Off the Hook:
Learning to Let Myself Move Beyond Addiction and Sobriety Toward a Life Worth Living

Addiction and recovery memoirs have been a valuable part of my recovery. Reading the stories of others felt like a one-way conversation with a friend who was telling me I was not alone and that there was hope for me. Several years into my recovery journey, I find myself hungry for stories that grapple with questions about how to come to terms with the guilt and shame of addiction than with questions about how to get and stay sober. These are the stories of how I have been learning to let myself off the hook and move forward.

Off The Hook: Learning to Let Go of the Past and Move Beyond Addiction to Pursue a Life Worth Living

Section I – Fear and Freedom

A flash forward to the pivotal moment in my recovery where I finally began to accept things as they are and became ready to let the past go and move forward.

Section II – Regret and Shame

3 Stories from my early years that set the stage for addiction and illustrate how drinking let to trauma (and not the other way around). Focus is on how I’ve worked to reframe those events and put them in the past.

Section III – Secrets and Lies

Scenes/stories that illustrate the deceptiveness that is such a part of addiction and difficult to integrate with my sense that I’m basically a good person.

Section IV – Recover and Relapse

What I learned through the trials and tribulations of early recovery

Section V – Rebuild and Rebrand