Tag Archives: women’s health

No “Buts” About It – The 6 Things I Love About Sobriety

No one has ever accused me of being too giddy. So, it is unlikely you will hear me tell you I love being sober without adding the “but”. I don’t know why I feel the need to do this. Waking Up the Ghost is a sobriety blog, after all. Why can’t I just post photos of me grinning […]

50 Shades of Michigan – Sober Winter SAD?

In the pubs in England, everyone talks about the weather. “Bit of rain today,” they’ll say, even when their brollies are turned inside out from the violence of the storm.  It seems we do the same in Michigan in winter.  We minimize our despondence, caused by the seemingly endless gray, as if we’re responsible. But, like England, when you get […]

It’s Not About Getting Sober So Much as STAYING Sober…

I’m on the road, visiting addiction treatment centers and talking to professionals from every job description in the addiction field. What strikes me more than anything else is the diversity, the options one has to get and stay sober. Everything from white knuckled, twice a day AA, self policing; to 90 days or more in the […]

When All Else Fails, Ask Yourself, “Is the Plane Still Flying?”

I got an email yesterday from Johnny, with some good advice. He didn’t say it, but I think he was responding to my most recent blog posts. They have not been happy-chappy, exclamatory or even particularly positive. I have not been a champion of recovery lately. I have had a case of the January blues. […]

Is Anyone Grateful EVERY Day? Can I Get a Recap?

I’m not finished with 2016 yet. I feel the need to recap or amalgamate or conclude. So many positive things happened this year (last year?) and I don’t feel like I’ve been properly grateful. Because it’s not like I am thankful every day for the resurrection I have experienced. I’ve been kind of busy. And […]

The Amazing Lack of URGENCY to My Sobriety…

Imagine That… Imagine that. My daughter Lauren and her boyfriend John were visiting from Florida. I spent my downtime last week preparing for their coming.  Groceries were purchased and I filled the pantry with canned goods. I did not want them to think I live on Skinny Pop and blackberries. Or that I would not […]

Is Finding Your Passion the Key to Addiction Recovery?

We’ve been talking about passion at work recently. Not around-the-water-cooler gossip about weekend liaisons. But the kind of passion that has you up at 6 AM testing out your hiking boots and waiting for the sun to come up. Or waking like a kid on Christmas, remembering you got those new paints and brushes. Being so excited about an  […]

I Who Have Nothing (Oh, Get Over Yourself)…

I’m hung over. It was my birthday yesterday and the darling people I work with brought cupcakes. There were four left, in the baker’s box, for me to take home last night. I won’t disgust you with the details… The sugar settled in my joints and eyelids, and when I got up this morning, I felt puffy […]

All or Nothing: Alcohol, Sugar, Coffee, Exercise Addiction

I made it through Halloween without eating a single piece of candy. I did eat a fortune cookie, which hinted I was going to meet an “important stranger who would change my life”, but fortune cookies don’t count. They don’t have any more sugar in them than toothpaste… If I had eaten any real candy, it […]

Sigh – As Autumn Leaves Fall I’m SAD…

Winds in the east, mist coming in,  Like somethin’ is brewin’ and bout to begin.  Can’t put me finger on what lies in store,  But I fear what’s to happen all happened before…  I don’t actually have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). I have some version of old fashioned melancholia, I think. The exquisite, nostalgia of autumn in a […]