The Big Blue Book of Everything: A Raw Look at Early Recovery and Life After Rehab

The blue folder

On your first day in rehab, you get one of those blue pocket folders. Every handout goes in it. You scribble notes on the outside. By the end of 28 days, it is stuffed with more than any one person can remember.

The joke in my class became that the folder was my big blue book of everything.

This is that book. The good parts, anyway, run through the brain of a guy who actually used them.

I am not a counselor, and I do not hold any degrees. I am a peer. Everything I learned in rehab is still fresh, and I wrote it down while I was living it, including the struggles.

Who this book is for

The person on the fence

You know something has to change, and you are trying to figure out if now is the time. Chapter 1 is about exactly that question.

The person who just got out

Rehab is over, and real life is waiting. You want to know what this early stretch is really going to look like.

The people who love them

You want to understand what someone you care about is walking into, from someone who walked it recently.

What’s inside

Four short chapters. Each one ends with a Take Action Now section, because the prompts are meant to be answered, not just read. Grab a notebook.

CHAPTER I
Why
Why now, and why it has to be for you and not for them. Plus the Yeti you may never catch.
CHAPTER II
Help
Inpatient, outpatient, AA, Recovery Dharma, and how to build your own mix.
CHAPTER III
Toolbox
The coping skills that actually got used, your people, and the warning lights to watch for.
CHAPTER IV
Path
Sober versus recovery, building a real recovery plan, and where you want to be in one year and five.

About Ryan

Ryan L. Reed is a husband, a dad, and the owner of two very opinionated dogs in Western New York. He is a curious guy and a helpful one, and he is in recovery from alcohol use disorder.

He wrote The Big Blue Book of Everything in his first months of sobriety, while the lessons from rehab were still fresh, so the next person would not have to start from an empty folder.

He is a team-sports guy at heart, and the biggest lesson so far fits in one word: HELP.

Book Ryan to speak

Treatment centers, recovery groups, schools, workplaces, and community events. Ryan speaks peer to peer about early recovery, asking for help, and what life after rehab really looks like.

Email about speaking

A safety note: If you have been drinking heavily every day, do not stop cold on your own. Alcohol withdrawal can be dangerous. Talk to a doctor or go to an emergency room first. If you are in danger right now, call 911. If you are in crisis, call or text 988. For free, confidential treatment referrals, call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.