David Stoecker / Better Life in Recovery
Working with a (Fu_king) Recovery Coach
Jen A. / Sobriety Diner
I woke up one day about 5 months ago in a hotel approximately 4am on the floor, fully dressed from the night before sandwiched between the hotel desk and the bottom of the bed.
Read MoreA Place to Hide
Writing Down Recovery
Privilege and Recovery
Brooke M. Feldman / BrookeMFeldman.com
I learned about the privilege I was born into as a white woman. I realized that by virtue of that privilege alone, I’ve always had a better shot at addiction recovery.
Read MoreFinding Meaning in Sobriety
Bren Murphy / BrenMurphy.net
I have found meaning and a sense of self compassion in sobriety through radical self care first and foremost and being open and accepting of new ideas and beliefs.
Read MorePractising Virtue and 12 Step Recovery: An Essay
Steve K. / 12stepphilosophy
Simply put, practising virtues such as courage, temperance, wisdom and justice - the so called ‘cardinal virtues’ - leads one to live a good, moral or ‘flourishing’ life.
Read MoreAlcohol Guidelines Ignore How People Drink…
Melanie Lovatt / The University of Sheffield / via The Conversation
As part of the (UK) government’s strategy to cut the human and economic cost of alcohol misuse, it currently recommends that men and women shouldn’t regularly drink more than three to four and two to three units a day respectively. In theory, such guidelines help people make informed decisions about their health, but researchers have questioned their effectiveness.
Read MoreMy Journey in AA by a 12-Step Agnostic
Steve K. / 12stepphilosophy
I started reading the Big Book and as well identification I realised that belief in God, was a big part of the solution. At the time I was open to this suggestion although it felt awkward to me as I wasn’t brought up in a religious home.
Read MoreI Am Not My Addiction…
Tracy Chabala / TracyChabala•com
I Am So Much More
We are more than alcoholics. We are more than drug addicts. We are more than the dually diagnosed.
But it’s easy to forget this.
Read MoreOn Social Anxiety
Tracy Chabala / TracyChabala.com
It used to be called shyness, and no, it is not the same as introversion. Only recently have I realized how debilitating my social anxiety can be, how all-consuming, and I am keenly aware of the starring role it played in my former destructive drinking habits.
Read MoreOne Addict Helping Another
Eric Ease / From Struggle to Strength
I had been contemplating suicide for quite some time. I was at the end of my rope and had lost all hope of ever being able to stop using drugs.
Read MoreMedicating alcohol problems shouldn't mask moralising about 'good' and 'bad' drinking
Henry Yeoman / The Conversation
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (UK) categorises certain forms of drinking as sufficiently problematic to warrant medication (Nalmefene) and others as not. This amounts to a normative distinction – a statement about how people should and should not behave. As such, it is important to consider this recommendation in relation to these “good” and “bad” forms of drinking.
Read MoreThe Coziest New Year’s Eve
Kendra Lee / Rocket Fuel
I wish I could say I didn’t remember most of the New Year’s I rung in in my 20s. But being able to forget them would probably be more mercy than I deserve; at the very least, I remember the drunken highlights… always drama-fueled, sometimes dangerous, and entirely cringeworthy.
Read MoreHow My Relapse Years Got Me Sober
Magz Shores / Sober Courage
My sober journey began 10 years ago when I walked into a church basement to attend a 12-step meeting, with every intention to never, ever, pick up a drink again. Yet, I spent the next four years trying to figure out exactly how to do that.
Read MoreThe Click (Or, How I Came To Realize I Was an Alcoholic)
Drew Gibson / Virally Suppressed
I remember distinctly going to the campus library and renting the original Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and being blown away at how thoroughly I identified with the movie’s alcoholic protagonist, Brick. He drank the way that I drank and he drank for the same reasons I drank–that is to say, he drank alcoholicly.
Read MoreAddiction can't always be cured so let's focus on quality of life
David Best / The Conversation
Regardless of how good the treatment is, half to three-quarters of drug users relapse. And the quality of life for problem alcohol and drug users in and out of treatment is low – they’re likely to face social exclusion and discrimination.
Read MoreLove, The Addict, and You
by Mike Kemski / via Facebook
Coming from a world of neglect, abuse, and addictions, I don't know that there is anything more powerful to act as catalyst for change than pain. Even though I'm well aware of the fact that pain just the other side of the spectrum of love, I've personally never seen love push or pull someone from the ashes of a destroyed life.
Read MoreDay 483: Woman Walks Into a Room.
Kristi Coulter / Off-Dry
I went to my first AA meeting last week. And I also ran my first race, a 10K where the back half was mostly hills. Hey, guess which one was scarier?
Read MoreGet High or Get Higher Power?
by Dustin John / My Sober Life