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Imposter in Recovery • Sober Wellness

@imposterinrecovery

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Georgetown grad. Recovery specialist. I used to burn my life down with drugs & alcohol. Now I share tools for recovery & imposter syndrome

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🔊 SOUND ON: 🧠💕 Early sobriety = BIG emotions. When alcohol/substances are gone, your nervous system is relearning how to regulate. Feelings get loud for a bit. Totally normal. ❤️‍🩹 They will equalize, eventually. Patience is key here. Don’t give up before the mental shift happens!
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A few things that helped me:
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1️⃣ Boring morning routine.
Water. Make bed. Brush teeth. Get dressed. Eat something.
Predictability helps your brain feel safe. My thoughts were still mean, so I played Motiversity to drown out my EVIL IMPOSTER voice yelling “you are sh*t.” External regulation counts.
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2️⃣ Gratitude (written, typed, or voice memo).
I’ll admit it. It felt fake at first.
Do it anyway. Naming small good things helps pull the brain out of shame and threat mode.

3️⃣ Tiny to-do lists.
Checking things off = proof I’m capable.
If it felt too big, I broke it down until it wasn’t.
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4️⃣ Hydration. Seriously.
Water, tea, honey, lemon. Dehydration makes anxiety louder.
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If early recovery feels emotionally messy, you’re not failing.
Your brain is recalibrating. Be gentle with it. 🧠💕
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What helps you regulate? ⬇️
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#earlysobriety #recoveroutloud #recoveryjourney #recoveryhumor #sobercurious by @imposterinrecovery

⚠️TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️
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For me, my substance use disorder was a symptom of ignored sexual trauma that first occurred when I was about 6 years old, and would happen off and on at random times over the span of several years.
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When it stopped, I was a 12-year-old.
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I developed a skewed understanding that substances, as someone once told me, would “make you feel REALLY good.”
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At that point, that was all the “permission” I needed to escape the disgusting feeling I had crawling all over.
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I started experimenting with substances shortly after and I would continue to chase the “good feelings” until it stopped me from THINKING and FEELING the trauma I was now suppressing.
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Many years, and heavier substances later, I got arrested for a felony possession. I was released from jail the next day with strict conditions. One month later, I got arrested for possession, again, and the judge sent me out of the county jail to a state prison.
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I left my state’s maximum security prison about 2 years later, and all I learned was opiates were a waste of time and because alcohol isn’t illegal, that was the “better” option for escaping. Hours after my release I drank and continued to drink myself into oblivion for years to come.
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I was still running from my trauma.
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Fast forward to a hospital trip thanks to delirium tremens (I was hallucinating). The doctor said that I would die if I kept drinking at the amount I was drinking as they could already see slight scarring on my liver.
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A year later, what stopped me was randomly catching my reflection in the mirror, in another hospital: I was a 5’5” yellow (from jaundice) Hispanic woman that weighed 108 pounds, eyes sunken in, hair falling out, weak atrophied leg muscles due to constantly throwing up and no longer able to stomach food or walk..
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I was done.
I was ready to change my habits.
Day one for me started on 11.12.2017.
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🧠💕 If you are in recovery, can you pinpoint the moment(s) that brought you to a realization that alcohol and/or substances were the problem?

🧠💕 No matter where you are in your recovery journey, what encourages you to keep one foot in front of the other today?
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#wedorecover by @imposterinrecovery

Im at a point in my recovery where laughter is a part of my wellness routine, especially if I’m laughing at myself.
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It’s taken a lot of work to get to this point, and the work started the moment I realized my relationship with alcohol was slowly taking control of my decisions and dictating the “sh*t show”.
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Interestingly enough, that realization didn’t stop me. I convinced myself I could “control” my drinking. Years later, someone shared with me that normal people don’t ever feel the need to try and control their excessive drinking. “But I am in control”, I lied.
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Landing myself in a hospital hallucinating with delirium tremens wasn’t enough proof that my drinking had gotten way out of hand. So I took a month off, and returned to alcohol in secret, until it wasn’t a secret anymore.
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Eventually my brain finally noticed what my organs and body already knew: I had developed a severe alcohol use disorder and was I was dying at a faster rate.
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Moments of clarity are unique to everyone who get sober. When you are sick and tired of being SICK and TIRED, whatever that looks like for you, you are ready.
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Here’s to all the ones who are on their way to sobriety, navigating early sobriety, and maintaining sobriety: I see you, I’m with you, I hear you.
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#thinking_xing #recoveryjourney #soberjourney #recoveryisworthit #sobercurious #mentalwellnessjourney #recoverywarrior #soberhumor #healthandwellnessjourney by @imposterinrecovery

