From Addiction to Inspiration: Gail Taylor's Path

I'm Beverly Glazer and I help women navigate the stress of business , family and relationships , and sometimes even addictions , and you can find me on reinventimpossiblecom . So I want you to meet Gail Taylor . Gail is a Canadian songwriter , author , entrepreneur and philanthropist who shares her music on stage as an inspirational keynote speaker .

Her mission to inspire , entertain and coach people to live their best lives using music , self-development tools and personal stories . But life wasn't always so inspiring for her . Let's dive right in . Welcome , Gail . Oh , thanks , thanks for having me , Bev . I really appreciate this .

You're very welcome because your story is so inspiring and , as you know , this podcast is all about stories and we are who we are because of where we come from , and so this is why I've chosen specific people to be guests on this show who have a wonderful story .

So I want you to share a little bit just about what you were growing up with and what was going on in your life back then as a child . Okay . So when I was 12 years old , my dad died and that was a pivoting point in my life . But prior to that I had the perfect life .

I had the leave it to beaver life that's what I call it , and some people won't even get that reference . But my mom and dad were in love . I had five siblings . There was six of us . We lived in a small town in northern Ontario and life was good . Life was just absolutely perfect Went home for lunch , hot soup . And then , when I was 12 , my dad died .

He was actually a bush pilot and he crashed his plane and I didn't do well with it . I did not . I was at that age where they say you're not supposed to change anything in your life , don't move , don't change schools . So when he died , you know part of me trying to cope with it I actually pretended he was still alive .

For two years I made him a spy for the government and for two years I said that you know he had to pretend he was dead to go save the world . And then my mom . He worked for a mining company , so we had three months to move out of our house because they owned the whole town . So my mom took us to Ottawa and so from small town to fairly big city .

It didn't work for me . It literally swallowed me up . I couldn't cope . I mean , my mom was doing everything she could to keep us off welfare , to keep us together , and so you know she didn't have a lot of time for us .

She was working , she was putting one foot in front of the other , she was grieving , she was in her mid-30s , right Mid-30s , six kids , and so , yeah , I turned to drugs and alcohol and reckless behavior and I was dysfunctional for a good 10 years before I hit my starting point of trying to turn things around 10 years 10 years .

10 years yeah when did you start to hit that point and turn your life ?

I mean , I have control over my life . Why , why am I doing this ? And there was just that little spark of hope that I could change things , and it just put me on the path of wanting to try to figure it out .

And so I started on the personal growth books , and I started with Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich , which a lot of people have read and or heard of , and and that was really my starting point , and it was , it was the first time that , like , I was literally , uh , looking at doing something other than getting high all day , every day yeah , but how did you

just stop it ?

So my son when I started to turn things around , he was about three or four years old . So you know , his first three years mom was drunk , all I'm not going to say drunk . All the time I was stoned and drunk and in a place where it's not really conducive to to parenting , right .

And so then , when I started changing things around , for the first few years , I wasn't any better because I worked hard , played hard . Now we're getting into the 80s , and that was the theme of the 80s , right , it was that me , me , me generation work hard , play hard . And so here I was , deciding I was going to become a businesswoman , get some education .

I dropped out of high school when I was 16 years old , so the turning points were okay . So now I'm going to become a workaholic and then when I finish work , I'm still going to party , because I haven't changed that . And that's the new group of people you just talked about . Right Now it's the overachievers that like to party .

And at the time I thought , like I loved my son , I loved him , I loved him . I had no idea that I wasn't the best parent in the world . I assumed that just loving and caring for him was everything . I had no clue Like my emotional immaturity was off the scales and I would make sure that he was with babysitters or caregivers that loved him .

And that's what I thought . As long as he's with people that love him and care for him , then when he's with me , it becomes quality versus quantity . Well , we both know quantity is important too . I just didn't know at the time and so , yeah . So one of my second turning points big turning points was when he turned 12 . He went down the same road .

I did right . When he turned 12 , I actually moved him to another city . I brought a new man into his life . I put him in a new school , all the things that had happened to me I did to him Again , total ignorance of what's going on here , and so he started to spiral . And you know what , bev ?

That was the first time in my life that I really stopped using substances every day . I guess I was what you would call a functional addict . Right , I could go to work every day , I could party at night Like I was what they would term our society would term as a functional addict .

And when my son started going through his rough time , I thought , whoa , I got to be here for this kid . And so , for the first time in my life , I stopped using and I started paying attention .

But anyone that you know , any of your listeners that have gone down this road , they know , like I was dealing with social services contracts , jail time on his part , like there were all there . This was not an easy journey . Now I have his permission to share our story . So I'm not telling .

You know , I don't think you talk about somebody's journey without their permission and he is in recovery and he's one of my best friends . We're very , very close right now . But he got caught in the opioid world and had he not got clean when he did , I don't think I'd have a son right now . So I'm very , very lucky , very lucky .

You were going through like really rough periods in your life and then decided also to educate yourself and really go into finance world , which is tough and , as you say , there's plenty of drinkers , plenty of functional alcoholics in this and it's high pressure and you're also dealing with a child who has its own problems , as you know .

And how did you get out of that ? Because that is a whole other life as well . You know you went from one to another to another . What happened there ?

And one of the things that I share when I talk to folks about , you know , taking the next step on their journey is that I come from a place of healed scars and not open wounds and not open wounds . And yeah , it took me a while to get here , as it will for some of the listeners , but it's there , it is there for your taking

. And so , as the journey continued and I started , I kept reading and I decided that my goal at the time was to be financially independent . And that came from . It started when I was dysfunctional 20-some-year-old and , like what we said about in the 80s , it was the me-me generation and so I wanted to be a millionaire . I wanted to be financially independent .

