Feeling Alive in 2025: Finding strength through sobriety
Sobriety can be a challenge entering the new year, though one North Texas woman showed with grit and determination any goal can become a reality.
Cheri Chafin begins every day at 5:30 a.m. working out with a sober friend. On Tuesdays, she then heads home for a weekly Zoom call that has changed her life.
She created the meeting four years ago, and alcoholics from across the nation join to give weekly encouragement on each sobriety journey.
"My sobriety journey was not something I wanted to be on," Chafin said. "It was something I needed to be on."
Chafin became a meth addict in high school. She got clean after two years but slipped into alcoholism. She celebrated six years sober on Christmas. Throughout the years, she's used the darkest parts of her life to bring light to others.
"The journey was very grueling," she said. "That first year being sober, just because I had good intentions, and I changed my mind and my habits didn't mean the consequences didn't still follow me."
She's now the owner of Cornbread Hustle, a business for recovering addicts, alcoholics and convicted felons needing a job.
"Last year before the holidays, I was kind of struggling trying to find something to keep me going, especially trying to make Christmas better for my kids, and this was kind of a miracle because it was kind of last minute," said Daniel Silva, an employee at Cornbread Hustle.
Chafin also began a program at the Collin County Jail to help inmates get back on their feet.
She said her sobriety journey was not easy but worth it. To those needing to take that first step, Chafin suggested they look up and find people in their corner.
"I'm 50 pounds less," she said. "I don't have a negative bank account. I have friends who adore me, and who I adore. I have peace in my life. I was searching for those things outside myself, and now I have those things inside me."
Chafin's weekly Zoom call for recovering alcoholics takes place every Tuesday at 7 a.m. She said all participants are welcome to join anonymously.