The funny thing about life is it doesn’t operate within the confines of any plans, hopes, or dreams. What’s not so funny is trying to crawl out of a hole that was created by a mixture of choices, circumstances, and unfortunate timing. Throw in a little bit of Murphy’s Law and the hole gets deeper and you lose a shovel. My name is Caitlin, and this is exactly where I was a year ago. I started drinking when I was 30 after life, and circumstances got tough, and I quickly drank my way into liver disease. Within three years of drinking, I was given the news that I was stage 4 and considered terminal. I decided I might as well keep drinking and built up a rather impressive collection of bad decisions and tickets to prove it. I felt physically broken and mentally hopeless. At a certain point, I decided I wanted to get help, but I didn’t know where to start; all I knew was that I wanted things to change. Over time, that desire turned into action, and I began looking for support from people I knew were in recovery. It’s not always perfect, but life is continually growing beautifully. 

I am so excited about how much life has changed for me. I have been in recovery for about six months. Every day seems a little bit easier. Things are less chaotic, relationships are growing or slowly repairing, and I have so much newfound joy in all the little things. 

In a perfect world, we would all learn from each others’ mistakes, but since we don’t, I want to keep sharing my experiences and lessons learned and remind people that a happy and meaningful life can exist; you just have to choose it.