Thanks for all the wonderful posts, time for a new chapter… — Thank you for passing on your hope and encouragement! We have loved published your stories of recovery from addiction and abusive relationships. Unfortunately, we have no time to do the editorial work required anymore, without payment. Two years has been wonderful, but we are ready to focus on other things. …

Our conversation helped me stop over-explaining my choice. — I’ve been sober for six years now, and I no longer get defensive about my sobriety. But for the first few years, I felt pressure to prove my drinking was really bad. Like I needed permission to quit from the drinker’s club. …

Elective sobriety has a lot of surprising upsides, big and small — The decision to quit drinking alcohol is a difficult one to make in our world. Drinking is so normalized that people who decide to quit are assumed to be alcoholics, the dreaded victims of the frightening disease known as alcoholism. It’s hard to find good information about what life is…

If the problem lies in your mind, you must stop trying to think your way out of it — Addiction hijacks the mind. It infects your thinking and makes it impossible for you to trust your own thought process. Sounds scary, doesn’t it? My addiction tricked me for a long time, and it was hard work to stop being fooled. So don’t feel bad if you’re in booze’s clutches…

To live her highest potential she needs to quit the booze, so why will she start again? — Adele hit the news this week because she’s giving up alcohol. Is it strange that this is newsworthy? Perhaps. Does this say more about our obsession with celebrities or alcohol? I’m not sure. Reading the story I was struck by: a) how even millionaire hitmakers find 21st Century life…

If you relate to more than three items on this list it might be time to quit — I like to tell myself that I straddle the wall between sober curious and alcoholic. I’m just a teensy bit addicted. I choose not to drink because my life is better this way. But it took me a long time to get to this decision. If you’re still unsure whether…

#3 Definitely don’t stop drinking right now — First, congratulate yourself. Accepting that drinking is not right for you, or that you have a problem is a huge step. The first step down a new path is always the hardest. If you need to quit drinking, there’s probably a large part of you that really doesn’t want to…

like addiction itself they’ve got absolutely nothing to do with alcohol or drugs — There’s a lot of negative press about rehabs these days. A lot. And I get it, rehab is eye-wateringly expensive and the majority of the time it doesn’t even work in the short term, let alone the long term. Addiction is a big problem and society has created a big…

I ended up with a void after quitting, here’s how I filled it — I think one reason addicts are so attracted to substances, such as alcohol, is because their consumption makes downtime easier. Potential boredom becomes less of an issue due to alcohol’s narcotizing effects. Under the influence, we don’t need to really inhabit ourselves and our lives. Once alcohol enters the system…