10 Reasons a Michigan Winter is Good for Your Health!
We have had a gloomy start to the year in Michigan. The sun shined for five minutes in the first eight days of January 2023. Since then, it has been all grey skies and puddles threatening to turn to black ice. So why, you ask, is this woman writing an article about the health […]
Dry January – What are the Lessons We Learn?
During the holidays, I was extolling (as one does when loved ones gather) about the relative ease of my recovery from an acute alcohol use disorder. I am nine years sober, and at this stage of the game, not drinking has become as much of an affectation as my omnipresent wine glass used to be. […]
You’re Stressed? Women Feel the Holiday Hassles More than Men
My mother used to do this predictable thing whenever I would indicate frailty, especially during the holidays. If I said, “I’m tired,” she said, “You’re tired. I slept three hours last night worrying about how I would seat everyone at dinner tonight.” I could not top her ever-escalating descriptions of exhaustion, aches and pains, and […]
Benefits of Art Therapy for Your Mental Health
When always asking patients to “show me.” Show me where in the image you are feeling a conflict. Show me how you would change that. Of course, when I ask someone to show me something, I’m actually asking them to show themselves. In Sanford Behavioral Health’s mental health treatment, patients participate in art therapy, a […]
A Toast to Brain Health – 10 Strategies to Embrace the Holiday Season
If you or a loved one are experiencing your first sober holiday season, I’ll bet I can predict the questions you are noodling. I can also assure you (nine years after my first dry yuletide) that most of your concerns are unfounded. I quit drinking in July, so I had time to get used […]
These 10 Excuses are the Enemy to Your Recovery. Do Any Apply to You?
It’s the holidays—the time for pageants at church and school, office parties, and family responsibilities. As a person in recovery, I can remember this time of year while in active addiction. On top of the crushing TO DO list of everyday holiday tasks, there was the exhausting schedule of drinking, planning to drink, and […]
10 Tips for a Sober Holiday
My family has a legend we talk about from my non-sober holidays past. It’s about the time “Mom,” with a bottle of chardonnay coursing through her system, put hot stuffing into a Pyrex bowl. And while the rest of the Thanksgiving meal was sliced, mashed, and dolloped into serving dishes, I attempted to keep the […]
Living Sober for My Kids
I had one of those classic “couldn’t do this if I was still boozing” parenting moments the other day. Our nine-year-old had a friend over for a sleepover late in the evening. At around 9:30 p.m., we were interrupted in the living room by a little boy in tears saying, “I want to go home!” […]
Avoiding the Whack-a-Mole Eating Disorder Game
I’ve never liked the carnival game whack-a-mole. Bashing heads with a cartoon hammer while an endless succession of new rodents appears. It is too stressful and unpredictable. But I could relate when a friend in recovery said they thought eating disorders, popping up during addiction treatment, reminded them of playing whack-a-mole. Because just when […]
The Effects of Alcohol on the Whole Body
Whenever I think of the ill effects of alcohol and drugs on the body, I think of the 1980s Partnership for a Drug-Free America campaign with the egg. This is your brain (hold up a pristine egg). This is drugs (grease bubbling in a frying pan). And this is your brain on drugs (crack […]
