My name is Rachel. I’m 39, born and raised in Minnesota, and an alcoholic. I celebrated my 11th year of sobriety on 11-3-22. My struggles began as a young teenager – the constant need to please others and extreme anxiety from high expectations led me down a destructive path. I didn’t know how to cope. At 18, I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression and prescribed medication. I felt alone and overwhelmed during college, which worsened when I moved back in with my parents. I found myself in dangerous situations, made suicide attempts while intoxicated, and ended up in detoxes and psych wards. I broke laws, despised law enforcement, and experienced multiple instances of sexual assault, emotional and verbal abuse, and being broken. On 11-3-2011, my family told me to choose sobriety or death because I wasn’t welcome around them. At the age of 27, I surrendered and admitted my addiction to alcohol. It took one more year to finally reach sobriety, attending a rigorous and extensive treatment program for women.

I chose to embrace God’s path to serenity, and He has helped me through powerful triggers, weaknesses, guilt, resentments, grief, and loss. Sobriety is the best part of this life, and I continue to work on myself through prayer, church, worship, exercise, and nutrition. To say ‘One Day at a Time’ is easy, but to live it is another story. I thank God every day for this crazy life I have, as I am now a wife, mother of two children, and an ICU RN. I aspired to achieve all these goals because of my sober journey and commitment to myself. Sobriety isn’t easy, but it’s easier than being an active addict. 🙏❤️