So I started reading the books how people become financially independent , real estate investments and I started down that , studying that , those areas and then I started to study finance . I started in real estate actually , and then , and then I started to study finance and I thought , oh my God , I just love this .

I started in real estate , actually , and then I started to study finance and I thought , oh my God , I just love this , I love math , and so that made it a good part of my journey . And then you're going to find this interesting , and the listeners that read the personal growth and peak performance genre are going to find this interesting .

There's something that they always say to you is figure out what all your resources are , all the things that you know that you have that can help you with your journey . And then what's holding you back ? Well , I kept writing down I party too much . I party too much , right , I plan on doing something on Saturday or Sunday , and I can't because I'm hung over .

And so when , all of a sudden , a light bulb came on and I went and bought a book that said are you an alcoholic ? Take this quiz . It was like 20 questions , and the most bizarre part of it was none of the questions had anything to do with how much you drank . That wasn't what they were asking you .

They were asking you whether or not you like to go to social functions that have no alcohol at them . Nope , right , nope , right . They were . They were . Uh , do you structure your time and your activities around being available to drink when the would that ? Yep , right . So so there was . It was that that's how deep denial goes , right .

It was that it was like between Corey going through his stuff and me starting to read , because of it , on what's going on . It was like the second autumn right , it was the second One time I was at rehab with him for family day and I had this conversation with a consultant . I said how come I didn't have to go to rehab ?

How come so many people did and I don't have to ? And the answer I got was because you hit what we call a high bottom and because the disease addiction , whether your drugs , alcohol , whatever it is there's four stages .

Clinically , I started reading all the medical and I know there's a lot of controversy on what's this , what's that , but I just started consuming everything that was out there and that was one of the . You know what stage you're in . A lot of people think if you're not in stage four and living on the street , then you don't have a problem .

Yeah , right , like if I yeah , yeah . When I would tell people I'm a recovering addict , they'd say you are not . You know you like they , they don't they . But to understand what it is is to understand that you know some people live their whole lives as functional addicts and and that's you know , that's part of our culture , that's it .

I was helping all the clients with their own retirements and financial independence , but I was doing strategies that were environmentally , socially and governance related . So the tagline was creating your wealth while strengthening the world , and so I was on purpose . I was on my purpose and my passion .

But then , when I was 58 years old , I started taking piano lessons and I'm honest to God , I started taking piano lessons and I'm not honest to God , but I had no background in music and I started taking piano lessons as a little hobby . And music started flooding into my life and it was like , oh my God , this is so amazing .

I was basking in the dopamine that you get from music right , who find it in another source ? And so , after two years of this , I decided I'm going to sell my practice and retire sooner than I had planned and study music full time . That was the goal .

So , when I was 61 , I sold my practice and I started studying for two years and I was like Berklee School of Music , because they have online courses , so you don't have to audition , you just have to pay . And by now I was financially independent , so all was good . So I was studying with Berklee and private teachers .

And after two years of that I thought , whoa , I'm going to reinvent myself as a musician . And when I shared that story , I kept getting over and over again oh my God , that is so inspiring . I'm going to go do something they had put on the back burner . And , honest to God , I was hearing that from strangers on the airplane .

And so and yes , I'm one of those Talk to everybody . That's why songwriting ended up being my superpower . And I just say it's because I talk so much and songs are just stories turned into lyrics , right .

And so after I kept hearing that , I thought , whoa , never mind being a musician , I'm going to recreate myself as a songwriter , a keynote speaker , and I'm going to help share my story and help folks become their best selves and live their best lives .

Because , man , I was really fortunate that things went the way they did for me and if I can inspire anyone to know that , hey , you know , you got it , you got it in you then yeah . So now , as a songwriter , I produce all my own music . I have it produced and recorded in Nashville . I hire musicians .

So when I go on stage and I share my stories , the music ends up being played on a big on video , on a big screen , and I get everybody up dancing and getting their own version of the dopamine and just you know , realizing music has a healing power . It really does , and so yeah , so that's how the music came into my life and that's how it stayed .

Or like , like your internal dialogues , everything , and so find the route to get to , to , even if you're I call it fake it till you make it , even if you're telling your internal dialogue I've got this and and and you're not sure that you have that doesn't matter . Right , take watch the YouTube , uh , inspirational programs . Talk to the coaches , read the books .

Take the steps that you need to take . It won't come overnight , just you know . Just work at it and define what it is that you really want .

And then the second thing I'll say is go help somebody that needs help , because the amount of strength that you get , the inner strength and the confidence that you get from helping somebody else that's struggling with life , can lift you up , like so , so much I mean the power of giving . It's huge , it's absolutely huge .

And so , yeah , those are kind of my don't give up . Don't give up . There will be times when it's a grind , but as long as you start down that road , you'll be able to . You'll be able to do . I always say , hey , if I could do it , believe me , if I could do it , anybody could do it . I could do it , anybody could do it .

And where can people find ?

And now , friends , what's next for you ? Are you just going through the motions or are you really elevating your life ? Get my weekly self-coaching tips right into your inbox .

That link will also be in the show notes , right at the bottom of this episode , and you can connect with me , beverly Glazer , on all social media platforms and in my positive group of women on Facebook that's Women Over 50 Rock , and you can also schedule a quick Zoom to talk to me personally . I want to thank you for listening .

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