Happy 9 years! The invoice in the book encapsulates sobriety so well. Here we are expecting or assuming one thing and it’s another. You are right, life is better and stranger than fiction and we are all just along for the ride of it. It’s enthralling and exhausting at the same time. Xoxo
Beautiful Holly. I get so excited when I open my email and see your words. Happy 9 years of doing it, life, Sobriety, & all of what this magical to-be-alive time is. Love you.
I love love love your writing. And I can so relate to the early years of dramatic growth and the latter years of redefining what any of that means. The woods. The dive into what it’s actually like right now and just welcoming that. You are so good at describing it all. I’m thankful that you share this with everyone.
"In retrospect it’s gorgeous, in real time it’s never enough."
Truer words, I tell ya. Just what I needed to hear this month. 4/3 was my 5 years but I didn't realize it until the 6th. Thinking back, on the 3rd I put my hands in the dirt to plant a few things that might bloom sometime this spring/summer (or might not). I went to a gorgeous memorial service for a gorgeous friend who passed away in 2020 but for whom we could not gather. I read some Octavia Butler. I went for a walk. I went to bed early.
Thank you, Holly, for your work. It's an honor to read, an honor to support.
Whitney ♥️ First, happy five years. Holy crap. that is a big one. I’m taking from what you shared kind of the same thing I felt, just this love for how simple and soft and unremarkable it can be and how rich that actually is. Thanks for being here and your support.
Just beautiful Holly. And congratulations on 9 years. The line that really got me (though there were so many) was ‘’I know what I know now, believe what and behave how and live like I do because of all of the hers that came before me’’ … because of all the hers that came before me. Today I will honour the hers. Feeling a little lost too right now. 2 years 3 months sober and working the most incredible job I love (as a creative producer at a literature festival) but absolutely exhausted and zilch time for contemplation or any meetings (I am a TLC member) and worried I might slip. X
That is a monumental feat AND I understand it. I hope what I was trying to convey in a lot of this comes across as, it’s okay to revert to the baseline of what nurtures you, and what helps you survive. I say this with the total commitment to we each have our own path and know what is best for us: what kept me not drinking for this long wasn’t fear (though I had a healthy fear of going back to where I’d been); it was honestly never wanting to go through what I had again. I did and do whatever it takes. Sometimes that looks like doing jack shit. Love you. Sending you strength and all those good things.
Apr 17, 2022·edited Apr 17, 2022Liked by Holly Whitaker
Yes, it did Holly. And I love you saying it’s ok to just return to the baseline if survival and do what nourishes us and that we do know what’s best for us. We do. So much of what we hear is that we can’t and shouldn't trust ourselves, and that creates fear. Sending you love and strength. Keep being YOU and I Love you xxx
So beautiful Holly: ‘a person who could find more meaning and contentment in less than she’d hoped than she’d ever found in the abundance she thought she needed.’ Recovery is such a process of letting go and I’ve been finding that recognising what I need to let go of is a process in itself. The universe sends signals all the time if I can but awaken from my trance of ‘not enough’, ‘should’ and ‘must’ and let go. Well done on your 9 years and kudos to all the hers that have brought you here. I give thanks for having a little bit of you in my life 🙏
Also ‘hangovers as as disease’ .... I’m halfway through watching’Dopesick’ so this literally made every hair on my body stand up. In the pursuit of profit, Big Pharma is going to say that a hangover is a disease that needs treatment rather than a normal response to pouring a toxin into your body??!! 😳 WTF!
YES. Your messy, unresolved, anti-climactic present tense of a sober anniversary is a beautiful thing bc it's deeply yours and it holds water. It's not some generic, externally imposed ideal that crumbles like a drip castle when poked at or examined. Keep doing what you're doing.
Thank you. Reminds me that it’s ok to just be and processing my grief and my 2 daughters grief this year is more than enough. I Always feel the need to do more when usually what makes me feel best is to stop and rest and listen and let the days unfold according to their own rhythm.
Happy 9 years! The invoice in the book encapsulates sobriety so well. Here we are expecting or assuming one thing and it’s another. You are right, life is better and stranger than fiction and we are all just along for the ride of it. It’s enthralling and exhausting at the same time. Xoxo
The invoice in the book absolutely does 😭. Thank you ♥️
I adore your writing. And kudos. And that guy has no idea what he’s missed out on
None of them do!! Thanks Joe. ♥️
Thank you
Sorry you’ve had such a challenging year. You write about it so elegantly tho
Beautiful Holly. I get so excited when I open my email and see your words. Happy 9 years of doing it, life, Sobriety, & all of what this magical to-be-alive time is. Love you.
