The holidays tend to resurrect old thought patterns about family roles, expectations, memories, and emotions that don’t usually carry as much weight throughout the rest of the year. Whether we’re surrounded by people or spending the season alone, the pressure can feel overwhelming and is very personal. In recovery that pressure can be like a tea kettle ready to scream, but we have tools to face it differently. 12 Days of Christmas in Recovery is a framework using principles from my sobriety program to help us stay merry, sober, and grateful through the holidays.

These twelve tools include familiar phrases like one day at a time, letting go of expectations, and seeking to understand rather than be understood. Each one helps soften the emotional intensity of the season and protect our relationships and sobriety. The goal is waking up the next day sober, clear-headed, and with our integrity intact. That, to me, is a very Merry Christmas indeed!

Listen to this special holiday episode of the Recovery Daily Podcast: 12 Days of Christmas in Recovery: A Merry, Sober, and Grateful Christmas

Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and YouTube.

Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779

#RecoveryDailyPodcast #HolidayRecovery #SoberHolidays

The holidays tend to resurrect old thought patterns about family roles, expectations, memories, and emotions that don’t usually carry as much weight throughout the rest of the year. Whether we’re surrounded by people or spending the season alone, the pressure can feel overwhelming and is very personal. In recovery that pressure can be like a tea kettle ready to scream, but we have tools to face it differently. 12 Days of Christmas in Recovery is a framework using principles from my sobriety program to help us stay merry, sober, and grateful through the holidays.

These twelve tools include familiar phrases like one day at a time, letting go of expectations, and seeking to understand rather than be understood. Each one helps soften the emotional intensity of the season and protect our relationships and sobriety. The goal is waking up the next day sober, clear-headed, and with our integrity intact. That, to me, is a very Merry Christmas indeed!

Listen to this special holiday episode of the Recovery Daily Podcast: 12 Days of Christmas in Recovery: A Merry, Sober, and Grateful Christmas

Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and YouTube.

Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779

Visit my Etsy shop, and join my creative journey at Recovery Upcycling. https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling

To learn more about vestibular disorders visit https://vestibular.org

#RecoveryDailyPodcast #HolidayRecovery #SoberHolidays #OneDayAtATime #EmotionalSobriety #SobrietySupport #RecoveryTools #GratefulInRecovery #AARecovery #MentalWellness

When I was newly sober and new to post-stroke life, I thought I’d never recover from either. Years later when someone praises my courage, I find it difficult to respond because it never felt like courage. It felt scary, uncomfortable, and impossible. The people I looked up to back then felt like superheroes, and I couldn’t imagine ever being seen that way. What looks like courage from the outside feels like fearful willingness on the inside.

Willingness was the first building block for me in recovery. I showed up scared, followed suggestions I didn’t understand, stayed when I wanted to run, and asked for help without confidence. That willingness opened the door to faith, and over time, faith quietly built strength. Courage, I’ve realized, is willingness that’s been practiced. Strength is consistently staying.

Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and YouTube.

Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779

Visit my Etsy shop, and join my creative journey at Recovery Upcycling. https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling

To learn more about vestibular disorders visit https://vestibular.org

#RecoveryDailyPodcast #WillingnessInRecovery #SobrietyJourney #StrokeRecovery #EmotionalSobriety #FaithAndRecovery #HealingInProgress #RecoveryCommunity #OneDayAtATime #StrengthThroughWillingness

I live in recovery, and whether we talk about it or not, we’re all recovering from something. I talk a lot about sobriety and stroke recovery, but at its core, my podcast is about living better while managing mental wellness and waking up curious about the day instead of dreading it.

People say the phrase, “I’ve finally arrived.” That’s always impressed me. I was never going to get where I was going with a state of mind where every achievement immediately pointed me toward the next goal. There was always another milestone ahead, another version of myself I thought I needed to become, and very little time spent actually resting in where I was. Arriving.

After my stroke changed my destination without my permission, the future I planned disappeared and so did hope. Sobriety taught me how to live one day at a time, and my stroke taught me how to let the present moment be enough. Spiritual progress is how often I consistently, constantly, and honestly practice acceptance, willingness, and trust. I don’t know where I’m going, and that matters less to me now than being grateful for where I am.

Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and YouTube.

Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779

Visit my Etsy shop, and join my creative journey at Recovery Upcycling. https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling

To learn more about vestibular disorders visit https://vestibular.org

#RecoveryDailyPodcast #LivingInRecovery #SpiritualProgress #OneDayAtATime #StrokeRecovery #SobrietyJourney #MentalWellness #AcceptanceAndTrust #HealingInThePresent #RecoveryCommunity

Every day feels like I’ve bought a new ticket on the roller coaster of my life. Yes, each day is a gift, and it’s another chance to learn how to manage all the invisible things happening beneath the surface. Recovery is more than stopping old behaviors or learning new ones. I’m managing the emotions, impulses, and reactions that once ran the show. Emotional hangovers can be just as miserable as physical ones, and my recovery program teaches me to pause, breathe, and respond instead of react. Speaking this stuff out loud keeps the emotional residue from stacking up and feeding my anxiety.

