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Tag: celebrating sobriety

  • Woman Celebrates 364 Days Of Sobriety After 33 Years Of Addiction

    Woman Celebrates 364 Days Of Sobriety After 33 Years Of Addiction

    “The longer I’m clean the more I like myself the way I am and I don’t need all those things,” said the Washington-based woman.

    A year ago, if residents of Port Angeles, Washington, saw Jenni Tiderman standing on a street corner, it was likely that she was panhandling or trying to score her next fix. This week, however, Tiderman was out for an entirely different reason, holding a sign on the street corner celebrating 364 days of sobriety. 

    “I’ve received so much support from this community, it’s amazing,” Tiderman told The Peninsula Daily News. “At first people thought I was out there panhandling… but this is just to spread awareness and hope that this can be done. If you knew me when I was out there in my active addiction, where I’m at right now is absolutely amazing.”

    Tiderman was addicted to meth, marijuana, alcohol for 33 years, she said.

    However, she has now been sober for a year. “The longer I’m clean the more I like myself the way I am and I don’t need all those things.”

    She couldn’t celebrate publicly on her one-year anniversary because her sister was getting married that day. It’s clear that family is important to Tiderman, who has been able to reconnect with her six children over the course of the year.

    Her sister, Tami Maupin, has been sober from meth and heroin for two years and was on hand to celebrate Tiderman’s milestone. 

    “I get to give her the one year coin,” said Maupin. “I didn’t know she could make it here… but I feel more confidence in her daily. She’s doing the stuff she’s supposed to be doing and I’m so proud of her.”

    Maupin said that she keeps a close eye on her sister, helping her navigate recovery. 

    “She’s come so far in a year and she has a long ways to go. She’s far from cured, but I trust her and I couldn’t say that a year ago. I trust her today, and that’s pretty huge.”

    Tiderman’s father, Dale Tiderman, said that his family is all healing now that Tiderman is sober. 

    “We’re all just really proud of her and how she’s been doing,” he said. “You can’t force someone to get better; they have to want it themselves. She finally found and seized the opportunity and she’s doing it.”

    The Rev. Jason Himmelberger, who is Tiderman’s pastor, said that she is an example of what can happen when the community supports people in recovery. 

    “The community support has helped her quite a bit and that’s where I think it’s so important for us as a community to remember that people struggling with addiction are sons and daughters too. If we are to apply that same support to all of them, what would that do in their lives?”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Alaska Celebrates Sobriety Awareness Month

    Alaska Celebrates Sobriety Awareness Month

    The state will play host to a variety of sobriety-inspired events, wrapping up with a “nationally touring sober pop-up event” on March 30.

    This March, more Alaskans than ever will celebrate Sobriety Awareness Month. This tradition began with the Alaska Native Sobriety Movement, which was created in 1989 by the Alaska Federation of Natives.

    In 1995, the tradition of both the state legislature and governor officially dedicating March Sobriety Awareness Month began. Last year, Alaska made it official by signing the tradition into law.

    The sobriety movement has roots in fighting addiction, and the movement is expanding and attracting more people than ever. This includes people who don’t necessarily have addiction disorders but are concerned about the overall health issues associated with regular drug and alcohol consumption, and are tired of what people are calling a stigma against sobriety.

    “Alcohol is so present in our society, whether we’re listening to music or seeing ads in magazines, whether we’re celebrating or mourning, if we want to relax or get pumped up, alcohol is everywhere,” Recovery Alaska Executive Director Tiffany Hall told Anchorage Press. “Hopefully this month will encourage people to start thinking about the presence of alcohol in their lives and getting creative with other ways to celebrate or relax. There’s a misperception that sobriety is boring or anti-social, but it couldn’t be further from the truth.”

    The growing sobriety movement is evident in how many restaurants and bars are offering more alcohol-free mixed drinks. Sober or “sans bar” pop-up events are also becoming more common. The idea is to provide people with a night of food, socializing, music, dancing, and more—without the pressure to drink.

