The Coleman Institute for Addiction Medicine Blog

The following is a guest blog from a young woman who has chosen sobriety. It is a little longer than other blog articles, but I wanted to emphasize a couple of things by publishing it. One, you don’t have to hit rock bottom in order to stop drinking. Two, if you are concerned about, or questioning your drinking, you don’t have to label yourself as an alcoholic before giving abstinence a try.

If only life could be like it was in Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood. If you are too young to remember Mr. Rogers, it’s worth a look on YouTube. Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood was a beautiful, idyllic, albeit imagined place. Unfortunately. If the world ran as an episode of Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood, we would all be happier, healthier and content.

I had the fortune of recently attending a retreat focused on “rewriting our stories.” You may be asking, “Wait, how can I re-write my story... it already happened? I can’t change the past.”

I carry a pen around at work (even though I have had to resign myself to using electronic medical records...sigh) because my patients in recovery say the most profound things.

I was just re-reading a reference to Victor Frankl. I read his book, Man’s Search for Meaning many years ago.

Frankl, a Jewish psychiatrist, was imprisoned by the Nazis in WWII. During his time in the concentration camps, he suffered unimaginable indignities and torture and has become known for his writings from that time.