We Are the Luckiest: The Surprising Magic of a Sober Life

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something within me began to shift. I started to turn away from him, and though I hated myself for it, I didn't know how to stop. She is at her best when she honestly and openly describes inner struggle and growth; going beyond the compulsion to drink, into a clear-eyed analysis of how we relate to other people, and ultimately to ourselves. Laura gently yet unflinchingly carries us through her journey from those trying early days, to how she learned acceptance, self-awareness and self-love. How she has come to terms with both the good and evil within, the fact that we are all 'magnificent monsters'. Which is the way we fool ourselves, isn't it? Life isn't a comparison game. It's not about whose stories are the most awful, or who really deserves the biggest shame. It's not even about the stories we hold on to so that we can stay in the places we are, the places that don't serve us but are so hard to walk away from. I am not as bad as that, so I can keep doing what I do to numb my feelings, my life, my nows. The place where we pretend, in big ways and in small, that we are something or someone we know in our bones we are not. We can go a long time pretending and thinking we’re doing it right this way, building big, complicated lives on a false foundation. No matter how big and impressive a life you build there, on that island, the crumbling of that life is inevitable.”

We Are the Luckiest Quotes by Laura McKowen - Goodreads

Four days ago my daughter turned 12. I had my last drink. I have known for years that this is My Thing but it is time to finally draw a line in the sand. For Me. For my family. For my future and my happiness. To break the generational cycle of a drinking culture in our home.I started reading Laura's blog long before we knew it was Laura. In the early days, as I was just tip-toeing into recovery, her words were a balm.

We Are the Luckiest: The Surprising Magic of a Sober Life

While I was reading this beautifully written, raw, and honest novel, a part of me was thinking, "Well my 'flaws', my 'addictions' are nowhere near that bad. they don't harm anyone. they don't make it so I can't live my day to day life. They are harmless compared to all this." Forming a new life is a really, really big deal. As John O'Donohue says in his blessing called "For the Interim Time," It is difficult and slow to become new. It's supposed to be difficult It's supposed to take everything you have. It's supposed to take longer than you want and to change you, completely. This often won't feel good when it's happening, but nothing worth having ever does.”

Customer reviews

It would have been a risk to call him out on the little fudging of the truth...she would have had to withstand a moment of discomfort...it might have allowed then to actually fins an honest ground zero from which to build something.”