Hello World!
Tough times don’t last, tough people do. – Robert Schuller
My name is Ciana ‘Ci’, and I am an alcoholic. I’ve struggled with addiction for most of my life. As a teenager I experimented with drugs and alcohol but was always able to stop using drugs without any significant withdrawals or impact. Alcohol on the other hand, was not so easy.
I’ve maintained sobriety in the past for long periods of time but always given in to ‘one drink’. For those of us suffering from addiction you know that one drink is too many, and one more is never enough. I wanted this time to be different, I needed this time to be different, because no matter how much I lied to myself and tried to lie to everyone else, I could see the effects in every aspect of my life.
So, I went to rehab! I started journaling as part of my daily routine in rehab. I kept thinking about something I heard there that really resonated with me. I watched a recording of Brene Brown who said, “One day you will tell your story of how you overcame what you went through, and it will be someone else’s survival guide.” I don’t know if this blog will become someone else’s survival guide or just my journal to reflect back on later, I will be stronger for it either way.
May you be sober and happy always! Ci
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12 Promises of Drinking
8.3.25 I don’t have much to say today—for once. But something someone shared at the meeting gave me goosebumps. It was a twist on the 12 Promises from the Big Book. Instead of what we gain in sobriety, these were the “12 Promises of Drinking.” Are these extravagant promises? We think not! They are being
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Where My Feet Are
8.2.25 My daughter is out of town, so I had some quiet time and got to spend part of my day with Chevy. I like to call it “horse therapy.” There’s something incredibly grounding about being outside with the horses—their calm presence, the open space, the stillness. It gives me room to breathe, to think,
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Recovery Quilt
8.1.25 Today’s reading in Twenty-Four Hours a Day talked about how AA draws from medicine, psychiatry, and religion. That reminded me how recovery itself is rarely just one thing. When I got sober, I was desperate—and that desperation cracked me open in the best way. It gave me the willingness to try anything that might
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Time Takes Time
7.31.25 Part of the July 31 Daily Reflection reads: “By accepting life as it is, I gain serenity. By taking action, I gain courage, and I thank God for the ability to distinguish between the situations I can work on, and those I must turn over.” I don’t remember when I first heard the Serenity