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Benjamin Tod Reflects Back On “Using Again” & Why He Doesn’t Plan To Ever Play It Again: “It Is An Important Piece Of The Story”
Hanging up this chapter of his life.
Benjamin Tod is moving on from what no longer serves him, taking to Instagram to share an important announcement with his fans. On the eighth anniversary of the release of his Gems on VHS video, performing “Using Again,” Tod announces that he will no longer include that tune in his setlist.
“It just passed 8 years since the release on Gems on VHS of ‘Using Again.’ That video is really a snapshot of that time period when I had destroyed my life, forsaken all my responsibilities, and turned my back on ever healing. I lived for over a decade like I was already dead, and the difference in these shots shows a transformation. Although I don’t plan to ever play this song again, it is an important piece of the story.”
Tod says in a post that shows a side-by-side of him from the video footage, and then a video of him today showing a healed, sober man.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Benjamin Tod (@benjamintodmusic)
Throughout his career, Tod has been very candid about his flaws and in particular, his substance abuse. He’s opened up with his fans that for over a decade, he struggled with addictions to alcohol, methamphetamines, and heroin. His addictions caused him to hurt people he loves, and he eventually got arrested. Throughout these hard times, his wife and Lost Dog Street Band member, Ashley Mae, stood by his side and encouraged him to get help.
While Tod admits that recovery is not for the faint of heart, as he’s fallen off he wagon in the public eye, he kept working toward getting sober and today stands in front of us with eight years and counting under his belt.
Tod continues with his post:
“Recovery is a brutal process. It requires surrender and in my case it has instilled a manic dedication to truth and servitude. One of the first things that I tell mentees and folks I sponsor in the process of rebuilding their life from addiction or general disarray is that purpose is only found through responsibility. People try and work around that quite a bit in today’s society. They build false senses of purpose and meaning through any and every avenue accept hard work and servitude. I see these foundations of sand at every level of society and it creates corruption and misery wherever that ethos takes hold.
There is no easy way out in this life. There is no secret formula, quick money or real respect you can earn by any other means than your actions. Anyone preaching differently is a merchant of death and I won’t yield to relativist idols again in life. Who you are is defined in your actions and I believe that nobility is taking on more burdens than those around you. If you are not a servant of others you become by default a servant of your own flesh.
I am proud of what I’ve built these last 8 years and the responsibilities I’ve taken. I hope anyone struggling right now can see this and envision in their own psychology the ideal of who they were meant to be.
You have the power to radically change everything in your life if you’re willing to take the journey. I absolutely promise.”
Powerful words.
While some fans who have followed Tod since his start might look at this announcement—he’s no longer performing “Using Again”—as the end of an era. It’s really the beginning of a new one. Just like we have seen Tyler Childers remove songs from his setlist, or more recently even cuss words, Tod’s choice to leave that life behind is very similar. These songs no longer serve him and are ultimately painful to revisit.
Tod making these changes speaks to the changed man he is, doubling down on the resilience and responsibility that he is now defined by.
“Using Again” might have helped put Tod on the map, but it does not define him.
The post Benjamin Tod Reflects Back On “Using Again” & Why He Doesn’t Plan To Ever Play It Again: “It Is An Important Piece Of The Story” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
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