By Michael Sargood (aka @HappyWithoutTheHooch on Insta) It’s 11pm at my local pub, The Cliff: a provincial gay bar in the British seaside resort of Southend-on-Sea, UK. My friends have all knocked back a few drinks and the conversation (which just an hour ago was flowing as freely as the beer) has now erupted into a competitive shouting match over the too-loud, autotuned tones of Cher.  Jennie is attempting seduction through the medium of dance but is about as sexy as a pair of Bridget Jones control pants. Bradley’s getting a little heated with a guy who supports a different RuPaul contes ..read more

By Matt Serel   My Truth Eight years ago I overdosed on Oxycodone in a hotel room on a work trip.  I woke up in the hospital ICU unable to breathe, not knowing where I was, or how I got there. I only survived that day because my wife, girlfriend at the time, was nervous that I didn’t answer my phone.  Today, I celebrate eight years sober from drugs and alcohol.  The Outsiders Perspective For those of you who know me professionally or peripherally the fact that I was a junkie for much of my early and mid-twenties may be a surprise to you.   From the outside lo ..read more

Submitted by Thomas Delaney   My name is Thomas Delaney and I’m a former Drug Addict. Today as I type this, I am just over 3 Years Clean & Sober.  Although it was drugs that almost killed me, it wasn’t drugs that were the problem.  Isn’t that an interesting paradox? Unfortunately, I grew up in a household that was immersed by my father’s abusive and callous ways.  You see, sadly my father was and still is vastly entangled with alcoholism & gambling but more notably he’s own demons.  After years of pain and suffering my family and I managed to move away ..read more

I can remember when things started to go downhill. I feel horrible about it even to this day, even though I have learned and prescribed the thought that I can’t change the past. The news had just broken, we were having a baby! In the fall of 2011, my wife and I found out that we were pregnant. I did not react as most happy fathers would. I was disappointed and wanted nothing to do with this news.   We were done, we had our two boys, and that was fine. Landon was five, Jack was two, and we didn’t need any more babies. How could this have happened? She was on birth control, and I was ..read more

For us to be fully human, the child within must be embraced and expressed. Lucia Capacchione We all have open wounds from our childhood that negatively impact us as adults. While we grow up physically, there still exists an inner child within you, dormant and often in fear. Traumatic experiences from our childhood can actually stunt your growth as a human at that particular point of our life.  If we do not go back to those moments and embrace our inner child within, to empathize with what they went through and let them know it’s “okay,” we will always be one rude comment or significant l ..read more

Submitted by Tom Davies I always had a bad relationship with alcohol. One of my first experiences I drank a whole bottle of sambuca as I had no education on alcohol volumes and what was socially acceptable – you can imagine how it ended and wasn’t the best start! Over the next 10 years, I was always known as the “messy” one – and for a long time, I was proud of it. I was the life and soul of the party and felt like I had to live up to the name. Working in London and in sales – both notorious for drinking culture, I was sucked into that way of life more and more each year. Wo ..read more

Submitted by Brooke Like most people, I had a tragic event that happened in my life that triggered me to trying drugs for the first time. At age 14, I lost my only sister in a car wreck. Following my loss I smoked a lot of weed, and I said weed because that is about to become legal. However, I will not list any other drug I used as when you say what you used it gives the glory and power to the substance. After years and years these substances do not have power over me.  Every choice I made – I made myself – no one ever put a gun to my head or forced me to do drugs. Those were all my c ..read more

Submitted by Drew Wild Hey guys, my name is Andrew Wild and my mission is to change the way this planet looks at and approaches addiction.  My desire to create such radical change stems from my own personal experience struggling in the grip of all kinds of vices through out my life.  I started smoking weed at 11 years old and it was one of the first times I really got to feel comfortable in my own body. I didn’t really understand that feeling at the time but I knew I wanted more of it.  I continued to smoke and drink through all of my teens but nothing seemed to be too out o ..read more

Written by Kristen McLaughlin Does it seem like the older we get, the worse the alcohol hangovers become? For many of us who drank alcohol, especially past the age of 40, the morning after becomes a brutal reckoning as we get older.   It’s not just in your head and not just a headache either. There is strong scientific research that hangovers, like everything else as we get older, take longer, become more strenuous and grow more painful as we age.  Full transparency here, I am not a doctor or neurologist, I don’t even work in the medical field. After many years of alcoholic be ..read more

Submitted by Paul M. I have a life which is now based on peace, love, self-love, patience, understanding & so many other beautiful spiritual principles. I have a blessed life, pursuing my dreams & what my heart truly desires. I surround my self with people who truly love me and whom I love. But my life never used to be this way…. My name is Paul, I’m 27 & live in a beautiful part of the world named ‘Somerset, England’ . I started getting into drinking at a very young age and started taking drugs in school. I remember when I was 15, going to Glastonbury festival having what I th ..read more