Every morning, we have a choice. We can retreat into our thoughts, resist our circumstances, or take one small action that moves us toward recovery. In today's episode, I share how waking up with chronic pain and dizziness after my stroke reminds me of the difficult mornings I experienced before sobriety. I also open up about how grief has recently led me to withdraw and how returning to my podcast helped me reconnect with myself and others. Recovery has taught me that action doesn't always mean physical movement. Sometimes it's letting go, accepting what I cannot change, asking for help, or simply choosing not to fight reality. We don't have to feel better before we begin to change. We don't have to be motivated, and we certainly don't have to figure out the entire day. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779</a> New products available! Visit my Recovery Upcycling Etsy shop here: <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling">https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling</a>

Into Action Upon Awakening

What if fear and pain aren't tests of our sobriety, but opportunities to practice our faith? In today's episode, I share how the debilitating anxiety I experienced after my stroke challenged everything I thought I knew about surrender, control, and trusting a Power greater than myself. I reflect on the importance of facing our fears, asking for help, and taking the next right action. I also share a powerful image that helps me through difficult moments trusting that I will be caught when I fall. Living with chronic pain, disability, and anxiety doesn't mean my recovery is failing. Faith isn't about eliminating fear or guaranteeing that tomorrow will be okay. It's learning to find peace in the moment we're living right now. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779</a> New products available! Visit my Recovery Upcycling Etsy shop here: <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling">https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling</a>

Falling Backward Into Faith: Learning to Trust Through Fear and Pain

How do we come to believe in something greater than ourselves, especially when we don't fully understand what we're believing in? In today's episode, I reflect on how a simple willingness to believe helped me get sober and later became one of my greatest sources of strength after my stroke. I share how faith began as a possibility, grew through consistently choosing the next right thing, and eventually became a way of life. I also explore how our understanding of God may reflect our own values, why faith continues to evolve, and how believing in something greater than myself has opened my eyes to our connection with one another. I'm still coming to believe, and perhaps that's the beauty of faith. I don't need all the answers to find hope, acceptance, and peace. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779</a> New products available! Visit my Recovery Upcycling Etsy shop here: <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling">https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling</a>

How Did I Come to Believe? From Willingness to Faith

Recovery has given me practices that act like bumpers, keeping me from drifting too close to the edge. Meetings, prayer, meditation, reaching out to others, service, creativity, and connection all help keep me in the middle, not only of my sobriety, but of my mental, emotional, and spiritual recovery. Today, with Boris cuddling up on my lap, I talk about the small choices I make to stay connected to recovery: prioritizing AA instead of trying to squeeze it into my life, reaching out when someone crosses my mind, finding new ways to connect with my fellowship, and using this podcast as a form of service. I also share how a  conversation about art reminded me that recovery and creativity don't have to live in separate parts of my life. Staying in the middle is continuing to build a life filled with the people, practices, and passions that keep me grounded. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779</a> New products available! Visit my Recovery Upcycling Etsy shop here: <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling">https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling</a>

Staying in the Middle of My Recovery

I heard someone say this morning, “I’m an actor, and I’m trying to fix the lights on me.” And immediately I thought: That’s it.How often am I trying to control the entire production instead of simply playing my part? In this episode of Recovery Daily, I talk about surrender, acceptance, willingness, and trusting God’s plan when I don’t particularly like the journey. Sobriety and stroke recovery have both taught me that I don’t have to understand the route before I trust who I’m traveling it with. Sometimes the next right thing means changing my perception. Sometimes it means setting a boundary, doing something differently, or getting uncomfortable enough to stop repeating what isn’t working. And sometimes it means doing absolutely nothing and allowing things to unfold without my interference. I have to choose differently before I can feel differently. Because nothing changes unless something changes, and that change usually begins with willingness. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779</a> New products available! Visit my Recovery Upcycling Etsy shop here: <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling">https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling</a>

Trusting the Plan When I Don’t Like the Journey

I used to believe grieving meant stopping my life to get over a loss, resolve it, let it go, and figure out how to make it hurt less. But, I’m learning that we instead carry grief while we continue to live. We respond to loss in very different ways and none of them are wrong. Today I reflected on a loss from my younger years that I held onto for far too long. I had made an immature decision all those years ago to never let go. I understand more today that letting go doesn’t mean letting go of the person, the love, or the memories. Instead, it is letting go of the pain and holding on to the memories and energy that serve me in my life. I can allow grief to hurt and still laugh. I can remember someone and still make plans for tomorrow. And even when I am powerless over what has happened, I can still choose where I anchor my thoughts. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779</a> New products available! Visit my Recovery Upcycling Etsy shop here: <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling">https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling</a>