    The trend appears to be appealing quite a bit to millennials.

    “Sober dance parties like DayBreaker are becoming the new rage, inviting guests to ‘DOSE’ on all-natural chemicals like Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin, and Endorphins before heading out for a work day,” wrote Jules Schroeder for Forbes. “For millennials today, it’s become somewhat of a faux pas to drink. While our parents’ generation considered booze cool, we think it the opposite. Instead, connection, authenticity, and mindfulness are what’s catching on, and as a result, producing many benefits.”

    Back in Alaska, there will be “Dry Weekend Challenges” and new featured alcohol-free drinks at bars and restaurants across the state, ending in a “nationally touring sober pop-up event” on March 30 with live music from Alaskan musician Emma Hill and Athabaskan and Inupiaq singer-songwriter Quinn C.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Ariana Grande Celebrates Brother's Sober Milestone

    Ariana Grande Celebrates Brother's Sober Milestone

    Ariana and Frankie Grande took to social media to celebrate his sober milestone.

    Ariana Grande tweeted out an emotional congratulations to her brother, Frankie Grande, helping him celebrate 20 months without drugs or alcohol. 

    Ariana said in a tweet that she struggled to find the words to acknowledge the milestone for her 36-year-old brother. 

    “man, i love u @FrankieJGrande. happy. twenty. months. been staring at this drafting n deleting bc everything i write makes me cry. jus know i think you’re a superhero and u make me v proud. everyone knows how hard this is and how strong you’ve been. congratulations and thank god.”

    Frankie has previously said that Ariana’s former boyfriend Mac Miller, who died of an overdose last September, helped him get sober. 

    “He was the reason I went to the rehabilitation center where I was detoxed safely from all of the drugs alcohol and medications I was taking, when I couldn’t imagine living without them,” Frankie said. “It was the place where I found the community of support that showed me that living life without drugs was a possibility and I would have never discovered that if it weren’t for Malcolm.”

    This week, Frankie took to Instagram to discuss the ways that sobriety has changed his life. 

    “i have 20 months sober. i am extremely proud,” he wrote in the post. “this hasn’t been easy. when you get sober… life still happens. you have to deal with all the same highs and lows as you did when you were using but now you don’t have the ability to numb yourself. you feel it. you feel everything. good and bad. but there is also beauty in that. over the past 20 months i have felt loss but i have also felt love. i felt joy but i also felt grief. but the bottom line is… i felt. and that is such a gift. 

    Today, Frankie said, he looks forward to the future with excitement, rather than the anxiety he experienced when he was using.

    “today, when i look in the mirror i see a completely different man than i did 20 months ago. i see a man who knows that everything is exactly as it is meant to be. a man liberated from the prison of being stuck in the past or obsessing over the future. a man grateful for his life… exactly as it is. a man excited for the next chapter… and ready to face it… no matter what…. sober.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Five Finger Death Punch Bassist Celebrates Sober Milestone

    Five Finger Death Punch Bassist Celebrates Sober Milestone

    Before getting sober, bassist Chris Kael used about an eightball of cocaine a week to help manage untreated mental health issues.

    Chris Kael, who plays bass in the heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch, has been sober for a year and took to Twitter to celebrate his milestone. 

    “May my hitting my first sober birthday yesterday give hope to those of you also struggling with addiction. It can be done. And, you will thank yourself when you too hit these milestones. Keep your chin up and those feet moving! #ShitYesSon #SoberAsFuck #SFG” Kael wrote on February 4, according to Blabbermouth. 

    Kael had previously said that he used about an eight-ball of cocaine each week to help manage his untreated mental health conditions. 

    “That got to be the biggest problem for me,” he said. “That and depression, the two things, were not good. I didn’t realize it until I got into rehab that I was self-medicating with cocaine to get my dopamine levels up to fight the depression. I never even thought about that. And then when you come off it, you crash hard.”