Well, HELLO AGAIN. 🥹💕 Apparently, we’re entering another chapter of this weird little recovery journey of mine. This one involves a newborn, significantly less sleep, and a tiny human who looks suspiciously like my husband.
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And I’ve been thinking about something lately…
✨ Recovery changes.
✨ WE change.
✨ Life changes.
And sometimes the things that helped us survive one chapter aren’t exactly what we need in the next.
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Nine years ago, I needed recovery to help me stay alive. I needed structure, accountability, people who understood what I was fighting, and a reason to believe there might actually be something worth sticking around for.
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I still need some of those things. Probably always will.
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But these days, recovery also looks like letting myself be happy without waiting for something terrible to happen. It looks like adjusting my expectations, asking for help, finding humor in the absolute circus of everyday life, and occasionally accepting that doing absolutely nothing is, in fact, doing something.
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So… I guess that’s what I want to gently remind you of too. ❤️‍🩹
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If you’re in a season where your recovery looks different than it used to, that doesn’t automatically mean you’re doing something wrong.
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Maybe you’re a new parent. Maybe you’re grieving. Maybe you’ve changed jobs, relationships, routines, or just grown into someone who needs different things than you did a few years ago.
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You can make adjustments, and learn new ways to take care of yourself.
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You can hold on to what works and make room for what comes next.
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Just don’t confuse evolving with abandoning yourself. ❤️‍🩹
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Anyway. I’m still here. Still sober. Still figuring shit out. Just with a considerably smaller boss now. 😂💕
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How has YOUR recovery changed as your life has changed? I’d genuinely love to hear. 🥹⬇️
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As always,
Love ya. 🧠💕
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#SoberCommunity #RecoveryJourney #LongTermRecovery #SoberMotherhood #ImposterInRecovery by @imposterinrecovery

Well. Apparently I’ve been carrying a little EXTRA recovery content around for the last nine months… 😂💕
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But really, this WHOLE experience reminded me of something I’ve learned over, and over, and over again in recovery:
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❤️‍🩹 The stuff that keeps me okay usually isn’t dramatic.
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It’s taking care of myself BEFORE I’m completely overwhelmed, keeping some kind of routine when my brain wants chaos, asking for help instead of pretending I’m fine, resting when I need to rest, AND having people around me who remind me that I don’t have to figure everything out alone.
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A lot of you have been part of that for me. 🥹✨
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You’ve laughed with me, encouraged me, shared your own stories, called bullshit with me (it’s cool, we’re cool 😂), and somehow turned this weird little corner of the internet into a pretty damn good support system.
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So thank you. Seriously. 🥹💕
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And PLEASE know that even when I’m not posting recovery stuff for a little while, I’m still rooting for you!
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KEEP doing the boring little things that keep you okay.
KEEP reaching out.
KEEP taking the next right step.
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And if things get messy? REMEMBER that does NOT mean you’ve somehow failed at recovery. ❤️‍🩹 Sometimes life is just messy.
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As for me, I’m going to take a little maternity leave from regularly making content while my body recovers and we figure out life with our newest tiny roommate. 👶🏽💙
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I’ll probably poke my head in here and there, because realistically I do NOT possess the personality required to disappear completely… 😂
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But mostly, I’m giving myself permission to:
🤍 Be present
🤍 Heal
🤍 Learn this new version of our family
🤍 Come back when it actually feels right.
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Not goodbye.
Just a little pause. ✨
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As always,
🧠💕 Love ya.
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#imposterinrecovery #RecoveryJourney #SoberSupport #RecoveryCommunity #ImposterInRecovery by @imposterinrecovery

