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Dax Shepard says journaling for 14 years straight helped with sobriety

The actor said his life "went off the rails" when he wasn't writing regularly.
/ Source: TODAY

Dax Shepard opened up about the "superstitious" reason behind his journaling habit that's led him to write almost every day for 14 years.

On the Nov. 7 episode of his podcast, "Armchair Expert," he chatted with actor Constance Wu about journaling every day.

"I haven't missed a day in 18 years. That's a lie though," Shepard quickly corrected himself. "I had a two year period after a movie I directed where I wasn't writing in it regularly, and then my life went off the rails, and so I haven't missed a day in years.

"But I had, uninterrupted, probably 14 years of never missing one day," he continued. "That's because of sobriety. I got superstitious that if I missed a day, I would relapse. It just became a rule I established early on, so I think because it had that weight and commitment behind it. It really was no big deal. And then, lo and behold, when I stop writing in it, guess when I relapsed?"

Wu said she has tried to journal, but finds it to be boring.

"I've always tried to be a journal person because, you know, they say that's good? It's been my New Year's resolution many times," she said. "I could keep it up for maybe a week or two before I just get completely bored."

Wu picked up the habit of running when she was 19, and has ran almost every day for the past 20 years, besides when she took breaks, like when she was pregnant.

Shepard shared in September 2020 that he had relapsed on prescription painkillers and was newly sober again after 16 years of sobriety. In an episode of "Armchair Expert," he shared that he had been battling an addiction with the opioid painkiller Vicodin for the previous few months.

Shepard said he was prescribed the drug following a motorcycle accident in 2012.

But after a visit to see his father, who was also prescribed Percocet at the same time, he recalled, "I give him a bunch of Percocet, and then I go, 'I have a prescription for this and I was in a motorcycle accident and I’m going to take some, too.'" His wife, Kristen Bell, was the only one who was allowed to administer the pills from then on.

He said he's sustained other injuries from riding a motorcycle over the years and always used the painkillers as prescribed, until early 2020 when he started "getting shadier and shadier."

After confessing the relapse to Bell and getting clean again, he shared the news with his audience as well.

Shepard said at the time he was nervous to tell his fans and listeners, but he ultimately felt so loved and supported.

"I hated me at that point and so, to be able to tell you guys and feel unconditionally loved and that I would be accepted was really special," Shepard said in the "Holiday Spectacular 2020" episode of the podcast.

"It saved my life," he added.