Push Off from Here: Nine Essential Truths to Get You Through Sobriety (and Everything Else)

ISBN-13: 9780593498095

ISBN-10: 0593498097

Author: McKowen, Laura

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: 2023

When Laura McKowen was two years sober, she received an email from a woman whose sister was struggling with alcohol addiction. Laura had barely climbed out from the dark place the woman’s sister was in, but she made a list of things that she felt would’ve been the most important to hear when she was in the deep end of her own battle:

1. It is not your fault.
2. It is your responsibility.
3. It is unfair that this is your thing.
4. This is your thing.
5. This will never stop being your thing until you face it.
6. You cannot do it alone.
7. Only you can do it.
8. You are loved.
9. We will never stop reminding you of these things.

In Push Off from Here, Laura delves deeply into each of her nine points: what they are, how they work, and how every person will be able to use them, no matter at what stage of sobriety. She addresses topics such as the correlation between trauma and addiction, the importance of radical honesty, letting go of the illusion of control, the value of community, a reminder that healing is a continual process, and that the process is a gift.

The stories and advice Laura shares are specific to alcohol addiction, but the tenets are universal in their application, providing readers with a modern, actionable framework for healing what pains us and proving that a life of sobriety can be synonymous with a life of honesty, magic, joy, and peace.