217: Pace Lawson on Sobriety, Gratitude and Resilience

Sobriety Leads to Gratitude

In episode 217 of Gratitude Geek, Pace Lawson shares how sobriety, gratitude, and resilience helped him rebuild his life with more honesty, connection, and purpose.

Originally aired: April 16, 2024.
This post has been updated and republished as part of rebuilding the Gratitude Geek podcast archive.

We talk about what it really means to build a life rooted in connection and why gratitude is strongest when it’s directed toward people. Plus, how small daily practices can help us move through hard things with more honesty and grace.

Key Takeaways

In this episode, you’ll learn:​​

• Gratitude is most powerful when it’s focused on people and connection rather than on material possessions. It deepens our sense of belonging and meaning.
• Pace’s journey through addiction and cancer shows that resilience is built by facing adversity with honesty. He did this by asking for help, and allowing gratitude to reframe suffering without denying it.
• Gratitude can be intentionally cultivated with tools like Pace’s “Gratitude Journey” journal. The journal offers daily prompts to strengthen relationships and human interaction.
• Living with cancer reshapes gratitude into a daily practice. Valuing time, relationships, and creative work makes each day feel more intentional and worth savoring.
• Understanding that emotions are subjective and that power dynamics can trap people in toxic situations. Reclaim agency by setting boundaries, and choosing environments that honor your well-being.

Gratitude connects people, not things

Gratitude is as an “other-directed emotion,” something you feel for people rather than for stuff. Pace describes it as “the glue that binds us and connects us as a species.”

Even when you start with something tangible—a coffee, a roof, or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Appreciate the human hands, choices, and relationships behind that object. Gratitude ultimately lives in human connection.

Resilience grows through honest surrender

Pace contrasts being “clean” in rehab with being truly sober. He explains sobriety as a daily, humble surrender to a force “trying to kill me.” It requires ongoing emotional, mental, and spiritual fitness. His story of multiple relapses, halfway house life, going “to hell and back,” and slowly rebuilding. Support, structure, and purpose shows that resilience as a skill built over time, not a neat before-and-after transformation.

Cancer reshapes gratitude and control

Metastatic breast cancer forced me to reckon with control. l am responsible for my attitude. As the Dalai Lama says, “happiness is a choice and I choose to be happy.”

Gratitude is a lens for savoring each day you wake up.

Emotions and power are deeply personal

Emotions are radically subjective. You’re the only person that knows what it feels like in your body. No one else has the right to define what you feel.

Sometimes that subjectivity is violated in relationships, like a partner dictating your choices and dismissing your feelings. Pace names it as a power problem. Reclaiming agency and sometimes leaving is essential to safety and well‑being.

Everyday practices deepen human connection

Pace’s Gratitude Journey journal is presented as a 28‑day experiment in noticing and naming the people who matter most. Especially key players like spouses, kids, and the often-unseen workers behind our comfort. The book uses simple daily prompts (“what did someone do that you appreciate?”). With daily use gratitude becomes a practical, repeatable way to strengthen relationships, expand perspective, and feel less alone.

Meet Pace Lawson

Pace Lawson is a psychotherapist and author. He specializes in helping people with substance abuse, mental health challenges, and couples issues. Having battled both crack addiction and cancer, he brings lived experience and over a decade of clinical work to his book “Gratitude Journey.” In his private practice, he uses gratitude and connection as core tools for healing.

“I learned that gratitude is an other‑directed emotion, that it’s not really about cars or lattes or money—it’s the glue that binds us and connects us as a species.” – Pace Lawson

Connect with Pace Lawson

• Website: Recovatry.com
• LinkedIn: @PaceLawson
• Books: Gratitude Journey Journal and Cain: The Love Story

Resources Mentioned

• Shark Pulls Guy 2 Miles in Ocean on Unicorn Pool Float

Disclaimer: Some links may be affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you choose to purchase. No added cost to you.

Your Turn

What resonated with you in this conversation? Share your biggest takeaway on Instagram or LinkedIn. Prefer to keep it on the blog? Drop a comment below.

Final Thoughts

In the end, this conversation is a reminder that gratitude doesn’t have to be soft or vague to be powerful. When we let it point us back to people, perspective, and the practices that help us keep going, it becomes one more steady tool for rebuilding a life and business that feels honest, sustainable, and ours. If you’re working through a hard season, I hope this episode gives you something solid to hold onto.

Continue the conversation by joining me in the Gratitude Geek Lab. That’s where I keep making business growth for women over 40 feel doable, practical, and a lot less lonely

Stay Groovy!

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