Tag: addiction

10 Tips to Stop Comparison Thoughts

I was listening to a recovery podcast the other day, and the guest had been sober for several years. He was talking about how important his daily routine is to his sobriety. When the host asked him what his schedule was, he started in on this long, exhaustive, daunting routine he does every single morning, without fail.

 It was something to the effect of awaking up at an ungodly early time, then sobriety meditation for forty-five minutes, then running five miles, then mindfully showering, then a healthy organic green juice smoothie, then meal planning for the day – all before 8 a.m. The rest of his day sounded equally daunting, and made me want to just give up and go back to bed.

 In addition to giving up alcohol, the man hasn’t had sugar in five years, he hasn’t ingested gluten for three years, he’s vegan, and he doesn’t eat processed foods. Holy Cow! What else is there? And how could I do all that so I’ll be like him? I can’t.

“Comparison is the thief of joy.” – Theodore Roosevelt

And that’s when I started feeling really down on myself. I would love to say I do something similar, but I don’t. I know I shouldn’t eat as much sugar as I do, and my overall diet isn’t really all that healthy, but I can’t seem to change it at the moment.

And I know successful go-getters are up at the crack of dawn saving the world, but I hit the snooze button three times this morning. Sometimes I exercise and sometimes I don’t.

So, when I hear sober people like this guy, why does it make me feel worse about myself? I’m sober. Shouldn’t I be feeling good about myself because I achieved that?

 I never seem to measure up.

I’ve been doing the comparison thing my whole life about everything from my physical appearance, to my college Grade Point Average, to how much money I make, to the success of my children. And it always leaves me feeling inferior and often envious.

It’s not that I don’t want others to experience good things, but I want them too. I think I tend to believe that when someone else experiences success, in whatever form, it limits mine, but it doesn’t. So, I have to remind myself of that and turn it around in my mind.

Turn comparisons into encouragement and hope

There is an infinite amount of all things good in this world – joy, love, peace, hope, and success. Sometimes I have to remind myself of this. And just because someone else has something I also want, doesn’t mean it takes it or keeps it from me.

But I’m not wired that way naturally — to always see the good or positive in situations, especially when I’m in comparison mode. So, I have to intentionally turn others’ experiences into encouragement for myself.

Social media and comparisons – an infinite and vicious cycle

While social media isn’t helping matters, comparison has been with man for as long as we have existed. Social media does take comparison to a whole new unhealthy level though. So if you notice your spirits plummet after scrolling through your news feed or checking Instagram, remember you probably aren’t seeing the whole and true picture.

Tech companies aim to make you feel the anxiety of comparisons

“People are most likely to share peak experiences and flattering news about themselves—what University of Houston psychologist Mai-Ly Nguyen Steers calls “everyone else’s highlights reel”—and tech companies, furthermore, use algorithms to prioritize that very information in social media feeds. The narrow, distorted slice of reality that is displayed on social media is almost perfectly constructed to make viewers feel deficient and discouraged. (Rebecca Webber, 2017, The Comparison Trap, Psychology Today)

We evolved as humans making comparisons for survival

So as it turns out, there’s a perfectly good reason for why we make comparisons, and why it’s so hard to stop. It’s sort of wired into our brains as humans. As we evolved, we naturally compared ourselves to those around us to learn how to survive and live in social groups.

Comparison helped us survive, evolve, and position ourselves with other humans in the world around us. Our literal survival depended on watching others around us and mimicking what they did.


“In their book,” Friend and Foe: When to Cooperate, When to Compete, and How to Succeed at Both, ” Galinsky and Schweitzer argue that social comparison is an innate human tendency, and, whether it’s the wisest move or not, it’s a big part of the way we determine our own level of happiness.” (Taken from and article in The Cut entitled “It’s Impossible to Stop Comparing Yourself to Your Peers” by Melissa Dahl, 2015.)

 10 really good tips to help mitigate your comparison tendency

  • Learn your triggers and try to avoid them when possible. Start noticing when you have the most comparison thoughts. When do you have those sinking, deflated feelings about yourself or your life? Comparison thoughts are unconscious. We don’t even realize them until we’re feeling down about ourselves, so notice the feelings first, then trace it back to the thoughts behind it.
    • Notice when you’re in the company of certain people who trigger you, those who brag or are pretentious, for example.
    • And what activities/events expose you to socioeconomic conditions/people significantly different than your own?
    • Become very aware when you’re on social media platforms; comparison is epidemic.
  • Use social media purposefully and limit mindless scrolling – maybe even consider a detox from social media? At the very least, limit it to an hour a day — and set a timer!
  • Remember that comparison thoughts are just thoughts, like many others we have over and over again, and you don’t have to believe everything you think!
  • Remind yourself that, like you, others are ‘presenting’ the side of themselves they want you to see. It’s not wrong, dishonest, or inauthentic; it’s just what we do.
  • Accept yourself as you are and where you are — for now. (Especially relevant if you aren’t quite where you’d like to be.) It’s not forever; it’s just where you are right now.
  • Focus on your own garden. You can’t grow flowers in yours when you’re focusing on the garden next door.
  • Remind yourself that this tendency has survived from our evolution, but it’s not necessary or helpful any longer.
  • Create some objectivity by talking to yourself, “There you go again, comparing me.” Then realize truly, that there is no one like you — no one else with your exact DNA.
  • Then “experience your blessings”. Don’t count them, that’s an intellectual exercise and doesn’t feel real.
  • Focus on your strengths, differences, the journey we’re all on, and realize imperfection is the way of human beings. But it’s also human nature not to embrace our inherent imperfection, and that’s where conscious effort to do so is helpful.

Part of creating my “Sober Self” has been the use of these tools when the comparison thoughts hijack me.


