By my junior year, I was taking all honors classes and easily passing them, putting me near the top of my class. I had one influential mentor, my physiology teacher, who encouraged me to pursue an education in the sciences, perhaps medicine. My friends were all band members who partied like me. I never had any run-ins with the administration or faculty and did not think that I had any kind of problem. Off to college I went, at a major university in Washington, DC, with plans to study chemistry with a minor in psychology in a pre-med curriculum.

This week’s Sober Story comes from Jean, a 51-year-old living in Alberta Canada. “It was initially hard and I started out by ignoring social settings. But as my sober confidence grew, so… He struggles a bit to find the next person, going back and forth, passing the hiding spot a few times before eventually finding it. Once he begins barking, the volunteer in the tube rewards Pager with his toy and they get into an enthusiastic game of tug of war. Throughout the rubble are “distractors,” such as bags of dirty laundry and food — anything to try to throw the dogs off the scent of finding someone.

Sober Story: Gen

I have learned those same steps can, and has, helped me solve any issue that arises. Becoming sober isn’t just about abstaining from alcohol. It’s a subversive, hardcore choice to take your life into your own hands. It’s an opportunity to grow into your bones, and every single crap thing that happens to you on the way only makes you stronger.

• It turned out to be the best decision I have ever made.
• Victoria Ledwell is at the helm, working as both the canine coordinator and a dog handler for FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue squad.
• Within a short period of time, harassing the fourth roommate with obnoxious merriment, I was able to convince that non-partying roommate to swap rooms.
• As a group of people who are in Recovery, and allegedly are trained professionals in rebranding companies and organizations.
• It’s note-worthy because it’s been many, many years since I’ve had a day where alcohol didn’t show up in my mind – a decade or more.

“It was like a floppy Frisbee, and it didn’t fit well into pockets. But it didn’t matter that it was hard for me to carry, because for him that was important. I had to make it work.” As the one overseeing the training, Ledwell begins the day by huddling with about a dozen handlers. She congratulates one team for passing an exam, but when the group claps, the handler brushes it off, directing the praise to the work of his canine partner.

was founded on the belief that shared stories are the most transformative medium for change.

As the use of the weight-loss drug Ozempic grows, so do reports of possible mental health side effects. It isn’t known if Ozempic and the other drugs caused the mental health problems. As your article pointed out, complete sobriety stories abstinence from substances is not always effective in a recovery experience and there is a great deal of quality science to support that this is the case. AA is ”mum’s the word,” and is clearly divided on this issue.

I did get sober and my life did get better because it was so low and dark. What it looks like for me is that I now have tools to be a normal, decent human being, which I wasn’t before. So sobriety for me is like a bridge back to a normal life. It’s not my whole life, but it can be a bridge to where I can reconnect with people in society and I can reconnect with friends and family and use tools that I’ve learned to engage with another person. Caring less about yourself and caring more about helping others.

Sober Story: Olivia

I recollect, even as a preteen, prior to my drinking career, not being able to feel sorrow at my Grandmother’s funeral, forcing myself to cry just to fit in with the family. I made a conscious decision upon my graduation to stop smoking marijuana because of the possibility of jeopardizing my medical license if I were to get caught. Alcohol easily and quickly replaced the marijuana as I began residency. I knew that if I did, that would mean I had a problem. I can share my experience as much as I want, but it’s not normalized. And I think that’s what putting something out in the media does.

“I knew that getting alcohol out of my life was the most important achievement in my life.” I believed that alcohol enabled me to get through each day, it gave me the energy I needed to… “Over a 15 year period my drinking gradually went from problematic to dangerous.” “The hardest part for me was untangling the thread of romance from wine.”