Alcohol

I quit drinking alcohol nine months ago, yet I still constantly listen to quit-lit audiobooks. Why is that? Number 1, I think I just like hearing from people who are going through or have gone through the same thing as me. Some people go to AA, I have my “meetings”…

Getting sober is the goal, but it's not always the whole story. — There weren't drugs or alcohol found in Robin Williams' system. He was sober when he took his life by hanging on August 11, 2014. His death shocked and saddened the world. Marin County, where I lived for 40 years and was Robin's home, was especially devastated by this heartbreaking loss. …

Downers and road trips don’t mix — During my drinking and drugging years, I engaged in a ton of dangerous behavior, and I risked death in many ways. But there were some instances where my sense of self-preservation kicked in from out of nowhere. I’m grateful for that, and I’m grateful that I’m here to tell this…

Doing lunges taught me how to focus on the right “muscle” to achieve my goal — I recently started working out for the first time in a long time. I’ve been going to a class at the gym. It’s a full-body workout with weights and body weight exercises. Side note: Most of the women in there are 55+ and running circles around me. It’s a great…

My Social Media Experiment was to stop using Instagram and Facebook for business for 7 weeks. What happened was not what I expected. Why did I do this? Like many, I have a love/hate relationship with social media. I love it because I have made both virtual and real life…

There was a time when I thought a glass of wine (or two, or three) released my creative flow. But no. More often than not, I found myself having to rewrite whatever I’d written the night before. …

Back when my mother loved me, she snuck chocolates into my school lunches. Proper ones, from the boxes shared among the grown-ups, usually forbidden fare for me. They always tasted the best. On Fridays she made porridge, and arranged the chocolate chips into a smiley face. She packed my favourite…

I wish I didn’t feel the need to say it. — As I’ve heard is common with many others, telling people you’re no longer drinking alcohol is often met with a strange look. It’s clear to see the person at the receiving end is running a load of questions through their minds. Why aren’t you drinking? That’s strange. Did you have…

Teaching us how to battle our inner monsters — “Perhaps the greatest battle we face in life is the battle with our own inner demons.” — Anon It was your run-of-the-mill Saturday afternoon. I was lazing away, recuperating from the drab and yet draining prior five days that we call the work week. I decided to open the Netflix…