Before I got sober, I had a well-deserved reputation for having a lousy sense of humor. Or, to be more accurate, no sense of humor at all. I didn’t tell jokes well, I didn’t laugh at other people’s jokes and I found comedy shows and funny TV programs to be dull. I...
One of the most enduring myths about recovery is that recovery involves nothing more than the removal of an addiction from your life. In other words, many people expect that in sobriety, their lives will be much the same as they were when they were using. When I got...
“We are not a glum lot. We absolutely insist on enjoying life.” I was early in my sobriety, perhaps only a month in, when I came across those words in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. At the time I read those words, I certainly felt glum. “Enjoying life” was...
When you’re ready, it can be a thrilling rite of passage to be newly sober and on a first date. “I’m not gonna bite you.” The tall, pretty brunette leaned back against my car and laughed. We had just had an amazing first date, my first date in months, my first...
There are many pillars on which successful recovery rests. Radical honesty with another human being is one; a willingness to turn your life over to a higher power as you understand it is another; a willingness to take recovery one day at a time is a third. Another...
