Welcome to the Off the Stool Podcast, where we share our experience, strength and hope to help listeners navigate their next chapter after recovery. Our guest today is Ariel K, an addict and alcoholic in recovery. August 8th of 2022 will mark Ariel’’s 2 year sobriety. She tells how she had her first drink on her 21st birthday, and then started drinking excessively when she lived in San Diego. She shares her story, and how becoming pregnant and the pandemic finally pushed her to sobriety.

When Ariel lived in San Diego, drinking was easy. She was able to walk to work and started drinking on weekends, after work and at lunch. This continued until she moved to Arizona with her family, and then she drank even more because she didn’t like living there. When she found out that she was pregnant, she stopped drinking completely. Ariel said the first few days and weeks of knowing she was pregnant, she coped by taking care of all five of her cats. Every time she wanted to smoke or drink, she would brush all five cats and give them a drink. She also stayed busy by focusing on self-improvement, changing routines and learning. Ariel joined a mom group through Zoom and gave all her alcohol away to a friend. She wasn’t thinking about how long she had been without a drink, but instead she was thinking of how far along she was. Around 7 months, this changed and she started counting down to when she could have a drink. It was then her therapist suggested she started attending virtual AA meetings.

Her first year being a mom was during COVID, so she was stuck at home with a baby and went to a weekly Zoom meeting with her friends and family, where she showed off the baby on camera. She said she was forced to deal with her addictions and did a lot of therapy. She would get on Zoom with the mom or the AA group to share each other’s company. She did not go into a place with alcohol until she was 17 months sober, fully in recovery and with a great sponsor. Ariel states that if it wasn’t for the pandemic, she wouldn't have gotten sober.

Now, Ariel is working on step 4 and is thankful that she’s on the journey. She says that her recovery is never going to be over, but will be a constant process of starting a step all over again. She realized how short our lives are and she doesn’t want to waste it. She’s resolved to never go back to the old Ariel and to stay golden. Ariel’s advice for anyone in recovery would be to keep going to meetings until you know if that one is the right place, the right help and the right connections for you. One thing she never expected was how much of a family she would build from AA and how close she would become to everyone in the group. She says that distance, time zone, and age range doesn't matter. Each one of them will be there for you and support you in whatever way you need. She now has the most amount of love and support she's ever had in her life. Ariel is thankful for her life, her husband and her kids, and can’t wait to receive that two year chip!

Thanks to Ariel for sharing her story with us today!