I wanted to be cool. I wanted to fit in. Whatever it took.” She was attractive, popular and determined to grow up in a hurry. How would she have known that at age thirteen, during her first teenage drinking party, her life would play out in such a way that it would rule her life decisions going forward? The handsome boys and pretty girls were guzzling a certain punch, and she wanted to be like them. Tentatively, she ladled the jungle juice from the punch bowl and had her first sip of alcohol. She wanted more. It couldn’t have come at a better time. This is what she’d been searching for –relief. Instant relief. Getting drunk becomes her rite of passage as she careens through junior and senior high school caving in to peer pressure for her need to feel accepted. Through secretarial school and early jobs, her twenties are a blur. Quicker than she can take a tequila shot in a Mexican café, change her lovers weekly, and party with the dregs of society, as well as the socialites and future executives – Nancy finds a lifestyle that seems to work for her. She continues on and drinks and uses cocaine through the snows of Aspen, the desert heat of Scottsdale, the California coast and her Pennsylvania homelands, only to find herself alone and desperate in her quest for love and her own identity. Milk, she decides, has a longer shelf life than her romantic interludes. Surfer Boy, Boston Boy, Blondie Boy. Her big question becomes, who is going to marry her? As she approaches her early 30’s, she thinks getting married will fix her. “I am sitting on my couch finishing up a second bottle of Two Buck Chuck, watching Sarah Jessica Parker on “Sex and the City,” crying and wondering why I’m still single. I understand why Sarah is single. She spends too much money on shoes, and no one wants to marry a shoe whore. She had the perfect man too. She was a fool to let Aidan get away. Ever since high school the perennial question from my parents and friends was always the same, “Are you going to marry him?” It never occurred to Nancy to blame her loneliness on her beverages of choice. She’d kept her career going. She wasn’t an alcoholic. In fact, she relished hearing confessions of real alcoholics so she could assure herself that they—and not she—had a problem. Hello, Black Kettle? This is Pot calling! Terribly alone after receiving her second DUI at age 37, Nancy experiences a moment of clarity. She’s been looking for answers everywhere but the place she least wants to examine: the mirror. What glares back at her is over twenty-four years of living life in the fast lane, zooming by all the red flags. “Sitting in the jail cell I thought about hitting bottom. I could stop digging now. My life couldn’t get any worse….How could years of my free-wheeling lifestyle as a partier, mainly a social drinker, bring me to this place?” Compelled by a judge, Nancy walks into an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and begins the hellacious journey of rethinking her life to finally find what she’d been searching for – her true self. Now sober for over ten years, married and with a thriving career, Nancy wants to tell other young women what she wishes someone had told her.

    From the bliss of her dramatic, romantic saga with her now husband, to the trials and triumph of her career journey as a young women, to the devastating loss of her son when he was only six months old, Jessica's commitment to follow the nudges of her heart have seen her through every season. Through her hilarious, inspiring stories and refreshing honesty, Jessica will challenge you start looking for ways to brings more joy to your life and the lives of those around you. Life lived to the fullest can only happen when you bring the joy.

    

