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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

HAND WASHING, NOT HAND WRINGING – 

March 3, 2021 – “But yeah, right now, I gotta be fully on. Jason and I have definitely had moments because we’re both sober — that’s where we met, in an AA meeting — we’ve both had moments where we’re like, ‘If we had a glass of wine right now, nobody would blame us.’  

“And then we talk it through and realize that our lives are better [without alcohol] and we find something else to do. And it usually involves being with the kids, doing something to get your mind out of that. But yeah, I definitely want relief and it’s Groundhog Day.” The “Glee” alum, 45, also bravely revealed that having two rambunctious tykes at home can be stressful.

“My husband and I take it moment by moment,” he confessed. “Fortunately, we try to trade off whose going crazy first. We have signs, like, ‘OK I need to tap out, I need to go for a walk, you need to take over,’ or if we see the other person with steam coming out of their ears, ‘Why don’t I take the kids for a walk,’ absolutely. In the same vein, it’s also been an incredible time to spend every waking moment with them because I’ll never get this time back. There are definitely positives.”

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

SPREADING THE GOOD NEWS – 

March 6, 2021 – “Booze, drugs — too much tore me down,” he said in a speech to a high school class posted on his website in 2015. “That ladder that took so many years for me to climb to the top of, I came tumbling down one day. Slid all the way to the bottom. But I picked myself up and cleaned myself off … The best times of my life were in the past six years … Now when I wake up in the morning I can remember where I was yesterday.” “Booze, drugs — too much tore me down,” he said in a speech to a high school class posted on his website in 2015. “That ladder that took so many years for me to climb to the top of, I came tumbling down one day. Slid all the way to the bottom. But I picked myself up and cleaned myself off … The best times of my life were in the past six years … Now when I wake up in the morning I can remember where I was yesterday.”

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

by Christopher Dale

IS THAT REALLY A BAD THING? – 

March 8, 2021 – As we pass the one-year anniversary of widespread COVID-19 lockdowns, a bright spot in an otherwise dark year has been the adaptability of Alcoholics Anonymous. As in-person gatherings shuttered seemingly overnight, the deft digital pivot to online meetings performed by dedicated AA members around the world has helped keep millions engaged, involved and most importantly sober.

As I’ve shared in this space, I see Zoom rooms as an emergency stopgap measure that should largely recede in parallel with the pandemic. As society reopens, so must in-person AA meetings. Still, Zoom rooms have introduced facets worth carrying into post-COVID life; while by no means should they become the new normal, their click-button convenience and location agnosticism make online meetings useful supplements to the IRL recovery we all knew before 2020.

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

IT’S A HARD KNOCK LIFE – 

March 5, 2021 – “I spent over a decade terrified that I’d peaked at 10 years old,” Reyes said in their essay. Reyes told the Post, however, that they did not regret doing “School of Rock.”  “I have never lost gratitude for that, or wish that I wasn’t part of it,” they said.  Reyes said the other child actors in the movie quickly became close friends and stayed in touch via group chats and multiple reunions over the years. Reyes said Black had also stayed in touch with the cast as well, calling the actor a “great guy.”  Reyes described overcoming “a lot of demons,” though, including alcoholism and addiction.  “To quote Britney, I’m stronger than yesterday,” they said.

The actor has been getting back into acting since 2017 and plans to release a podcast called “Where Are We Now” later this year that will give other child stars a platform to speak about their experiences.

More and more child stars have recently been coming forward detailing their traumatic experiences. The “Matilda” star Mara Wilson wrote an essay for The New York Times slamming the treatment of child stars and Britney Spears, drawing comparisons between her early career and that of Spears’.

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – COOKING NOT INCLUDED – 

March 3, 2021 – People in recovery may encounter a long road finding a place to stay when choosing to lead a clean life.

Two women from Wyoming County have opened their own sober living homes, to help those in need, reach that second milestone.

Jamie McAndrew and Ashley Bunnell both have a passion for helping people and have had a long time dream of opening a sober living house. 

Now it has finally become a reality for the two friends from the Tunkhannock area. When Jamie started her own recovery journey years ago, having somewhere to go, similar to her newly established Pond Grove Farm was extremely vital. 

“I know that when I was early in my journey having a place like that to go to where I was surrounded by other people that were like minded and on the same journey as myself it was very crucial so just wanted to have a place like that to help other people,” said McAndrew.

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

PUT ON A HAPPY FACE – 

March 4, 2021 – Few of us want our negative moods to drag others down. But in practice, a lot of people follow a theory of happiness that can be summed up in the famous line from airline-safety videos: “Put on your own mask before assisting others.” In other words, you can’t make others happy unless and until you are happy yourself. I get the reasoning: Unhappy people often bring wretchedness to those around them. Think of the most miserable boss you’ve had, and you’ll know what I mean.  None of us wants to be the purveyor of poison, especially toward those we love. Fortunately, research also shows that we have more control over how we affect others—and ourselves—than we might assume. The key is to act like a happy person would, even if you don’t feel like it.

Last year, researchers at the University of California at Riverside asked human subjects to behave in either extroverted or introverted ways for one week. They found that those purposively acting extroverted—which decades of research have shown is one of the most common characteristics of happy people—saw a significant increase in well-being. (Meanwhile, acting introverted led to a decrease.) Similarly, spending money on others and volunteering have both been shown to raise one’s own happiness levels.

One plausible explanation for why this works is that prosocial behaviors induce a cognitive dissonance—I feel unhappy, but I am acting happy!—which people resolve subconsciously by feeling happier. Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, in the United Kingdom, calls this the “As If Principle”: If you want to feel a certain way, act as if you already do, and your brain will grant you that feeling—at least for a while. 

In common parlance, “Fake it ’til you make it.”  

I am not suggesting here that “Fake it ’til you make it” is a substitute for traditional medical treatment for depression, of course. Norman Rockwell, for instance, was in formal therapy most of his adult life. But his happy paintings were clearly part of his treatment. As Rockwell’s biographer Deborah Solomon points out, “He was painting … his longing.”

So paint your longing. Even if not literally, you can use the Rockwell formula in your own life to bring more joy to yourself and the people around you when you are down.

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

PHISHER FOR SOULS – 

March 4, 2021 – “Substance use disorders affect people from all walks of life,” Anastasio said in a statement, “and the problem is intimately linked with isolation — whether that’s isolation due to the pandemic or for any other reason. The Beacon Jams helped us find a way to connect people and get this project off the ground. To be able to do that together during this difficult year touches my heart.” Vermont ranks 11th in the country for overdoses but contains only four state-certified residential treatment centers. Anastasio’s center will serve people of all income levels. It aims to provide multiple ways for people to enter and maintain recovery through individualized plans and programs. It will offer job training and workforce reintegration and provide education and certification in skills and trades.

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Addiction Recovery Bulletin

WATCH – SO I BECAME A BARTENDER – 

March 3, 2021 – “How do you make this guy likable and not this grump, snarky drunk? That was the challenge,” he told The Los Angeles Times. “You can’t just load a character up with all the best quips. You have to understand why people are frustrated with him.”

“Herman, with that self-effacing humor, he was at lunch, drinking with a friend, who said, ‘Why don’t you go home sober for once?’ And he answered, ‘What? And have [my wife] throw me out as an impostor?’ I did the same thing,” the 62-year-old British actor admitted.

Reflecting on being a “functioning alcoholic,” Oldman confessed that “beneath the denial” he felt he was “getting away with” his drinking because of his career.

“I would sit down and tell the waiter, ‘I’ll have a large vodka tonic. And can you bring it now because I’m an alcoholic. I need it quicker,’” Oldman furthered.

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