Why would a newly sober alcoholic want to write a book?
Because a new story desperately needs to be told about how alcoholics can survive and stay sober in this unprecedented time.
Author Michele Kenny is a recovering alcoholic who was also an isolated drinker-which means that for her and many others like her, the three-month quarantine imposed when COVID-19 first hit the US was the worst thing that could have happened. The resulting social isolation created anxiety, depression, boredom, and stress: a perfect storm for relapsing.
Michele needed a project to fill the empty time during confinement, so she started journaling (not one of her favorite pastimes!). She chronicled her thoughts and feelings during the self-quarantine in real time and recorded the different relapse prevention strategies she used to fight for her sobriety. And what a battle it was!
As she wrote, two main questions came to mind:
1. What do isolated drinkers do when, struggling to stay sober, they are forced into compromising environments like lockdowns and quarantines?
2. Can alcoholics come together as a community to better support each other during disastrous times?
Keeping Covid Sober answers both questions. Using a unique and creative blend of metaphor, irony, and personification (she actually makes both the virus and alcohol come to life as make-believe beings who stayed with her in her home during the quarantine), Michele takes us on her incredible journey, exposing the misery and hardships she dealt with during the times when her own recovery was in serious jeopardy, and uses this book to open a continuous dialogue to support alcoholics and others who are still suffering.
Michele also defines a new term, Dual Despondency: the rise in mental and emotional health issues like anxiety, stress, depression, domestic violence, child abuse, alcoholism and other substance use disorders, suicide, and PTSD that run parallel with and are a direct result of COVID-19. These problems cannot be solved with a vaccination. Just like alcoholics, these individuals will need help and support even after the virus is conquered.
With the raw and brutal honesty of someone who has been there, Michele takes us on the incredible journey she took while her own recovery was in serious jeopardy. She outlines traditional and innovative survival strategies and relapse prevention methods for alcoholics who live in uncertain times. And she shares her amazing discovery about the nature of human behavior that gives hope, not just to alcoholics but to people everywhere, for living meaningful lives in this new world.
For Michele, surviving the first wave of the pandemic came down to a narrow choice: either start writing or start drinking. This book is the choice she made. Keeping Covid Sober reframes a long-ignored conversation for all those facing similar challenges in a new, unprecedented era.