    Foreword by Annie Grace - Author of This Naked Mind - Control Alcohol Are you tired of thinking about drinking? Hands up if you believe any of the following about drinking alcohol to be true: I can’t have fun without alcohol. Imagine going to a party without drinking! it makes me feel less anxious or depressed; it helps me sleep; I can’t relax without it; it makes me entertaining to be around; it fits the lifestyle of my boozy friends; I like the taste of alcohol; it’s cool and sophisticated; I’m not confident enough to talk to new people without it; it helps me deal with all the problems life throws my way; it stops me worrying about how much I’m drinking (ironic, I know). If you find yourself nodding at even one of these statements, then I know how you feel. I was a heavy daily drinker for over twenty years, I too used to believe that I couldn’t live without alcohol, and that once I’d had a few drinks I was funny to be around (hilarious in fact). Are you too are tired and fed up with the routine of drinking, and want to make a change and improve your life? Or you may simply be curious about how an alcohol-free life might look for you. Could it be better? Happier? Calmer? More peaceful? Perhaps you’re already on the path to changing your relationship with booze and might have read other ‘sober books’ or taken part in programmes to help you quit. I want you to know you can do the same as me and find complete freedom from alcohol, and that you don’t have to wait for years like I did. Also, I want to reassure you that alcohol addiction is never a person’s fault, and that there’s no need to blame yourself for finding it hard to give up. It honestly isn’t as difficult as you might think, and this book will provide the support, tactics and advice you need as you progress on your sober journey. The Sober Survival Guide is unique in that it is split into two parts. The first is designed to set you up for success and put you in a place where you can find freedom from alcohol if that’s what you want. The first part of the book contains essential information for when you’re in the early stages of controlling your drinking. The second part serves as a handbook as you move forward into an alcohol-free life and is where this book comes into its own. As you read it you’ll see I’ve used my own experiences and those of the people I’ve worked with to help ensure you’re ready for the challenges, fears, and questions that will come up in the years after quitting drinking. You’ll learn how to handle the work Christmas party without a glass of bubbly in hand, the joys of sober holidays, what to do when you stop drinking but your partner won’t, and a whole lot more. With this part you can dip in and out, picking the chapters that address the problems you’re facing that day or week. This unique quit alcohol book also shares my own stories and personal accounts that helped me learn (sometimes the hard way), so as well as providing vital tools and tactics it will also leave you with a smile on your face and provide you with a fun and enjoyable read. Part memoir, part sober guide and 100% alcohol free - The Sober Survival Guide is perfect for anyone looking to free themselves from the grip of alcohol.

    It has helped millions of smokers from all over the world quit. Quit Smoking Without Willpower is the latest cutting edge presentation of the method.Set out in a clear, easy-to-read format, this book makes it simpler than ever before to get free. It eliminates the fears that keep you hooked and ensures you won't miss cigarettes. It works both for heavy and casual smokers, and regardless of how long you've been smoking. There are no gimmicks or scare tactics, you won't put on weight, and you can even smoke while you read.• A unique method that does not require willpower• Removes the desire to smoke• Stop easily, immediately, and painlessly• Regain control of your life What people say about Allen Carr's Easyway method: "The Allen Carr program was nothing short of a miracle." Anjelica Huston "It was such a revelation that instantly I was freed from my addiction." Sir Anthony Hopkins "His skill is in removing the psychological dependence." The Sunday Times

    One bottle a night was never quite enough. When she tried to cut down, she found it nearly impossible to have an alcohol-free day.Everyone around could see her drinking, but no one realised what a serious problem it was. She was high-functioning, fun-loving Lotta, not some messy, hopeless drunk. Only Lotta knew how sick and twisted her thinking about wine had become.Desperate and miserable, she was falling deeper and deeper into a boozy hellhole and running out of ideas about what she could do to stop it. What's a girl to do when her beloved wine becomes the enemy?Here's what Lotta did. She stopped drinking and secretly started a blog that charted the highs and lows of learning to live without alcohol. Mrs D was anonymous, honest and, as Lotta would discover, surrounded by people who would help her on her journey, and whom she could help in return.

    

    

    Sober doesn't feel stony, or cold. Retired wreckhead Catherine Gray, author of surprise bestseller The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober , is now in her eighth sober year and has learned a damn sight more. This hotly anticipated sequel enlists the help of experts and case studies, turning a curious, playful gaze onto provocative questions. Is alcohol a parenting aid? Why are booze and cocaine such a horse and carriage? Once an addict, always an addict? How do you feel safe - from alcohol, others and yourself - in sobriety? Whether you're a dedicated boozehound, flirting with teetotalling, or already sober, this witty, gritty read may just change how you think about alcohol forever.

    But never more engagingly told than in HUNDRED MILES TO NOWHERE" --Will Weaver, author of Sweet Land and The Last HunterA singer-songwriter moves from New York City to rural Minnesota for love, and finds somewhere, and someone, in the middle of nowhere. When Elisa Korenne took a month's break from New York City to be the resident singer-songwriter in middle-of-nowhere Minnesota, she didn't intend to stay. Then she fell in love with the local outdoorsman/insurance guy. One cross-country romance later, Elisa gave up subways, theater, City Bakery cookies, and her Brooklyn apartment to become the 1,153rd resident of New York Mills, a rural town ninety miles from the nearest metropolitan area, Fargo. She had to resort to moonshine to stay sane.The barista knew her weekend plans before she did. The postmaster set up gigs for her behind her back. Chris expected her to eat roadkill for dinner. And you wouldn't believe the uproar when the Finnish Lutherans in town learned she was Jewish. Despite a gun-toting Millenialist neighbor and the furnace dying at twenty-six below, Elisa moved to Minnesota and married Chris anyway. Then a tornado threatens to destroy the home she had finally made for herself.Hundred Miles to Nowhere is A Year in Provence for the Prairie Home Companion crowd, or Coop for fans of indie music.

