Fear Not the Pink Cloud, My Sober Friends
You can see it up there, can’t you? Right beside the sun, next to the unicorn. It’s hard to miss—a fluffy mass resplendent in its coral color. It has a built-in espresso maker and from its center, rainbows shoot high in the sky and stain the horizon with joy and high-fives. If you’ve […]
Excursions – Embracing the Challenges and the Triumphs of Recovery
I am one of those people who likes to experience the thing I am touting. No false advertising here. So when Sanford House set out to launch an online, lifestyle magazine for people in recovery, I did some soul searching – head and foot. We organized several meetings, where Sanford House staff unearthed what recovery […]
Girl Restarted – What It’s Like to be Out of Rehab and Back to College
Apartness is such a common thread in the stories of alcoholics and addicts. It seems to plague us; the feeling of being an utter misfit, of not belonging and having to pump ourselves full of booze just to feel a part of things. I don’t ever remember feeling comfortable anywhere. I was squirmy and […]
Getting Self-Esteem (I’m Not Much, But I’m All I Think About)
Mirrors I used to love looking in mirrors. As a child, I’d frown, make funny faces and would see just how far I could cross my eyes. I inspected myself—the gap in my two front chompers, the length of my hair, the way my eyebrows almost met. As I grew up, I found […]
Now That We’re in Recovery, Who Else Wants a Puppy?
Updated March 2024 I was minding my own business the other day, and an idea popped up: GET A RECOVERY PUPPY. It occurred with the same kind of punch-in-the-gut suddenness my wine cravings used to materialize, so I should be wary. I know we are not supposed to start a serious relationship, get married, […]
Girl Restarted – Being an Alcoholic Sort of Ruined My 21st Birthday Plans…
From the moment I took my first drink, I had glorious plans for my twenty-first birthday. Flashing horizontal ID’s in suspicious bouncer’s faces, drinking everyone under the table, ordering fancy drinks just because it was legal, and having to be dragged back to my room by friends because I was too sloshed to even […]
Girl Restarted – The Emotional Thaw
Sanford House alumna S.E.B. was in treatment before she was legally old enough to drink alcohol. She will be guest blogging for Sanford House and taking us along on her recovery journey. She’s learning to “feel”, turning 21 and navigating family and friends in the sober life. So, Wish her luck – she’s Girl Restarted… In […]
Hangovers, Sober Mum and Cupcakes – the Best of the Sanford Blog…
In case you didn’t see them, these are the three most popular articles we have posted on the Sanford House Blog in the past three months: Hangovers: Why Doesn’t the Morning After Deter the Night Before? May 3, 2016 by Marilyn Spiller My favorite part about being sober is the morning. Especially […]
What is Recovery? We Asked the Experts – Women in Rehab.
There is no “correct” answer to the question, “What is recovery?”. In fact, the definition of addiction recovery is so subjective, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) uses 10 Guiding Principles of Recovery and a “working definition”. It reminds me of the pirate Barbossa, in The Pirates of the Caribbean. When […]
The Bahamas and Alcoholism – 36 Years Sober in Paradise…
When my dear friend Marilyn invited me to share on the Sanford House blog, I had to struggle for words, even though I am an author and writing has always come easy for me. Marilyn and I have a lot in common, but she was in active addiction when we met on a small island […]
