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Long story short I grew up near the Canadian Rockies. I got married and moved to NYC. Away from everything I knew. Away from everyone I knew. To say that I had culture shock is an understatement. I found a teaching position at a small private school in Manhattan. I went back to school. I graduated with my master’s in education and then went back for my doctorate. I had two children.
And all that time something just wasn’t right.
I was home alone with two children under the age of three, my husband was traveling all the time, and I was teaching part-time and working on my doctorate the rest of the time. I started hiding my feelings and my desires and just went on working head down and full steam ahead. I was isolated from friends and family. I knew a couple of moms, but not any that I was connected to in anyway.
Some of the memoirs/self-help books were hard to relate to because I didn’t have a dramatic rock bottom. I didn’t end up with a DUI, or court-mandated rehab or AA, there was no dramatic crash landing that they could make a Lifetime movie about. I wasn’t doing coke and partying hard in clubs in Manhattan or LA, nor did I have some crazy high-powered job that caused me to drink a lot to hide the stress.
I was just a mom, alone on her couch, drinking a bottle of wine every night.
Deep down I was looking for some sort of plan, or some sort of checklist that I could maybe work through. I wanted to find a way out.
And, that’s what happened with sketchbooking. It became my way out. I needed something to sort my thoughts out, I need something to distract me from drinking, I needed something to fill up my weekends when my kids weren’t around.
I wanted the chance to create a path or a journey or a roadmap that made sense to me. Something that I could really grab onto and that I could find my way out of here. I was looking for support, for validation, or a sense that someone could tell me – “I used to be just like you and now I’m here. Things will get better.”
Now it’s my turn to be there for you. I’m here to say things will get better. That making the radically life-altering decision to quit drinking will open possibilities you never even knew were there. I haven’t met you yet, but I’m already in your corner.