🧠💕 Recovery has taught me that healing does NOT mean becoming some perfectly serious, perfectly normal version of yourself…
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Thank gosh, honestly. 😮‍💨
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I used to think if I wanted my story to matter, I had to present it the “right” way…
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Like, I “had-to-be” more polished, more serious, less weird… Less me. 🫠
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But the longer I’m in recovery, the more I realize I CAN take the work seriously WITHOUT taking myself so seriously all the time.
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I can CARE about my story.
I can KEEP growing.
I can BUILD something meaningful from the mess.
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And I can STILL be awkward, playful, ridiculous, and fully myself while doing it. 😎
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The thing is, recovery did not make me less me. It just helped me become a healthier version of me. ❤️‍🩹
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Anyway… if you noticed the book cover in the background, mind your business respectfully. 😏
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Love ya.
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#ImposterInRecovery #SoberLife #RecoveryJourney #SoberHumor #RecoveryStory by @imposterinrecovery

🧠💕 REAL TALK: I think a lot of people, who would make amazing peers, quietly talk themselves out of it first (I know I did)!
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Because perhaps, like me, you start thinking your past is too messy, or your recovery is not “polished” enough, or you don’t sound “professional” enough, OR you still have moments where you wonder who you even are to help anyone else.
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…And honestly, I get it.
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But peer work was never supposed to be about pretending you have life perfectly figured out. It’s about being honest, grounded, safe, and willing to sit WITH someone without making them feel like a problem to solve. 🥺✨
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Your lived experience is NOT your whole identity, but it CAN become part of your toolkit. Meaning, sometimes the very thing you thought disqualified you is actually the reason someone FINALLY feels understood.
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So if you’re quietly thinking about becoming a peer one day, PLEASE don’t count yourself out too fast! 🥹 You might be EXACTLY the kind of person someone needs in the room!
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🧠💕 What’s one thing someone told you in recovery that helped you believe in yourself a little more? ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️
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#ImposterInRecovery #PeerSupport #RecoveryJourney #LivedExperience #SoberCommunity by @imposterinrecovery

🧠💕 Okay but ALLLL jokes aside… There was a time in my life when cr**k absolutely was part of my story.
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So when I hear an audio like this, I don’t hear it as “Great. Everything is fine now.” I hear it more like that weird recovery perspective that kicks in sometimes when life feels hard.
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Because YES, life is STILL life.
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I still get stressed, I still get overwhelmed, I still have days where my brain is being deeply dramatic…
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But sometimes I have to PAUSE and remember WHERE I’ve been, WHAT I survived, WHAT I got out of, and WHERE I am now. ❤️‍🩹
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And no, 😅 that does not magically fix every current problem. Unfortunately, bills still bill… Anxiety still anxieties… Emails still email…
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BUT… it DOES remind me that today’s hard is NOT the same as the kind of hard I used to live in.
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Recovery humor can be DARK AF sometimes because a LOT of us are laughing from a place of “I cannot believe I made it out of that.” 😮‍💨
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So if your win today is simply:
“I am here, and I am not back there,” THAT COUNTS. ❤️‍🩹
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A win is a win. 🏆
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🧠💕 Love ya.
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#imposterinrecovery #SoberHumor #RecoveryJourney #SoberLife #DarkHumorRecovery by @imposterinrecovery

🧠💕 Recovery has taught me is that uncomfortable emotions need somewhere to go. 😅
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For a lot of people, therapy is an incredibly helpful part of that process. For others, support might also include meetings, peer support, trusted friends, exercise, meditation, medication, getting outside, writing, or whatever healthy tools actually help them work through what they’re feeling.
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…And sometimes, for me, it’s aggressively lip syncing to Linkin Park before I start my day. 💀🤘🏽
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I used to think dealing with an emotion meant I needed to make it STOP. Immediately. Recovery continues to teach me that I can be angry, frustrated, sad, overwhelmed, or just generally emotionally inconvenienced without having to numb it.
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Sometimes I can just… feel it. Give it somewhere safe to go, and keep moving.
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Apparently today, that somewhere was 17 seconds of pretending to be Chester Bennington from Linkin Park. ☺️✨
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Whatever YOUR recovery toolbox looks like, keep finding the healthy things that help YOU move through the hard stuff.
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Anyway, what song are YOU emotionally processing to today?
💀🤘🏽
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🧠💕 Love ya.
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#imposterinrecovery #RecoveryHumor #EmotionalSobriety #RecoveryTools #SoberLife by @imposterinrecovery

