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12step Inspiration Uncategorized

Was Dracula Really Just Drinking…Blood?

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In my last blog post, I talked about how wrong I was in my belief that Stephen King’s Misery was about the artist trapped in the horror-genre.  After reading his book, On Writing-A Memoir of the Craft, it turns out that he was writing about being trapped and crippled by drugs and alcohol.  So much for my years of literary interpretation I learned at school! This has opened up my eyes and I now wonder how many other novels or short shorts are about addiction and alcoholism masked in metaphors. …

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12step Inspiration

Stephen King Is One Of Us

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I picked up a used book by Stephen King called On Writing – A Memoir of the Craft. It’s partially a memoir, and partially a how-to book on writing.  To my amazement there is a small section of the memoir, Chapter 36, where he talks about his struggles with addiction. He very openly and poignantly describes his battle with booze and drugs and discusses the myth surrounding mind-altering substances and creative endeavor.  He talks about 20th century writers like Hemingway and Fitzgerald who have perpetuated the myth that one must…

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Suicide Survivor

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I’m a survivor of many events in my life.  I’ve survived addiction, I’ve survived parental alcoholism and I’ve survived a suicide. My brother, may he rest in peace, took his own life 13 years ago this week.  I remember the day I got the phone call as clearly as it was yesterday.  It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and I was sorting through the laundry when the phone rang.   My cousin who rarely called me was on the other line.  She told me he committed suicide and then everything changed…

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12step

Dear Friend

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I may be clean and sober for nine years now, but alcoholism and addiction is alive and well in my family. I’m sick of it and I want it to go away, but I have to deal with it AGAIN and AGAIN. I want to share a letter I wrote a friend one today: My friend, I know you are angry, confused and hurt right now. I know because I’ve been there. About 10 years ago, my life was a shambles, my marriage was falling apart, I hated everybody and…

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Hometown Blues

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I went back home to my hometown recently after quite some time to visit my aging mom.  Going back home is always an emotional journey for me and although I look forward to visiting, I still can’t help but be filled with some dread about revisiting the place where I grew up and remembering what it was like growing up with alcoholism. It was only a decade ago that I used to visit my parents with plenty of drugs in tow that I managed so foolishly to hide in my…

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Marijuana – Teenage Friend or Foe

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Marijuana has become the most widely consumed illegal drug in the world. Since 1990, marijuana usage has doubled in the US and Canada. Today’s marijuana is so potent that the United Nations has considered reclassifying it as a different drug from the 1960’s counterpart. Although there is still a perceived notion that pot it is relatively benign, it is far from being a soft drug. The main reason is that today’s marijuana has been re-engineered to produce a high level of Tetra Hydro-Cannabinol or THC, its active ingredient. The levels…

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12step

Dear Laura

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I came across this website I would like share with you. The site belongs to musician Brad Mersereau.  He has devoted it to his sister Laura’s memory who sadly did not find her way to recovery and died at 46 from alcoholism.  It is a very powerful reminder that addiction in itself is a form of insanity, it affects our loved ones profoundly, destroys lives and that some of us won’t make it to sobriety. The following is an excerpt from his site, one of a series of very poignant…

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Who’s a sex addict?

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It seems like everyone is talking about sex addiction these days.  This whole Tiger Woods scandal has put sex addition into the spotlight recently. I recently read an article in the Los Angeles Times about whether sex addiction is a real disorder or disease like drug or alcohol addiction. The article argues whether extreme sexual acting out is an obsessive-compulsive disorder, a sign of depression or simply nasty behavior.  I’m sure the same thing was said at one time in history about gambling addiction and for that matter drug or…

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Thanks for giving me sobriety

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Thanksgiving is a special time but for me, it marks another year of sobriety.  I now have eight years of continued sobriety. During those years, I have experienced the same disappointments and achievements in life as I always have but the difference is that I was able to handle life on life’s terms– just using my instincts, some common sense and I hope, good judgment.  It’s been a tough yet wonderfully liberating experience. One thing that I found a bit of challenge is dealing with friends and family regarding sobriety. …

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Public Enemy

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We are a prescription drug society.  Not a day will pass when we will see an advertisement describing some medical condition and the pill that will help it.  An astonishing amount of advertising about insomnia has surfaced within the last few years.  It is estimated that one of out of six people over the age of 15 has problems falling or staying asleep. My co-worker has been taking as he describes a “tiny dose” of Clonazepam because he experiences “middle-of-the-night” insomnia. He wakes up every morning at 2 am and…

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