Worried Something Is Wrong With You? Let’s Talk About That Evening Pattern
A mother sat across from me recently, exhausted in a way that sleep couldn’t fix. Her 22-year-old son was in the middle of a behavioral health crisis. For months she had been operating in survival mode. Answering phone calls. Watching for warning signs. Trying to stay hopeful. Trying not to panic. Trying to hold her […]
The Change Many People Don’t Experience Until They Address Both Battles
A man once sat across from me and said something I haven’t forgotten. “I don’t think treatment works.” He didn’t say it angrily. He said it the way someone talks about the weather after years of disappointment. Matter-of-fact. Defeated. He had been through treatment before. More than once. He had stopped drinking. He had stayed […]
Nobody Warned Me I Might Feel More Like Myself
I didn’t want help because I thought help would take something from me. Not just the drinking—but the version of me that felt alive, expressive, and somehow more me. It wasn’t dramatic. It didn’t look like rock bottom. It looked like quiet routines no one questioned. A drink to settle my nerves. Another to soften […]