Anna David, best-selling author and entrepreneur, shares her story of addiction and depression, and how one word became the turning point for her that allowed her to become sober and build a new life. Hear Anna’s story of recovery and some of the more common misconceptions around addiction, and how she now helps other entrepreneurs tell their own stories of recovery with her publishing company.
Anna David grew up in a very money-motivated and education-focused family. Because the external view of her family was wealthy and upper-class, she didn’t realize that there was anything wrong or understand the trauma until she was in college.
Anna’s parents first went into marriage counseling when she was 5 and she remembers being in the waiting room thinking that it would be better if they just got divorced. Even then, Anna felt like hers was an unhappy family and that they would all be better off if they were separated.
Anna’s addiction was a major challenge for her where she felt trapped between two worlds. She knew that cocaine was killing her by making her depressed, but she couldn’t conceive of a world where she would be capable of giving it up.
A lack of courage and faith was the main thing holding Anna back from turning things around. Part of her rock bottom was getting tattoos that she didn’t think through or really care about, but when she got the word courage tattooed it became surprisingly meaningful to her. It wasn’t until she found the courage to change did anything improve in her life. A tattoo can become a form of visualization and manifestation.
One of the biggest initial victories for Anna was when she made up her mind to change and not wavering in her conviction over the course of the next week before she joined a rehab program. Anna had been so isolated in her addiction that she loved rehab and being around people and the process of sobriety forced her to relearn almost everything.
Building relationships and friendships while in rehab were incredibly valuable for Anna and became the foundation for her sober life.
Writing was always something that Anna wanted to do. She majored in Creative Writing and worked for a huge number of publications. While she was writing books, she went through the maze of traditional publishing and while it was a dream come true it was also a brutal business. This experience with the struggle of traditional publishing is what led Anna to start her own publishing business where she helps entrepreneurs publish their own books.
All entrepreneurs need a book. Everybody has a book in them, but not everybody should be writing that book.
In some ways, it’s harder for people who are addicted but never hit a true rock bottom, because it’s not a quick road or immediately obvious that the addiction is destroying your life.
For Anna, community and connection are the cornerstones of sober life. We are all seeking community, no matter the approach to sobriety. Sometimes it takes being completely isolated before you realize that you need a community to be happy.
One of the more common misconceptions around alcoholism is that people think it’s about how much you drink. There are plenty of people that drink more than alcoholics but don’t have the same self-destructive relationship with alcohol.
Another is that sobriety is all about willpower, but that’s not always the case. Most sober people no longer have the desire to use what they did when they were addicted because of the steps they’ve taken to remove themselves from the environment and habits that caused the problem.
Anna has a lot to be grateful for now. She is grateful for being able to be a good girlfriend, and for her business to be able to thrive despite the fact that she never believed she would ever make that kind of money.
If Anna could send a message to her younger self, even knowing that she probably wouldn’t listen, she would tell her “don’t try harder, resist less.” Surrender and feel the relief.
Many people believe that the key is to keep