The Road to Recovery

This is not how I saw 2025 going—writing about recovery and starting a new NA beverage company.

But life surprises you. And there have been many wonderful surprises this year.

My relationship with alcohol was long and layered. It wasn’t dramatic, but it was deep. A soft-edged dependency that slowly eroded the parts of me I liked best. It started as a tool, became a crutch, and then a kind of fog I couldn’t quite step out of.

Eventually I realized I was dimming something essential—and I wanted that light back. I didn’t know what recovery would look like. I just knew it was time to start remembering who I was without the noise.

That decision—to try something different—changed everything.

Still/Spark was born from that space.

Not as a brand idea, but as a personal experiment. A creative answer to the question: What if I didn’t drink, but still wanted to feel good, relaxed, at home with myself? What if I could make something that helped people feel present, uplifted, calm, connected—without the felt cost?

So I started blending herbs. Testing for taste, yes, but more than that, for feeling.

I wanted to make something I could offer at the bar that didn’t feel like a compromise. Something people could actually feel in their body—something real, subtle, steady.

It took time. It took help. It took patience and a lot of trial and error. But eventually, it worked. The drinks work.

Recovery, for me, isn’t about perfection.

It’s about presence. And connection. It’s about making better choices more often than not. It’s about remembering what I value…and building a life around that.

There’s no polished story here. No clean line or fully-finished redemptive arc.

Just me, trying to live a little more honestly. Trying to make something beautiful. Trying to offer an alternative for anyone else who’s out there, on the edge of a decision.

If that’s you—welcome.

You don’t need to explain yourself to anyone. You don’t have to swear anything off forever. You just get to try. Even just for a season. Even just to see.

That’s how all of this started for me—I just wanted to get my spark back.