White Knuckle Sobriety…
Michael R., Alumni As is true with most of the quotes which open virtually all of my musings, there is an outer limit to their wisdom no matter how pithy or memorable they may sound at first. After all, if no one ever said anything during our Meetings they would come perilously close to becoming … Continued
Michael R., Alumni We’ve all heard that “we’re as sick as our secrets” and this seems all but certain, yet the entire notion of shame—for whatever reason—doesn’t usually seem to get quite as much attention as a topic of conversation in most of the 12 Step Meetings I attend. Still, when I look at the … Continued
– Michael R., Alumni How many times have we all heard it before? It’s a fatal disease; it’s the first drink (or drug) that gets us in trouble, not the last one, etc., etc. We also continually hear of the importance that we “keep coming back” and this is a big one for those of … Continued
– Bob Hennen, MS, LPC, LCAS In 1950 a French mountaineer named Maurice Herzog led an expedition to summit a mountain named Annapurna. Standing at 26,545 ft., Annapurna is the 10th tallest mountain in the world and was the first mountain over 8000 meters to be summited. This was an enormous feat, and has proven … Continued
Michael R., alumni “I tend to worry too much about what other people think of me, until I’m reminded how few people actually do!” – Anonymous I remember very clearly the first time I was sitting in an AA Meeting and someone said, “what other people think of me is none of my business.” It … Continued
-KW, Alumni “A Time for Everything, and Everything in its Time” (Solomon) Purportedly, Solomon was the wisest human to ever walk the face of this earth up until this world introduced us to rehab graduates. Almost everyone, including myself came out of treatment wanting to become a therapist, author, speaker, sponsor, CEO, paradigm shifter, celebrity, billionaire … Continued
– Rusty, Pavillon Alumni Looking at my aging hands and arms I was noticing my many scars. Scars. They are memories of the process of healing. We all have them. Some of our scars come from games played in our youth, accidents, medical conditions, surgeries, and wars. Some are etched in our minds and hearts from the traumas, abuse, hurts, … Continued
– Michael, Pavillon Alumni I’m probably not going to get any better until I stop being angry. — Mason M. While on a brief summer holiday with my family on Lake Tuscaloosa, AL—in, literally, the blink of an eye—my foreseeable life changed in a major way. One minute I’m happily gliding across the glassy surface … Continued
– Sandy J., Pavillon Finance & Admissions As many of you know, I have been with Pavillon for almost 18 years, and I have had the privilege of witnessing real recovery firsthand. As I am not in recovery, I didn’t understand what that truly meant when I started here. Over the years, this amazing program, … Continued
– Dennie Kuppinger, MS, LPC, CACII My grandfather got sober the old fashion way—a cast iron skillet up the side of the head (no not really) but these words from my grandmother felt like it. “You drink again you son of a biscuit, I’ll kill you.” She used the basic southern style intervention technique after … Continued