An End to Alcoholism

Another rehab. To be honest, I wasn’t hopeful. This was a traditional program based on the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (from now on written as “12-Steps/AA” for brevity), which had never been my thing. But I had to do something.

Very few people in my life knew I’d gone in; I was embarrassed and ashamed, and most were weary of me, frankly. But I had proven inept at suicide, so there was nothing left to do, except keep trying. I still didn’t know how, but I had to figure out why I drank. I was convinced that discovering that and changing it was the only long-term solution for me.

I wished AA/12-Steps worked for me long-term.

From the first time I had tried it, I’d wanted Alcoholics Anonymous/12-Steps to work for me. I really did, because I live in a city with an extensive and strong AA Community. It would have been so much easier had it worked fifteen years ago, when I first ventured into “the rooms”.  

And even though I don’t agree with the philosophy, nor do I practice any of the steps now, I did “work” them all for about a year.

So, when I went into the last rehab (an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)), I did quit drinking for about a year with only two significant relapses — by far, the most success I’d experienced in over twenty years.

Over twenty plus years, ways I’ve tried to quit drinking:

  • Austere, self-imposed, punitive measures.
  • New (“pseudo”) science.
  • Hypnosis.
  • AA Meetings.
  • Counseling (lots of it).
  • Written contracts with myself.
  • First this church, then that one.
  • Home-study — non-disease based programs .
  • Residential non-disease based program (thirty days).
  • Continuing Education from the program above (thirty days again).
  • SMART Recovery online at-home (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Program).
  • Three different 12-Step-based facilities.
  •  Vivitrol injections for several months, coupled with individual therapy and a 12-Step program.
  • Buddhism for addiction.
  • Many many self-help books.
  • Bible studies and Big Book Studies.

Needless to say, none of these efforts had been permanently successful. The way I viewed it, it was about me. I had failed. The problem had always been mine to solve. I believed, “No one helps me get drunk, therefore, no one can help me get sober.”

That had always been my motto, and I still feel that way in large part. While I do believe a network can be helpful in myriad ways, it is ultimately between my ears where the magic or the torment lies.

As you can probably guess from looking over the list above, my life had been quite the shit show. Not all the time and not in all ways, however. I had managed to stay married for twenty-two years, raised three kiddos to nearly legal age, and started a somewhat successful home-based business. Today, my children insist they had a good and normal upbringing, and their lives weren’t the hell I remember in my mind, so I’m thankful for that.

What was wrong with me?

And here’s my quick recap of the negative consequences of my drinking problem.

  • I’ve wrecked four vehicles (to varying degrees of seriousness)  – miraculously, no one was ever injured or even involved except me.
  • I’ve been to the ER five times, twice with broken bones.
  • Far too many minor injuries to count, with little or no recollection of where they came from – huge bruises, cuts, burns, etc.
  • Divorce after twenty-two years (not all alcohol related – really, I swear! I did make it awfully convenient for him, though, didn’t I?).
  • County jail twice for DUIs  (you must read about my stint in jail as a sheltered stay-at-home mom/housewife here – crazy stuff).
  • One hundred hours of community service.
  • One hundred forty hours of mandated addiction “counseling”.
  • Two attempts at suicide (only one anyone actually knows about).
  • Wound up in psych ward for four days because of that.
  • And finally, I estimate I’ve spent approximately $150,000 on drinking-related expenses.

Could it get any worse?

Of course, this is only a list of the tangible consequences. There isn’t a way to account for the heartache, pain, anxiety, shame, anger and frustration or any other emotional toll that drinking has taken on me and those I love. They’re enumerable, unfathomable, and indescribable. I don’t have the words to describe how bad all of this felt at times.

So what? What does this mean for me?

So, why am I writing all this? Because it’s over, and I can! It’s really over. Done. I’m through it, and I live to talk about it, and share it.

Through my sharing, I want to give you hope if you haven’t figured out yet why you drink and how to stop. The end began when I learned about what happens in our brains and bodies during addiction.

The missing piece to a life-long puzzle.

What I learned made so much sense to me. It was the missing piece to a life-long puzzle of struggle. A paradigm shifted inside my head – understanding. Finally!  It gave me enough separation from my psyche, while explaining the physical symptoms I was experiencing, that I could actually understand what had been happening. This separation gave me enough pause to realize that maybe there wasn’t something terribly wrong with me, after all.

There is nothing wrong with us, and we have scientific proof.

Maybe I didn’t have a life-long progressive and irreversible disease. Maybe I wasn’t weak willed, or immoral, or blindly selfish either. Maybe this was even normal. WHAT?! And maybe it could be reversed, because our brains change, right? And that is my life-altering revelation about alcoholism!

Maybe this is actually normal, and there’s nothing wrong with me after all.

This cutting-edge, science-based understanding transformed me, and I want to help you. I haven’t looked back since, except of course, to write it all down.

I pursued this path further, after leaving the rehab, and in my pursuits, I’ve discovered:

(1) why we drink and how to control it.

(2) what alcoholism really is, so I can not only understand it, but I can explain why I do what I do.

And that, my friend, is the reason for this entire site. It is, for me, the discovery of my lifetime, and I want to help make it yours. If you’ve been struggling with alcoholism, you are so close to the end of it.

Now it’s your turn.

I want to become your guide to your transformation. I want you to become the hero of your own story. Wouldn’t that feel better?

How to do that? Email me, sign up for my post notifications, go to my Facebook page and watch some live videos — begin the connection, begin the journey with me. I’m with you every step of the way.