    Kael said that it was difficult to watch the band’s lead vocalist Ivan Moody struggle publicly with addiction, while Kael kept his substance use more private. 

    “Ivan was going through his thing, and me, no one really knew, I was the quiet one that was kind of doing things on the side. That was one of the things that was eating away at me too—my guy had a huge problem, and here I am, a quiet problem.”

    Although Moody missed some tours for treatment, Kael usually was at his worst when the touring ended, he said. 

    “It hit me hard when I got off the road. Going home was always hard anyway, ’cause you’ve got so much stimulation out on the road, and then you come home and you’re, like, ‘Wait a minute? I’ve gotta take out the trash? That’s the biggest part of my job now?’”

    Kael said on Twitter his wife helped him get into treatment and kickstart his sobriety.

    “Had she not busted me trying to restock after burning through $1300 in blow in two days in late January [2018], I truly believe that I would not be here today,” he said. “She has silently and bravely dealt with far more than what would have crushed any other woman. Her loyalty, patience, TRUE love and resolve are unmatched by any other woman I’ve ever known.”

    Although admitting he was powerless was difficult, Kael is glad that he did it. 

    “Throwing my hands to the universe and admitting I was at a fucking low and no longer able to do it myself was one of the most humbling and powerful things I’ve ever done in my life.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Great White's Mark Kendall On Sobriety: I Won't Drink Today No Matter What Happens

    Great White's Mark Kendall On Sobriety: I Won't Drink Today No Matter What Happens

    “I don’t care if I have guns pointed at me — I’m not drinking. That’s how serious I am,” the Great White guitarist said at a recent recovery event. 

    Mark Kendall, founding guitarist for the legendary rock band Great White, doesn’t say that he’ll never drink again, despite his decade of sobriety. Instead, he focuses on staying sober just for today. 

    “Nobody’s ever gonna hear me say, ‘I’ll never drink again,’ or, ‘I’m done.’ I just don’t go there. I don’t put these impossible tasks [in front of me]. ‘Cause I don’t know if I’ll never drink again; I can’t tell you if that’ll happen. But what I can tell you is that I’m not gonna drink today no matter what happens,” Kendall said as part of the No More Heroin Survivor Stories. 

    “I don’t care if I have guns pointed at me — I’m not drinking. That’s how serious I am. And I know it sounds stupid simple to some of our audience out there, but when I do it this way and just leave the task to be today…I’m just not gonna drink today. Yesterday, whatever happened, I don’t know; I don’t wanna think about it. I probably didn’t drink though.”

    As for tomorrow, Kendall says he’s not concerned with it.  

    “I’m not concerned about something that takes care of itself. Time takes care of itself. Years are gonna go by all by themselves. The only thing that I can control with confidence is being sober today only — that’s my task. If I make it to midnight, I’ve made it through another day. That’s the way I’ve done it, and 10 years rolled by. It’s not like I sat there one day and [went], ‘You know what? I think I’m gonna be sober for 10 years. I’m just gonna go for it.’ I never did that.”

    Kendall struggled with alcoholism and started toying with sobriety in 1991, according to Blabbermouth. However, he didn’t give sobriety his all until 2008, which is when it clicked for him, he said. 

    “I’d try it and then I’d quit again. So I’d literally keep starting and stopping and keep trying it again — try to drink like the normal guy that just watches the football game on the weekends with his buddies and has, like, four beers. I wanna be that guy and not wake up the next day and have to drink again. So I’d force it and not drink, so I could tell myself that I’m normal now. But then again, here it comes again — I’d end up in pain,” Kendall said. “So I kept trying and trying and trying — going two years, a year and a half, a year, another two years. And keep trying and trying.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Charlie Sheen Shares Moment That Led Him To Become Sober

    Charlie Sheen Shares Moment That Led Him To Become Sober

    “If you can’t be available for the basic necessity of being there for your children, then something really needs to shift,” Sheen explained. 

