Today meant this in my little corner of the world:

And, as always, I am so grateful.

I don’t “count days” until I get a notification on my phone, like I did today, and this one came when alcohol and substance abuse have been weighing heavily on my mind.

Lately, it seems, when I do get out and about, I’ve been seeing signs like these everywhere:

And when I picked up my old copy of the Tone It Up Nutrition Plan, I discovered all kinds of gymnastics – to the point of ridiculousness – to make room for wine and cocktails and “girls nights,” based on the assumption that all “TIU girls” just can’t live without them.

And then I got a notification on my phone about the concerning increase in American alcohol consumption:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/americans-alcohol-study_us_598dcce8e4b09071f69932fd

Good grief.

I’m not saying that everyone who drinks has a problem by any means; what I am saying is that, overall, alcohol is becoming more of a societal problem.

What’s worse, often when a person does feel the need to stop drinking, they are made to feel abnormal because (see the above sign) alcohol abuse is normalized in our culture.

Where a person is not expected to have any tolerance for any other drug, they are expected to be “able to hold their liquor” despite the fact that alcohol is a drug, a neurotoxin, and a carcinogen.

I don’t mean to be the Debbie Downer here – and I am done for now – but, before I go on, as always, if you need help, it is available in many forms. Please take it. Don’t wait until your life is completely out of control. If you sense it’s a problem, the time to stop is now.

And, of course, I don’t know much, but my ears are always open, I make a mean cup of hot chocolate, and I give great hugs.

For me, in these last 150 days, I’ve had some serious health problems that just couldn’t be avoided and it has been really stressful.

However, when I stopped drinking, the doors opened to a big expansive beautiful life, even with my health problems, and I’m getting to do some wonderful things with my down time.

• I’m continuing working through my program at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and still absolutely love it.
• I enrolled in a class to be certified in Natural Holistic Remedies as well as one in Aromatherapy.
• My daughter and I have continued to work on our business and are rebranding it. Tonight we designed our logo and planned our upcoming events to promote it. Not only do I love sharing oils with people, it is so amazing to get to do all of this with her. Such a blessing.

We also started a Facebook page for our business to share daily wellness tips and ideas. Just really good stuff.

Finally, I am looking forward to some writing opportunities that have come up this fall as well. Writing is a lifelong passion of mine and I am beyond thrilled to have the opportunity to do more of it.

So, I’m just grateful.

And free.

So so free.