What is “successful” anyway? The long time sober and successful writer James Lee Burke puts some words into character Dave Robicheaux’s mouth,”there is no possession more valuable than a sober sunrise”, and that is a pretty good mark of “success” to start from. Plenty of addicts and alcoholics achieve success in business, the arts and many other walks of life before the dugs and (or) the alcohol become too demanding of time and attention. Equally many addicts never get the chance to achieve anything near their potential while in active addiction. A common fear before making a decision to change is that the addict will not be able to do what they did before or never be able to start a different life now. Can I be sober and successful?
In previous posts we have highlighted sober and successful creatives (and we are bound to do so again!), but as a bit of inspiration for the New Year ahead we picked a few stories to share here about sober and successful addicts and alcoholics in the world of commerce.
From one man industry Andrew Zimmern, who built a food, travel and business empire since finding recovery, to the sober and successful Laura Walsh, a recovered addict from Bristol, UK – who really cleaned up – a cursory investigation turns up story after story of success in sobriety.
In Scotland, Ryan Longmuir has transformed not only his life but the lives of many employees, and we are grateful to substance.com for this story about three businesses in the US who have a policy of hiring recovering addicts, particularly the very funky Creative Matters.
We repeat, being sober and successful starts with the sober bit, but we feel sure that applying the energy and sheer force of will that kept us using in new directions in our lives can bring many sober sunrises and a whole lot more.
Our short blogs are just tips of the recovery iceberg, longer stories will make their way on to the ORA pages throughout 2017.
I do like a sober sunrise. 🙂