    Actor Charlie Sheen’s drug use—and sobriety—has been a pursuit held in the public eye for years, but in a recent interview, he shared the very private moment which inspired him to change his life for the better for his family and himself.  

    Speaking with Us Weekly, Sheen said it was a request from his daughter for help, and his inability to provide it due to his inebriated state, that forced him to take a look at his behavior.

    “If you can’t be available for the basic necessity of being there for your children, then something really needs to shift,” he explained. Sheen, who recently reached a year of sobriety, added that he is putting his newfound focus and energy into “daily responsibilities,” including his children and his own health.

    In the interview, Sheen recalled the moment when one of his daughters asked him for help in getting to a pressing appointment. “I’d already had a few drinks,” he said, and was forced to call a friend to take him and his daughter to her destination. On the way back, Sheen said, he began to turn over the situation in his head.

    “On the drive back, I was just like, ‘Damn, man, I’m not available,’” he recalled. “‘I’m just not responsible and there’s no nobility in that.’” Sheen said that after pondering the reality of his condition, he decided to take matters seriously. “It was the next day that I said, ‘All right, it’s time. Let’s give this a shot.’”

    With the help of parents, Martin and Janet Sheen, his ex-wives, and friends, Sheen began to amass days of sobriety. “A month went by, a couple of months went by, I’m like, ‘All right. This feels good,’” he said.

    After marking his year in sobriety in December of 2018, Sheen said that he feels “excited to be excited again,” and has devoted his time and energy to his family and his own well-being.

    As for acting, Sheen told Us Weekly that he would like to do a Two and a Half Men revival to gain “closure” on the series, from which he was fired under a cloud of controversy in its ninth season.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Demi Lovato Celebrates Six Months Of Sobriety

    Demi Lovato Celebrates Six Months Of Sobriety

    Demi Lovato took to Instagram to acknowledge her sober milestone.

    Six months after an overdose led to her hospitalization, singer and actress Demi Lovato is celebrating her recovery. 

    On Friday, Jan. 25, according to People, Lovato shared a photo of her six-month sobriety medallion on her Instagram story. She also shared a photo of a Funfetti dessert from Susiecakes along with a note that read “Happy 6 Mo. We are so f—ing proud of you,” which she captioned “Best day ever.”

    On July 24, 2018, Lovato was reportedly hospitalized after overdosing in her home in Hollywood Hills. According to People, she remained hospitalized for about two weeks before leaving the hospital for an inpatient treatment facility. 

    In August, she posted a message to her Instagram account, which was her first post on social media since the incident.

    “I have always been transparent about my journey with addiction,” she wrote. “What I’ve learned is that this illness is not something that disappears or fades with time. It is something I must continue to overcome and have not done yet. I want to thank God for keeping me alive and well.” 

    “To my fans, I am forever grateful for all of your love and support throughout this past week and beyond. Your positive thoughts and prayers have helped me navigate through this difficult time,” Lovato added.

    In November after leaving treatment, according to People, a source reported that Lovato was focusing on maintaining her recovery after the overdose.

    “Demi seems to be doing well,” the source stated, according to People. “She looks really good and is in a great mood. She also seems happy about being out and about, but her focus is definitely still her recovery. She attends meetings and receives treatment. Her number one priority seems to be her health.”

    Lovato again reached out to her fans on social media in December, when she posted a number of tweets about her recovery. 

    “Someday I’ll tell the world what exactly happened, why it happened and what my life is like today.. but…I still need space and time to heal,” she wrote. “All my fans need to know is I’m working hard on myself, I’m happy and clean and I’m SO grateful for their support. … I’m so blessed I get to take this time to be with family, relax, work on my mind, body and soul and come back when I’m ready.”

