Divorce coach Mandy Walker, who blogs at Since My Divorce, interviewed Dr. Al Mooney recently about how addiction, alcoholism and recovery can play havoc with a marriage and other relationships. 
Check out her series of posts on addiction and divorce:
When Does Drinking Become a Problem in a Marriage?
Does Your Spouse’s Drinking Problem Mean Divorce?
How Do You Protect Your Kids From an Alcoholic Spouse?
How To Survive With Your Alcoholic Spouse in Recovery
Jerry Moe worries about full-grown alcoholics and addicts, but he worries more about their children. He’s been dedicated for 36 years to mitigating the damage to boys and girls 7-12 years old. He leads a model Children’s Program at the Betty Ford Center, to help kids understand the past and present chaos in their lives. Jerry shared his story with The Recovery Book.
I’m focused on the one disease that tries to convince you that you don’t have it, thereby preventing you from reaching out for help until it’s close to destroying you and all you love. But children who’ve lived in fear and confusion can’t wait. They need help as soon as possible: explanations of “Why do my Mom and Dad fight and scream at each other all the time and do those wild weird things?” And they desperately need assurances that it won’t happen again … Read more...
For some people in recovery, the holidays can be tough. But you can make it to January with your sobriety intact. You don’t have to let unfulfilled expectations, stressful family dynamics, or crazy in-laws threaten your recovery. Not to mention all those holiday parties.
You just need a bit of preparation. Start planning your strategy now, with these #soberholidays tips from The Recovery Book and the workbook companion My Life in Recovery.
Sober Holidays Tip #1: Remind yourself every single morning how good it feels to be sober (and how great it will feel come January). Plant that thought in your mind right now, and think about it every morning. Stick a note on your bathroom mirror to remind yourself to think about it every day.
>> Download the first 3 chapters of The Recovery Book FREE at Amazon <<
>> Download a free sample of My Life in Recovery… Read more...
For tips 1-20, see 37 Tips to Help You Stay Sober During the Holidays (part 1).
Sober Holidays Tip #21 Bring your own beverage. If a holiday celebration includes the use of alcoholic beverages (such as wine at Passover), make sure in advance that there are substitutes (such as grape juice) for you and anyone else who doesn’t want to drink the harder stuff.
Sober Holidays Tip #22 Stay sober at the party: Don’t go it alone.
Bring along an AA buddy or a hired sober companion. Or take someone at the party into your confidence (the host, a friend, even a waiter); candor will serve you better than pride, embarrassment, or guilt. Tell them that you can’t drink, and enlist them as bodyguard. It will make the event easier for you, and will keep you from winding up in a relapse. If you can’t take someone with you, … Read more...
Before she became Carla, she was Carl. Being transgender was private and not something she ever felt comfortable opening up about at meetings, but her sponsors always told her: “It’s no big deal. In AA we don’t judge. You are one of us.” Says Carla,“They were right. AA became my best support system. Not only for my recovery. For my gender change, too.”
I had my first drink at 12 and at 14 was drinking most weekends. I goofed around in high school, took minimum credits the first half of college and spent the rest of my time partying. Halfway through college, as my girlfriend was breaking up with me she declared, “You’re going nowhere!” Resentment worked. I’d show her and I did.
For the next two college years, I only drank on weekends, and in law school limited myself to one weekend a month and graduated with honors. I … Read more...