My Time in the Slammer

Knowing you’re going to jail is such a difficult feeling to describe. It was bizarre, not only because jail is a strange world, but more so because of its stark contrast to my day-to-day life. Plus, I was forced to be sober (being drunk would have made it easier.) I was an average housewife. Three teenage kids. Three-bedroom ranch house in Small Town, USA. A true “soccer mom”; therefore, this experience was a total contrast to what I knew. Just flat-out surreal.

The Ordeal Begins

It’s an uncomfortable feeling, to say the least, putting yourself into the “care” of indifferent abject strangers. Willingly going to live among people you don’t know, the whole place shrouded in concertina wire, metal detectors, and surveillance cameras, is anxiety-inducing, to say the least.

To relinquish everything that you own, and enter into uncertainty empty-handed–no ID, no purse, no keys, no phone, no books, photos, or notes, not even your own clothes (except for your underwear). Everything inside you screams UNSAFE! NO! RUN! Yet, you have no choice. I had no choice.

The strip search was humiliating. And I do mean strip, and then some.

“Clothes off.” “Arms up.” “Turn.” “Again.” “Turn.”  “Face me.”

“Spread yer legs. Squat. Lower. Bend over. Head down. Shake your head.”

“No clips or barrettes in your hair? Nothing?”

“Turn around. Spread yer legs.” Oh my God! You’ve got to be kidding me! “Squat. Lower. Bend over. Cough.”

Really? WTF?!

“Face me!” She barked and took out a small flash light and clicked it on, then approached me, leading with a gloved hand.

“Open yer mouth. Stick out yer tongue. Lemme see under yer tongue.” She felt the inside of my cheeks and checked up my nostrils. I smelled latex.

“Face the door, pull yer hair back, and lemme see inside yer ears.” Do people really hide stuff there? “Other side.”

“Now shower.” She nodded towards a shower head jutting from the wall, and handed me a meager pile–a small bar of soap (yeah, a bar of soap…no joke.) White socks, orange jumpsuit, a dingy towel, and a pair of black rubber flip-flops. The orange surprised me. I thought maybe that was only for the movies. I’ve not worn that “new orange” since. I never will again.

No doors where you want them

This was the beginning of not having doors where you want them, and having them where you don’t want them.  And this was the first point at which I realized how much I take privacy for granted. If you can go into any bathroom right now, and close a door behind you, you have no idea how comforting that is…until you can’t.

As I stood there, under streams of lukewarm water, I remember looking at my feet. Whose feet were they? They didn’t feel attached to me. The water trickled down an unfamiliar drain.

It is difficult to describe the feeling of walking through the hallway to my cell, half-dragging a thin cot and clutching a pillow under my arm–my only “possessions”. Knowing where I was going and for how long, but not what to expect or with whom. I can’t tell you the enormity of my dread, anxiety, and shame.

Run! Danger! Unsafe! – something in me cried

I passed by normally-clothed people working at desks, like nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Yet inside, I felt abject panic. I felt like I wanted to cling to them and beg. “Please don’t let them take me! Help me! I don’t belong here! Help!” I could feel my heart pounding, my breath quickening, my hands and feet feeling tingly, like I should run.

But I had to keep calm and walk. I had no choice. And those people kept right on working without even a glance.

When we got to my cell, they opened the door and I walked through it like I was walking into any other room. The heavy metal door clamped shut behind me, with finality, and without a word from anyone. There were no clanging keys, or metal rolling sounds like in the movies. You know, like when sliding doors roll open and shut. That’s what I expected.

But no, it was simply a heavy-sounding, metal door that closed and locked behind me. A door, indeed, without a knob, or handle, or any way to open it from inside. I would contemplate that one door a lot.

Home away from home

For the next several days, I would get to know my cell mates well, but at first there was nothing. No communication, no acknowledgement except some looks. It was so weird. But what do you say in this situation? “Hello, my name’s Lisa. Nice to meet you”? No, because it’s not nice to meet them. None of us want to be here, and we wouldn’t mix outside this place.

I shared a cell that was maybe twenty-four by eighteen feet, with five other women. It was too small for all six of us to live in, I’ll tell ya that! There weren’t enough beds, so I laid my cot on the floor near the door, following another inmate’s lead.

The rectangular room was arranged with beds anchored to one long wall; a “bathroom” area on the short wall–one open shower stall, a metal toilet, and a small metal sink, no mirror–all completely open. No doors and no curtains, nothing, just open. Towels hung on either side. The third long wall was blank except for a digital clock in the top center, and a television mounted close to the ceiling. And that one door, of course.

I took up “squatting rights” along the other short wall between the foot of the corner bed and that one door. There were two tables, and a couple of chairs anchored to the floor in the center of the room. A metal garbage can was also anchored to the floor in a corner.

The bed nearest me, in the corner, had child-like drawings hanging on its surrounding walls. Apparently, it had been occupied the longest. It appeared to be “home”, unfortunately, for some poor soul. I would come to learn it was the most coveted too, because of its two walls. But you had to be here longer than anyone else to earn it. No, thanks.

My First Night

I remember, when I first arrived, I sat on my cot leaning against the wall for a long time. I kept my head down so as not to make eye contact with anyone, but discreetly snuck peeks now and then. Three of the women were black, and three, including me, were white. I think I may have been the oldest, but not by much. The Jerry Springer Show was blaring from the television. I remember thinking wryly I might be able to get on an episode after this experience. (Not one of my aspirations in life.)

At one point, one of the white women went to the toilet. She sat there, less than half clothed because the jumpsuit is one piece, peeing as if it was no big deal! I could see her in my peripheral vision. That was the second time I realized how much I take my privacy for granted. How long could I go without peeing?

