My Journey Through Addiction and What This Blog Is About

Hi readers,

I created my blog, One Day at a Time, to share my experience with alcoholism and addiction. I want to write about my journey through addiction and sobriety, how it led me to where I am today—attending nursing school—and provide resources for those who need help. I also hope to share practical steps that can help people begin their own recovery.

In future posts, I may discuss personal stories, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) literature, the Twelve Steps, inpatient treatment, interviews with people in recovery, and much more. I'd also love for readers to suggest topics in the comments. If there's something you'd like me to write about, let me know.

I titled this blog One Day at a Time because it was one of the first phrases I heard over and over again when I started attending AA more than four years ago.

I'd like to begin by giving a broad overview of my story. In future posts, I'll go into more detail and share advice along the way. Listening to other people's stories and words of wisdom helped me connect the dots in my own life. Many of those lessons seem obvious now, but at the time I was too drunk and too stubborn to see them. Hearing people describe experiences that were different from mine, yet somehow strikingly similar, helped me face the reality of my alcoholism.

The phrase "one day at a time" became a mantra for the 20-year-old version of myself who couldn't imagine living the next fifty years without alcohol. Eventually, I learned something much simpler: if I stayed sober today, I would be okay. During my first year of recovery especially, my entire life revolved around one question: How do I not drink today? Regular AA meetings, weekly therapy, and, I'll admit, copious amounts of sugar helped me develop strategies that kept me sober one day at a time.

To say my addiction was bad would be an understatement.

I started drinking at fifteen on a roughly biweekly basis. Over time, it steadily escalated. By the time I went to college for the first time, I was drinking a few times a week. College accelerated everything. Within three weeks, I was drinking every day and blacking out several times a week.

I tried getting sober once during that school year. I went to an AA meeting, stole money from the collection basket, and used it to buy weed. My first attempt at AA lasted only a few weeks, with several slips that, looking back, I'm not even sure I'd call relapses. I'm not sure I had quit drinking long enough for having another drink to really qualify as one.

By the time my intervention happened, I looked sick. My first week or so of sobriety was filled with regular vomiting as my body went through withdrawal. When the physical symptoms finally subsided, I was still a psychological mess, but my hope skyrocketed—along with my sugar and nicotine consumption.

Unfortunately, those hopes were often unrealistic. I expected to rebuild my life overnight, and every time I fell short, my morale took a hit. Looking back, I realize that's another reason one day at a time is such a powerful message for me and for so many others in recovery.

What can I accomplish today?

Can I learn to meet myself where I am instead of where I wish I were?

Those questions slowly became part of my daily routine.

If you've read this far, thank you.

Whether you're someone struggling with addiction, someone who has a loved one who is, or you're simply curious about recovery, I hope this blog offers something valuable. If you're reading this shortly after it's was published, there may not be many posts yet. If you're finding it later, I hope you'll explore the rest of the blog and stick around.

Please feel free to leave comments with questions, observations, topic suggestions, or ideas for how I can improve and expand this platform. I'd love for this to become a place where people can learn from one another.

Stay safe,

ZF