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

I'm your host, Gene McCarthy, recovery author and blogger over at UnpickledBlog.com.

I've been telling my story there about life after alcohol since my very first day

of sobriety in 2011. So I tell my story there and I hold space for your stories here.

And it's January and do you know what that means? That means a whole lot of new people are

finding the bubble hour along with all the

other recovery resources that are out there because people are making changes and so I welcome

all of our new listeners and also welcome back to our return listeners. I want to say that wherever

you're at, whether you're newly sober, or if

you're in successful long-term recovery, if you're still struggling, or if you're sober, but you're

not loving it, if you're sober curious, which is to say still drinking or using, but thinking

about making a change, wherever you're at, you are welcome here.

You are honored here, respected here.

You are valued.

And my wish for you, and the reason I do this, is do the show and take the time to do this podcast and blog and all the things, all the things, is that I just, I want you to feel supported and cared for

and understood.

And I want all of us to know that we're not alone.

So in the last 30 days, there have been 75,000 downloads of this podcast, which means that

you are definitely not alone.

...