When nature calls – and she does, eventually

It didn’t take long to see how to handle defecation “au naturelle”. When someone had to go, she announced it, in whatever vulgar fashion she chose, and everyone else turned their back to her, or pretended to be distracted with something else–a sudden interest in the grout between the concrete blocks of the wall, for example. Or watching television with your back to the person. I usually rolled over and faced my wall, waiting for a flush, and then giving her a few minutes to dress completely.

The same thing happened with showers, although I don’t remember many showers being taken. I didn’t because I didn’t have any clean underwear. I brought them, but they disappeared, and I never saw them again. My daily anti-depressant disappeared too. I asked for both, begged for the latter, but no one seemed to care much that I was supposed to take it every day. I can’t image my morale being any lower than it already was, so I can’t say I noticed a huge downswing in mood. Luckily, I wasn’t there long enough for it to make a big difference, but lack of communication from the staff was frustrating and added to my sense of helplessness and vulnerability.

The first meal came soon after my arrival. The same two women who checked me in, wheeled it half-way through that one door on a cart, and distributed the trays. It appeared to be meat, grayish mashed potatoes, canned fruit, a small pile of lettuce with dressing, and white sandwich bread. I said I wasn’t hungry, but they left a tray anyway. There was very little conversation between the guards and the women.

Play nice in jail, it makes you friends

While my cellmates were eating, one of the black women asked if she could have my food. I nodded, and she came over and got it. That was the only conversation I had all evening.

Later, the television and lights automatically went out at eleven o’clock, and it was abruptly dark and silent. After a few minutes though, I heard whispers and hushed rustling. I saw a quick tiny flash of fire, and then the smell of cigarette smoke. I realized my cellmates were smoking close to the vent above the toilet. It didn’t last long–a few puffs each–then a flush of the toilet, and they all went to bed.


I’d never been locked inside unable to get out that I could remember. Have you?

I lay there, eyes wide open, listening, thinking, and quietly crying. I contemplated that one door. A sliver of light streamed in underneath it. I spent many nights meditating on that thin beam of light.

I missed my comfortable bed, with multiple pillows and paisley comforter. With my husband at my side, beagle at the foot, and my children nearby. I didn’t sleep much during my time in jail–drifting in and out, tossing and turning on the flat mat atop a hard floor, with one thin pillow under my head. Unfamiliar noises. Loud snorers. The continuous thin beam of light beneath that one door.

Nights were the loneliest

These nights in jail were some of the loneliest I have ever felt in my life. This feeling was the lowest I’ve ever experienced up to now. I felt tiny, vulnerable, afraid, and profoundly ashamed. I can’t explain how lost I felt–adrift. Completely alone and lost in this world. I didn’t know who I was — who had I become? I thought a lot about what others must think of me too.

How ashamed my family must be of me. The first night, I realized how close the jail was to my kid’s school. They had visited this place in their social studies classes. I could just imagine their teachers telling them, “This is where you go when you don’t follow the laws.” And now their mother was there.

How must they feel about me? How should I feel about myself? I was disgusted and desperate. I felt isolated and worthless. I hated myself. This is what I deserved! I wished I would die–not painfully, mind you, just peacefully drift away into nothingness. Feel nothing. Simply slip away to naught. I understand suicide. I get it; it’s better than right here, right now.

All this pain from alcohol -why do we do this to ourselves?

Breakfast came early, and in the same fashion as lunch and dinner, all served daily by two of several female employees. All the meals were similar–room temperature, bland, and not very nutritious. Like bad school lunches, without the ketchup. Tasteless scrambled eggs, mysterious meat-like products, white bread, cheese-products, dry lunch meat sandwiches, slightly wilting iceberg lettuce, canned vegetables and fruits, milk or juice, weak instant coffee and tea or something like cool-aid in foam cups.

Time crept by. Oh my God, the boredom was excruciating! This is what stands out the most from my first full day.  There was absolutely nothing to do but sit or lay and watch TV. There were a few books to read from the “library”, which was more like a closet with several donated copies of the Bible, the Alcoholics Anonymous book, and supporting materials. Inmates were allowed to take one a week. I had several books with me when I arrived, but they were confiscated upon admission.

So, when the boredom overtook fear some time during the first day, I asked if I could use the only chair not bolted to the floor. No one said “no”, but no one really said “yes”, either. I tentatively helped myself, and went about establishing an hourly exercise routine.

One, two . . . ten . . . repeat. Why not? Nothing else to do.

Ten step-ups onto the chair, then ten sit-ups, then ten push-ups, then sitting leg stretches on my cot while counting to one hundred. I alternated this with a variation of Sun Salutation that I remembered from the few yoga classes I’d taken–Mountain Pose, Chair Pose, Downward Facing Dog, Warrior, Tree Pose, and Corpse. I did this routine every hour, much to the chagrin, of my cellmates, I might add.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“Not again!”

“How can you do that crazy shit?”

“Goddammit! You’re getting’ on my nerves.”

“Are you serious, bitch?”

At first, I was intimidated and thought I should stop. But I’d come to realize I was safe – enough – and I had a teeny tiny space here too, so I should realistically be able to do what I wanted as long as I didn’t interfere with anyone else. I wasn’t in the way of the television, and I didn’t make any noise, so what could it hurt? Josey, the woman I shared my food with, took up for me too, which was encouraging.

“Leave her alone, lazy thang! She ain’t hurtin’ no body.”

After initial cold reception of the first day, things got a bit less tense. Someone asked my name, and we went from there. I soon learned all their names and their stories.

Two were awaiting trial. One was like me and was serving brief time for a DUI violation. Another was in on a minor marijuana charge. And two were “staying off” debt that they owed in court fees which they’d neglected to pay.

Pay your court costs!

Apparently, if you owe money to the court and don’t pay it, they can lock you up, and you do the time instead of paying the money. Every day in jail deducts from your debt.

