When I grow up, I will reject the one true way.

Most of us like to think our way is the correct and only way. We’ll tolerate minor deviations with an amused smirk, but drift too far off the correct course and the world starts to panic. We’re very fond of tribalism and the one true way. There is us and there is other, and other is to be feared, corrected, or rejected. It’s quite the … Continue reading When I grow up, I will reject the one true way.

We don’t talk about Bruno in my family either.

My family doesn’t talk about important personal stuff. We’ll get into the nitty-gritty when it’s politics or important global issues – we tend to skew liberal, except for that ugly period when my father was listening to Rush Limbaugh. We had an intervention. We even talk about money, uni-directionally. My father regularly wants to know “how’s your debt, do you need any cash?” I mostly … Continue reading We don’t talk about Bruno in my family either.

Abstinence isn’t recovery and other annoying truths.

Abstinence isn’t recovery, but you can’t have recovery without abstinence. Just another one of life’s bureaucratic annoyances. If you spend time in treatment for addiction in one of its various forms, you’ll encounter the term “dry drunk.” That phrase describes someone who isn’t acting on their addiction, but who also isn’t recovering. They’re white-knuckling their way through and because of that, they’ll stumble. [i] You … Continue reading Abstinence isn’t recovery and other annoying truths.