Anna Sale

And then from there, they put me into this government run, really like scrappy ragtag business.

where the woman who owns it, or runs it, rather, is just this no-nonsense kind of, like, you know, 35 years of sobriety herself, just, like, can see through it all, right?

Kathy is her name, and she's sort of the reason I'm sober.

She would not allow us...

We couldn't work out.

We couldn't talk about it.

We couldn't, I was begging for a haircut like two months in.

Like I still looked the way I did like from the hospital and I was putting on weight from only eating like donation pastries.

Like I was disgusting.

And she just knew exactly that that was the issue and she would not budge.

Yeah, Kathy said I have to focus on my insides, not my outsides.

The way I understand it is there's a lot of things that, as you would say in the program, fix feelings.

Like, how can I fix how I feel, not be present, you know, whatever it is.

And I think when you take out the really strong, life-shattering substances, you are reaching.

And so...

The way I looked was another way I was wearing a mask.

It was another way that I was hiding, not being who I was, people pleasing, wanting to be who you needed me to be.

All of those things I never would have really dissected had I not torched my life in that way and met Kathy and these other addicts that helped me understand the mirror of how ridiculous it was to be so concerned.

here I am, Kathy would say, look where you are.

You're, like, worried about a haircut, but what about where your life has taken you, you know?