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.

    Author of the popular momsieblog.com, she leads and presents workshops on both writing and addiction, with a special emphasis on being a woman in recovery while parenting young children.

    Sara was a writer, and drinking seemed to be an element of the identity. As a writer, she searched for the story that would define who she was, and her drinking was a part of her. She drank socially at first, with friends or family, at parties, or festivals. She drank at home sometimes, a glass of wine or two. It was when the two glasses of wine turned into two bottles of wine, when her blacked-out drunken behavior began destroying her marriage, when she began combining her drinking with pills - prescribed or otherwise - this is when Sara began to realize she had a problem. It wasn't until she hit her last rock bottom that she understood her story. If she were to continue drinking, her marriage would be over. She knew she had to quit. So she did. Sara quickly learned that sobriety wasn't easy. She had never realized before what a focal point alcohol had been in her life. This new world she was in felt strange and unnatural. Sometimes the daily battle felt impossible. But inside the struggle she found words. One day, she threw on her husband's oversized Nike sweatshirt, drove her daughter to school, and came home to write. The words just poured out of her. Now she had a story. Despite the struggles she faced and still faces, Sara has remained sober. This is her story.

     In this unprecedented book, A. J. Adams uses self-deprecating humor, entertaining anecdotes, and frank descriptions to introduce anyone who "just doesn't get" Alcoholics Anonymous to the complete "Undrunk" lifestyle. Beginning with the story of his first AA meeting, he takes the mystery out what goes on behind closed doors, dispelling misconceptions of AA as cultlike, secretive, campy, or lowbrow. He then presents a user-friendly history and introduction to AA, explaining the Steps, Traditions, terms, and sayings--all punctuated by honest, often hilarious descriptions of his own struggles and eventual transformation to "getting" the program.

    This second edition of The 12 Step Prayer Book features 183 passages gleaned from Twelve Step meetings and adapted from common prayers and devotions. It includes: --44 new prayers and readings --a guide for daily reading --traditional and best-loved recovery prayers, and --Step and meeting prayers. This book is an excellent accompaniment to Easy Does It: A Book of Daily Twelve Step Meditations.

    . . A riveting and anxiety-inducing read. Mike Pond tells his story of recovery from alcoholism with a brutally honest, warts-and-all approach that makes you want cheer for him and simultaneously slap him upside the head.” – Vancouver SunPsychotherapist Michael Pond is no stranger to the devastating consequences of alcoholism. He has helped hundreds of people conquer their addictions, but this knowledge did not prevent his own near-demise. In this riveting memoir, he recounts how he lost his Penticton-based practice, his home, and his family—all because of his drinking. After scores of visits to the ER, a tour of hellish recovery homes, a stint in intensive care for end-stage alcoholism, and jail, Pond devised his own personal plan for recovery. He met Maureen Palmer and together they investigated scientific alternatives to the rigid abstinence doctrine pushed by Alcoholics Anonymous.

    From childhood struggles with depression and eating disorders, her years as a topless dancer in Florida, and an eventual abortion and suicide attempt, to her rebirth in Los Angeles as a porn star named Karmen Karma, overcoming her relationship with her abusive mother, and her struggle to maintain a clean and sober lifestyle―van de Bunt’s life has been a wild rollercoaster. With humor, alacrity, and profound insight, she reveals her deepest, darkest secrets and pulls no punches―least of all with herself.