    Then, to ring in the New Year, Lovato again posted on her Instagram story and stated she was thankful for the previous year. She reportedly spent the night celebrating with sparkling cider and her sober friend Henry Levy, who, according to People, has been rumored to be her boyfriend.

    “So grateful for the lessons I’ve learned this year,” Lovato wrote. “I will never take another day in life for granted, even the bad ones. Thankful for my fans, friends, family, and everyone who supported me throughout this year. God bless.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Rob Lowe Talks Replacing Alcohol With Exercise

    Rob Lowe Talks Replacing Alcohol With Exercise

    “It became an outlet for all of the tension, stresses, compulsivity. I funneled the addiction, frankly, into that,” said the Parks & Rec actor. 

    More than 28 years ago, actor Rob Lowe hit the gym to convince himself that he didn’t have a substance abuse problem. As long as he could run breakneck sprints—a quarter-mile in 60 seconds—he told himself he was okay, Lowe said in a recent interview with Men’s Health.

    Although he never lost the ability to do the sprints, at some point his alcohol abuse was undeniable. When he got sober 28 years ago he made exercise his coping mechanism. 

    “It became an outlet for all of the tension, stresses, compulsivity,” said Lowe, who got sober when he was 26. “I funneled the addiction, frankly, into that.” 

    Today, workouts are still part of the recovery program that Lowe works every day. His mornings begin with a run or a spin routine, before doing weights or circuit training. He forces himself to be present in the moment, giving himself a mental as well as a physical workout, sans music. 

    “I don’t want to have the smoothie stand. I don’t want to look at beautiful women when I work out. I like the forced mental solitude of it,” said Lowe. “Inevitably, it will force you to start working through things you’re not going to if you’re listening to Jay-Z.”

    His sons, who are 23 and 25, introduced him to surfing, and now he is more skilled at the sport than they are. It appealed to him because it complements his recovery. 

    Lowe said, “You’re always chasing a high that you’re probably not going to ever repeat. Conditions change, so no waves ever just stay the same. Nothing can ever stay the same. Nothing.”

    However, Lowe’s love for exercise isn’t all about high-brow beliefs. He admits that he loves to look good, saying, “Men deny having vanity—that’s the greatest vanity. Not me. I’m vain as fuck.”

    In addition to his workouts, Lowe maintains a strict diet inspired by Atkins. He also does intermittent fasting, replacing breakfast with a mid-morning snack. 

    Lowe, who is now 54, says he feels just as good as he did when he was newly sober in his late twenties. “I feel exactly like that guy,” he said. “And I see him.”

    In 2015, Lowe took to Twitter to celebrate 25 years of sobriety. He wrote, “To those struggling with addiction, there is true, real hope. 25 years ago today, I found recovery; and a life of promise. #Grateful”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Charlie Sheen On Sobriety: It Had To Be Done

    Charlie Sheen On Sobriety: It Had To Be Done

    “I made some changes to give myself a shot to do some cool things professionally. And I’m proud of finally being consistent. And reliable. And noble,” Sheen said.

    Charlie Sheen, who celebrated one year of sobriety in December after one of the most infamous public relapses in recent years, said that getting sober was a necessity. 

    Talking about his announcement of being one year sober, Sheen told Extra, “That was good, that was good, yes, indeed — had to be done, had to be done.” 

    Two weeks before Christmas, Sheen posted a picture of his one-year chip from Alcoholics Anonymous, adding a caption “so, THIS happened yesterday! a fabulous moment, in my renewed journey. #TotallyFocused.”

    He had formerly revealed that he had started drinking and abusing drugs after being diagnosed with HIV in 2012. However, he said that today he is in good health, physically, mentally and emotionally.  

    “I feel good,” he said. 

    Sheen was speaking at the California Strong Celebrity Softball Game, which was organized to help fund recovery efforts from natural disasters, including the fires in California. Sheen said that supporting his community in Malibu was important to him. 

    He said, “It’s where I grew up, been here since, jeez, 1970.”

