“To live without regret is to believe we have nothing to learn, no amends to make, and no opportunity to be braver with our lives.” This line from Brene Brown’s Atlas of the Heart has been sitting with me lately. As I celebrate 5 years of sober, mindful living and I believe that regret played Read More
Category: Alcohol Addiction
Weekend Book Review: Drinking Games
Drinking Games by Sarah Levy My rating: 4 of 5 stars Genre: Memoir/Quit Lit Edition Reviewed: Audiobook, narrated by author, produced by MacMillan Audio Expected publication: January 3rd 2023 by St. Martin’s Press Drinking Games by Sarah Levy is an honest deep-dive into the life of a problem-drinker-turned-sober Millennial. In it, she describes not only Read More
It was exactly how I thought it would be
My son called from college last night, and I sat down to catch up with him on the past few weeks. Last weekend, he was to attend a social event with his girlfriend put on by her sorority and their partner fraternity. She’d been asking him repeatedly to go to one of these functions but Read More
Weekend Book Review: The Glass Castle
The Glass Castle by Jannette Walls Page Length: 288 pages Publisher/Publication Date: Scribner, 2006 Rating: 5 of 5 Stars In the opening scene of Jeannette Walls,’ The Glass Castle, we are invited into an NYC taxi cab with Jeannette on her way to an important business dinner. As we are stuck in traffic, our gaze Read More
I Could Care Less, but I Don’t
Yesterday, I received an invitation to my good friend’s birthday party: a good thing! The only problem is that it’s going winetasting. My happiness turned to dread as I realized the venue and the agenda. To my friend’s credit, she wrote me a thoughtful text saying she understands if it’s not something I feel comfortable Read More
When Habit becomes Addiction
One of the inevitable side effects of coming through the other side of a traumatic experience or chronic condition is that you tend to rehash and try to make sense of it all. Was I that bad? Did I almost die? Am I lucky to be alive? How much time was wasted by this horrible Read More
Freedom is Not a Moment, But a Gift
I lead a life of privilege in the sense that my physical freedom is not in jeopardy. Enslavement, incarceration, domestic abuse, or other forms of captivity are not my experience to share. I do know how it feels to live in mental captivity, a slave to my own thoughts and actions, and the accompanying feeling Read More
Odd Woman Out
Yesterday, our school staff had a catered lunch to celebrate one of our co-worker’s 60th birthday. She was just returning from major surgery and mentioned that she can’t do drugs (pain medication) but “gin and tonics helped.” (Many laughs and nods). The conversation that played out among the group had no fewer than half a Read More
I Surrender…
The word “surrender” connotes weakness in our culture. We tend to think of it as giving up. Waving the white flag, and therefore, losing. But what if what we have to lose is what’s been doing us harm? What if what we are holding on to, or fighting for, is our destruction in disguise? What Read More
What Keeps me Here
I’ve been thinking about the processes of starting and stopping, sliding and progressing, and even completely falling off the path. While the desire to move forward in a positive direction seems to have been planted somewhere deep inside, motivation is at best a flakey companion. I’ve had periods of time, okay decades, where I felt Read More