RRP 111 — Tiffany D. | Real Recovery Podcast

RRP 111 — Tiffany D.

Rejection Is Redirection: One Year Sober and Just Getting Started

Presenters	Julie P. Lewis & Peter B. Dowell
Release Date	April 24, 2026
Episode Length	1 hour 11 minutes

Episode Summary

Julie and Peter welcome Tiffany D., one year sober, whose story moves from hidden wine bottles and blackout DUIs to a spiritual awakening in a jail cell and a job in recovery services. After 46 days awaiting sentencing, a judge released her to treatment at NARA in Portland. Today she has her kids, her own home, and a clear-eyed philosophy: rejection is redirection, and investing in yourself is the only way forward.

Key Points

00:02Julie introduces Tiffany, met through the nighttime Extended Family AA group, and celebrates her one-year sobriety milestone.
00:07Drinking started as partying and became a vice over years, with the last five going full throttle — hiding bottles, skipping her kids’ activities, drinking from the moment she woke.
00:14Root causes: depression, a divorce at 25, and taking guardianship of her younger brother (seventh grade) and sister (a freshman) from her father’s side while he was in prison — all while being a single mom. Capable outwardly; deteriorating inside.
00:26Multiple DUIs, reckless driving, driving while suspended. Her most serious DUI was on a highway in Klamath County driving back from Arizona. She does not remember passing Las Vegas.
00:31Sat in jail 46 days before sentencing, facing two simultaneous convictions with a detainer from Klamath Falls. Attended church services, requested pastor visits, and began learning about surrender and faith. That cell became her foundation.
00:35Sentenced to six months; judge released her to treatment at NARA in Portland — something she had never considered. She had never known anyone who went to rehab. Waited 48 more days for a bed and for the Klamath detainer to clear.
00:41Picked up from jail by a peer mentor she now works alongside, and driven from the Oregon coast to NARA in Portland. Her coworker recently told her she was already “ready to conquer recovery” on that drive, fresh out of jail.
00:56Tiffany is sober for herself — not her kids or anyone else. When she is alone, she has to stay accountable to herself. Recovery is her first job.
01:02Chaired her one-year anniversary meeting on “trusting the process.” After treatment: no home, no job, kids not yet with her. Within about a month: housing secured, kids reunited right after, hired two weeks later at the same outpatient program where she received treatment.
01:06“Rejection is redirection” — shared in the Extended Family meeting — defines this episode. A rejection at a front-office desk job Tiffany believes was tied to disclosing her recovery redirected her into working in recovery services.
01:10Closing wisdom: take your time healing. Invest in yourself mentally, physically, and spiritually. Feed your soul and your mind. You are not defined by where you’ve been.

Guest Quote

“People can’t say anything about me that I don’t already know, already heard — because I know my story and I am not ashamed of it. I own up to it. I take accountability because of the fact that that’s not me anymore.” — Tiffany D.

Websites Discussed

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RRP 111 — Tiffany D.; Rejection Is Redirection: One Year Sober and Just Getting Started