I couldn’t imagine why someone would choose to go to jail as opposed to paying money, but I soon learned that these two had been in and out of jail many times before. I suspect they used their funds for drugs, alcohol, and the like, and had no one in their lives who would continue loaning them money.  

Both these women spent hours on the phone calling people–anyone –asking for money: old boyfriends, childhood friends, cousins, parents, grandparents, neighbors. They cursed at people and screamed. They cried, slammed down the phone, and threw tantrums, then called the same person back, begging for forgiveness; and money. Eventually giving up or running out of phone time, they would go back to TV or bed. Neither got anywhere while I was there. I never asked how long they would need to stay to pay off their entire balances.

Of the two who were awaiting trial, one was for multiple shoplifting charges and one was for murder. That sort of freaked me out! I’ve never known anyone who has killed another person, let alone slept in the same room with them.

A criminal mind?

She was a young white girl, with a three-year-old daughter, which explained the pictures that hung by her bed. I felt more sorry for this poor girl than my other cellmates. And she was not stable.

She would get violently angry at times–hitting things and cursing at nothing, then she would collapse into a sobbing crumpled mess of curse words, nonsense, prayers and tears. I wanted to help her, to soothe her like I would my own daughters, but I didn’t. Not once did I even try to console her. I wasn’t myself there. And she had been in this small room for over a year. I can’t imagine what that would have been like. They all said long stays in county jails like this one are worse than “real prison”, especially if your time is indefinite. I believe it. And I guess a lot of her emotional instability stemmed from boredom, frustration, and stir-craziness. I don’t remember her name, but it started with an “s”, so I’m naming her Shelby.

You be the judge.

Her story is that her boyfriend (and I use that term loosely), put her up to stealing a valuable doll collection from his grandmother for drug money. Shelby got the collection into a vehicle late one night, but the grandmother wasn’t giving it up without a fight. While pursuing Shelby on foot in her driveway, she wouldn’t let go of the vehicle and was dragged to death. Shelby was charged with murder, and the boyfriend disappeared.

My attorney came to visit me and asked a lot of questions about her. He said it was a big case and was interested in her display of remorse. I told him what I knew, which wasn’t really much. Living in a small town, I imagine murder cases weren’t very common, and it must be the talk of town among local attorneys. I still think about Shelby and wonder what happened. I didn’t follow her story after my stay; I just wanted to put this experience behind me and forget I ever knew these people.

Cat fight

One night she and another woman got into a fight–I mean a real fight — exchanging blows! I’d never seen two women fight before, so this was quite an experience. Shelby was often at odds with others, and on this day in particular, there had been a lot of tension between her and Juanita. It started as heated banter during the daytime, and erupted into a knock-down-drag-out right after the lights went down.

Juanita said Shelby attacked her. I did hear Shelby get out of bed, then immediately heard cursing, and screaming. I crawled under Shelby’s bed frame and tucked myself as far back into the corner as I could. (Glad I’m small.)  Josey had run to the door and was banging on it for help. The others were calling out.

“What the fuck!?”

 “Get on ‘er OG! ” (my cell mates called Juanita “Old Girl”, or OG for short)

“Nuh-uh, you all!”

The lights came on, and from my hiding place I looked directly into Shelby’s face, pinned against the floor by Juanita’s arm. Juanita had easily straddled her–stomach down. Shelby was struggling to turn her head back so she could bite Juanita. Even though Juanita was much bigger and heavier, Shelby was bucking and writhing trying to get leverage.

I’ll never forget the look on Shelby’s face.

She looked ready to explode! Her face was flushed red, eyes wide and wild, with drool and blood seeping from her mouth onto the floor. Juanita seemed in control, sitting on top of her yelling obscenities. Screaming for them to stop, I sat holding my ears. Don’t know why. I wanted to close my eyes but couldn’t make myself do it. Why doesn’t someone come and help?

It seemed a long time before that one door burst open, but finally four people poured into the small cell all at once, yelling and adding to the commotion. One man brandished a stun gun, yelling threats. He pulled Juanita off Shelby, while one of the women clamped cuffs onto her wrists. The other man yanked Shelby up off the floor and held her by the shoulders, with some difficulty, I might add, especially for such a small woman, while the other woman struggled to get her cuffed.

“You better cuff that bitch! That bitch is crazy! You’re a crazy little cunt!” Juanita’s eyes were big and intently focused on Shelby, shooting invisible daggers, as she spat out the words, and the staff tried to manhandle Shelby.

She reminded me of a wild animal!

Shelby was livid! Hysterically screaming and trying to get away, she lunged forward and shook her shoulders vigorously from side to side. She was totally out of control and seemed beside herself with rage, like she was about to explode. More rage than I’ve ever seen on another human’s face.

“I will kill you you motherfucker! I’ll kill you!”

“That’s enough, come on now, let’s go.” said one of the ladies, quite calmly; I don’t think this was their first rodeo.

Shelby was led–more like dragged, really–from the cell still screaming. Her obscenities trailed off the further away they got, and I felt relief. In the meantime, Juanita, who was fairly calm now, considering what had just occurred, was uncuffed. She paced around the small room, explaining what happened with plenty of cursing. I was pretty confident her story was accurate. The guards got all our statements, made some notes in a file, then left us alone.

Truce.

By the next morning, Shelby had not returned. Then, after breakfast, Juanita was taken away for a brief time. Then she and Shelby returned together, and they seemed perfectly fine. They reminded me of my kids after a fight. There was not another incident between them for the remainder of my stay, and in fact, much like children who’ve just made up, they seemed closer than before. That night, in striking contrast to the horrific ordeal of the night before, a most unexpected and touching phenomenon occurred.

