And now for something a little bit different…
Blogging about classic films and pop culture isn’t my only passion. Full Disclosure: I’ve personally been in recovery from alcohol and all other substances (and trust me, there were a LOT of other substances) for the past 15+ years. For the last ten of those years, I’ve worked in the substance abuse treatment field, helping others find their own pathway to recovery. Along the way, I’ve met a lot of good people in the field who share my passion for helping those who struggle with addiction issues. One of those is Kim Jorgensen-Richard, with whom I once shared an office, and when I started a new job this past January, Kim was working in the same building (in a different program).
I discovered I wasn’t the only writer in the house: Kim recently achieved a lifelong dream and wrote a book! ROCK-COVERY: Not Your Mother’s Meditation Guide, is a daily reflections styled ode to coping with life on life’s terms. Kim told me the seed of the book began in 2004, while “going through a pretty difficult time in my recovery… I was in my office working with music in the background, as was the norm. At the same time, a co-worker was preparing to facilitate a group for the clients… He decided to do a music group because climate at the center was pretty negative, and music group was very effective in shifting the energy in a more positive direction… I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be cool to create a way to re-create the effects of a music group when you can’t take advantage of such a group?”.
ROCK-COVERY turned out to be “a pretty different concept than what was finally published”, after fourteen years of trial and error. The book takes on a different subject each day (Anxiety, Co-Dependency, Depression, Obsession, Procrastination, Relapse, Sexual Abuse, and Toxic Relationships, among others) and pairs them with an appropriate rock song by artists like Alice in Chains, Five Finger Death Punch, Guns’N’Roses, Journey, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Tom Petty , and The Who , giving her insightful thoughts on the matter at hand, followed by “Today’s Chorus”. Here’s an example for you, reprinted with Kim’s kind permission:
“September 27
Anger and Rage
Inspired by: Bullet With Butterfly Wings- Smashing Pumpkins
My adolescence was a package deal that included explosive anger that I couldn’t contain and substances that helped to extinguish the volcanic verbal venom that spewed from my mouth daily. Giving up substances improved my life greatly, but it also left me a huge cargo of anger that I had no idea how to unload without creating damage.
We may be surprised to discover how angry we are when we get clean and sober. We may fly off the handle in a heartbeat, hurt the people we love, swim in shame, and finally apologize with a firm resolution never to respond that way again. Deep inside, we know this is an empty promise created to assist us with damage control. We feel powerless to snuff out the spark once our fuse is lit.
Unresolved anger leads to episodes of rage. Although rage is damaging, it also makes us feel all-powerful and in control of those people, places, and things we deem unacceptable to us. This feeling of power and control is a short-lived lie that changes nothing but our degree of remorse and self-loathing. Relief lies in reaching out for help. We can seek out a therapist, a program, or an understanding friend who can provide us with the safe space needed to express anger in a healthy way before it ripens into rage.
Today’s Chorus: Control cannot be harnessed through outside demands, but developed from inside the self”
Kim learned her insights the hard way. After ten years of sobriety, “with all the outside things in place (education, job, husband, kids, house, car) I picked up a drink, and it took three years of struggling to get back on the road to recovery”. She recently celebrated her nineteenth year of continuous sobriety, and is living her dream as a published author, hoping that ROCK-COVERY will benefit those “unable to forgive themselves for suffering the effects of addiction or trauma… I guess it was targeted to benefit people who are hard on themselves for being human”. ROCK-COVERY is self-published through Kindle and available on Amazon (just follow this link!), or directly through her on Twitter (@RockCovery) and the ROCK-COVERY Facebook page. Be sure and tell her Cracked Rear Viewer sent you! And Rock On!
(excerpt ©Kim Jorgensen-Richard, 2018)
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Reblogged this on Through the Shattered Lens.
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