Tag: sobriety

sober lifestyle

Insecurity

jenwielgusjournalism

Someone recently asked me if I went to rehab to get sober, and I was like, “No, but I wish I could go now.”

I mean, generally speaking, there’s nothing I would rather do than put responsible adult life on “pause,” indefinitely, to go read, reflect, hike, do yoga, get therapized, yak with likeminded folks about recovery, philosophy, history, humanity…which, incidentally, is what I do with my friend Kim on our “Living Sober” podcast. It’s worth a listen, if you’re into all that deep stuff, too! 🗣️🎙️👂🏻

I should probably warn you that some off-color language occasionally slips outta my mouth on the pod. In the only listener feedback we’ve received (from someone other than my mom), an emailer took issue with my “use of profanity.” 🙊

Figures! It’s been that kind of season lately, when my square-peg edges seem particularly rough, and all the world seems especially round. Like any good self-protective human who feels cornered, and like any recovering addict who buried their old trusty escape hatch, I find myself really yearning to run away and leave it all behind. Thus, I guess, the rehab fantasy. 🤷🏼‍♀️

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podcast, sober lifestyle

New Podcast: “Living Sober,” Ep. 4

jenwielgusjournalism
Logo by George Wielgus (aka, Dad)

In this episode, my co-host Kim and I chat about Statement #4 in the Women for Sobriety program book:

Problems bother me only to the degree I permit.
I now better understand my problems. I do not permit problems to overwhelm me.

Take a listen!

Continue reading “New Podcast: “Living Sober,” Ep. 4” →
podcast, sober lifestyle

New podcast: “Living Sober,” Ep. 2

jenwielgusjournalism
Logo by George Wielgus (aka, Dad)

In this week’s episode, Kim and I break down #2 of Women for Sobriety’s 13 Acceptance Statements:

Negative thoughts destroy only myself. My first conscious sober act is to reduce negativity in my life.

You can also find us on Spotify!

Continue reading “New podcast: “Living Sober,” Ep. 2” →
podcast, sober lifestyle

New Podcast: “Living Sober,” Episode 1

jenwielgusjournalism
Logo by George Wielgus (aka, Dad)

When I said I had been working on a podcast with a sober pal, I wasn’t kidding! Here’s the first episode of our “Living Sober” series, inspired by Women for Sobriety’s 13 Acceptance Statements and expertly produced by Kim, my co-host.

Our topic is Statement 1: I have a life-threatening problem that once had me. I now take charge of my life and my well-being. I accept the responsibility.

Continue reading “New Podcast: “Living Sober,” Episode 1” →
sober lifestyle

Return

jenwielgusjournalism
Look! Stars! 👀🌟

It was Sunday morning around 3AM, and I was more than just wide awake. I was awestruck, star-gazing from the balcony of an oceanfront room on the third floor of Turtle Bay Resort, listening to the relentless wind whip through the palms and stir up the Pacific.

Being in Hawaii was like plugging permanently into the “Calm” app, if it had an “intense” setting.

Listen! Waves! 👂🏻🌊

Bliss on steroids…that’s the best way I can describe my return to Oahu, where I soaked up the sun, sand, surf, seafood — and room service! — on my husband’s company dime for four lovely, lazy days. I lounged on the beach in a two-piece bathing suit in the middle of February, when I was supposed to be slaving away at work/school…and, based on the faint rumblings I heard from back home, at shoveling snow.

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sober lifestyle

Mediocrity

jenwielgusjournalism

Five minutes into the first class of the final semester, I realized I was done with being in school.

I mean, it was fine to be treated like a fresh-faced noob when this all started three years ago and the experience of academia as a “nontraditional student” was novel; I was so caught up in the adjustment to a full-time job/class/homework schedule that I had no perspective on anything. But to be older and wiser and sitting on achy hips in a plastic chair past my bedtime, dissecting yet another syllabus and engaging in childish icebreakers like, “Tell us what grade you want to get in this class”? 🙄

I at least tried to make this futile exercise interesting. “I’m going to say a ‘B,’ because I used to freak out about this stuff, and now, I’m trying to be more chill about everything.”

B’s, by the way, are the lowest you can go in this Master’s program and still pass, but to suggest that it’s OK to want that was apparently the wrong answer. My professor seemed taken aback, and quickly clarified: she wanted us all to be good little grade-grubbers gunning for A’s! My classmates complied, upping the absurdity ante as they went around the room: “I want an A-plus plus PLUS!” 🙄🙄🙄

The recovering perfectionist/all-or-nothing alcoholic in me wanted to scream, “WAKE UP, YE CITIZENS OF LA-LA LAND! YOU’RE BEING SOLD A LIE!”

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