Recovering Roundup

Recovering Roundup

“Americans haven’t all quietly accepted the demand that we work through the end times.” (Yes, I’m obsessed with this topic.)

This TikTok video re: Instagram: YES, “you can stop anytime you want.” (And YES, I’m also obsessed with how TikTok by some measure is better than Instagram; YES, I still am not on TikTok, and YES, I find Instagram painful to use, hence hi from here.)

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(Rethinking my fish oil capsules)

AJ Daulerio, who is a real life friend, is one of my all-time favorite writers; I wait for his newsletter; he’s an artist. It also helps that he writes about recovery in a way that makes me feel sane; how hard it can be; how big the small, boring, everyday wins are; he makes me remember being human is beautiful. This piece on firing his therapist was So. Good. (So was this piece. It’s all good.)

More non-alcoholic drink recommendations (and even more)

No, I do not know, nor have I ever spoken to, Chrissy Teigen

Melissa Febos on being the horse, not the rider, a thing I’ve come to suspect about myself

Yet another article confirming we are drinking more and yet another one projecting that the disastrous effects will last five years

An autofiction addiction novel said to “redeem the genre”. (I bought it! Will report back.)

A fascinating read that reinforces the deep-seated problematic trope that it comes down to drinking responsibly, not the actual liability of the alcohol industry

Even the chatbots are depressed

A new book explores that explores this whole mess: “To be self-confident is the imperative of our time. As gender, racial, and class inequalities deepen, women are increasingly called on to believe in themselves,” reads the first line of the text. It criticizes the individualistic, neoliberal missives from corporations to “just be more confident” — in our bodies, in our relationships, in motherhood, in the workplace, and within humanitarian efforts to support global development — and argues that, most of the time, they end up reinforcing the very beliefs they aim to deconstruct. (I bought it! Will report back.)

Did 2021 even happen?

“A binge drinking culture so bad that it has probably killed people”

“Of all the things I anticipated might happen when I stopped drinking, I never expected to need talking points”: Sarah Wood on being tired of explaining why she doesn’t drink.

How naloxone works at preventing overdose death

An argument to treat addiction as a disability

(Meanwhile…) Carl Fisher argues the limitations of the disease model of addiction

The Once and Future Drug War

In productivity news: “The world is on fire; rest will help to quench those flames.” A pro-lazy argument (I’m all in.); Psychedelics as capitalism’s newest productivity hack; Kate Bowler on how productivity culture is a lot like a religion or a cult or whatever. (Her book is also on my to read list.)

A new study shows proves a causal relationship between drinking and cancer

My dear beautiful friend Marlee Grace on How To Survive a Breakdown (I don’t often do trigger warnings, but this was definitely hard to read. Proceed with that.)

Bella Hadid broke the internet this week

Men drank less during the pandemic?! “Researchers say it may be the case that men cut back on their alcohol use over time because they experienced negative consequences from drinking. Another possibility is that men perceived their drinking to be more problematic over time, as their responsibilities for domestic tasks such as caregiving and other concerns such as job security increased during the pandemic.”

A columnist observes that moderate drinking might not be healthy, vows to keep drinking Pinot Noir.

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Five Things I Loved

1. Marlee’s piece on How To Survive a Breakdown was timely, heartbreaking, close to home, funny, permission giving. “Now: as an addict myself, this step is tricky. I was hesitant to share this because I am not like : Hey team go book an appt and get drugs! AND this is why I hesitated so long to try this and can factually say the pride and fear and lack of permission I felt to reduce the harm happening in my body was huge. And being able to have something prescribed to me that literally stopped the loop in my head of - this whole thing is going to kill me - I think literally saved my life.

2. Melissa Febos, The Horse Is Me. “My spiritual beliefs, and to an extent my political ones, when I really think into them, basically boil down to a more universal version of the horse analogy: We are all the horse. The horse is all of us. When you kick anyone (including the earth’s atmosphere), you are kicking yourself.”

3. Carl Fisher on NPR promoting his new book The Urge, which I’m reading. “For centuries and centuries, people have tried to divide folks according to good drugs and bad drugs, to say that certain drugs are dangerous. They lead inexorably to vices and social problems. You know, often, that kind of stark exaggeration of the harms of one drug on one hand and the supposed benefits of other drugs on the other hand, they rebound to hurt everybody.”

4. AJ Daulerio on firing his therapist. "Can't I ghost her? Everyone I know who switches their therapist stops seeing them and moves on."

5. The WSJ, The Once and Future Drug War. Hard disagree on this: “The idea of decriminalization arose in the era when drugs were far more forgiving, but that’s no longer the case,” says Mr. Quinones. Many users should be forced to get help, he says, even by putting them in jail—but only if we rethink jails to include treatment pods and 12-step programs. This is being tried in some states hit hard by the drug epidemic, particularly Kentucky.

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