I sometimes wonder if the sobriety from the men and the booze is another symptom of perimenopause. That’s a little simplistic, but it’s interesting that these phases of life are bookended by big hormonal changes. Just another contributing factor, I guess.
I did read “We are the Luckiest,” and it is for sure on my list of books worth talking about. Annie Grace’s book is more of a self-help book and less memoir than McKowen’s book, but I love them both.
Add me to the list of people “This Naked Mind” has helped. I am (newly) sober because of that book. A true life changer for me. Wish I had discovered it sooner.
Go ask Alice- I forgot all about that book! It was perpetually checked out of my high school library. All my friends read it. I’m going to re read it and see what I think about it now- plus I can’t really remember the actual story 30 years later 😂.
I did not read Annie’s book but I did the 30 day alcohol experiment and that is how I quit drinking. It didn’t feel as heavy or scary as other programs. I’ve also listened to a bunch of the podcasts. She’s amazing.
Thanks for this Julie and I cannot wait for your book! Do we have an estimate of when it might be ready?
It’s really a beautiful thing how many people have been helped by Annie Grace. I binged those podcast episodes in early sobriety. It was so comforting to hear how very ordinary it was to struggle with alcohol.
I’m getting my final edits back on the 31st of this month! I have a publication date of October 1 that I’m shooting for, but I will have early copies for kickstarter backers before then, probably in September.
Fantastic post, Julie. I agree that Go Ask Alice didn't have it's intended effect on me. Like the DARE program, I became more curious about drugs not less.
And those journals are such a gift! When writing my memoir, I was able to read dozens of journals I kept ass a kid - all in a tub in my basement. I never knew why I was keeping them. Moving apartment to apartment over the years, I always had a tub of journals I just couldn't get rid of. And finally when I decided to write my book in my 40s, I realized why. Reading them providing such great insight into the boy obsession and mindset of the depressed kid wanting to dabble with drugs. I've gifted journals to all my neices through the years hoping they write and keep them as well. What a gift to yourself to be able to look back and reflect decades later. 🙌
Right? We used to wear DARE T-shirts as a joke when I got into high school-actually used it as a winky signal to let the other kids who were experimenting know that we were all on the same team. Man that’s wonderful that you had so many journals. I wish I had more. I feel such tenderness toward my teenage self when I read mine. I think they helped me have more empathy and understanding as a parent when my daughter was going through it too. Great thing is now we both journal. I love how you can write the most mundane thing in a journal and when you find it years later, it’s like a buried treasure.
Oh I love where you are going with this! I can’t wait to see what book lands next (and where!) on the scale.
Ooof- to go back to 1994 and read my own words. I wish I held onto that stuff. My mom likes to remind me that I kept a notebook with charts of the *exact* outfit I wore to school each day. Because, {*shudder*😱} if I wore the same outfit in one week, blasphemy!
I did win “best dressed” in the 8th grade yearbook superlatives so mission accomplished. I tell this to my kids now and they are like, what? Superlatives? I know, now we give every kid a trophy. Hard to imagine there ever was such a thing.
I leap frogged right from caring too much about my clothes to caring too much about boys and alcohol and pot. I have a vivid memory of reading Go Ask Alice in my school library during study hall. I took copious notes.
This line from your journal: “Please help me to at least do good in school. It’s the only way I can please my mom now” wow. As kids we just want so badly to please our parents. This broke my heart a little.
Allison hahah! Like Cher from Clueless with the outfit charts. I love that so much.
We need to do a check-in on everyone who read Go Ask Alice during puberty. I think there are a lot of us, and I think we all ended up dabbling in drug culture.
The funny thing about what I said about my mom is that it isn’t true. My mom is the sweetest most pleased-with-me person I’ve ever met. She just wanted me to stop ditching school and doing drugs! I thought I had to be perfect, and if I couldn’t be perfect, I would just be bad.
Right? It’s the not wanting to that has all the power. No white-knuckling because there’s nothing attractive about it anymore. It’s like she shows you the magic trick that alcohol plays on you frame by frame and you’re like, ‘Okay, that’s dumb, I can’t believe I was fooled by it for so long.’
"would I have been inspired to do that with my life instead of riding the men and alcohol up and down the scales of my mood? "
"riding the men and the alcohol." Yep
I loved this essay, Julie. The teenage angst and anger, but the journal! It's like you are writing your prayers in there.
I have not read Annie Grace. My quit lit intro and bible was and is, Laura McKowen's "We are the Luckiest."
