https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Aqz8mwtHZE I want to share something personal with this community. I didn’t set out to make some big declaration or find a miracle solution. Honestly, I’d tried not drinking before—many times. Some stretches worked. Most didn’t. Like a lot of you, I had a long list of “almosts.” About a year ago, I decided to give not drinking another shot. No big promises. No dramatic reset. Just… another honest attempt. Around the same time—almost by accident—I went on tirzepatide for weight loss. There was no master plan. No research paper in my head. Just two parallel decisions that happened to overlap. My philosophy this time was simple:Keep the things that worked before.Ditch the rest. Meetings helped in the past — I kept the mindset.White-knuckling didn’t — I let that go.Shame never worked — gone.Trying to out-think cravings — also gone. What surprised me was this:tirzepatide turned out to be the missing piece I didn’t know I was missing. Not in a magical way.Not in a “problem solved” way. But the constant noise… quieted. The mental bargaining.The obsessive loop.The background pull that made everything feel harder than it needed to be. For the first time, it felt like I had real choice, not just willpower. I’m approaching a year without alcohol now. That still feels strange to say out loud. There’s a lot to be grateful for — clarity, health, relationships, presence. And right now, I’m writing this from Thailand, which is something I honestly don’t think I would’ve been doing a year ago in the same way. I’m not saying this is the answer.I’m not saying it’s for everyone.And I’m definitely not saying medication replaces growth, support, or honesty. What I am saying is this:Maybe some of us weren’t broken.Maybe we were just fighting with the volume turned all the way up. *** Check out the video I shared — it does a great job explaining what’s happening in the brain and why this conversation matters.

- I’m grateful for the people in my life who show up with honesty, humor, and love. The friends who pick up the phone, call me out when I need it, and remind me I don’t have to do this life alone. - I’m grateful for my family—the ones who’ve seen every version of me and still choose to stand by me. Their support gives me stability when my mind wants to drift. - I’m grateful for my dogs, who teach me unconditional love every single day. They don’t care about my past, my résumé, or my mistakes—they just love me because I’m theirs. And that kind of love heals things I didn’t even know were broken. - I’m grateful for my heart—its resilience, its ability to come back from chaos, its capacity to give and receive, even after everything it’s pushed through. It keeps opening, keeps learning, keeps softening. - I’m grateful for my Higher Power—for the quiet nudges, the second chances, the reset button, the strength I can tap into when I stop trying to run the show myself. That connection keeps me grounded and sane.