The highest value (working with Claire) was in having someone checking up on me. I suppose an accountability partner.

With drinking, you can’t get that from anyone else in your network, because either they’d be ‘drinking buddies’ (at least at some level) or people to whom you might not want to reveal this kind of stuff.

But having someone who’s bothered, who cares, is critical to get you through those thought-bomb moments when part of you is thinking, “If I have just one, it won’t matter, nobody will notice, nobody will care.