On November 1, 2017, I had my last "hangover". I was living in Nicaragua and had dressed up as Wednesday Addams the night before at a Halloween Party at Tranquilo Cafe. It was just a regular evening on the island, as most evenings were celebrations. It was either quiz night, drum night, karaoke night, beach bar night, taco tuesday, dive master celebrations, so and so's first night back, so and so's last night on the island, this one's birthday, this one just quit their job and moved to an island, this one's final trip before going back to school, I could go on and on. Just like any other night, I drank myself to the point of "I'm so drunk," but on repeat, and stumbled home to chain smoke on my porch in the dark. I made a commitment to myself that I would quit drinking and smoking until my 30th Birthday on December 23, a commitment I kept and surpassed to this day. Before November 1, I had tried to quit drinking several times, and was very successful in quitting, but very unsuccessful in staying quit, as they say. I had reached a point of desperation, depression, and disappointment. The idea of not drinking for 53 days was my last reclamation, as if I ever had any control to begin with and on November 1, I started to get really honest with myself and that honesty saved my life. 

Since that time I have had a roller coaster of recovery and have spent the last five years unpacking so much that I was trying to escape. I've done things I never thought I could do BECAUSE I got sober and can recognize now that there is nothing too hard that I would need to drink over. So many things have contributed to my on-going recovery and the resources below are just a few. If you have any specific questions about getting sober, please e-mail me. I'm always rooting for us all.

Thank you for being here, I look forward to sharing more on this rollercoaster over the next year. 

xoxo
Jacq