The first step in 12-step programs reads approximately as follows: “We admitted we were powerless over our addiction and that our lives had become unmanageable.” The wisdom expressed in this step is amazingly powerful and transformative for everybody, not just those who struggle with acute addiction. All human beings are subject to the human condition,

I first began drawing a few cartoons in the early 1980s while I was still drinking and drugging and working as a nurse at the National Institute of Health (NIH). I poked fun at the healthcare researcher’s behaviors I worked with, such as smoking cigarettes during their break. Confronted about my own using, I got

      My essay “Managing the Madness so I can Eat Cake” was turned into a Spoke Word piece and named “The Beauty & the Madness” – By Aaron Lee Perry (SOBrSOLDIER) for the Since Right Now Network. Check out both these awesome recovery resources.           “I am forty one

Four years ago I swallowed my last pain pill. Christmas night. After days of trying to look past the glowing orange pharmaceutical bottle on the kitchen counter. At Chris’s parent’s home in Pennsylvania. My mind a mess. Months of heavy anti-psychotics, antidepressants, anti-anxiety medication. A pill to focus. One to calm. Another to balance. To block

Today is my birthday. I am forty one years old and ecstatic to have reached this age. On Saturday, I will be six years clean and sober. I say that with confidence because I cannot remember the last time I craved a drink or a drug, or even romanticised the notion of using either. During

I’m approaching another sobriety anniversary, and God willing I will celebrate twenty four years on the twenty eight of January. What a ride it has been for sure. I finished my final project for my Master’s degree in Advanced Studies of Human Behavior last Spring. I am an A student, and I put my all

In 4 days I will be clean and sober for 9 months.  I never thought I could get a day sober much less this long. And it is absolutely mind blowing to me how much my life has changed.  I am doing things I never imagined I would do in my life, especially after losing

Love it or hate it, holiday season is here! I was once a complete holiday cynic – and if I’m being perfectly honest – I still have tendencies towards that cynicism. But the festive season is a thing, and so, in my sober life I’ve tried to embrace it somewhat. I have abandoned the idea

Yesterday, November 19th, I did a podcast interview with Chris & Jeff from KLEN+SOBR, and their “Since Right Now” podcast. It was a really cool experience. In it I talk about Ireland, my drinking, getting sober and of course the most important part – Recovery!   “Turns out everyone with a recovery site and their

  The following poems are by Author Jake D. Parent, and were written in memory of his beloved cousin Tim, whom died of a drug overdose in jail. Jake is also Co-Author and Editor of Hearts & Scars – 10 human stories of addiction, whom he dedicated to Tim also. Jake is the author of Only