Holding Grief With a Gentle Grip: Learning to Carry What I Cannot Change

What happens when you desperately want to show up for someone you love, but your disability makes it unsafe to do so? Facing the reality as someone I care about enters hospice, my first instinct was, I have to be there. I am fast forwarding the tape and want to be present for friends and family. Forcing myself through though is very different from being able to do it safely without painful consequences. I must consider whether showing up will be difficult or harmful. Guilt, grief, and fear is the parallel challenge if I focus on the idea that others will mistake my absence for a lack of love. Acceptance is required to make decisions based on my actual capacity rather than what I think I should be able to do. I can still show up when I can't physically be there. I may have lost one way of showing up, but I haven't lost my ability to show love. I’m accepting that love can look different within the life I have today. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779</a> New products available! Visit my Recovery Upcycling Etsy shop here: <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling">https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling</a>

When Disability Means I Can’t Be There

Accepting myself exactly where I am is the very thing that allows me to change? Reflecting on Carl Rogers’ “curious paradox” of acceptance, it resonates so much to both my sobriety and stroke recovery. Last night I reached my cognitive and physical limit while trying to make one of my world famous dinners. 😉 I asked my husband to step in for the last part. The energy I would have wasted if I argued with reality, would not have left me with energy to eat. Accepting today’s capacity actually gives me more choices—how can I live fully within today’s reality?  Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779</a> New products available! Visit my Recovery Upcycling Etsy shop here: <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling">https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling</a>

Only Through Acceptance Can We Change

The things I judge most harshly in other people are actually telling me something about myself? It’s uncomfortable to say, but if I’m being honest, I have a tendency to default toward judgment. My recovery program is teaching me how to choose compassion instead. My insecurities, assumptions, invisible struggles, and the illusion that I know why someone behaves the way they do are all fuel for judgment when I don’t stop to examine them. Through Steps 6, 7, and 10, I’m learning to recognize judgment, surrender my need to be right (do I wanna be right, or do I what to be happy?), and practice a different response.  Everyone is shaped by a lifetime of experiences I know nothing about. When I judge their behavior, I’m interpreting it through my own experiences rather than considering theirs. Compassion leaves room for the parts of their story I cannot see. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779</a> Visit my Recovery Upcycling Etsy shop! <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling">https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling</a>

What Judging Others Says About Me

So much of life is outside of my control, but that doesn’t mean I’m without choices. Sobriety taught me how to separate what I can change from what I need to accept or surrender, and stroke recovery has made that practice even more important. I’ve learned how much energy I can waste arguing with reality or having entire arguments inside my own head about things that never happened and may never happen. Today, I’m learning to be more intentional about where my limited energy goes, take action when there is something I can do, and let go when there isn’t. Sometimes recovery is simply bringing myself back to where my feet are and doing the next right thing. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779</a> Visit my Recovery Upcycling Etsy shop! <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling">https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling</a>

Letting Go of the Arguments in My Head

What does it mean to be “right-sized”? Sobriety taught me to see myself, my problems, and my place in the world more accurately. I can make myself too big by trying to control everything, taking responsibility for other people, or believing every interaction is more important than it really is. I can also make myself too small through people-pleasing, insecurity, apologizing for my needs, or shrinking because of my disability. I’m learning to find the balance between the two, including some recent experiences that have challenged me to figure out when to explain my disability and when to simply let myself be. Ultimately, right-sizing reminds me to take responsibility for my part, let God handle what isn’t mine, and focus on the next right thing. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779</a> Visit my Recovery Upcycling Etsy shop! <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling">https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling</a>

What Does Right-Sized Mean? Finding My Place Between Ego and Insecurity

How often am I searching for something I already have? By thinking about what  I believe those things will give me and where might that already exist in my life, I can hold what I desire loosely enough to see what I already have. My words and desires can reveal where my attention is living. Sometimes my “wanter” is so busy looking toward the next thing that I miss seeing the life I once desperately hoped to have is all around me. I’m learning to recognize the gifts while I'm actually living them.  Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779</a> Visit my Recovery Upcycling Etsy shop! <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling">https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling</a>

Seeking What We Already Have

Fear doesn't always look like fear. It can be dressed up as anger, control, denial, depression, bargaining, or perfectionism. After coming to this realization, I try to look beneath the costumes fear wears in my own sobriety and stroke recovery. Losing the ability to drive, accepting permanent changes after stroke, and losing my job to medical retirement all elicited enormous fear. But feelings move, and when I get still enough to recognize them, they can teach me something about myself. It’s important to look at what is underneath the costume, and what tool I have for addressing it. Sometimes I need to take action, ask for help, or simply let the feeling pass without building my whole day around it. This Halloween, keep an eye out for fear when it comes trick-or-treating. You might be surprised by the costume it's wearing. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779</a> Visit my Recovery Upcycling Etsy shop! <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling">https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling</a>

