I own it, I didn't, not proud that was me, and when I face it, a little dignity, not looking for excuses.

I just want to be free from power

weakness head on sea

Free, free, free, free, free, free.

Hi there, everyone, and welcome to the bubble hour where real people tell real stories of addiction and recovery.

I'm Gene McCarthy, author and blogger over at Unpickled.

I've been telling my story there of life after alcohol since my very first day of sobriety in 2011.

I tell my story there and I hold space for your stories here.

And today on the show, my guest is an amazing woman.

I've met her a couple of times in person and never had enough time to talk with her as much as I've wanted to.

So I'm really happy she's here with me this morning.

Her name is Kendra Ogden, and she has asked me to use her full name because she is committed to recovering out loud.

She's licensed addictions counselor who treats clients in an intensive outpatient program,

and we will learn more about that after

we get to know Kendra and hear her story. Hi, Kendra. Welcome. Hi, Jean. Good morning. How are you?

I'm good. I'm good. And your voice is so cheerful. You're just cheering me right up. Better than that

cup of coffee. Right. I don't even drink caffeine, so that's how weird I am. Really? Have you never, or did you get off of it? I just kind of got off of it. I'll drink a pop every once in a while, but I've never liked coffee. I'll do green tea, but that's just like another layer of addiction I don't need. People look at me and go, why don't you try it? I'm like, well, because I don't like it. And they're like, what's an acquired case? Well, why would I want to acquire that taste? Isn't everything that's got for us an acquired taste? Like cigarettes, coffee, alcohol. We didn't like that first drink, but we had to try it, right?

Yeah, yeah, we powered through until we couldn't live without it.

Oh, man, so true, so true.

Well, I am excited to hear your story.

So please tell us.

Good.

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