I was taught to start strong. This year, I’m choosing soft instead. I am terrible with directions. Truly terrible. My husband likes to joke that if I’m ever lost, I should pick a direction and then immediately turn around — because I’m almost always headed the opposite of correct. It’s funny because it’s true, but…
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A few winters ago, I noticed something that I had never really seen in myself before. It was one of those cold evenings where everyone walks around bundled up, weighed down, trying to stay warm. My son was going through a hard season, and I remember watching him come through the door, feeling uncomfortable with…
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There’s a moment in Chapter 2 of Parallel Recovery® that still makes me pause, because it reveals something most families don’t mean, but often do. We hand our heavy coats to the very people who are already struggling to stand upright. Not intentionally.Not carelessly.But because we are scared and we don’t know what else to do.…
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When the wildfire came too close to our home, we had minutes to leave. The sky was dark, the air heavy, and my phone wouldn’t stop dinging with messages from neighbors: We need to evacuate. It’s coming fast. We loaded what we could into two cars, a blur of clothes, papers, photos in arms reach,…
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In the summer of 2012, the mountains I love taught me something I didn’t want to learn. We were at a swim meet under a hot, bright sky, the bikes were on the back of the car for an afternoon ride, and my phone started buzzing with the same question from different friends: Can you…
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There are seasons in life when everything feels like forward motion – doing, fixing, planning, managing, helping. For many years, that was how I measured progress, my own, and others’. If I was moving, I must be okay. If I was doing something to help my son, maybe we’d both be okay. But there comes…
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For a long time, I thought the only way things would get better was if my son changed. If he just stopped the problem behavior. If he just got into treatment. If he just stuck with it. spent years waiting, watching, holding my breath and believing that my peace, my stability, even my worth as…
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Every September, the nation recognizes National Recovery Month. This year’s theme – Home, Health, Community, and Purpose – couldn’t be closer to the heart of what I’ve learned in my own journey. Because if there’s one truth I know, it’s this: addiction never affects just one person. It weaves its way into every relationship, every…
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Writing It Down Was the Hardest Part I have a book coming out on September 9th. Even just writing that sentence brings up a wave of emotion. Because the truth is, putting this book into the world is the most public, most vulnerable thing I have ever done. It’s not a memoir, though my personal…
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I Am Not OK, and That’s OK This support group theme from a few months ago hit home recently in a way I didn’t quite expect. “What am I if I am not OK?” That question doesn’t just live in the intellectual space for me; it lives in my bones. It’s a question I’ve wrestled…
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