I sometimes wonder if the sobriety from the men and the booze is another symptom of perimenopause. That’s a little simplistic, but it’s interesting that these phases of life are bookended by big hormonal changes. Just another contributing factor, I guess.
I did read “We are the Luckiest,” and it is for sure on my list of books worth talking about. Annie Grace’s book is more of a self-help book and less memoir than McKowen’s book, but I love them both.
Add me to the list of people “This Naked Mind” has helped. I am (newly) sober because of that book. A true life changer for me. Wish I had discovered it sooner.
Same.
Go ask Alice- I forgot all about that book! It was perpetually checked out of my high school library. All my friends read it. I’m going to re read it and see what I think about it now- plus I can’t really remember the actual story 30 years later 😂.
I did not read Annie’s book but I did the 30 day alcohol experiment and that is how I quit drinking. It didn’t feel as heavy or scary as other programs. I’ve also listened to a bunch of the podcasts. She’s amazing.
Thanks for this Julie and I cannot wait for your book! Do we have an estimate of when it might be ready?
It’s really a beautiful thing how many people have been helped by Annie Grace. I binged those podcast episodes in early sobriety. It was so comforting to hear how very ordinary it was to struggle with alcohol.
I’m getting my final edits back on the 31st of this month! I have a publication date of October 1 that I’m shooting for, but I will have early copies for kickstarter backers before then, probably in September.
How exciting!! I cannot wait!
Fantastic post, Julie. I agree that Go Ask Alice didn't have it's intended effect on me. Like the DARE program, I became more curious about drugs not less.
And those journals are such a gift! When writing my memoir, I was able to read dozens of journals I kept ass a kid - all in a tub in my basement. I never knew why I was keeping them. Moving apartment to apartment over the years, I always had a tub of journals I just couldn't get rid of. And finally when I decided to write my book in my 40s, I realized why. Reading them providing such great insight into the boy obsession and mindset of the depressed kid wanting to dabble with drugs. I've gifted journals to all my neices through the years hoping they write and keep them as well. What a gift to yourself to be able to look back and reflect decades later. 🙌
Looking forward to your scale and book reviews.
Right? We used to wear DARE T-shirts as a joke when I got into high school-actually used it as a winky signal to let the other kids who were experimenting know that we were all on the same team. Man that’s wonderful that you had so many journals. I wish I had more. I feel such tenderness toward my teenage self when I read mine. I think they helped me have more empathy and understanding as a parent when my daughter was going through it too. Great thing is now we both journal. I love how you can write the most mundane thing in a journal and when you find it years later, it’s like a buried treasure.
Oh I love where you are going with this! I can’t wait to see what book lands next (and where!) on the scale.
Ooof- to go back to 1994 and read my own words. I wish I held onto that stuff. My mom likes to remind me that I kept a notebook with charts of the *exact* outfit I wore to school each day. Because, {*shudder*😱} if I wore the same outfit in one week, blasphemy!
I did win “best dressed” in the 8th grade yearbook superlatives so mission accomplished. I tell this to my kids now and they are like, what? Superlatives? I know, now we give every kid a trophy. Hard to imagine there ever was such a thing.
I leap frogged right from caring too much about my clothes to caring too much about boys and alcohol and pot. I have a vivid memory of reading Go Ask Alice in my school library during study hall. I took copious notes.
This line from your journal: “Please help me to at least do good in school. It’s the only way I can please my mom now” wow. As kids we just want so badly to please our parents. This broke my heart a little.
I loved this post Julie!!!
Allison hahah! Like Cher from Clueless with the outfit charts. I love that so much.
We need to do a check-in on everyone who read Go Ask Alice during puberty. I think there are a lot of us, and I think we all ended up dabbling in drug culture.
The funny thing about what I said about my mom is that it isn’t true. My mom is the sweetest most pleased-with-me person I’ve ever met. She just wanted me to stop ditching school and doing drugs! I thought I had to be perfect, and if I couldn’t be perfect, I would just be bad.
Us people pleasers, our whole vision gets skewed! Especially in adolescence!
Love, love, love your Quit-Litmus Scale! This Naked Mind played a paramount role in my choice to stop drinking, and to not even want to drink anymore.
Right? It’s the not wanting to that has all the power. No white-knuckling because there’s nothing attractive about it anymore. It’s like she shows you the magic trick that alcohol plays on you frame by frame and you’re like, ‘Okay, that’s dumb, I can’t believe I was fooled by it for so long.’