, that is the power right there. But yeah, like taking ownership and responsibility is really challenging for people and I think. The part about removing alcohol, it's like, that's a big crutch for people. That's like, Oh, I'm too hungover going back to the whole thing to work out today. Like, well, what if you're not hungover? Like, what if like you just are now forced to understand that? Like, Oh, I'm not prioritizing this because I'm not prioritizing this. Like, you don't want to accept that side. Right? Right. Me. Oh, I could it's so easy to, how many times, like, even on the Monday, like work culture period, it's like, Oh my God, this weekend, like I didn't get anything done, I drank too much. And it's just like an accepted, excuse. And now a quick word from our partners. Have you ever wished you could dive into a great story while on the go? Maybe that's during your daily commute or even while working out. Well, now you can, thanks to Audible. Audible is the leading provider of spoken word entertainment in audiobooks, and with Audible, you can turn any moment into a storytime adventure. Imagine having access to an unmatched selection of audiobooks. Exclusive podcast and more all in one place on your phone or your computer or whatever listening device you choose Audible is not just a library. 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Because if you're serving the same purpose and now let's say you learn magic tricks to do this and before using alcohol, it's still the same idea, you're still using some kind of tool or vehicle to get to whatever your end destination is, but which one's going to serve you. Right. And I recently was watching a video. I just came across a random video on Instagram. This guy was talking about this two colUmns in life. This is the plus colUmn and there's the negative colUmn. There's the good and the bad and he said, everything in your life has a cost and everything you do, every action you take has a cost to it and it's either going to be a plus towards whatever your goal or dream is or it's going to be a negative towards no gray area and literally he goes. Nothing is neutral and that's the part that hit me and that's the part that people don't want to accept because it, going back to your point, takes accountability. It takes personal responsibility and it's a hard truth to face, but sometimes people are not ready to face that truth. Yeah, a hundred percent. And alcohol is a great mask to help people distort whether or not it belongs in this colUmn or that colUmn. Like they recognize that it's bad, but there's all this caveat. But I was drunk, but I am hungover, but everyone was drinking. But what do you want out of your life? And how is this action helping you get there? Is it, or is it not? And never in my life have I sat down with somebody like I do some coaching for people in the businesses. And I've never in my life sat down with somebody, I asked them. What is your dream life include? What does that look like? What does that feel like? Never once did they say to me, can't wait to wake over, wake up hungover again. Like never once, like no one's ever put that on their list of dreams or things to do. No. And then think to yourself, like, how is alcohol? Impeding and getting in the way of you reaching the goals and dreams that you have now may not. And this is where this idea of this false idea of neutral comes in where it's like, well, it's not directly impacting it, but it could definitely be slowing it down. Thank you. I'm going back to your reasons like you want to optimize your life. Come on. There's no way my brain is operating at 100 percent capacity when I'm drinking. No, look at the science of it. There's alcohol stays in your system for days. It takes a while to get out. You're gonna have a hunger for it again, desire for it. And it's like every body functions. Your sleep. Oh my God, my sleep. Every major organ. I had a hard time with sleep in general. And alcohol does not make sleeping any better. Nope. And I've even heard, I've seen the illusion of people like, oh, I'm gonna have a glass of wine so I can go to sleep. Like, no, it's gonna ruin your sleep. Disrupts your cycle. Yep. Yeah. So part of it, for me, it was like, I wanna be healthy, I wanna lose weight, I want to have healthy sleep. I wanna sharpen my mind and. I asked myself, like, what is the value of alcohol for me? And to be honest, there was no real value. And anytime that I could see a value to it, I had to just ask myself, great. Okay, so if the value is in the anxiety thing, what can I do to find ways to do that in a healthy way that is beneficial to me that can then move me into the plus colUmn? And then, like, if you were, like, even if it were, like, oh, anxiety, it helps me with anxiety. Well, are you going to be codependent on alcohol for the rest of your life? Yeah. To help you through anxiety? Like, it's not a long term solution. Yeah. I love that so much. And so wrapping up here, how has your life improved since becoming sober? Oh, it's incredible. I mean, I sleep way better. I'm way healthier. I think I'm down like 30, 40 pounds already. That's incredible. Wow. That did not happen for me. I replaced it with sugar addiction. Oh, I mean, I'm fine now, but like in the early days of my sobriety. Yeah, no it's ups and downs. I think I definitely started with food initially. And then I got really like, I transitioned to systemizing. One of my favorite books is E Myth Revisited. E Myth Revisited. Yeah, and it's about like almost like a franchising model, like how franchising is. And it's about if you have a small business, how to turn it into like this franchise model that's systemized so it can operate and sustain itself. Autopilot. The same thing is true for life. The best thing I did recently, I was like, I want to make sure I keep being healthy when Amazon bought 20 glass containers for meal prep, and now I have these 20 glass containers that are ready to go at any given time, creating a meal prep plan, like what are the meals that I'm going to prep all the time and what do I have to always keep in my freezer or fridge makes life way easier. I love that. How can you systemize your sobriety? I'm just thinking. What are some ways that I could do that? That should be a book, by the way. That should be your book. Systemizing sobriety. As if I haven't needed another thing to do. Do you want to write a book, actually? Yeah, good point. Because I'm thinking, like, there's Often this idea of like a sober toolkit, but the toolkit are like tools that you can reach for and not necessarily systems that you can reach for or how you can systemize because everyone's systems will look different. So I do like that. And I'm curious, maybe we'll leave on a cliff note there, like how people systemize their sobriety. A little cliffhanger for everybody there. Yeah. And I just want to correct your language. You are going to write a book. