12step Al-Anon Inspiration NA Narcotics Anonymous relapse relapse prevention Serenity Prayer

Inside My God Box

I have a secret. Actually, hundreds of secrets, hopes, fears, desires, wishes all written on little scrapes of paper I’ve collected throughout the years and stuffed into my God Box. This is my way of Letting Go, Letting God – surrendering them to my Higher Power. Instead of worrying, ruminating or obsessing over life, I write it down and Turn It Over. My first sponsor, over 13 years ago, had one. She thought everyone should have one. At first, I thought it was little childish until I went through some…

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12step Inspiration NA Narcotics Anonymous relapse prevention

Principles Before Personalities

One of the tougher issues I have to deal with as an artist, person in recovery and micro-businesswoman is dealing with personalities. The vast majority of the feedback I get for my work is positive and supportive.  It makes me feel good to be of service, and people love what they have purchased for themselves or their loved ones. However, I get the rare comment that somebody really despises my work. Not straightforward criticism like that it’s just okay, or that they don’t really like this or that about a…

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12step Al-Anon Inspiration NA Narcotics Anonymous relapse relapse prevention Serenity Prayer

Relapse Scares Me Still

Relapse from recovery is my number one fear. Falling off the wagon, going out, screwing up: same difference. As a person in recovery for over 10 years, the fear of relapse still scares me sober. And it seems like everyone in recovery I’ve come in contact with has exactly the same fear. Once an alcoholic or addict is “in recovery” and has been clean and sober for a while and continues to go to AA or NA or other 12 Step meetings, relapse is still a very real possibility. Although…

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12step Al-Anon

My stuff is at Bill and Lois W’s House!

I am so honored! Some of my artwork has been chosen to be showcased at Stepping Stones, the historic home of Bill and Lois Wilson, respective co-founders of Alcoholic Anonymous and Al-Anon in Bedford, NY. Stepping Stones www.steppingstones.org operates as a historic home museum and has a gift shop on site and will be selling some of my jewelry.

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12step Al-Anon

Alcohol – the cheapest drug in America

I was shopping at Trader Joe’s today and came face to face with a display for house brand Vodka priced at $10.99 for 1.75 litres.  Wow that makes for some cheap booze!  You are looking at 40 drinks for about $0.27 per shot.  Then I looked around some more, I noticed they have wine priced at $2.00 a bottle and that’s a big $0.40 a glass.   That wine has been famously dubbed TJ’s Two Buck Chuck (Charles Shaw Vineyard).  Beer was just as cheap too.  Depending on one’s tolerance, a…

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12step Al-Anon Inspiration

Supportive. Not an Enabler.

I get many emails from mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, girlfriends and boyfriends of those who have just come into sobriety.  It is to these people, my own loving husband included, that I want to dedicate this blog entry.  Let’s talk about how difficult it is for you to do your part:  You can help. You can encourage.  The most important thing is to not enable the addiction.  Show moral support, faith and love but never enable. Although this Thanksgiving marks a decade of my own sobriety, I can still remember…

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12step Inspiration Serenity Prayer

Not only for addicts…

I received an email from a Gulf War veteran which touched me.  I’d like to share it with you: Hi, your work is amazing. I am a recovering addict recently diagnosed with PTSD from the Gulf War….I was just wondering if you are continuing your blog work. I haven’t seen any updates from September. I hope all is well. — Charles Thank you for asking Charles! I haven’t been very well, I’ve been having chronic back pain issues for the last six months.  What’s more, I’m not taking any pain…

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12step Inspiration Uncategorized

Was Dracula Really Just Drinking…Blood?

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

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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