Love you, Christina.
Thanks for this. You’re a gd legend.
My heart, Dan.
I love love love your writing. And I can so relate to the early years of dramatic growth and the latter years of redefining what any of that means. The woods. The dive into what it’s actually like right now and just welcoming that. You are so good at describing it all. I’m thankful that you share this with everyone.
YES. That. Thanks for putting words to that.
"In retrospect it’s gorgeous, in real time it’s never enough."
Truer words, I tell ya. Just what I needed to hear this month. 4/3 was my 5 years but I didn't realize it until the 6th. Thinking back, on the 3rd I put my hands in the dirt to plant a few things that might bloom sometime this spring/summer (or might not). I went to a gorgeous memorial service for a gorgeous friend who passed away in 2020 but for whom we could not gather. I read some Octavia Butler. I went for a walk. I went to bed early.
Thank you, Holly, for your work. It's an honor to read, an honor to support.
Whitney ♥️ First, happy five years. Holy crap. that is a big one. I’m taking from what you shared kind of the same thing I felt, just this love for how simple and soft and unremarkable it can be and how rich that actually is. Thanks for being here and your support.
Happy 9 years sober birthday. Also - thanks for sharing a playlist with le Tigre in it. I’m going to listen right now.
Thanks Deana ♥️♥️
Thank you for this gift. That is major- equanimity. That Spotify playlist…swoon! ❤️🦄❤️
I got real lucky with that playlist. xx
Happy anniversary and cheers the wild who-can-make-it-up-ness of this beautiful life! ❤️
INDEED. ily
Just beautiful Holly. And congratulations on 9 years. The line that really got me (though there were so many) was ‘’I know what I know now, believe what and behave how and live like I do because of all of the hers that came before me’’ … because of all the hers that came before me. Today I will honour the hers. Feeling a little lost too right now. 2 years 3 months sober and working the most incredible job I love (as a creative producer at a literature festival) but absolutely exhausted and zilch time for contemplation or any meetings (I am a TLC member) and worried I might slip. X
That is a monumental feat AND I understand it. I hope what I was trying to convey in a lot of this comes across as, it’s okay to revert to the baseline of what nurtures you, and what helps you survive. I say this with the total commitment to we each have our own path and know what is best for us: what kept me not drinking for this long wasn’t fear (though I had a healthy fear of going back to where I’d been); it was honestly never wanting to go through what I had again. I did and do whatever it takes. Sometimes that looks like doing jack shit. Love you. Sending you strength and all those good things.
Yes, it did Holly. And I love you saying it’s ok to just return to the baseline if survival and do what nourishes us and that we do know what’s best for us. We do. So much of what we hear is that we can’t and shouldn't trust ourselves, and that creates fear. Sending you love and strength. Keep being YOU and I Love you xxx
So beautiful Holly: ‘a person who could find more meaning and contentment in less than she’d hoped than she’d ever found in the abundance she thought she needed.’ Recovery is such a process of letting go and I’ve been finding that recognising what I need to let go of is a process in itself. The universe sends signals all the time if I can but awaken from my trance of ‘not enough’, ‘should’ and ‘must’ and let go. Well done on your 9 years and kudos to all the hers that have brought you here. I give thanks for having a little bit of you in my life 🙏
Kate. I love you. Thank you for this.
Love you back Holly. It’s early morning here in NZ and I am lying in bed crying tears of gratitude
Also ‘hangovers as as disease’ .... I’m halfway through watching’Dopesick’ so this literally made every hair on my body stand up. In the pursuit of profit, Big Pharma is going to say that a hangover is a disease that needs treatment rather than a normal response to pouring a toxin into your body??!! 😳 WTF!
Yes.
YES. Your messy, unresolved, anti-climactic present tense of a sober anniversary is a beautiful thing bc it's deeply yours and it holds water. It's not some generic, externally imposed ideal that crumbles like a drip castle when poked at or examined. Keep doing what you're doing.
<3
Thank you. Reminds me that it’s ok to just be and processing my grief and my 2 daughters grief this year is more than enough. I Always feel the need to do more when usually what makes me feel best is to stop and rest and listen and let the days unfold according to their own rhythm.
Miss your writing Holly, can’t wait for the next one!
Just catching up on content here…a million times yes to both concepts in #2!