Hope, learned patterns, intentional choices, cravings, and a fuller life: John Makohen organizes recovery into five psychological shifts. His framework offers reflective questions rather than a fixed path everyone must follow.

Last week, Symon Cope described the descent. Now he shares the six lifelines that helped him begin rebuilding life in recovery, from connection and self-development to learning to face responsibility with greater honesty.

At 17, Joshua Bennett-Johnson was working restaurant shifts while carrying a dangerous secret. In Part I of his memoir excerpt, a phone call, a threat, and a familiar detective lead him to a meeting that changes everything that comes next.