The following podcast is a deer media production.

Hey, this is Alexis Haines and welcome to Recovering from Reality,

where I illuminate the messy and magical path of coming home to yourself.

Whether you're on the road to recovery, seeking self-care techniques for surviving the

capitalist machine, or just need a moment to remember that you're not alone in your loneliness,

we're serving up the ultimate truth. Your challenges don't define you, how you deal with them does.

So are you ready to recover from reality?

Happy Motherfuckin' holidays you guys. Where did 2021 go? I want to know what a year,

what a year. The holidays are my favorite. If you guys fall along with me on Instagram,

then you know this. My house was decorated by November 9th, lights up, trees up,

mantles done, holiday music playing. I just love it. And I realized that the reason why I love it

is because when I was growing up, I had pretty shitty experiences when it came to the holiday season.

And I have been determined as an adult to shift the narrative and to do a little bit of

reprogramming and to implement fun nostalgic memories for my family and I in order to compensate

for all of those awful years. December 1st, 2010, was a milestone moment for me. And every holiday season,

I reflect on this time because that was the last time that I went to jail and that was the moment

where my entire world changed. And so I decided that for this episode, we're going to do a little

time machine moment. We're going to go back to the final days of Alexis' using and kind of

reminisce is not the right word. Reflect on what transpired and how it brought me to where I'm at

today. I had this really profound moment and this is an exercise I think everyone should do today.

I was in my daughter's room cleaning and I noticed that on her desk. She had this plush

star that was a wind-up toy from when I was a baby and I loved that thing. That was like my comfort

...