Recovery Daily Podcast

Admission is acknowledging our mistakes and learning the feeling of humility. I didn't like how humility felt when I first tried it on. It’s taken me years to soften the blow on my own ego every time I am wrong. I hated being wrong. I hated someone telling me I’m wrong. I hated people seeming smarter than me. What I didn’t know when I first started admitting my wrongs and what nobody told me i...

Today I explore the need to focus on the present moment. It resonates so much deeper than this with me as I share some mental challenges I've been dealing with since my stroke. I talk about balancing our past, present, and future to enrich our lives and find true purpose and joy. Do we really see the whole picture if we are always in the here and now? What if sometimes, not being in the here a...

For me, that first drink starts an uncontrollable race to poison myself. It's the spark that lights my compulsion, and once its started, it is impossible to extinguish. I had to learn, in my own time and through my own struggles, that the only thing I could control was what was directly at my fingertips—and that is not picking up that first drink. I had no clue that this uncontrollable craving...

Today, we're going to unpack honesty from this angle: self-awareness is required to be honest about our motives. One thing I've found to be a great self-correcting exercise is admitting my motives to my higher power. Talking about my fears and hidden truths out loud may sound awkward, and it is ( haha ), but it's a powerful step towards honesty. The heart of honesty is the intention be...

Join me today as I discuss transformative practice of daily gratitude. I talk about how recording just three things you're thankful for each night can profoundly affect your mental health and overall well-being. This episode is less about the science behind gratitude's impact on our brains and more about making this practice a habitual part of your life. One of our loyal listeners shared w...

As DNA testing has become so readily available and companies like 23andme.com and Ancestry.com are growing their database’ with more and more folks who want to explore and understand their genetics, people are finding out lots of surprising things about their health and their relatives. In this episode, I talk about processing what can feel like life-altering news. But wait…is it life actually lif...

As you know, in our episodes, we talk a lot about the importance of self-care, taking time to recharge, and the value of spending moments with our loved ones. Well, this weekend, I'm practicing what I preach and taking a little breather to focus on family and my health. There's nothing to worry about; everything is as it should be. But it's essential to listen to our needs and honor th...

Acting in anger is a form of instant gratification. I heard this concept this morning, and it really spoke to me as this is a topic that I frequently discuss. In my life, nothing good has come from instant gratification. And, in the way of reacting in anger, this seems to still hold true. That momentary release can be followed by regret. It could be regret that there were things you wish you said;...

Today's episode focuses on the physical, behavioral, cognitive, and personal coping skills that can help you stay on track no matter what hurricanes blow through your life. I’ve been experiencing some unexpected sudden stress in my life do to, well, life. I can’t control people, places, and things. I wish I could. So today, I share about what I do with that stress—that energy. We can have phys...

In this insightful episode, if I don't mind saying so myself, of the Recovery Daily Podcast, I explore forgiveness within the context of recovery. Join me as I discuss the courage required to confront and heal from the pain inflicted by others and by ourselves. I discuss the critical role of forgiveness, highlighting that it is a self-loving act that enables us to learn, overcome feelings of s...

It's time to share my hosting secret so that others can enjoy this really lovely sober activity—especially in light of Dry January . I hosted a tea party yesterday that was a real hit. My guests said that I needed to do a podcast on how to host a tea party, so here we are. There's something special about a tea party. It evokes a sense of grace and calm, making everyone feel special and pam...

Our journey often begins with this question: "Why do you drink?" As written in Under The Influence - A Guide to the Myths and Realities of Alcoholism by James R. Milam, Ph. D., and Katherine Ketcham , my genes, enzymes, hormones, brain, and other body chemistries work together to create an abnormal and unfortunate reaction to alcohol. This is why I drank. I found that by going to a sobri...

Today’s daily reflection from the aa.org website reminded me that I’m never cured of alcoholism; what I have is a daily reprieve based on doing the work, practicing the principles of my program in all my affairs—that means in stroke recovery too. It tells me that sobriety is not a destination but a daily walk—one that demands maintenance, much like tending to a garden, picking weeds, resetting the...