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Let's make sure. I know that. Whether I say I want to write a book, I want to write a book. I'm going to write a book. Yeah, so I appreciate you, Michael, for coming on and sharing so much of that so many gems for us to take away and think about what's next for you? What are you working on? My next thing is I'll be at South by Southwest EDU, if anyone happens to be listening, and we'll be there in Austin, Texas, doing a workshop. Now, my big thing is I'm combining magic and education together and trying to reawaken wonder back in our schools across the country. I'm potentially, hopefully going to be, I plan to at least. You know, as long as nothing gets in the way of that, for whatever reason plans to launch a nonprofit called Seek Wonder. I'm sorry, you're going to. I'm going to, see, correct me if I was waiting for it, I set that one up. I'm going to launch Seek Wonder which will be SeekWonder. org, which will be an organization to bring magic into schools. And like I said, reawaken wonder back in our schools, cause we need it. You should coin that too, reawaken wonder. I love that, reawaken wonder in our schools. We need it. That's so that's going to happen. And then other than that, I mean, I'm working on a book at the moment. So specifically for educators and same idea. How do we get wonder back into schools? And that's kind of where my pathway is taking me. It seems I'm just trusting the universe and following its guidance. It's beautiful. Yeah. But yeah, I'm excited. And and to be honest, like there's, if I had to give any feedback to anybody, like I've always been ambitious. I've always. Had big dreams and I'll tell you one thing, like, my progress has sped up so much once I stopped drinking. It made such a difference. So, again, for the people in the back. Yeah. It's going to speed up your progress in achieving your dreams you're going to be sharper you'll be far more motivated, and I promise you, if you have big dreams and big goals, cutting out the alcohol is going to make a huge difference. The first few months are going to suck, I'm going to be honest with you. Thank you. Give it some time. But once you get on the other side of that. Yes. Then yeah then you'll see it's a snowball effect. Greatest life hack. Giving up alcohol. Yeah. I think that's the one common thread. Like you didn't have some of the addiction issues that I had, but like no matter where or why people stop drinking, where they come from or like their purpose for quitting drinking, they all have the same conclusion. Their life is just so much better without it. Yeah. I don't think people necessarily who are still drinking know that. So I encourage everyone to like really think. Yeah. Consider it for yourself. Treat it like a social experiment. Yeah. What else? What do you got to lose? Right? Exactly. I mean, a better life. Oh, how horrible I can name those things. Okay, Michael, I'll plug all of your wonderful things. Just drop my resUme. I'm just going to drop your resUme in the show notes so people can find you. But yeah, follow Michael. Magic Mike. That's not his name. You will not find me on anything else. Don't Google Magic Mike. Very different show. Very different show. At on Instagram. Instagram, at Six Finger Magic. That's spelled out. S I X F I N G E R M A G I C. Website? Website. MichaelMuldoon. com. M I C H A E L M U L D O N. Oh, and YouTube youtube. com slash magic six, spell out M A G S E S I X. That's the teacher in me right now. Making sure it's all correct. Yeah, and go, yeah, go to my YouTube, learn some card tricks. Like, listen, that's a great way to meet people if you want to get social. And one way you could do that, like without alcohol is go learn some really simple card tricks that you can use. And maybe we should do like a team thing. I was like, I feel like in New York, like don't go out to random people and just be like, do you want to see a magic trick? But that's how I started my career. So actually, yeah, let's do that in the streets. How do you think David Blaine made his whole career on street magic? Yeah. I guess David Blaine Street Magic started in New York City. I would think, I don't know, I'm tainted. I would think it was a scam. Like, what are you going to do to me? What do you need to see? Okay. It's tough though. It's brutal, but that's how you, that's how you build some chops. And you learn rejection. I'm sure lots of no's to lead to success. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. But okay. So I take that back. I'm not, what do I know? Okay. Go up to strangers and ask them if they want to see a magic trick. Why not? It's a good way to start. That's your way in, right? So start with that. And then find your thing, trust your passions. All right, you heard it here. Thanks everybody. It's been fun. Stay magical. Thank you for being here, and thank you for allowing me to hold space in your day as you listen to this podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, please, please do me a favor and one, make sure you're following the show so that you can stay up to date with everything else that's happening. And two. Please, please leave a review as it helps more people find the show. I would appreciate even more if it's a five star review, but do what's right for you. Do what you think I deserve, thank you so much, and I'll see you next week. Bye bye.