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Welcome back to another episode of the recovery series!  If you are new to the series, I’ve been speaking with women about their addiction and who are in recovery. We cover topics such as alcohol addiction, codependency, and even food addiction. You can find all of the episodes here.

This week I welcome back my friend and colleague, Amy Pearson. You may have heard Amy and I talk about being addicted to approval and feeling like a fraud back in Episode 118.  This time we talk in-depth about her addiction to alcohol, her obsession with seeking approval and using blame as a crutch.

Amy is currently writing her first book, a memoir called, “Forgiving Amy,” where she shares her experiences with self-forgiveness. Amy has been sober for four years. Today, she shares how grieving the loss of her mother and feeling shame around not being the person she thought she should be led to her downward spiral into ”self-medicating” with alcohol. And, then later, she shares a poignant story of what made her turn everything around and led her onto the path of recovery.

In this episode you’ll hear:

• How two life-changing events underlined her path to addiction (9 minutes and 12 seconds)
• Amy discusses how alcoholism is progressive and the fact that she was very self-aware of her addiction (13:03)
• Amy shares the story of putting her children at risk because of her addiction and how it ultimately led her on the path to recovery. Plus, she shares a promise she made to herself. (16:43)
• How recovery can lead you to uncover and accept parts of you that you didn’t know even existed; including the good, the bad and the dark.  (21:18)
• Why Amy thinks alcohol and drinking is the lazier choice (24:27)
• Telling the truth and finding a supportive community helped Amy get sober, and how it all was a very humbling process (26:05)
• Saying no is hard, but it’s so important to put into practice when maintaining sobriety (28:39)
• We discuss triggers (both big and small) and two tools Amy uses for overcoming them (32:28)

Resources from this podcast:

Season 1 recovery series
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Amy Pearson is owner of LiveBrazen.com. She’s a master certified life coach, a coach mentor and instructor for Martha Beck’s life coach training. She’s a teacher, coach, writer and speaker currently working on her first book titled Forgiving Amy. A former approval addict (with the occasional relapse), she is now addicted to success. Her mission is nothing short of world peace by inspiring every human being to heal themselves through radical self forgiveness.

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