by A Women in Sobriety | Mar 19, 2014 | Addiction Articles, Sobriety For Women
Delray Beach is The Recovery Capital of The World!
Delray Beach, Florida, is known as the recovery capital of the United States. It’s also knows as the recovery capital of the world! It’s located in Palm Beach County, in beautiful south Florida. Delray is an hour north of Miami and only twenty minutes from Ft. Lauderdale. It lies between Boca Raton and Boynton Beach.
I have a saying I like to repeat to women new in Delray Beach. It goes a little something like this – my grandparents worked their entire lives to retire to Delray Beach. All I had to do was lie, cheat, steal, and drink!
Why is Delray The Recovery Capital?
Delray Beach has the country’s largest amount of sober communities, treatment centers, halfway houses, and other sober living facilities. There are over 200 weekly twelve-step meetings to choose from, many of which are women’s meetings.
As if all that wasn’t enough, Delray has a number of recovery business. These range from twelve-step intergroup offices to meditation centers to yoga studies to spiritual shops.
Why Is it a Good Idea For Me To Live in Delray?
Recovery for women can be hard, especially when surrounded by the people, places, and things we associate with active addiction. Getting away from these places can be a tremendous help in the recovery process. Being around other recovering women, who share your struggles and triumphs, is a great form of sober support. Being part of an active community of sober women can make you feel accepted and comfortable through the difficult time known as early-sobriety. It also helps with preventing relapse.
Delray is diverse and boasts a demographic of all ages. Young people (eighteen to twenty five years old) are quickly becoming the largest group admitted to treatment centers. Delray beach has a ton of young people in sobriety! It’s easy to make new friends, supports, and meaningful, lifelong connections. Some of us refer to these people as our second family! Delray is also know for it’s old-timers. These are people who have long-term recovery and (guess what!) they don’t have to be old! They have an incredible amount of experience, strength, and hope, which they’ve gained over their time in the rooms of recovery.
While some people stay in Florida to fulfill their treatment and return home, approximately 65,000 people make it their home after treatment.
Testimonial articles about Delray Beach, FL, have been found in the NY Times and the Herald Tribune.
Can I Have Fun in Sobriety?
Delray Beach is known for being a popular vacation spot. Many love the beautiful scenery at night, which, for many women, is great place to meditate.
Delray boasts over thirty parks and recreation facilities for residents and visitors. These include pools, water parks, athletic fields, skate parks, and one and half miles of public beach. Guess what else? The beach is open and beautiful three hundred and sixty-five days a year!
Downtown Delray is known for its dining, shopping, arts, culture, and nightlife. It’s filled with great restaurants, retail stores, spas, salons, art galleries, and unlimited fun. Downtown Delray’s known for its arts and crafts festivals and Christmas Tree lighting festival. Delray is also right next to the PGA Tour headquarters, markets, and countless concert venues.
Delray Beach is a fantastic place to start your recovery journey. No wonder is has been dubbed the Recovery Capital of the World! No wonder it’s become a home for so many women in sobriety!
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, Recovery
Written By: Fiona Stockard
Fake It ‘Till You Make It
“Fake it ’till you make it” is one of the many slogans I heard early on in AA. I thought most of the slogans were stupid, but this one, I could never really wrap my head around it.
Fake…what, ’till I make…what? Fake my smile? Fake my laugh? Fake my sobriety?
Now that’s an interesting take on a commonly used slogan! I began to fake my sobriety, I began to wear a mask.
Fake Sobriety
I was told early on that action precedes thought. That if I take an action, my thoughts would change too.
So, I took the first action and many more after that. I went to meetings. I raised my hand to speak. I shared my experience, strength, and hope (I know now I was only sharing my craziness!). I talked to new girls. I really did “act as if.”
I got high on some weekends, plain and simple. I didn’t use every weekend. By this point, most of my friends were sober. The guy I was dating was sober. I couldn’t afford to use every weekend, but now-and-again, I’d sneak off and get loaded.
I prayed. I wasn’t honest with myself though, so there was no way I was honest with God.
I became the queen of recovery! Everyone thought I was doing so well. Hell, that’s all that matters anyway, right? My parents were off my back. My legal issues had all been resolved. I had a “great” life. I literally faked it and made it. I found the loophole!
Well, as soon as I thought I found that loophole, I started to get sloppy. I couldn’t control my hidden use anymore. It wasn’t every third weekend anymore. It was everyday. The mental, emotional, and spiritual torture was too much. I stopped going out. I stayed home, hiding from friends. I watched the entire series of LOST (which I still don’t get!) and it was a pretty great metaphor for my life. I was lost!
I basically lost everything all over again, except for my job. I couldn’t lose my job, it was the only way I was supporting my expensive as hell drug habit. To put it another way, I let the s**t hit the fan. Finally, I reached out for help.
Let’s be honest here. I didn’t reach out for help, I was caught. My boyfriend finally noticed that when I went out, I came home with tiny pupils. He found the bottle of gin under my bed (yeah, I still wonder what he was doing under there too). I came clean. I let it all out. I admitted I had been faking it, I was never truly sober.
Here’s the deal, I wanted to be sober. When I was high, I messed everything up. I spent a ton of money. I became a lone wolf. The people that loved me got hurt. Those things all suck. BUT, did I want to be sober because I couldn’t imagine never drinking another beer? Because I couldn’t imagine snorting another pill? At this point, nope.
Real Sobriety!
I finally got a sponsor and came clean about what was going on in my life. I still fight this battle everyday though. I have 100% faith that AA works. I’ve seen it work in hundreds of people. I’ve seen the change and growth occur in my friends and even some family members.
Still, I’m “faking it ’till I make it.” This time though, I’m being honest. I’m staying sober in spit of myself. I know the truth, my best thinking isn’t the best at all.
I have no idea what’s going to happen. I have no idea if all of a sudden a lightbulb will go off and I’ll truly have made it. Maybe I’ll always be faking it. I just know that today my life is good. I smile. For the first time in my life, I’m honest. That’s all I have and for today, that’s more than enough!