🧠💕 Sometimes I forget that what qualifies as a mildly funny “recovery story” to me… is actually VERY concerning information to other people. 😂 I’ll casually mention something from my active addiction, laugh, and then look around like… 👀 Oh. We’re being serious about this. Got it. 😅
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Honestly, the truth is, a LOT of it WAS serious. There are things I can laugh about today that were terrifying when they were actually happening.
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There are nights I barely remember, decisions I made completely under the influence, things my body survived that it probably shouldn’t have, and an internal battle happening in my head that nobody else could FULLY see.
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Humor doesn’t make any of that less real. For me, sometimes humor is simply what became possible once I was finally SAFE enough to look backward. ❤️‍🩹 Because somehow, through blackouts, substances, terrible decisions, and a brain that kept convincing me to repeat the same cycle…
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I stayed alive long enough to get out… and I don’t know EXACTLY what kept me here through every one of those moments. WAS IT luck? Other people? Tiny decisions?… Something bigger than me?
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Probably some combination of things I’ll never completely understand. ✨
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But whatever it was… I’m really grateful it did. ❤️‍🩹 Because I also know that if I had continued drinking and using the way I was, eventually my luck was going to run out.
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So yes, sometimes I laugh at my recovery lore. 😂 But NOT because addiction was funny, but because I survived something that once FELT impossible to escape.
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I have learned that there is something incredibly freeing about being able to look at a story that once terrified me and realize:

❤️‍🩹 That happened. I’m still here. I don’t have to live that way anymore… Sometimes the laugh is just gratitude wearing a VERY dark sense of humor. 😃🖤
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Love ya. 🧠💕
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#imposterinrecovery by @imposterinrecovery

🧠💕 Recovery has REALLY forced me to practice letting OTHER people have their opinions… without me immediately making those opinions my problem. 😅 Because people will have THOUGHTS…

➡️ About your recovery.
➡️ How you’re doing it.
➡️ How long it should take.
➡️ What you should forgive.
➡️ Who you should keep around.
➡️ What you should be “over” by now.
➡️ And …sometimes even whether you “really had a problem” in the first place. 🙃
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For a long time, I thought confidence meant having the perfect response ready for ALL of it.
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But now… I realized that sometimes confidence is just knowing I don’t need to respond at all. Because, someone else misunderstanding my choices doesn’t automatically mean I “NEED” to explain them better, and someone disagreeing with a boundary doesn’t automatically make it a bad boundary.
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Recovery has taught me to ask myself a different question:
❤️‍🩹 Is this helping me protect the life I worked really hard to build?… Because THAT life is the one I have to wake up in tomorrow.
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Not theirs.
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That doesn’t mean I never listen to feedback!! Good recovery has required me to be uncomfortable, admit when I’m wrong, ask for help, and let people I trust call me on my crap. 😂💩💕
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But… there’s a difference between being OPEN to growth and handing everybody else the steering wheel.
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I can listen, I can consider, I can change my mind, and I can also say, “Nah. That doesn’t work for me.”, and keep walking. 🌳😂
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If you’re learning how to trust yourself again in recovery, give yourself some grace. That confidence took TIME for me.
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You don’t have to defend every healthy decision you make.
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Sometimes you can simply make it… and keep going.
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🧠💕 Love ya.
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#ImposterInRecovery #RecoveryCommunity #EmotionalSobriety #RecoveryIsPossible #SoberSupport by @imposterinrecovery

🧠💕 Honestly, recovery has taught me that “keep going” does NOT always mean sprinting uphill to the-next-thing.
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❤️‍🩹 Sometimes it means sitting down for a second.
❤️‍🩹 Sometimes it means laughing because your body and brain are both fighting for their lives.
❤️‍🩹 And sometimes it means taking the break… but not moving back into the OLD life that was slowly destroying you.
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I wholeheartedly used to think growth “HAD TO” look impressive all the time. Yet, a lot of becoming healthier is deeply unglamorous.
❤️‍🩹 It’s resting.
❤️‍🩹 Repeating healthy routines.
❤️‍🩹 Trying again.
❤️‍🩹 Choosing peace again.
❤️‍🩹 Getting back up again.
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So if all you did today was not go backwards, I’m proud of you. Even if you had to breathe weird about it. 😎✨
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🧠💕 Love ya.
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#ImposterInRecovery #SoberLife #RecoveryJourney #SoberHumor #SoberHiking by @imposterinrecovery