Roxan McDonald is a writer, teacher, workshop facilitator, coach, public speaker, and creator of @spiritual_af. She currently leads writing and personal development retreats and co-teaches with poet Ellen Bass, author of The Courage to Heal, at 1440 Multiversity and Esalen Institute.   Roxan is the author of the inspirational decks Spiritual AF and Grateful AF published by Knock Knock Inc, where she brings her own wit and unique style to gratitude and self-help. Her short stories, memoir excerpts, and poetry have been published in The Porter Gulch Review.   Roxan got sober when she was fifteen years old and currently has 28 years of recovery. She was in the inaugural class of the world’s first and longest running clean and sober high school (this was fascinating to hear about!), and after graduating, Roxan went on to become the director of the school. She spent fourteen years working on the front lines of addiction and trauma recovery. If you deal with addiction, vices, or unproductive obsessive behavior, there are serious gems for you in this episode.   I was humbled and floored hearing her talk about her own addiction and recovery – the gratitude she has for her vices was amazing and birthed an entirely new perspective (for me) around relapses and the psychology of addiction.   She shares an incredibly touching story about her near-death experience on a river – there’s way more to it, but I’ll just leave it at that for now. It had me nearly speechless so I don’t want to ruin it or do it an injustice by spoiling any part of it.   Connect with me:
IG/Twitter: @ashrothstein
www.ashleyrothstein.com
Think you would be a good fit for the podcast? Send me an email with your story.
[email protected]
 
Connect with Roxan:
IG: @spiritual_af
Facebook: Spiritual AF
Upcoming speaking event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-space-4-grace-womens-storytelling-event-tickets-60088417073
Upcoming retreat: https://mexchicretreats.regfox.com/spirtual-af
Her decks: https://knockknockstuff.com/pages/search-results-page?q=af+decks