Spotlight on Stigma... Welcomed but Not Accepted

Does anyone else have information overload from the year+ of virtual conferences due to COVID? Before COVID, I encountered some amazing conferences, workshops, and seminars that I would have loved to take part in. However, travel time, admission fees, and making a commitment well before the event (not knowing if I would need to work) made a natural limitation in the number of events I could participate in. Then came COVID - and the world went virtual.  Every group I'm part of started holding those same conferences, workshops, and seminars online. Woo-hoo! That meant no travel time, greatly reduced admission fees, and being able to cancel at the last minute because you would almost always get a recording of the information later. For that matter, it was rare that a cancellation was needed because I had very little work as it was.  The first few months of this were just short of heaven. I was loading my little information-starved mind by the bucketful. I was going to meetings that we

  (Author’s Note: I know there are actual differences in the terms of “abstinence”, “sobriety”, and “recovery”. But for the purpose of this article, I’m lumping the three terms together and using the word “sober/sobriety” to mean any of those three things. Furthermore, this article is based on https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-real-cause-of-addicti_b_6506936 )   Those of us in addition recovery know it well – the opposite of addiction is sobriety.   This is why almost every addict first showed up at a 12-Step support group – to find a way to quit addictive behavior… to become sober.   But what if the opposite of addiction isn’t sobriety? If it isn’t, then what is?   First, a quick background on addiction. This stigma about addiction started with the scientific community, according to www.drugabuse.gov .  In [RC1]   the 1930s, it was thought that addicts were “morally flawed or lacking in willpower.” Overcoming addiction usually involved punishment or encouraging willpower to br

(Originally written March 17, 2020 and for some reason never got added to this blog.) It has been a while since I’ve spent time writing. I have been sick, then super busy making up for being sick, then just super busy. My writing has been pushed aside more than once when I really wanted to... because, in this time of such uncertainty, I felt this wasn't being "productive" (with my definition at the moment meaning “do something to make money”). Well, I hit the breaking point just a few minutes ago and it doesn't matter if it's technically "productive" or not, I need to write.   The timing has been weird on this one. I'm about to have cataract surgery and due to a test I need to have before the surgery, I have had to go without contacts for a week. Given the nature of my businesses, wearing my old glasses has made it very difficult to do some of my jobs and impossible to do others.    I have known this for a few weeks and have been preparing fo

Independence Day fell on a Sunday this year, so it was extra fun! (Insert loads of sarcasm into those last two words.) Because so many were out of work and school on Monday, we got to be bombarded by the sounds of fireworks for TWO nights, not just one!  So...  much...  fun!  (Insert even more sarcasm into those three words.) Our across-the-street neighbors decided to put on a major fireworks show. As I had no idea how long the Sunday night show would last and my boyfriend and I were hanging out playing a puzzle game, I elected to stay inside and didn't watch. The next night, my boyfriend and I were trying to finish a movie so we missed seeing that evening's extravaganza.  When I say we missed  watching and   seeing , I want to make it clear that we did NOT miss hearing the fireworks. They sounded like they were literally shooting them right outside of my bedroom window. I don't like loud noises; I haven't my entire life. As a child, I hated going to the city-wide firew