I’m also a writer, a comedian, a Johns Hopkins honors graduate, a recovering codependent, a skincare connoisseur, a voracious reader, a public policy nerd, and a cat and chocolate lover. Today, I am many things.
Whenever I speak at meetings on my own recovery journey from drug addiction and alcoholism, I’m always careful to begin with behaviors that began long before I ever took my first drink or drug: pathological lying, people-pleasing, codependency, and an overwhelming inability to sit with myself. Recovering addicts often call it a “hole in the soul:” a profound emptiness that manifests as a lack of connection with others but is actually a lack of connection with oneself. Seeking approval, praise, and recognition to prove we are “good enough.”