The lights went out. A cigarette was smoked and flushed down the toilet, then silence ensued. After some time a beautifully clear and melodious voice began to sing from the corner of the room nearest me. It was Shelby. At first it was soft, then her pure and surprisingly lovely voice strengthened with every familiar word.

Precious and few moments.

“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found. Was blind, but now I see.” Silence. “’Twas grace that taught, my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed.” Pause.

Then someone else started humming along with her singing “Through many dangers, toils and snares, We have already come. Twas grace hath brought us safe thus far, and grace will lead us home.” Pause. “When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun…”

Voices added, and I, too, began humming in the dark. “We’ll have no less days to sing God’s praise, than when we first begun.” By the end we were all either singing or humming–my words were sung through tears, and I suspect everyone else’s were too. “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind, but now I see.” Silence.

I’ll never forget that moment. Are we beasts or saints? This night, we were acapella angels – all of us; for we are all human. And in the dark, we were all equal. Skin color, age, life experiences didn’t separate us. We were six human experiences melded into one beautiful song. Perhaps at this particular moment, we were also at peace.

“Concession stand” for incarcerated adults.

The second evening I was introduced to the commissary. If inmates have money in their “jail account”, they can purchase items like soft drinks, snacks, stationary, and pre-paid phone cards. I didn’t have any cash or an account, so I did without. Since the diet was bad enough, I wouldn’t have wanted any junk food, but I would have appreciated paper to write on. However, the problem would have been a writing utensil; standard utensils weren’t allowed, because, theoretically, they could be used as weapons.

Clever Shelby had figured a way around this. The commissary did offer really short pencils. They were maybe three inches long, and sharpened to a dull point on one end, flat on the other. No metal or eraser.  It would have been impossible to write much comfortably with one, so Shelby would buy two and put them together. She removed the sticky label from shampoo bottles to use as “tape” to hold them together. She went through a lot of shampoo and conditioner! Luckily the bottles were travel-sized, which was perfect for the little pencils, and the employees didn’t seem to notice or care that she requested so many. If the “tape” required more “glue” to keep the pencils attached, she used a little soap. And she “sharpened” the pencil points using the edge of the vent cover. She loaned me one, and while it wasn’t ideal, it did work.

The commissary also sold crayons, which is what she used on her daughter’s drawings. It was almost Christmas, and she was busy creating the only “gifts” she could for her child. And I was to be released on Christmas Eve. Thank God.

Released, finally.

I didn’t know for sure when I was going to be released, and the staff at this place acted as if we didn’t have a right to know anything about our situation. Aside from the anti-depressant issue, this was my biggest concern with the staff. I knew the day I was supposed to be released, but not when or how or who would pick me up, or any other details. When I asked, they said they would check on it, but they never did. I kept asking to no avail.

“We’re looking into it.” – all I ever got. Then late in the day, they came and told me to “Come on.”

At one point, when my attorney came to visit, I implored him not to let me stay in there any longer than I had to. He assured me that he had nothing to do with it, and that that detail was administrative and out of his control. But he would check with my husband to make sure I was home safe and sound by Christmas Eve. I was, but the days leading up to it were very stressful. I contemplated that one door a lot on that last day, willing it to open. When are they coming? Why don’t they come? With every meal, I asked. Why won’t they just ease my mind? Maybe it was the power of the element of control they felt they were exerting over me, I don’t know.

A part of me wanted to be sassy and give them a piece of my mind, as we made our way to the front of the building, but I was too insecure with my potential freedom and didn’t want to jeopardize it. I changed into the clothes I’d worn several days prior, but without an audience this time. (Who cares what you take out?) And I was released with hardly a word. But no one was there to take me home, because no one in my family was told when I would be able to leave. (To be honest, I wasn’t even sure my husband would have come to pick me up anyway.)

What now?

I walked the five miles home because I had no phone, no money, and no nothing. But it was fine; I was never so happy to be able to move about freely in my life! This experience was truly one of the most difficult in my life. I wonder sometimes if that was because I had lived such a sheltered life, or because it took me into my shameful and lonely self with only my own negative thoughts for comfort.

On my way home, I do remember making a greater realization, and not for the first time, but perhaps this time, it would strengthen my future resolve. I ruminated about what took me into jail to begin with, and how I was going to salvage the rest of my life.

Jail was not my prison. My prison was alcohol. I created it, and lived in it, and kept myself there; thus I would have to get myself out of it, somehow. And even while I sincerely vowed that to myself, little did I know how long alcohol would continue to ensnare me.

It would entangle me for another seven years–through divorce, another arrest, virtual homelessness, and abject hopelessness. This was a mere four-day skirmish in my battle with alcoholism and the war with myself. It was far from over.

Signs of Alcoholism

I remember the first time I started seeing signs of alcoholism. I was around 30 years old, maybe younger. I’d been a “social” drinker for 10 years or so, but there were some tale-tell signs that I may be an over-achiever. 

Personality changes –Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-type stuff. Uncharacteristic and inappropriate anger rising to the surface, and what I like to call “drunk mouth”. That would be obnoxious or inappropriate things I wouldn’t normally say or do, especially in public.

Embarrassment and sincere apologies all around the next morning, and swearing off alcohol – good to go, right?

Of course (in retrospect), a few weeks later – same damn thing!

I tried to curb or quit all together, but I just never seemed to be able to do it for very long. Since it wasn’t every time I drank that I got stupid-drunk, those intermittent episodes were easier to ignore for quite a while.

Everyone drank too much sometimes, right? It’s in movies, I saw it in family and friends, and even my husband from time to time drank a little too much.

Yeah, but this became too much and too often to ignore. There was a family history to consider too. So, my husband and I talked it over, and we addressed it now – as a problem – but just between us.

