I’m a big fan of Brené Brown. In one of her books, she talks about being vulnerable, and she has a rule that I’m about to break. The rule is that you don’t speak of the things you are vulnerable about in public until you’ve actually worked through them and given them space to heal. I think that’s wonderful advice. I’m a big believer in that. But I’m going to break that rule because I feel such a sense of urgency to share with you what’s going on with me. I think it’s what’s going on with you too. Together, we can become stronger and help each other out. I always try to be the type of friend who is real and who never portrays that I have it all together. With all that being said, I want to tell you what’s going on with me. I’m not going to get too specific because I believe in protecting the privacy of everybody. I believe in sharing, but I also believe in being dignified and respectful about it. There is somebody in my life right now who is bullying me and sending horrible, unkind messages that are difficult to read and completely false. This person doesn’t know me very well. I think I’ve met them three times in my life and had very short conversations with them. So, they’re getting misinformation, and they have an ulterior motive for what they’re doing. I am aware that I’m undeserving of this and that it's uncalled for. It’s mean, it’s cruel, and it’s difficult. As I’m receiving this harassment from this person, I thought of you all because I always think of you guys. I thought about the way it reminded me of my first marriage, and the way addiction used to bully and harass me. I also thought about how all of you reading this probably feel bullied and harassed by addiction too. We are told that we’re worthless. We are told that we should be ashamed of ourselves. We’re told that we are not fun, we are overdramatic, we’re never happy, or never good enough. We are told that we are crazy. We’re told that we’re controlling. We are told that we nag. And we are reminded of all of the things that make us feel insecure. That's addictions way of trying to get us to be quiet. Addiction is trying to put you in your place. It’s trying to say to you, “Listen, lady, you need to shut your mouth, sit down, and be quiet because I’m in control of this situation. I’m in control of your finances, your family, and all the extra free time of the person you love. I am in control.” You are left feeling completely devastated. Your heart is broken. You feel like you’ve been beaten up, and you're marred and cut and broken. That is a horrible feeling. And if you're feeling like that today, I am right here with you. We can feel beaten up and broken together. But as I was thinking about this, I realized that addiction is a bully. It doesn’t matter who you are. You could be Mother Teresa or Oprah. You could even be God, and addiction would be trying to do the same thing to them as it is to you. You're an obstacle, and addiction’s goal is to get everything out of the way so that it can remain in control of the person you love. So, do not take this personally. This is not your fault. We have lots of podcasts and tools in the program that can teach you how to regain control because I do not believe that we are powerless at all; I think that's a bunch of bull. We do have power. We have choices. We are not helpless, and we do not have to sit around and wait for things to get better in order to start feeling better. So, what do you do when you’ve been bullied? What do you do when addiction is trying to put you in your place with a bunch of lies? Do you retaliate and fight back? Do you walk away and give up? The first thing that you do is take a deep breath. You have to pause. When this person was sending me text messages, I did not respond. I’m a feisty woman, so my initial instinct was to fight back. But I took a deep pause, I put my phone away, and I thought, “I need to get quiet. I need to make space to think about this.” And then I asked myself, “Is there an