by Sally Rosa | Jan 19, 2015 | Addiction Articles, Benefits of Sobriety
The Benefits of a Deadly Disease
Chances are that if you ask ten random people the benefits of being an alcoholic, they won’t be able to list any. Well guess what random people, you’re wrong!

It took me awhile to realize that being an alcoholic, in recovery of course, is actually a blessing. Think about it, we survived! We survived and we thrived! We survived, thrived, and now have pride!
Okay, lame rhyming attempts aside, it’s absolutely true that being an alcoholic is a blessing. Seriously, where else can you gain gratitude, humility, and a spiritual way of life? I can’t think of anywhere!
Take a trip with me, readers. Take a trip with me down a road by the name of “why being an alcoholic rocks!”
We Have the BEST Friends
Duh! I have the type of friends that I can call crying at three in the morning and they’ll stay up talking to me until sunrise. Where else do you find friends like that?
In the rooms of recovery, we’re in a life or death struggle with our disease. We’re all in the same boat, whether we have twenty days or twenty years. For this reason, and many, many more, the friendships that develop are extra special.
Not only do my friends and I share similar experiences, but we also share similar thinking! We share similar thoughts, neurotic or otherwise!
So yeah, being an alcoholic rocks because we have the best friends.
We Have Gratitude
I read these articles and watch these TV shows where they talk about how people need to have gratitude. Guess what? I have it in spades!
I’m grateful I’m alive. I’m grateful I’m able to help other women. I’m grateful I’m able to let other women help me. I’m grateful my parents answer the phone when I call. I’m grateful I can hold a job. I’m grateful I can grow at a job. I’m grateful.
Remember, though, gratitude is an action word. It’s easy for me to forget about gratitude and get caught up in life. When that happens, I need to start reaching out to new women. Then I’m knocked right back on the gratitude train!
We Have Perspective
You know what happens when I get cut off in traffic, am late for work, get yelled at, spill salad dressing on my shirt, and go home to find the cat threw up on my bed? I smile and thank God I’m sober.
Think about it, we’re sober today. How amazing is that! Alcoholics and addicts are hardwired and programmed to drink and drug. Today we’re not drinking and drugging. Today we’re living by spiritual principles. Toady we’re helping others.
That’s nothing short of a miracle. And that knowledge, my friends, is called perspective. So I had a bad day? Guess what, it’s better than any day I had a bottle to my lips or a needle in my arm. End of story.
We Have God in Our Lives
As if all of the above weren’t enough, being sober also let’s us have God in our lives. Now this is the biggest blessing of them all. This is how I’m able to experience all those other blessings. This is how I’m able to look the world in the eye and exclaim “Bring it on!”

See, normies have no need for God. Well, that’s not true. Most of them need God pretty badly! But they don’t always see it that way.
Us addicts and alcoholics, though, we know the score. We know that without some form of Higher Power, we’re toast. How cool is that?
We’re basically forced into letting God into our lives. Then we find out that having God in our lives is the best thing that could ever happen. She, he, it, them, whatever you want to call your Higher Power, is a source of inspiration, comfort, hope, and, above all else, love.
Am I missing anything? Let us know on social media!!
by A Women in Sobriety | Mar 31, 2013 | Addiction Treatment, Sobriety For Women
Don’t be Average, Be Phenomenal
My best friend, Tim S., owner and creator of SoberNation.com, introduced me to this series of motivational videos. These videos are more than just the typical “you can do anything if you set your mind to it” speeches (I know you’re imagining those in your head right now!).
We recently watched one where the subject was “Being Phenomenal.”

Now, of course, everyone wants to be phenomenal. Being phenomenal is, well, phenomenal! However, most of us settle for being average because it’s easier. Being average is safer. It’s quicker. It takes less work. Except, being average may just end up suffocating the life out of you.
My Story
I found myself twenty-three years old, four years sober, and pondering if the sky really was the limit. I decided to be my own guinea pig.
I went back to school and got a Bachelor’s Degree. Check.
I quit smoking cigarettes and haven’t inhaled in two years. Check.
I started a company called Sobriety for Women: South Florida Recovery to change the way women in recovery are treated. Check.
My friend and I opened a women’s halfway house in Delray Beach. Check.
I opened a Comprehensive Addiction Treatment facility for women. Today, we house over twenty women. Check.
These women have become family, helping each other stay sober. It’s a beautiful thing to be involved with and witness.
The Future Looks Phenomenal
Today, I’m in the works of expanding South Florida’s premiere woman’s treatment center. The process is nothing short of amazing.
I didn’t write this article as some sort of cheesy way to get our name out (though no publicity is bad publicity, right?). I wrote this to say we can be our own phenomenon.
We can, all of us, reinvent our lives and change directions. One thing most motivational videos don’t tell you? You’re a person alive in this world – you can achieve anything. Surround yourself with people who want to go further and you’ll do the same. Figure out what makes you happy and go do it!
Much Love,
Brittany Ringerson
by A Women in Sobriety | Dec 21, 2012 | Addiction Treatment, Benefits of Sobriety
Written By:
Fiona Stockard
Looks are Deceiving
Some people are born lucky. They come from decent homes. They have decent looks. They have decent personalities. Hell, maybe they even have a trust fund or two. These are the lucky ones, right?
Everything on the outside seems perfect. Inside though, well, it’s usually a different story. What I’m trying to say is that looks are deceiving.

Addicts = Actors
The same can be said for addicts and alcoholics. If I do say so myself, and I do, we’re the worlds best actors. We lie, cheat, and steal our way into whatever we want. I have a Ph.D in arguing, screaming, crying, and manipulating.
I remember being a kid and not getting what I wanted. What did I do? Accept the situation? Hell no! I kicked, screamed, and generally threw a tantrum until that shiny new toy was in my hands!
If I got in trouble, well, I’d find some way to sneak out of the consequences. On paper I was fine. I did well in school. I did well at work. I was a social butterfly as soon as I hit middle school. From the outside, it looked like I was heading in the right direction. However, that wasn’t the case at all.
On the inside I was a wreck. Am I going to give you the same old sob story? “Oh, I’ve always felt like a piece of crap! There’s so much agony in my heart!” Nope. That wasn’t always the case. For awhile I felt part of life. I felt fine. Once drugs and alcohol became my crutch, my only outlet for dealing with emotions, I became two people. I lost myself. There was the real Fiona, the inside Fiona, the train wreck Fiona. Then there was the fake Fiona, the outside Fiona, the perfect woman.
Blessings of Sobriety
Sobriety’s given me more blessings than I can count. Look, life’s not always perfect, but it’s a million times better than it was. One of the most meaningful blessings, probably the MOST meaningful, is my ability to be one person. Through sobriety, I’ve been able to combine the inside Fiona and the outside Fiona.

I’ve upgraded, if you will. I’ve found out who I really am. Sobriety’s been a crazy journey. A journey filled with beautiful, inspiring, heartwarming “ups,” and dark, painful, devastating “downs.” Still, nothing’s ever been worth more than my recovery. Nothing.
Nothing’s connected me more to a desire for life, to a passion, to a soul, than my sobriety. Yeah, some people are born lucky. But me? I’ve been granted a beautiful blessing.