Something I have learned through my experiences with my family and their ongoing addictions and my own struggles with addiction and substance abuse is when it comes to implementing and honoring boundaries…. All of it resides in a beautiful, flexible, gray area. And this area is meant to provide a safe place but things there…
Author: Brittany
Taught to Love?
I know now that some of the experiences that I encountered during my younger years were definitely purposeful and thought out, but I wasn’t aware of any of it. All of it had an impact on how I view prejudice and labeling and still affects how I see other human beings. When I stayed with my…
Building Walls vs. Creating Boundaries. What’s the Difference?
In college (I am a former drug-addict who dropped out of high-school and finally started college at the age of 29 and I am still not done yet I will have my degree when I am one-hundred) I learned that a lot of the therapeutic process is self-revelation. Asking open-ended questions and allowing people to…
I Couldn’t Open the Door.
The day after Mother’s Day I heard a knock at my front door. And then almost immediately, my door bell rang. I quietly stepped to the front window and peeked out and I heard the doorbell again. When I looked out, I could see my mom standing on the porch. I stood there peeking through the…
You Had Me at Free.
I hit up the annual neighborhood garage sales and came home with this sad little table. I was looking around the stuff in the driveway and walked past this nightstand. It had a sticker on it that said 10$. Although I thought it would be nice to get rid of the old school one that…
Boys Bathroom Project
This project has kept my ‘spare’ time pretty busy for the last few weeks. Max is cutting teeth and his napping and sleeping schedule has shifted, and the boys are home for summer, but I have still tried to squish in a couple of the more simple projects on my list. This is the boys bathroom…
God Has It Covered. Blended & Blessed.
My son barely knew his biological father and to this day, doesn’t remember him. Despite those facts I still do not speak badly of or write negative things about him. I will just keep it vague and simple. He was young. I was young. We were both on our way to being addicted and were…
Detroit Muscle. A novel by Jeff Vande Zande.
I would like to bring some attention to a new novel about addiction called Detroit Muscle. Written by author Jeff Vande Zande, he brings you the story of 20-year-old Robby Cooper; an OxyContin addict just out of rehab and trying to put his life back together. In the end, it is a story of triumph over…
Amends & Unexpected Blessings.
When my grandma passed away it hit me hard. From the time I was a little girl she was my bestie. My one constant. My rock. But as I got older our relationship changed. Slowly it became less and less about our inside jokes, the back and forth, the one liners, laughing until we both…
Where Are We
Our right to bear arms has become more important than baring one another’s burdens. Picking people apart has trumped picking people up. Our desire to be right has overridden the importance of doing the right thing. Our opinions being heard is drowning out the voice of the minorities cries. Our insistence on speaking to hear…
I Can’t Have it All.
When I forcefully managed to spit out a very quiet and unsure ‘yes’ in reply to the question: “Do you want some help?” I may have been bubbling over with reluctance that pressured me to hesitate and accept help with the same apathy that I approached each day with, but I was also really, really,…
Hate.
We talk about everything around here and I mean everything. I take having an open discussion policy pretty seriously in our home and for us, it just works. My boys know that if they have questions, they can ask them without feeling threatened or nervous. It is so important to me for them to truly…
The One With Glitter is Perfect.
Maybe I am just the only adult around who doesn’t actually like seeing their first name enough to see it plastered anywhere besides, well…. repeatedly scribbled in my Lisa Frank notebooks or maybe my journal with the cute little pad-lock and mini-key. I am in the minority because I am interested in buying products geared…
Decompressing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncoVkqDSLw4
Just Us. No Apology Added.
Okay. I will go first. I will admit that I have felt this way *so* many times online. I have had that feeling. I share something raw and real on my personal page and immediately feel a little bit anxious. I find myself wondering how they (usually meaning ‘friends’) might react? This can quickly lead to self-doubt and…
Addiction, Sobriety, & Ten Years Together.
May 22 of every year is special, simply because we made it. I am not sure how, but we did. I can’t sit here and say that when our story began it was ideal or even close to something healthy but regardless, it started and our story kept on going. It is nothing short of…
Guest: Andrew-From Alcoholic to Workaholic
How do you define success? In my opinion success is not the amount of money I make, the car that I drive or the clothes that I wear. Success for me is being 8 years sober, running a growing business that employs deserving people, and providing a great service to our clients. **I have never…
I Choose My Family.
This week, May 15-21, is National Prevention Week. That means it is time for SAMHSA’s annual “I Choose” project. This photo represents my ‘why’. I got sober because I wanted to live. I have stayed sober because I have learned that sobriety offers so much more than sobriety. I continue to choose sobriety every day…
Church on Sundays.
My personal recovery has many components, and my relationship with God is a big one. I have only considered myself “spiritual”, and connected with God on some level for around 8 years now. Somewhere along my journey I decided that going to church each week is what was best for me as an individual and…
My Very Personal Decision
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpHZIvZwM3g
Your Recovery is a Unique Journey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMCXD9f9TtQ
Sobriety Gifts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0rER4UoYnE
I Was A Terrible Sponsor.
To live out my step 12 I felt like I needed to be of service. I did practice the principles I had learned in my affairs but I felt like it needed to be more. I had to reach out and I had give back. It was important to make myself available and I felt like…
Guest: Jay-Acknowledging his Codependency
Codependency has a lot of different faces. The phrase that sums up my experience is that “I’m happy when you are happy, and when you’re in distress, I feel unregulated.” At just under a year sober I had learned that my girlfriend had relapsed and wasn’t doing too well. We would see each other regularly…
Just Being.
Discovering that I have the freedom to embrace exactly who I am in a very organic & authentic way, without feeling a need to conform to restrictive expectations from anyone in my life, has been one of my favorite effects that my recovery journey has had on who I am as a person. (And if…
A Grateful Mother’s Day
I have taken advantage of the opportunities to learn from my addiction and my former debilitating lifestyle in all its glory; the one that deadened and demanded it have my whole person, but mostly, forcefully snatched my desire or ability to focus on or experience anything that I would perceive as good. Being an unhealthy person…
Accept Not Fix.
Long before I found myself in the process of self-discovery where I was unpacking and finally facing the fact that I was a codependent, enabling, doormat-ish kind of person I was reluctantly facing another harsh truth. It was time to choose to accept help for my drug addiction. What had held me back and what had kept…
Looking Back Isn’t The Same.
As I have stated previously, I (respectfully) choose not to identify as a drug addict but that doesn’t mean that I am not reminded on a daily basis that I am a rehabilitated person; a previously shattered, broken, empty, lost, human being currently living on borrowed and gifted time. I am reminded of that every single day….
Trauma: Keep the Envelope.
I got a package in the mail yesterday from a distant relative. It was such a thoughtful and kind gesture, and I really appreciate them taking the time to send it to me. Before I opened the package, I re-read the facebook message I had received that sweetly encouraged me to enjoy the photos, and…
Guest: Midwestern Mama- Creator of ‘Our Young Addicts’
It’s Good To Be Alive! By Midwestern Mama, creator of Our Young Addicts. My dad was an early riser. Each morning at the breakfast table, he would stretch and declare, “It’s good to be alive! Good to be alive!” As a kid, I dismissed the sheer beauty of this morning ritual and squirmed at how…