Bill briefly describes how many families fall apart during the early stages of recovery and points out that as a society we do very little about this. Stephanie Brown describes this effect on family as the trauma of recovery.
‘What to expect in early recovery’ by Veronica Valli
June 18, 2014
I like Veronica’s website. Here’s a recent blog.
‘The following is meant as a guide to support you in your early weeks of recovery from alcoholism. The first few days and weeks without alcohol can be frightening and confusing; you have, of course, put down your security blanket, your crutch, your way of coping with the world. It can be very challenging initially to go about your daily life without it.
The following are simple suggestions that when applied will greatly enhance your chances of a successful recovery; it’s the small things that can sometimes make the biggest difference.
Be good to yourself. Making the decision to ask for help is an act of courage and self-love. Don’t beat yourself up about the past. This will get sorted out in time.
‘How Do I Cope in Early Recovery?’ by Stephanie Brown
October 14, 2013
In my last blog on Stephanie Brown’s book A Place Called Self: Women, Sobriety, and Radical Transformation, I looked at what women can expect in early recovery, in particular in relation to their feelings. Stephanie goes on to look at the question, ‘How Do I Cope?’
‘If you are like many other women in early abstinence, you feel inadequate, maybe even dumb. How did you get yourself into this predicament? And what do you do now? How do you stay away from your drug of choice and every other drug too? How do you focus on yourself one day at a time?…
How do you tell your family that you need to stop drinking and that you need meetings when they don’t think anything is wrong? Or when they’re so angry they don’t want to stick around while you get well. Most of all, how do you survive each moment and each day when the pain is so great and you are so scared?’
‘Falling From a Pink Cloud (and Learning How to Fall Correctly)’ from Zenith Chasing
September 20, 2013
I can’t resist putting on another of Erica’s blogs from Zenith Chasing. This is her latest, more powerful writing. Thank you, Erica.
‘Recent events have snapped me back into reality, my pink cloud had officially dissipated, if you could even call it that… I guess that given my predisposition towards the negative, it makes sense that my personal pink cloud would be miniature sized. Fun sized? I guess the latter sounds a little nicer, and chewier somehow (I’m thinking of nougat.)
Abstract ruminations and manic tangents aside, I feel like shit. Just found out that another friend of mine, albeit not as close a friend as T, but someone I have known since I was 17, died this week. Rest in Peace LES Jewels – I will miss you buddy. This is certainly the end of an era for the Lower East Side.
Zenth Chasing: This will serve as an introduction
September 19, 2013
This is a picture of me though I change my hair a lot so I may not look like this anymore, you get the general idea. That is my friends kitty.
This is some really powerful writing – first of her blogs – from Erica on her website Zenith Chasing. Erica contacted me this week.
The intro to the website reads: ‘A twenty-something, female, east-coast transplant, creatively inclined, dirt poor, recovering addict documents her struggles and triumphs as she claws her way towards her dream of a happy and productive life in San Francisco.’
‘I’ve been waiting for the right time to write my first post and I guess today makes sense because today I’m fucking up. I am about to relapse, I know this yet I cannot seem to stop myself. I’ve been trying to get a hold of my dealer since last night. He is notoriously difficult to get on the phone which is probably to my benefit right now, but I know that if he had been available I would have gotten high last night, so my current sobriety is not for lack of effort to the contrary.
Recovery Rocks: Chip Somers
August 24, 2013
Really pleased to see the latest Recovery Rocks on the Veronica Valli website. I have a lot of respect for Chip Somers. Here’s what Veronica has to say about her latest interviewee.
‘Chip Somers is the co-founder and CEO of Focus12 Treatment Centre in Bury St Edmunds, UK. Focus12 was the first treatment centre I worked in, and it really did teach me everything I know.
It’s an inspiring place, where no matter what they have done or how low they have gone, addicts and alcoholics are treated with the utmost love and respect. For 16 years they have been putting lives and families back together.
