This is Sober Outdoors, a brand new site by Nick Pearson that's just getting started. Things will be up and running here shortly, but you can subscribe in the meantime if you'd like to stay up to date and receive emails when new content is published!
If you have ever tried to get mental health or addiction treatment through insurance and felt like you accidentally signed up for an escape room designed by a fax machine, you are not crazy. You are not being dramatic. You are simply interacting with a system that has spent years
By Corie S. Sustainability Strategist | Skier | Climber | Community Member | 1.8.2026 [ { "type": "highlight", "id": "ffe2efc1-31c1-4a9d-adcc-dd4481f296a4", "shape": "underline", "isFront": false, "isAnimationEnabled": false, "animation": "draw", "duration": 0.5, "
CONTENT WARNING: Reader Discretion Advised (18+): This post discusses mature and sensitive themes, including Substance Use Disorder, severe family conflict, light profanity, and references to suicidal ideation and other difficult challenges people face in life. Please read this post with an open mind and an open heart. At Sober Outdoors,
We’ve been in this work long enough to recognize the pattern. Something new always comes along. A different name, a different shape, but the same dangerous rhythm — more potent, more unpredictable, more heartbreak stitched into the chemistry. You start to sense it before it has a label. A shift
Listen up. Something is happening. It’s a groundswell, a seismic shift in the tectonic plates of our culture that’s been a long, long time coming. You can feel it in the air, you can see it in the choices people are making, and now, the hard data is
I’m writing this with tears burning in my eyes and a fire roaring in my chest. Over this past week, California has become ground zero for a heartbreaking and infuriating attack on the human condition itself. The Trump Administration, through Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has unleashed terror, ripping
The Question I’ve Never Asked Myself The other day, a stranger I was chatting with who had recently finished a seven-day detox for alcoholism and cocaine use asked me a question I never thought I’d be asked: “How would you cure addiction, if the sky was the limit?
Introduction: A Personal and Collective Opportunity For many of us in recovery and our allies, April’s Alcohol Awareness Month carries a deep significance. It’s a time when we shine a light on alcohol use and its impacts – not with judgment, but with understanding and hope. As someone who
A Story That Speaks Right to the Heart of Dog Lovers As someone who is utterly obsessed with dogs—especially my golden retriever, Ruger—I’ve devoured countless dog stories. But honestly, nothing prepared me for the emotional rollercoaster I experienced reading Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing in
A Story That Speaks Right to the Heart of Dog Lovers As someone who is utterly obsessed with dogs—especially my golden retriever, Ruger—I’ve devoured countless dog stories. But honestly, nothing prepared me for the emotional rollercoaster I experienced reading Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing in
In America, we don’t understand addiction—let alone talk about it. We lean into antiquated stigmas before we see the human behind the problem. We whisper about it in hushed tones, assuming it’s something that happens to other people, somewhere else. The truth? One in three households in