I own it, I did that, not proud that was me, and when I face it, a little dignity, not looking for excuse me, I just want to be free from power, weakness head on me, free, free, free, free, free.

Free, free, free.

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

I'm your host, Jean McCarthy.

I write the blog on Pickled, where I've been talking about my life after alcohol since my first day of sobriety in March of 2011.

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

And today, a very dear friend of mine is the guest on our show. Her name is Kelly Beck.

And Kelly and I have met each other a few years ago, and we have just been, I just love her so much,

and we stay in touch constantly, and I asked her to be a December

guest of the show because I feel like this is the time of year where we really need a lot of

nurturing. We spend a lot of December cooking and shopping and doing things for other people and

it's really easy to put ourselves last.

And I always feel like a chat with Kelly just leaves me feeling really grounded and calm

and loved, and I wanted to share that feeling with all of you.

Well, let me tell you a little bit about my friend Kelly.

As a young mom homeschooling four children, Kelly found herself with a deep passion for teaching

and lifelong learning. And when the kids grew and everything changed, she recognized a need

to focus on her own life and attend to nurturing her sobriety and recovery. In time, the two

threads became woven together and Kelly now combines education and recovery to help other

women learn to take back their power

and thrive without alcohol and other problematic forms of coping.

Kelly pursued Karuna training, a contemplative psychology program,

...