Brandy Jouikov

I was a very heavy drinker- beer was my favorite and at my worst I was drinking 28-30 beers a day sometimes adding in wine, vodka, whatever else. As a mom I would start my day off with half a beer so that I could function, get the kids ready for school, drop them off, drink some more, nap, pick them up from school, rush through homework sometimes doing it for them, cook dinner, and put them to bed so that I could drink some more.

In August 2015 I attempted suicide and started learning about the fact that maybe I was an alcoholic, but I wasn't ready to stop (yet). On December 8,9, 10 I ended up in the hospital 3 nights in a row, on the last night I had attended a 12-step meeting earlier in the day that told me I could never drink alcohol the same again determined to prove them wrong I popped some champagne and started drinking only to discover they were right. My husband was tired, I was tired, I lied to him about going to another meeting and blacked out-when he found me he called the cops. One of the cops was sympathetic and offered me to detox in the hospital and suggested 12-step meetings. I gave up, I was desperate. I began my journey sober the morning of December 11, 2015 and have been sober ever since.

These days I'm very active in my recovery, I run an online recovery accountability pay group where I host 3 meetings a week, I make my own "Sober as $#@! " podcast, I attend 12 step meetings weekly and I am a good present mom to my 2 beautiful children. I never though life could be happy or good. I always thought it was depressing and horrible these days I know that I was wrong.