Anne Friday Recovery

Something to think about during the Olympics.

The Weight of Gold “I don’t know, but I’ve been toldIt’s hard to run with the weight of gold.”New Speedway BoogieThe Grateful Dead Olympic athletes have been suffering for years and the world is finally paying attention. Mental health issues are increasingly prevalent among elite competitors and often result...

Poorly Wrapped Gifts Last week I went to a Secret Santa Christmas party. We all put our presents under the tree upon arrival and dove into the holiday fare and festive drinks. I bypassed the V***e Clicquot and the Whispering Angel rosé (it seems that’s the trendy wine these days) and quickly found the Pellegrino. Par...

Ecstasy Ecstasy [ek-stuh-see]noun1. rapturous delight.2. an overpowering emotion or exaltation; a state of sudden, intense feeling.3. mental transport or rapture from the contemplation of divine things.synonymselation, euphoria, rapture, joyfulness, delight, delirium, enchantment, enthusiasm, intoxicationWh...

If I Had a Hammer If you know me or read my blog it will come as no surprise when I tell you that I have a constant soundtrack of song lyrics running through my brain. For some reason today it’s the Pete Seeger song “If I Had a Hammer”. Seeger recorded it with The Weavers in 1950 but Peter, Paul & Mary made it ...

Wherever You Go, There You Are “Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.” -John Lennon Or was it Henry Cooke? Walter Ward? Quin Ryan or Allen Saunders? Or does it really date back to the Book of Proverbs? My research concludes that while the quote is commonly attributed to Lennon, it first appeared i...

The Party’s (not) Over I didn’t wake up with a hangover on New Year’s Day. I didn’t have a hangover once during the holiday season. In fact, I haven’t suffered a physical hangover since 2000. That’s just one of the many gifts sobriety has given me, and I didn’t have to give up anything to receive the gift. You...

Foxhole Prayers “There are no atheists in foxholes.” You’ve probably heard this aphorism, which is used to argue that in times of extreme stress or fear people will often turn to prayer. A foxhole prayer is a prayer you pray when faced with what feels like a crisis. You might be in danger…in a foxhole durin...

The Tears of a Clown Addicts are masters of disguise. We quickly learn how to hide our secrets, as well as our feelings and emotions. We pretend things are fine when they’re actually falling apart. We lie to cover up our using…and we’re often successful. Until we’re not. When someone asks “How are you?” we m...

The 27 Club Jimi Hendrix. Janis Joplin. Jim Morrison. Brian Jones. Amy Winehouse. Kurt Cobain. Ron McKernan. (If you’re a Deadhead, you’d have known him as Pigpen.) The list goes on. All brilliant and talented musicians who died at 27. And the list expands when you add artists, actors and athletes. Overdose...

It’s Just A Few Beers I heard this great joke once. A guy says to his son “I’m giving up liquor for Lent. What are you giving up? His son says “I guess I’ll give up candy”. A few days later Dad’s drinking a beer. Kid says “I thought you gave up liquor”. Dad says “I did. I gave up hard liquor”. Next da...

There’s a Little Yellow Pill And though she’s not really ill, there’s a little yellow pill. She goes running for the shelter of her mother’s little helper… The Rolling Stones That little yellow pill in the classic Stones hit was Va**um, a benzodiazepine. Other “benzos”include Ativan, Klonopin, Librium and Xanax. Ben...