    Sheen told Us Weekly, “I made some changes to give myself a shot to do some cool things professionally. And I’m proud of finally being consistent. And reliable. And noble.”

    Before his diagnosis of HIV, Sheen had been sober for 11 years, so he knows that long-term sobriety is possible, he said during an interview with Dr. Oz in 2016. 

    “There was a stretch where I didn’t drink for 11 years. No cocaine, no booze for 11 years. So I know that I have that in me,” he said, according to People.

    Despite his long-term sobriety, Sheen said that he didn’t have adequate healthy coping mechanisms to help him deal with his HIV diagnosis and the worries about what the disease would mean for his life. 

    “It was the only tool I had at the time, so I believed that would quell a lot of that angst. A lot of that fear. And it only made it worse,” he said. “It was to suffocate the anxiety and what my life was going to become with this condition and getting so numb I didn’t think about it.”

    Sheen’s father, Martin Sheen, who is in recovery from alcoholism, has spoken publicly about how hard it was to watch his son relapse, knowing there was nothing he could do to intervene. 

    “What he was going through, we were powerless to do much, except to pray for him and lift him up,” Martin Sheen said in 2015.

    However, he said that his experience with addiction has helped him to understand what his son was going through in active addiction. 

    “The best way to heal is to help healing someone else, and it takes one to know one, so you can appreciate what someone’s going through if you’ve gone there yourself,” Martin Sheen said. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Steven Tyler, Jason Isbell & Other Sober Musicians Share Their Stories

    Steven Tyler, Jason Isbell & Other Sober Musicians Share Their Stories

    A group of famous sober musicians discussed their past addictions and getting sober for a new GQ profile.

    Famous musicians aren’t known for being a sober bunch, and yet many successful musicians are in recovery. Recently a group of sober musicians spoke with GQ about how they are surviving and thriving in recovery.

    Joe Walsh, 71, guitarist for The Eagles, said that even after decades of Alcoholics Anonymous he still lives day by day.  

    “I have 25 years of sobriety,” he said. “But the important thing is, I haven’t had a drink today.”

    Aerosmith’s frontman Steven Tyler, 70, said that his experience with drugs started with marijuana. 

    “I grew up in the woods listening to the wind. It was just the silence and Mother Nature, no one around—it was an awful lot of magic there,” he said. When I started smoking weed, in ’65, ’66, it kind of enhanced those magic feelings.”

    Walsh said he turned to drugs to help him ease symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder and Asperger’s. The relief was instant, he said.

    “I felt like Superman onstage, and I played that way. I thought cocaine and alcohol was the combination, and it was just a kid trying to feel better. And I chased that initial solution to my problems for 30 years or so,” he said. 

    Tyler said that living the rockstar lifestyle made drugs feel like a natural part of life. 

    “You have a shot of Jack Daniel’s and you play Madison Square Garden and you get offstage and you go clubbing with Jimmy Page—come on,” he said. “After two encores in Madison Square Garden, you don’t go and play shuffleboard. Or Yahtzee, you know? You go and rock the fuck out. You’ve done something that you never thought you could, and you actually think that you are a super-being.”

    Over time, however, the drug use came to interfere with the art, Tyler said. 

    “It absolutely works for a while. But then things go wrong. You become addicted, it’s something you do all the time, and suddenly it starts influencing your greatness,” he said. 

    Still, Tyler was afraid that getting sober would affect his work. 

    “I thought I would lose my creativity,” he said. 

    Singer-songwriter Jason Isbell, 39, said that before he got sober he told himself he was afraid he would lose his art. However, he realized afterward that he was making excuses. 

    “Now I know what was really scaring me was just the thought of getting sober,” he said. “The addiction in your brain, that’s a tricky son of a bitch. It had me convinced for a long time that I wasn’t going to enjoy my life, that nobody was going to enjoy being around me if I wasn’t raising hell all the time.”

    View the original article at thefix.com