Ten years of sobriety
September is National Recovery Month, and this year it lines up with a milestone for our Co-Founder and COO, Becky Calderon: ten years sober. We sat down to talk about what got her here, and what she would say to anyone at the beginning of the climb.
The moment it shifted
For Becky, there was a day when she hit an exhaustion that felt like a floor. "I was drunk and I was exhausted. I can't live like this anymore." Something in that sentence broke the loop.
What keeps you sober
- Understanding why you were drinking, not just that you were
- Remembering the worst days, on purpose, so you do not drift
- Protecting clarity like it is a job
The best thing sobriety gave you
Becky points to a moment with her father before his dementia progressed. She had three months sober. He told her he was proud. That is the kind of small moment that rebuilds a life.
Advice for someone struggling with addiction
She is blunt about this: the addiction is not really the problem. The trauma underneath it is. For her, a thirteen-week program called Houses of Healing helped her actually look at childhood pain she had been numbing for decades. You cannot outrun it. You can learn to sit with it.
Advice for the families
Loving someone in addiction is brutal. Becky's guidance: "All you can do is support, love them, and just let them find their way." Stay present. Do not burn down your own life trying to rescue theirs.
What life looks like now
She describes her former life as a blur of hiding. Her life now is the opposite. Plain daylight. Real conversations. Peace of mind. That is what ten years buys you, one day at a time.