Science of the 90’s

No big deal, I was a smart girl, and I looked to science for help – new science, or pseudoscience (as it’s often called).

I first turned to science in the early ’90’s

Anthony Robbins had come on the scene with the Neuro-linguistic Programming concept of changing your life through self-talk and modeling other successful people.

I read Awaken The Giant Within, and started trying to change my drinking habits on my own.

I had a little success, but still wasn’t getting to the root of the problem.

Soon the pattern emerged more regularly:  drinking, sometimes getting sick from it, and regular hangovers; swearing off, followed by intermittent periods of sobriety; then drinking again, getting sick and hungover, swearing off; repeat.

You get the picture? You’ve lived the picture, if you’re still reading this, right?

Why did I need to drink?

While I’d always had some issues with self-confidence and feelings of inadequacy, I was now happily married and starting a family. Shouldn’t I be more content? More mature and responsible?

What was wrong with me?

I really and truly tried to quit drinking, but it didn’t help that alcohol was a part of almost every activity. I was raised Catholic, and I don’t know if you know this, but Catholics drink if the sun comes up.

Living in a drinking culture, it really is acceptable – even expected – almost everywhere, at least in my life. Most influences (my family and friends) believed this was a will power issue, so I buckled down and tried to muster some.

Some things I tried to quit drinking

I punished myself for drinking.

•          Hypnosis;

•          Self-imposed contracts and punishment;

•          AA Meetings on/off;

•          Counseling;

•          First this church, then that one;

While I often made some progress with each measure, it was punctuated by frequent drinking episodes. And while I remained sober during pregnancies (three children within four years), this pattern continued into my early forties.

You cannot know this internal frustration and shame unless you have felt it for yourself. Am I right?

To wake up – either in the middle of the night or the next day – and realize that you had done it again! What was wrong with me?

This was not normal or logical!

Why did I keep doing this? My true happiness and personal security in life cannot come from a bottle. I couldn’t keep living this way.

Yet I did live like that, for a long time. I had to find the reason I needed to drink, but I wouldn’t for many more years. And it can only get worse or remain the same; neither was acceptable.

You cannot know this internal frustration and shame unless you’ve felt it yourself.



How do you know you have a drinking problem?  

  • You google “Am I an alcoholic?” or ” “How to stop or slow down drinking?” ” and wind up on sites like this.
  • Once you start drinking, you really find it difficult to stop or slow down.
  • A lot of your time is spent thinking about and planning drinking.
  • Once you start drinking, even though you said you weren’t going to drink much, you worry about your supply running out and/or go get more.
  • You’re ashamed of your drinking and rationalize it often.
  • The people who know you best are concerned, and you feel defensive talking about it.
  • You sometimes hide how much you drink.

Experts now say for women, more than three 5-oz drinks per day or seven (7) per week is “at risk” or “heavy”.

  • You’re very aware of how much everyone else drinks.
  • You can’t believe it when someone leaves a drink unfinished.
  • You plan around drinking and get angry/irritated when the plan changes unexpectedly.
  • Not being able to drink ruins your entire event/plan/evening.
  • You “get the party stared” by drinking while getting ready/cooking/preparing for company.
  • You’re gaining weight from drinking and feel swollen in the mornings.
  • You spend a lot of times piecing together events from the night before.
  • You drink when you’re alone to feel better from any number of stressors.
  • You’ve tried to set limits, but once you’ve had one drink, your resolve is suddenly gone, and you can’t understand it.

Pour up three 5-oz. glasses of your drink of choice right now – and measure it. This is all you should drink in one day.

  • Deep down, in your heart of hearts, you really want to quit, but you don’t know how.
  • You can’t imagine social situations without drinking.
  • Life without alcohol sounds utterly boring, dull, and anxiety-inducing.
  • You’ve lied about drinking.
  • You regularly have to apologize for your behavior while drinking, and you can’t understand or explain it.

If you just took this little quiz, and you’re afraid you may be drinking too much; or if you don’t even have to take the quiz because you know you’re drinking wwwaaayyy too much, and you want to quit or cut back, but don’t know how; stick with me. Read some more of my experiences. Contact me. Let’s talk. I have a lot to share with you.

Only The Beginning

One morning I broke my wrist while drinking. In the big picture, breaking a wrist is relatively unimportant. But that event, after over fifteen years of drinking and trying unsuccessfully to quit, led me to my first rehab. And that was important.

In my first rehab, I became exposed to the idea that alcoholism is not disease based–very important revelation.

 Up to this point, I had not really experienced any significant negative consequences from drinking. No DUI’s or other legal matters, no failed relationships, no lost jobs, and no physical injuries, until that wrist snapped.

The first rehab is important in my narrative because it was a non-disease based program. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but there are various schools of thought as to what alcoholism really is. In 2010, there were really only two that I knew of. Is it either a disease and treated as such, or it’s not. I chose to believe the latter, and that’s why I opted for this particular rehab program.

First rehab – non-disease approach

It was a residential, out-of-state treatment center that cost around fourteen thousand dollars. I couldn’t afford it, so my wonderful parents paid for this for me. (The memory still brings tears to my eyes. Someday I will pay them back.)

The organizers of the program claimed an eighty percent success rate, which I now suspect may have been false or based on extremely loose statistics. The year before, I had completed their at-home independent study, which was based on the philosophy that addiction is a choice. The at-home version of the program did keep me sober for a few months that year, and I desperately wanted to stop drinking, so I thought upgrading to the residential program may just be the ticket. Full immersion.

My first rehab taught that addiction is a choice and not a disease.

So even with three kiddos (ages fifteen, thirteen, and twelve) and a successful home-based business, my family and I picked me up out of my life, and deposited me into the hands of this treatment center to “fix” me. Straightforward and simple, like having an appendectomy. We kept it as secret as possible.

