One of the most dramatic struggles in pre-history recorded in the Bible and myths of old was the conflict between the old order of hunter-gatherers and the new order of farmers. Gradually of course the farmers won, but not entirely. In a way the struggle still goes on in the neurochemistry of our brains. And […]
One of the most difficult aspects of helping a person struggling with alcoholism or depression is to be able to bring hope. We don’t derive hope from taking tests for alcoholism or depression, or from hearing a lecture about these subjects. Mainly we get hope from hearing the experience of a recovering person, and identifying […]
The Stories of fellow alcoholics are the fresh minted coins of survival. You pass yours to the next person in the hope he or she will see a gleam of their own life and find the reassurance of recovery. This is the story of a PALS member offered anonymously in that tradition. As I approach […]
More and more I see that getting help, being healthier, having greater joy begins with giving up an old idea. Some old ideas: That I can seek to regain the pleasure drinking once brought and not have problems with my health, my family, and being depressed. That because alcohol has been the solution most of […]
Denial is a big part of addiction. The step from denial into recovery is a huge one, and for women lawyers it is very large indeed. As a young associate in a private firm, I faced a terrible fear. That fear was about addiction. I had gone straight from college into law school and from […]
I didn’t consider alcohol as a remedy for my unhappiness and depression in high school. I was introverted, although active in school activities, but I never felt like I belonged in social situations. While my classmates were having fun outside the classroom, I was at home reading a book. I discovered alcohol when I was […]
Jim, California To almost any outside observer in 1980, I was sitting on top of the world. Maybe not a very big world, but one that a lot of us know. I was 28 years old, a very successful solo practitioner with a practice growing beyond my wildest dreams, and a “hometown boy” to boot. […]
One of the turning points in my thirty-five years of sobriety occurred in 1972 when I chose to lament on the shoulders of my good friend, S. Pretlowe Winborune. Mr. Winbourne is a friend of mine and a friend of attorneys everywhere. I had been working diligently with five attorneys and two of them were […]
I am a lawyer. I am also an alcoholic. I drank in college, but the alcoholic drinking started in the military and persisted through law school and the next 22 years. I was a quiet drinker. I did not hang out in bars; I drank either in the office at night or at home. I […]
Standing at the doorway of the courtroom, I reflected on how I had come to be here as a civil court judge. My reverie took me back to another time when I stood at the door of a different room, where a meeting of recovering alcoholics was in progress. I recalled wondering how I had […]
I was not one of those who was confused as to why my world was falling apart around me. I knew. All too well. It was my addiction and alcoholism. I remember exactly where I was when I looked myself in the rear-view mirror of my truck and admitted I was an addict and an […]
For the person who has worked hard to reach recovery, the prospect of relapsing can be troubling. The best defense against relapse is to understand the causes and warning signs. The notion that relapse means a return to alcohol or drug use is false. Actually, relapse is a process whereby a series of events render […]