I own it, I did that, not proud that was me, and when I face it, take that a little dignity, not looking for excuses, I just want to be free from power

weakness head on sea

free, free, free, free, free.

Well, hello there, everyone, and welcome to the bubble hour where real people tell real

stories of addiction and recovery.

I'm your host, Gene McCarthy.

I write the blog Unpickled, where I have been telling my story of life after alcohol since my

first day of recovery and sobriety in 2011.

I tell my story there and I invite you to share your stories here.

And my guest today is a woman in successful long-term recovery from alcohol addiction,

who is also a relationship expert, a personal coach, a podcaster, and author of the book Relationship Ready,

which is a memoir and workbook in which she shares her personal story of recovery from

alcohol use disorder and also how she prepared herself for a more meaningful and fulfilling

relationship. Please welcome Heidi Bushhy to the bubble hour.

Hi, Heidi.

Hi, Jean.

I'm so excited to be here.

Thanks for having me.

Oh, I'm glad to have you.

And I really enjoyed reading your book.

And you do a lot of things, which I can really appreciate

that it takes a lot of energy to do a lot of things. But some of us are just

...