going, the more stressed I felt, and the more I drank. I lost the ability to manage my life, I was defaulting on my mortgage and things became completely chaotic. I'd find stacks of unopened bills in the drawer and my heart would sink, but instead of dealing with it I'd go and get a drink, telling myself that tomorrow it would all get sorted out and I'd stop drinking. It was always 'tomorrow' because that meant today I could still drink. Last year, with my debt topping around 80,000, I finally got help. While I was in treatment my house was repossessed and I am also now facing the prospect of bankruptcy. It's a complete stripping away of everything I had, and to lose everything and have to admit that it was my fault is deeply painful. As difficult as it's been, though, I see the financial collapse as being intrinsically linked with my drinking, and therefore with the past. Those things represent the old Karen, and I'm just so grateful that I can put them behind me. I've never felt happier. I've been sober for eight months and I'm studying yoga therapy, psycho-spiritual counselling and healing. At the end of the day what matters is that I'm well. Sobriety has become boundlessly more important than money.