In March 2016, I earnestly decided to quit drinking for the first time. I read Annie Grace’s This Naked Mind: Control Alcohol and it completely changed the way I viewed alcohol and the role it played in my life. I felt like I had been duped for the last 25 years: by society, by the Read More
Category: Alcohol Addiction
The Gift
It is amazing how cutting one thing out of your life–alcohol–can change it completely. And if you’re caught up in drinking, a changed life is a blessing. It’s not only changed in the sense that it’s different. Much of how you experience your life sober is the exact opposite of what you are used to. Read More
Don’t Control…Create!
This is the time of year where, as I like to put it, “something’s got to give.” With the busy-ness of the holidays, calorie-dense food and drink everywhere I look, the cold and dark creating an unfriendly environment for exercising, a variety of illnesses infecting my household, and this year my husband being away, I Read More
Know Thyself
In order to love yourself, you must first know who YOU are. Just as it is impossible to love a stranger, you need to spend time getting to know yourself. This includes a lot of self-reflection and awareness, or noticing, what you respond to and why. Whatever makes your soul happy…do more of that. One Read More
The Truth, As I See It
What if, one day, you realized that your reality—the truth you had been fed and willingly accepted—was a lie? What if those in a position of power through their words and images and actions told you, showed you and tried to prove to you that something was safe and acceptable when it really wasn’t? What Read More
My Own Hero
Of all the positive changes you can make in your life, quitting drinking has to top the list. It is a keystone habit that, when eliminated from your daily routine, can allow everything else to fall into place. Anxiety? Virtually gone! Guilt and shame? A thing of the past! Feeling like shit and having no Read More
Voice in My Head
Looking back, I am amazed at the ingenuity—the craftiness—of the addictive voice that controlled my thoughts and behaviors for so many years. It is still there, and probably always will be, piping in unexpectedly and trying to catch me off-guard. It is just quieter now, patient but sporadic, and a lot less convincing. A War Read More
Me 2.0
I am many things: wife, mother, teacher and writer, to name a few. Six months ago, however, the roll I identified with most was alcohol-dependent lost soul. I had come to the point where I was just existing in my life, loathing who I had become and how my life had “turned out.” I teach Read More