I Was A Corporate Lawyer With A Serious Cocaine Addiction
THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED ON REFINERY29.COM. Excerpted from Girl Walks Out Of A Bar: A Memoir. At about 2:00 p.m. one Friday, I rushed into my office at a law firm high above Times Square to call in my cocaine order for the weekend. I needed to beat the rush. I locked my office door behind […]
Freedom From Addiction Interviews Lisa F. Smith, Author of “Girl Walks Out of a Bar”
THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED ON FREEDOMFROMADDICTION.COM. Lisa F. Smith is a writer and lawyer in New York City with more than 12 years of sobriety from alcohol and cocaine. Now the Deputy Executive Director of a Manhattan law firm, she previously practiced corporate finance law at a leading international law firm. Smith is a graduate […]
How to Deal With Depression in Sobriety
THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED ON AFTER PARTY MAGAZINE. Almost 12 years ago, when I walked out the door of the detox unit after five days, I felt relief. In addition to alcoholism and cocaine addiction, I had been diagnosed with “Major Depressive Disorder” and put on an antidepressant. The detox doctor explained that my round-the-clock […]
My Gateway Drug Could Have Been Anything
THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED ON AFTER PARTY MAGAZINE. As a kid, when adults warned me about the dangers of “gateway drugs,” I imagined the pearly gates of heaven manned by a skeleton in a black robe beckoning me with a bony finger. If I dared to take just one puff of pot, I would find […]
Goodbye to New Year’s Resolutions
THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED ON AFTER PARTY MAGAZINE. Before I got sober, I never met a New Year’s resolution I didn’t consider. If a magazine screamed “This New Year, Go From Fat to Fit in 30 Days,” I bought it. If a talk show claimed to teach me how to get organized, save money or […]
Getting Through Emotional Hangovers
THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED ON AFTER PARTY MAGAZINE. One of the best things about getting sober was no longer waking up sick to my stomach with a throbbing head and major regrets about the night before. I was thrilled to put hangovers in the rearview mirror. That is, of course, until I experienced my first […]
Telling on Myself in 12-Step Meetings
THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED ON AFTER PARTY MAGAZINE. At my first few 12-step meetings, what people were willing to share about life before they got sober fascinated me. Whenever a story started about a weeklong bender or a dramatic showdown with family, I leaned forward in my chair and furrowed my brow, intent on not […]
Tips for Surviving the Holidays Sober
THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED ON AFTER PARTY MAGAZINE. On the day before Halloween, I walked into a stationery store to grab a birthday card. I expected the place to be filled with season-appropriate fake cobwebs, cardboard black cats and plastic jack-o-lanterns. I was wrong. The witches and goblins had been shunted to a back corner […]
My 12 Steps: Step 5
This article first appeared on Addiction.com. “Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.” While those of us going through a 12-step program can talk through step five with anyone we trust, I chose my sponsor, as do many people in recovery. As a fellow alcoholic/addict, she […]
Three 12-Step Slogans That Really Should Exist
THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED ON ADDICTION.COM. Twelve-step programs are full of slogans meant to help people get and stay sober. When I first started going to meetings, I rolled my eyes at some of them: “Live and Let Live.” “Easy Does It.” “First Things First.” What? I thought. I just wanted to stop drinking and using […]