You're not going to wanna miss this one. From laughter and reflection on having enough in life to tears of missing my adult children, its an emotional whirlwind. Seriously, this evening's dinner invited in some cognitive struggles. The words I wanted to say seemed just out of reach, leaving me grasping for sentences, feeling exhausted, and honestly, a bit frustrated. So, heightened emotion...

This episode is dedicated to all you young adults who are courageously embracing Dry January. Whether you’re a Gen Z’r or simply seeing what it feels like to spend some time with a clear head and body, I salute your commitment to an alcohol-free start to the year. Today, I’m providing five tips to help you stay the course, drawn from my podcast content and personal experience as a recovering alcoh...

Self-criticism comes natural for me. There is a fine line between being humble and crossing over in to being unaccepting of compliments or not acknowledging in ourselves the strengths and talents others see in us. This is an example of a habit that, when we cross that line over and over again, we are inviting self-criticism into our lives. Practice anything long enough and it will become a habit....

These days I make more mistakes than I can count with consideration to my memory and language deficits. Today, I unwrap the gift of mistakes and explore how they can actually nourish our holistic health and well-being. Learning and growing from our mistakes with a bit of self-compassion allows us to bounce back much faster and stronger. It’s about asking, "What can this teach me?" Maybe...

I remember the lengths I went to for my next drink—the planning, the excuses, the deceit. My addiction drove me to literally standing in dark corners hiding what I was doing from everyone, even the ones I love the absolute mostest in the entire world . It was a relentless pursuit that brought me nothing but despair. These days, I’m standing poolside near the edge of a different kind of pain. I fig...

In sobriety, we hear that half measures avail us nothing and that the results and benefits of the program are nil unless we let go absolutely. But what does letting go truly mean? And how do I know if I’ve let go absolutely? It's not about inaction; it's an active process, a conscious choice to engage with life differently. Also, here’s a misunderstanding of letting go—letting go doesn&#39...

In today's episode, I reflect on something that's familiar to those in the AA community, but also incredibly relevant to anyone on a journey of healing and recovery, including my own path after a stroke. The AA daily reflection today speaks of defeat as a starting point for liberation and strength. It's a paradox that keeps appearing in my life. It happened at the depth of my disease o...

Whether you also suffer from a cognitive disorder from a stroke or you find yourself experiencing those inconvenient brain blips that occur when just you cannot seem to jumpstart your thinker, people of all ages experience difficulties multiple times per day and they increase with age. So, if we look at it from this perspective, we can all learn from these compensatory strategies. In this episode,...

In this heart-to-heart episode of Recovery Daily, I share the results of my neuropsychiatric evaluation. It's a mix of emotions as I unpack the diagnosis: mild neurocognitive disorder. While there's a sense of relief in having a name for the challenges I've faced since my stroke, particularly with memory and information processing, it's also a sobering moment. The confirmation that...

Today I provide some practical strategies that have worked for me during sobriety to navigate anxiety. Anxiety is the most uncomfortable feeling that I feel. I spent some time listening to our Reads and Recovery book of the month “The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober” by Catherine Gray, and I’m absolutely astounded by how she is telling my story in this book. The anxiety she talks about is precisely...

This month, we're introducing a Listener Challenge that's close to my heart – the Gratitude Journal Challenge. My program helps me to appreciate the little things when there are big things that have seemingly dropped a tarp over my life. So this Listener Challenge is about changing that narrative. The benefits of gratitude are immense and well-documented. It's not just about feeling go...

In today's heart-to-heart episode, I share a chapter of my life that's both challenging and critical to discuss—personal struggle with alcoholism and how it intertwined with other unhealthy coping mechanisms. This journey starts back when my son was just a year old, a time when my inner chaos began to reflect in my relationship with food. The scales and numbers became a focal point of cont...