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

Weakness had on me.

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. I write the blog Unpickled, where I've been telling my story of life

after alcohol since my first day of sobriety in 2011. I tell my story there and I invite you to share

your stories here.

Now, on the show today, I'm really excited to welcome my guest, Patty Clark, coming to me all the way from New Zealand.

Author Patty Clark has been described as a cross between Elizabeth Gilbert and Julia Cameron, her book This Way Up, Seven Tools for Unleashing

Your Creative Self and Transforming Your Life, was the winner of the prestigious International

Excellence Best Self-Help Book of the Year in 2017. Patty is an accomplished speaker and workshop

leader, sharing her knowledge and wisdom with others for more than 30 years in several

countries. Patty has been featured on TVNZ's breakfast show and numerous radio shows and podcasts.

Her work has been featured in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe,

Thrive Global, and the Mindful Word. Patty, welcome to the bubble hour. I'm glad you're here.

Thank you so much, Jean. I'm really happy to be here. I've been listening to you for a long time, and it's just awesome to actually be talking to you. Well, you as well. I've been enjoying your book, and we've been, you know, both of us are sort of in the sober cybersphere. Exactly.

We've been circling each other's orbits for a while now, and it's really great that we were able to connect.

I want to start today by having our listeners get to know you.

So let's start by hearing your story.

Okay.

All right.

Well, my story starts all the way back as is similar to a lot of us. I grew up in an alcoholic, chaotic family. And drinking was the norm when I grew up. I remember really well on holidays, Christmas, etc., that booze was always bought first and everything else came later.

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