Life in Detox
Life in Detox: The beautiful messiness of being human while navigating addiction, recovery, grief and growth
A raw, darkly funny and deeply human account of addiction, recovery, shame, grief and the stubborn work of becoming.
- #1 Amazon Bestseller in Recovery from Alcoholism
- Wrote the book, designed the cover, ran the launch
About the book
Life in Detox follows Shawn through alcoholism, treatment, relapse, recovery, heartbreak, grief and growth in chronological personal essays. The book begins inside the chaos rather than safely after it, allowing the voice and perspective to evolve in real time. Although framed by addiction and sobriety, its larger subject is the beautiful messiness of being human: the private stories we carry, the shame that keeps us quiet, and the difficult freedom of telling the truth.
I did not write Life in Detox from the safe distance of having everything figured out. Much of it was written while I was still stumbling through the thing itself. That immediacy became the book's spine: honest, occasionally profane, often funny and hopeful without pretending hope is tidy.
Life in Detox is lived experience, written as memoir. It is not treatment, medical or clinical advice, and it is not a substitute for professional support.
Bear with me
Bear with me. This journey starts off pretty rocky. Okay. Really rocky.
I had to learn to trust myself, to allow and permit myself to be vulnerable, so I could tell these sadly true stories in the rawest, most accurate and honest way possible. As you work through these words, I hope you'll see that growth and come along for the ride and grow a little, too. Trust me, there's a light at the end of this book, and you don't have to wait for the end to see it. It starts shining the deeper you go.
Though framed around, at first, my personal struggle with alcohol addiction, the simple substitution of one word can transform each piece into something uniquely yours.
Whatever the word. Whatever it takes.
Excerpt only. The full manuscript isn't published here.