    My withdrawal/delirium tremens (DTs) were terrifying and excruciating.My story takes the reader through my experiences of late stage alcoholism, two arrests by my new husband of three months and my subsequent adventures through and between five inpatient treatment centers for alcohol abuse.

    These stories tell of the vision behind Dubai’s meteoric growth from a small and bustling trading port to an international metropolis at the heart of global business. They record the evolution of the United Arab Emirates from a shared ideal to a nation where more than 195 nationalities live and work in peace, harmony and prosperity. And they reveal insights from a man whose drive, determination and will to succeed have become legendary. Within these stories lies the heart of Sheikh Mohammed the statesman, the equestrian, the poet and the leader. They are written with the intent to inspire and inform new generations of readers, and to celebrate the achievements of this young and vibrant nation and the people who shaped it. This celebration of a life in service is unavoidably incomplete. As Sheikh Mohammed himself indicates, there is still so much left to do. As a record of the first fifty years alone, however, it forms part of a remarkable legacy. Other titles written by Sheikh Mohammed and published by Explorer include Zayed, Reflections on Happiness & Positivity, Flashes of Verse and Two Great Leaders.

    

    Although the “Golden Bear,” as he is known by fans, is widely regarded as the best golfer of all time, with a record number of PGA major championships, his life and values show that true legacy lives on through your children, grandchildren, and others we are blessed to call family and friends.For the first time, the public is given the opportunity to see what made Jack Nicklaus an off-course success, includinghow he and his wife, Barbara, fashioned fifty-plus years of marriage, understanding that they both had to give of themselves “at least 95 percent of the time”the importance of having boundaries and limits that everyone in the family agrees onhow Nicklaus taught his son Jack, who worked as his caddie for several years, to value his competitors and treat them as he would hope to be treatedthe need to be connected to what we’ll leave behind: our legaciesOne June day, Jack Nicklaus II had just completed his second round in a Palm Beach County Junior Golf Association tournament and was sitting at the scorer’s table, signing his scorecard, when somebody told him his dad was on the telephone. He was a little frustrated because he didn’t want to be bothered on such an important day, but his dad wanted to know how he had played, so Jack II spent the next twenty minutes detailing every hole and every shot. Afterward, his father said, “Jackie, would you like to know how your dad did today?” Of course he wanted to know, and he felt a little guilty for not asking. “Well, I just won the US Open.” It was Father’s Day 1980, and on that day Jack II learned a valuable lesson that he carried with him into adulthood: family is more important than anything in the world.

    Phil McGraw's beloved sister–in–law, an ordinary woman transformed by tragedy who has become an extraordinary hero for us all.In 2001, Cindi Broaddus was a passenger in a car driving along a lonely highway on her way toward a much–anticipated vacation. Suddenly, the predawn peace was shattered when an unknown assailant threw a gallon–sized jar full of sulphuric acid off an overpass and through the windshield. Though Broaddus was covered with second– and third–degree burns across her face and body, miraculously she did not die.Today, she is not only alive and well, but has a positive message of survival and hope to share.A Random Account recounts Broaddus's incredible journey from life–threatening disaster to recovery. Throughout her years–long, often excruciating recuperation – involving numerous reconstructive surgeries, multiple skin grafts, and implanted tissue expanders – this single mother of three has had one goal: to prevent such a terrible crime from happening again. Although her attacker has never been caught, Broaddus travels far and wide, sharing her story, lobbying for improving highway safety, and offering hope and down–to–earth guidance for other victims of senseless tragedy. For such a random act can happen to anyone, turning one's life upside down in an instant. As compelling as it is important, A Random Act is a must–read tale of tragedy and triumph from a truly remarkable woman.