    This is the first step.Featuring new and updated information and studies, including an introduction by actress Claudia Christian, the second edition of The Cure for Alcoholism delivers exactly what millions of alcoholics and families of alcoholics have been hoping for: a painless, dignified, and medically proven cure for their addiction. Backed by 82 clinical trials and research that extends back to 1964, The Sinclair Method deploys an opiate-blocking medication in a very specific way—in combination with ongoing drinking—to extinguish the addictive “software” in the brain. The de-addiction process rolls back the addictive mechanism in the brain to its original pre-addicted state—before the first drink was consumed, making this program an actual cure for alcoholism.Drs. Roy Eskapa and David Sinclair of The Sinclair Method have put together a sound scientific book that proves that with this particular method, alcoholism can be cured in more than 78 percent of patients. What’s more, the treatment avoids the dangerous withdrawal symptoms, allowing patients to detox gradually and safely while they are still drinking. This removes the need for expensive and unpleasant inpatient rehabilitation programs. Actual drinking levels and cravings automatically decrease until control over alcohol is restored. The bottom line is that patients can control their drinking or stop altogether with the simple yet powerful process outlined in The Cure for Alcoholism.Including a new introduction by actress Claudia Christian about The Sinclair Method’s impact on her life, updated trial information, and a letter explaining the treatment that can be given to doctors by patients, The Cure for Alcoholism is a revolutionary book for anyone who wants to gain control over drinking.

    

    

    The addictions may be to alcohol or cocaine, gambling or food, violence or sex and love, but the path to recovery is the same. This is a book of plain-spoken wisdom for people with addictions and people who love them. Joe McQ has been a student of the Twelve Steps for twenty-eight years. He, like tens of thousands of others, lives them every day, one day at a time. In The Steps We Took, Joe takes us through them, one Step at a time, and helps us understand how they work--and how they can change our lives.

    You will be alarmed at how effective and familiar these techniques are, even though you did not realise that you were being manipulated.This direct and forceful guide will thrill, chill and make you feel ill. A must read if you wish to save yourself.

    The letter was both a confession and an invitation for public scrutiny. “No matter where I was,” he recalls, “there was always a chance that someone had read my post and was waiting to catch me with a drink in my hand.” To help keep himself on the straight and narrow, Carr still has a counter at the top of his site, ticking off the number of days he’s gone without a drink.In this bracing (but zero-proof) tale of recovery, Carr delivers his own twelve steps to building a life without booze. His hard-earned advice, punctuated with anecdotes that are both cautionary and comic (a bender once took him to Iceland, where he drunkenly believed he’d get better Wi-Fi) is given with humility and goodwill. Along the way, Carr celebrates the simple yet overlooked pleasures of sobriety—weight loss, a renewed love life, the ability to buy a phone or laptop without promptly losing it in a bar. As he slowly discovers, a sober life actually CAN be fun. What’s more, he’ll remember it.

    At once envious, glamorous, debauched and disturbing, it’s her long and winding journey from life in the fast lane to sobriety and redemption.Set in the late-eighties and nineties, these are some of Walsh’s darkest years, from spiraling addiction to a stunning comeback with the Eagles’ Hell Freezes Over tour. Loaded with true stories never before heard, Rock Monster is essential reading for classic rock fans and anyone touched by addiction. Kristin Casey pulls no punches, sharing gritty details with self-awareness, humor, and affection. Sharply written, bold and incisive, it’s the worldly-wise tome only an ex-addict, ex-stripper, and ex-rock-chick could give us.In the tradition of women-in-rock survivor tales—by Marianne Faithful, Crystal Zevon, or Mackenzie Phillips—Kristin Casey pulls a veil on the enduring myth of the lifestyle’s glamorous decadence. Rock Monster is a sexy, crazy, cautionary tale of two addicts in love without a single relationship skill.

    The only requirement for membership is a desire for healthy and loving relationships. We gather together to support and share with each other in a journey of self-discovery—learning to love the self. Living the program allows each of us to become increasingly honest with ourselves about our personal histories and our own codependent behaviors. We rely upon the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions for knowledge and wisdom. These are the principles of our program and guides to developing honest and fulfilling relationships with ourselves and others. In CoDA, we each learn to build a bridge to a Higher Power of our own understanding, and we allow others the same privilege. This renewal process is a gift of healing for us. By actively working the program of Co-Dependents Anonymous, we can each realize a new joy, acceptance, and serenity in our lives.