We had to let some folks know, though, because they would be helping out logistically both with our kids, and with the retail store operated by me and my husband. (Ironically enough, the store was located in the “Bourbon Capital of the World” – no kidding. And no, bourbon wasn’t my drink of choice.)

So, is it a disease or not?

The counselors at my rehab taught that addiction was absolutely not a disease, it was a choice-driven behavior. And that most addicts were selfish individuals, who were emotionally immature, and had short-term gratification issues. Once you face that, grow up, and make a long-term sobriety plan, you’ll naturally and logically make better choices.

The tone of the promotional material –those pamphlets that led me to enroll — were more “client”-friendly and diplomatic. They billed themselves as the “alternative to Twelve Step Programs”, which resonated with me, since I was not hip on the religious twelve steps.

So I showed up and started the therapy. The first week I learned that disease-based Twelve Step Programs, though they are the mainstream choice, don’t work well for many. This place claimed that traditional Twelve Step Programs have an abysmally low success rate of around five percent.  (In other sources, I’ve seen as low as three percent (3%), and through Alcoholics Anonymous sponsored information and through word-of-mouth, I’ve heard anywhere from seventeen percent (17%) to thirty-six percent (36%.) It’s next to impossible to accurately cite, however, as attendance is voluntary and not tracked or recorded.

Twelve Steps Programs successes are below one-third.

My counselors at rehab drove home the belief that these numbers are low because the very nature of the disease model weakens us. When you endorses the disease model, you start to behave like you’re diseased and powerless and then become addicted, in essence, to meetings and sponsors without actually addressing your real problems. Plus, the founders were personally not into the “God thing”. They believed the Twelve Steps approach was detrimental to your success, and they spent a good week (out of four) convincing us of this.

In 1956, AA was the only game in town, and alcoholism was becoming a significant problem. To address the issue, the American Medical Association and the U.S. government endorsed the disease concept because there wasn’t another option. Labeling the behavior as a disease — just like any other legitimate disease — meant that legislation could be pushed to force employers to cover recovery costs for their employees.

Couple that with the judicial system mandating participation in approved Twelve Steps Programs for anyone who got a DUI offense, and this approach to addiction became the prevailing model of treatment and a multi-billion dollar industry. (www.forbes.com, “Inside the $35 Billion Addiction Treatment Industry”, April 27, 2015).

So, in 1989, the creators of this treatment center developed their own private program, organized it under non-profit status, and charge a reasonable arm and leg, as an alternative to traditional Twelve Steps Programs.

Their program’s core beliefs

Good news! I didn’t have a disease. Secure in that knowledge, I excelled in the program. I wrote my whole life’s narrative, looking for patterns of behavior, so I could change them. Then I created a sobriety plan based on the program’s principles:

  • You are what you think.
  • Human beings are ultimately motivated by happiness.
  • There are no shortcuts to lasting happiness (such as drugs/alcohol).
  • And the only constant is change.

Then I went home.

I looked good. I sounded positive. I was optimistic. This was the fresh start I had been needing, and now I understood what the problem was. Yes, yes, yes! I had indeed behaved, at times, selfishly. And I could be quite emotional, so that made sense. My long-term perspective had been weak, clearly, because I didn’t seem to care what drinking today meant for my tomorrow. Check that box. So, now things would be different.

An educated woman, armed with knowledge, and I was good to go.

Everyone at home was counting on me, and I was confident. My husband had educated the entire family — on both sides — on how alcoholism wasn’t a disease, and it was simply up to me to follow my sobriety plan into a happy and sober future.

But something happened about 6 months later, and I drank again. I don’t remember the circumstances surrounding that first drink now. I’m sure it made perfect sense to me at the time; but to wake up, hungover again and so soon, was abject demoralizing. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Bewildering frustration and hopelessness – can you guess?

The very first seconds of consciousness–a stirring behind my eyelids, and then groggily coming awake. Throbbing at my temples, parched mouth, upset stomach, in a fog, half awake/half asleep. Drifting in and out.

Then it hit! I see the bottle, remember buying it, and see myself hiding it in the bottom of my daughter’s closet, and, worst of all, I see myself drinking it. My husband busting me! Embarrassment. Anger. Defiance. Storming out. Driving. It came to me in bits and pieces. You know how it goes, each memory worse than the one before, bringing with it dread and incredulous realization.

Maybe it was a dream (or a nightmare). But then I saw a wrecked car in the driveway. Proof! The taste of guilt, shame and liquor in my mouth. Disgust. Despair. Bewilderment. I can’t bear or name all the horrible thoughts I had about myself. I wanted to disappear. I deserved to die. Did I really do this again?!

After so much money that someone else put into me; and after experiencing so much willingness, effort, and resolve to change; after feeling so much hope upon returning–just for me to selfishly disregard it all for a fleeting high–how could I do this? To my parents, my husband, my children and … myself. (But honestly, who really cares about herself at this point? Isn’t that really the greatest challenge?) Betrayal and shock.

That, my friend, was genuine suffering. Oh, how I hated myself. No one can hate you more profoundly than you can hate yourself.

Right there between my shoulders it laid, like a heavy weighted blanket of blame and disgust. Who the hell else is there to blame? Would I never change? 

Drinking again after rehab was one of the worst lows I can remember..

It was the agony of hurting people whom you love and who are trying to love you back, which was the most shameful. Then having to manipulate, lie, and sneak to get this substance which wielded such bewildering power over me that was the problem. What to do?

How could I live with myself now, without drinking away my shame and self-disgust? I couldn’t. It wasn’t possible. And so it began again, and a grave beginning it was. Yet, this was only the beginning, and it continued for longer than I care to recall.