Checkup

Checkup

Just because I’m sober doesn’t mean that life will always be smooth sailing, and perhaps one way to check up on the quality of my sobriety is to notice how I react when life throws me a curveball. It was a beautiful autumn day, the sun was shining, the sky was a...
The Voices In My Head

The Voices In My Head

After decades of recovery, I didn’t expect them to show up all at once. But they did. And soon I realized they’d brought others along. I was approaching my 35th year of sobriety and was actually looking forward to it. Somehow, every five years or so, it feels like I...
Be Kind Because …

Be Kind Because …

It was hard to watch my friend self-destruct. He’d been in recovery for so long. He’d been so successful, so happy. He’d even been named employee of the year at work. But now he was spinning out of control. Forgetting that resentment is poison for alcoholics, he had...
Emotional Sobriety

Emotional Sobriety

Many years ago, I heard about “emotional sobriety” and wondered if I would ever experience it. As someone new to recovery, I believed that emotional sobriety came only with age, experience, and a lot of hard work—something that seemed far out of reach, as I was...
Vigilance

Vigilance

Sobriety comes at a high price. Every person who has suffered and recovered from any addiction knows that they’ve had to come to the place of total failure and utter helplessness before God could take over and change their lives. And despite the fact that many have...