Fear in Disguise

When I say, “Thy will be done, not mine,” I have a tendency to brace myself for whatever bad thing might happen next. But what about all the beautiful things I never planned for either? In this episode, I talk about surrender in a different way—loosening my grip on what I think my life should look like and leaving room for possibilities. Sobriety, stroke recovery, my podcast, writing a book, creativity, and service have all shown me that some of the most meaningful parts of my life came from a plan I never could have made. Maybe I don't need to keep trying to weave the net that's going to catch me. Maybe faith is trusting that the net is already being woven. Today, “Thy will be done, not mine” feels less like preparing for the worst and more like being willing to be surprised. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779</a> Visit my Recovery Upcycling Etsy shop! <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling">https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling</a>

Thy Will Be Done: Leaving Room for What I Cannot See

Knowing what I need to change about my behavior and actually changing are two very different things. Steps 6, 7, and 10 work together to help me recognize old behaviors, surrender my need to control everything, and practice choosing differently. These steps have helped me through sobriety, stroke recovery, relationships, frustration, defensiveness, people-pleasing, and those moments when every instinct in me wants to react the wrong way. I don’t have to be limited by my old instincts. I can become the architect of new ones. Listen to this episode. It’s not just for us recovering drunks 😉 Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779</a> Visit my Recovery Upcycling Etsy shop! <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling">https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling</a>

The Architect of New Instincts: How Steps 6, 7 & 10 Change My Behavior

Anger can color everything we see? In this episode, I talk about the anger and sadness that can come from living a life I never expected—wanting to drive, work, travel, shop, and simply be like everybody else. I’m learning not to compare the life I have today to the life I thought I would have. I share what helps me move through those feelings: “move a muscle, change a thought,” naming what’s underneath the anger, accepting what I can’t control, and getting outside of myself through service. Helping someone else gives me grace for today and hope for tomorrow. I don’t have to know exactly what my future will look like to believe there is happiness ahead. Today is not the entire story. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779</a> Visit my Recovery Upcycling Etsy shop! <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling">https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling</a>

Moving Through Anger, Grief, and Frustration

We all leave something behind in the people we encounter. In this episode, I talk about the fundamental attribution error, our tendency to judge someone’s character without knowing the circumstances behind their behavior, and what stroke recovery has taught me about the things we simply cannot see in other people. I also look at the other side of the ripple: what I put into the water. From Step 10 and sobriety to chronic pain, invisible disability, and one stranger’s comment that got under my skin, I’m learning that I may not control someone else’s behavior, but I do participate in what happens next. Our presence has an impact before we ever say a word. So today I’m asking myself what kind of ripple I am creating. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779</a> Visit my Recovery Upcycling Etsy shop! <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling">https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling</a>

Our Ripple Effect: What Are You Putting Into the Water?

It’s show-n-tell day! Before I head to the Lake of the Woods Fine Arts Show & Sale tomorrow, I’m giving you a peek at what I’ve been creating, from Christmas ornaments made with vintage jewelry to Spoon & Cup Theory bracelets and my newest obsession of handmade junk journals. Everything at my booth has been created with recycled, repurposed, and vintage materials. Recovery has taught me that everyone and everything can change, be reborn, and become something beautiful. Come see what I’ve been making, hear the stories behind some of the pieces, and experience my perhaps slightly excessive excitement about my very first art show. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779</a> Visit my Recovery Upcycling Etsy shop! <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling">https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling</a>

Show-n-Tell Before the Art Show: Recovery Upcycling

After my stroke, there wasn't much room for laughter. My life was consumed by pain, fear, doctors, visual disability, and trying to understand what happened to me and if I’d get better. Over time, thanks to my husband, laughter found its way back in. Laughing at some of the ridiculous moments of life after stroke doesn't minimize what I've lost. I can grieve my limitations and still laugh when my brain plays Mad Libs with my words,  I walk into a room with absolutely no idea why I'm there, or my husband and I pull out our favorite excuse for my humorous mistakes: “Well, I had a stroke.” Humor is another tool in my recovery toolbox. Laughter helps me loosen my grip and stop arguing with reality. It helps me relax. Taking my disability seriously doesn't mean I have to take every moment of my life seriously. My stroke took a lot from me, but it didn't take away my ability to laugh at myself.  Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779</a> Visit my Recovery Upcycling Etsy shop! <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling">https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling</a>

Learning to Laugh Again After Stroke

I wondered what I had left to offer without alcohol in my life. After my stroke, that same fear came back. So much of what I could do had changed that I started questioning what I could still bring to my relationships and my life. I must separate my limitations from my worth, let go of the “I should be able to” thoughts, and stop measuring Rachel 3.0 against the person I was before my stroke. My capacity changes from day to day, and my self-worth can’t change with it. If I want to be happy, I need to do things that make me happy.  Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts: Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779</a> Visit my Recovery Upcycling Etsy shop! <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling">https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcycling</a>

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