About 
Rick
I am a writer–a formerly drunken, occasionally crazy mess of a writer–but a writer none the less. This is my personal blog. It is focused on recovery (heavily twelve-step influenced), sanity, spirituality and life. I typically post three times a week with the occasional bonus post as the mood strikes me. To make sure you don’t miss my newest posts you can subscribe via RSS or e-mail (see the Home Page).
My goal is to create insightful, relevant content related to how I work solutions to stay sane and sober–solutions that you can put to work in your own life whether you are an addict, mentally ill, both or a “normie” looking for a more spiritually-fulfilling life.
I have no proof reader and am poor at editing my own work. This can be problematic. After all, there is a vast difference between feeling you’re nuts and feeling your nuts. Comments on the more glaring grammatical errors are welcome. All comments, in fact, are welcome. I will try to respond as I can.
Because I often dabble in little attempts at humor I may inadvertently offend on occasion. This is not my intent. I’ve just found that humor diffuses some of the guilt and shame so common amongst those of us who suffer from addiction or insanity.
Mini Biography
Snippets of my personal history will appear in the blog from time to time. I write under a pseudonym because anonymity is an important tradition in the twelve-step community. But here are a few basic elements of my history.
I was born in 1963 which makes me older than I care to be. I grew up in Southern California which makes me more arrogant than I care to be.
Childhood was suburban and normal. I can’t blame my drunken ways on a rough childhood … though I did have an older brother with a proclivity for pinning me down and breaking wind on my face. My psychiatrist used to tell me this wasn’t abuse. So I pinned her down and broke a wind on her face. Now she sees things my way.
I’ve been married (more than once), am still married and have sired two wonderful girls who are now making beautiful children of their own. I currently live in Arizona where, after fourteen years of faltering attempts, I got sober in early 2006.
I am bipolar– Bipolar I to be precise-so I know mania and depression and a variety of moods in between. I am not a little bipolar-ish. I have had some grand psychotic breaks. Including one in sobriety that had me locked up for a seventy-two hour involuntary psychiatric observation (which I talked my way out of in seven hours) and ultimately led to my incarceration for felony disorderly conduct. Oops!
I started my career in publishing, serving as Assistant Editor and Editor of two nationally-distributed personal finance magazines. For the last twenty years I have been in information technology, holding position such a Director of IT, Vice President of IT and then, in recent years, in IT consulting. (Though following my incarceration the positions held were more along the lines of street sweeper driver and fireworks stand night guard until I got that pesky felony dropped to a misdemeanor.)
I am once again consulting to pay the bills and writing to maintain my sanity. I hope you enjoy the blog!
My Contact Information
You can contact me via e-mail at rickbernhisel@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook.