Repetition is powerful. Hearing the tools again and again is what infuses them into my daily life so I can apply them in new ways. Daily inventories and spot checks keep me self-aware and help me show up better. A loved one asked me yesterday if I was easier to anger when I drank, and the answer is yes. Drinking made me impulsive, while sobriety gives me choices. Tolerance, compassion, and humility are gifts of this life. The way I live now, pausing before I respond, admitting when I’m wrong, and practicing acceptance is how I carry the message and illustrate my recovery.

Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and YouTube.

Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779

Visit my Etsy shop, and join my creative journey at Recovery Upcycling. https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling

To learn more about vestibular disorders visit https://vestibular.org

#RecoveryDailyPodcast #EmotionalSobriety #SobrietyJourney #AcceptanceInRecovery #DailyInventory #AnxietySupport #SelfAwareness #RecoveryTools #HealingJourney #OneDayAtATime

Yesterday I took my daily walk down the street with Autumn to our small beach, both of us bundled in our warm coats, and even though it was freezing, windy, and heavily overcast, I said out loud, “It’s beautiful, Autumn!” It struck me that it was beautiful because that was the lens I brought with me on that walk. With three weeks of panic symptoms and heart palpitations happening even as I type this, I can see that emotional sobriety isn’t the absence of my anxiety. I feel steady inside my head even when my body is doing its own thing. Emotional sobriety is choosing what I bring to the water each day, no matter what’s going on under my skin.

I focused a lot on willfulness versus willingness today. Willfulness is fighting reality, and willingness is letting myself be guided. It’s how I accept my disability, recover from my stroke, live sober, and manage my emotions without wrestling them like a wild animal. So each day, ask yourself, “Will I be willful or willing? What lens will I bring to the water?” Some days are calm and some are cold and stormy. But when I choose willingness and connection, I’m far more likely to see the beauty.

Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and YouTube.

Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779

Visit my Etsy shop, and join my creative journey at Recovery Upcycling. https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling

To learn more about vestibular disorders visit https://vestibular.org

#RecoveryDailyPodcast #EmotionalSobriety #AcceptanceInRecovery #StrokeRecovery #AnxietySupport #WillingnessNotWillfulness #SobrietyJourney #InvisibleIllness #HealingJourney #OneDayAtATime

I’m still trying to figure out where I’m going, no longer having that next title or promotion to chase anymore. My old goals were always stacked against the outside world or next rung on the ladder. Now my goals are internal, rooted in who I’m becoming, not what I’m earning. I’ve created a career from my recovery experiences. I’m building my life by taking my peer recovery course, recording my podcast, shifting into a life where my growth is inwardly deeper.

Talking about my alcoholism, stroke, mental health, and the loneliness I carried with me continues to teach me. I couldn’t outthink my disease just as I can’t outthink my disability. I show up here to collectively gain wisdom from my painful experiences. Hope, for me, is being able to see a promising future, and I learned that by experiencing what it felt like when I didn’t have it. My podcast has fueled my hope and connection, turning my pain into purpose and being part of something bigger than myself.

Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and YouTube.

As referenced in this episode, listen to https://www.youtube.com/@NobodysSide. This show is about listening deeply, asking hard questions, and searching—together—for reasons to believe in one another again. 🇺🇸

Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779

Visit my Etsy shop, and join my creative journey at Recovery Upcycling. https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling

To learn more about vestibular disorders visit https://vestibular.org

#serenity #innerpeace #atraumarecovery #sobrietyjourney #mentalhealthhealing #twelvesteps #mindfulnesspractice #healingfromwithin #emotionalrecovery #peacewithin

What is the difference between serenity and tranquility? I used to search for peace and quiet because it was so loud inside my head. I searched externally, occasionally stumbling upon a babbling brook or wave-blanketed shoreline. I had no understanding of internal peace. In fact, I remember the first day I felt it at age forty-three (one year into sobriety). Serenity was uncovered within me, exposed underneath the pain and fear released from my “dark place” through working the twelve steps. The frantic noise of my mind made serenity impossible to experience until I was about to quiet the pain and fear. Even-though tranquil environments were easy to find when I needed to escape, I couldn’t escape from my chaotic mind.

Today, serenity is quietly moving beneath the surface of my life. When I shut down my thinker, stop catastrophizing, and lean into faith and trust, serenity rises naturally. It begins with acceptance, choosing to stop fighting the truth. I can end the storytelling in my head and allow life to be what it is. That’s where serenity waits for me. Serenity is something I can return to by remembering it always lives inside me.

Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and YouTube.

Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779

Visit my Etsy shop, and join my creative journey at Recovery Upcycling. https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling

To learn more about vestibular disorders visit https://vestibular.org

#serenity #innerpeace #traumarecovery #sobrietyjourney #mentalhealthhealing #twelvesteps #mindfulnesspractice #healingfromwithin #emotionalrecovery #peacewithin