I never intended to stop drinking.  It was hard enough to not drink on Sundays, especially with the hangover, and brunch with the free cocktail, and of course I had to make sure I got the most out of my weekends.  How could I possibly quit drinking?  Monday I needed to have some beers after [...]

Here I lay in this jail thinking, with eighteen days and supposedly one more day to go, but I doubt it being that Hurricane Irene left such a flood that it most likely will cancel courts in Patterson, New Jersey.

Going back to the day I was arrested I was placed in a cell wishing [...]

My mom always says I was anxious from the instant I was born. As a toddler I would run around like a maniac.  She told me a story about people giving her dirty looks in an elevator one day because I had bruises all over my face.  Really I had bruises because I was constantly [...]

My name is Esther and I am an alcoholic.  My sobriety date is August 11, 2002.  I got sober in New York City when I was 23 years old.  At first, I thought I might be too young to be in the rooms; I had yet to get married, divorced, lose property, etc.

That’s not [...]

by Amber S.
sober since April 11, 2002

Many A.A. groups hang the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions on the wall during meetings, so I was aware of them from the early days of my sobriety, but I was a few years sober before I remember hearing anyone mention the 12 Concepts for World [...]

Sober since: June 20, 2008

My name is Sam J. and I am an addict and an alcoholic. I was born and raised in New York City. My mother is a recovering alcoholic and from a very young age she told me to be careful with alcohol because alcoholism and addiction run very thick in [...]

a poem by Nadia S.

sober since January 16, 2010

I used to spend most of my time struggling,
Straining my mind
All just to find the perfect combination
of good intentions
and bad behaviors,
that would buy me another day
just one more day

to hang out

and [...]

Sober since: December 19, 2004

My name is Vinny and I am an alcoholic and addict. I don’t come from an alcoholic family. I lost my father at a young age and I looked towards the streets to raise me. I guess I was looking for a father figure and most of the people I [...]

Sober since: March 7, 2010

Although my first drink was Halloween of freshman year in high school, my alcoholic behaviors began years before that. As the youngest of four girls, I always felt in the shadows and uncertain of who I was suppose to be. I come from a long history of alcoholism. In my [...]

Sober since: November 25, 2004

I was born in New York City and grew up in Yonkers, a suburb about 15 minutes north of Manhattan. I was the middle child of three, with an older brother and younger sister. My family was typical for the neighborhood; middle-class with a Catholic school education, but had ultra-religious beliefs. [...]