The Importance of Connection in Recovery — Spending time with other people in recovery is a vital part of my recovery journey. I am typically not a very open person, especially when I first meet people. I can be reserved and guarded. But these people already know my darkest and best-kept secret. Not only do they know…

How to move on from the shame of your alcoholic past — When I was drinking, the mornings and nights felt the same, an endless cycle of the hazy followed by the all too real. I would wake up hungover, and by the evening, I would be drinking again and often blackout. But although the days seemed the same in character, they…

Finding the strength to defend — THE WAR The first few weeks or years of sobriety feel like you are fighting a war. Although that war is within yourself, it is not short on emotions. It is filled with unexpected shocks, miracles, and disappointments. There are flashes of elation when you are sure victory is in…

Skin tone discrimination in your own culture — I twirled around my grandparents’ basement with my ribbon wand, feeling like the most special girl in the world. I was six years old and the ribbon wand made me feel like a gymnast in the Olympics — something that was not possible for someone with my level of coordination…

Is Addiction The Battle Of Good vs Evil? — I fell into a burning ring of fire I went down, down, down and the flames went higher And it burns, burns, burns, the ring of fire The ring of fire -Johnny Cash Johnny Cash, the Man in Black, was known for his musical talent as well as for his…

How I Got Through The Early Days Of Sobriety — The first weeks and months after I quit drinking I felt naked, exposed, and hyper-sensitized to every emotion and situation. Every reaction I had was forceful and outsized. I was jumpy, restless, and terrified. I wasn’t surprised that this was what sobriety felt like, raw and ugly at times. …