Margaret Cioffe
@margaretcioffe.bsky.social
Books. Baking. Kitchen Witch. Strength training. Former elementary teacher. Working on a memoir about addiction and recovery and life in general. Substack: https://substack.com/@margaretcioffe Buy Me a Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/3o9DJM9U7N
Reposting because I want more answers: I've been building a list of "rules" we're taught are basically law but actually aren't. What's one you no longer believe? Reply with yours — I might add it to the list. #substack #momsky #homeschool #writing #memoir
Untrue Things We Were Taught
On losing a school community, finding my footing, and the myths we still believe about rest.
margaretcioffe.substack.com
I’ve always heard alcoholism talked about like this: “Why would they do that to themselves?” or, worse, with blame, “Well they did it to themselves!” The shift from emotional dependence to chemical dependence isn't a decision. By the time it's a problem, it's already too late. #recovery
In case you missed it: alcohol withdrawal has a name for what happens the more times you go through it — the kindling effect. Each time, the next one gets worse. Neurologically, not just from "getting older." "Puppy" goes there. 👇 #substack #recovery #addiction #memoir #writing
Puppy and the Truth About Alcohol Withdrawal
Everything is Gray, Part II: Everything Went Dark
margaretcioffe.substack.com
Have you ever destroyed something beautiful on purpose — not by accident, because you needed to? I did, during quarantine, with a two-foot chocolate Easter bunny. Tell me yours. New essay Friday. #substack #addiction #recovery #memoir #writing
Have you ever destroyed something beautiful on purpose — not by accident, because you needed to? I did, during quarantine, with a two-foot chocolate Easter bunny. Tell me yours. New essay Friday. #substack #addiction #recovery #memoir #writing
New Mess & Magic is up! I hope you visit my #substack and give it a read. #writing #momsky #memoir
Untrue Things We Were Taught
On losing a school community, finding my footing, and the myths we still believe about rest.
substack.com
The shift from emotional dependence to chemical isn’t a choice anyone actually makes. It just is your structure all of a sudden. Then it's the only thing holding you together. By the time it's a problem, it's also the solution you can't live without. #recovery #addiction #memoir #writing
Last week's Everything is Gray ICYMI. The truth about alcohol withdrawal. 💙 🔗 #substack #memoir #addiction #recovery #writing
Puppy and the Truth About Alcohol Withdrawal
Everything is Gray, Part II: Everything Went Dark
margaretcioffe.substack.com
Still adding to this list for tomorrow’s Mess & Magic! I would love to include your thoughts. 🩵 #substack #writing #momsky #memoir
Everything is Gray (@margaretcioffe)
Added this to my list of things that are NOT true: Every kid is supposed to learn the same things at the same ages. If they don’t they are either “at-risk” or “advanced.” Feel free to share any that…
substack.com
I'm 38, and I know I'm attractive. I could do more. But when I do, I catch myself playing less — can't run in cute shoes, sweat off the makeup. This morning: shorts, ponytail, "the floor is lava." Bruises and bug bites from playing outside. She won't remember glamorous. She'll remember wild. #momsky
What's a rule you were taught that you no longer believe? Drop it in the comments — I’ll add it to Friday’s Mess & Magic🖤 Here’s what I have so far: 🧵
If you grew up on D.A.R.E. in the '90s, you remember the fear — heroin, crack, blackened lungs. But alcohol got an asterisk: just say no, except at 21, then it's fine, then it's everywhere. We were never taught what withdrawal actually does. Because society loves it. 👇 #addiction #recovery #memoir
Puppy and the Truth About Alcohol Withdrawal
Everything is Gray, Part II: Everything Went Dark
margaretcioffe.substack.com
After what happened at daycare, I went looking: what are parents actually entitled to know during an investigation in NY? The answer, legally: not much, in real time. 🧵
Our Pre-K got shut down. The panic passed, and something unexpected happened: I got my daughter back for the week. No 7:40am rush. I pulled out every teacher trick on my own kid. We went slow. I thought I was losing a week of normal. I actually gained something I needed. New M&M essay Friday 🖤 🧵
Here she is! This week’s Everything is Gray. **Trigger warning: this essay discusses severe alcohol withdrawals, including seizures and DTs. #substack #memoir #addiction #recovery #writing
Puppy and the Truth About Alcohol Withdrawal
Everything is Gray, Part II: Everything Went Dark
open.substack.com
New essay goes up at 10am: "Puppy and the Truth About Alcohol Withdrawal." The kindling effect, the exorcism history of DTs, and why my husband and I still call each other Puppy. Part 1's free — the rest is paid, and would mean someone besides my mom has read it. Here's the first one free 🖤👇
This week's essay's song is "I Wanna Be Your Dog" by The Stooges — fitting, since the essay is about a nickname born in our worst days: Puppy. Not cute on purpose. Just two people who refused to let go, even at rock bottom. New essay Friday 🐶🖤 #substack #memoir #recovery #addiction
I Wanna Be Your Dog
Provided to YouTube by Rhino/Elektra I Wanna Be Your Dog · The Stooges The Stooges ℗ 1969 Elektra/Asylum Records for the United States and WEA International for the world outside of the United…
youtube.com
For centuries, no one understood what severe alcohol withdrawal actually looked like — hallucinations, confusion, terror. They called it possession. An unknown number of exorcisms were likely performed on people experiencing delirium tremens. Not demons. Withdrawal. #recovery #addiction #memoir
We were at our worst as addicts — couch-bound, barely functioning, we never stopped talking, even through the bathroom door. A joke about following each other like puppies became our name for each other. Always Puppy. New essay Friday 🖤 #substack #memoir #addiction #recovery
Alcohol withdrawal has a name for what happens the more times you go through it: the kindling effect. Each time, the next one gets worse — not a worse hangover, a more dangerous one. Once you're dependent, stopping isn't just a choice anymore. #addiction #recovery #substack #memoir #mentalhealth
Something I didn't know until I lived it: repeated alcohol withdrawal has a name — the kindling effect. Each time, the next one gets worse. Not a worse hangover. A more dangerous one. Neurologically, not just from "getting older." Nobody teaches us this. #recovery #addiction #mentalhealth
This week's essay out Friday: the real nature of alcohol withdrawal — what we're never taught because alcohol is too beloved to talk about honestly. Also: why my husband and I call each other Puppy 🐶 #recovery #substack #addiction #memoir
Everything is Gray | Substack
Two newsletters, one writer: Everything is Gray (memoir, recovery, identity) and Mess and Magic (food, chaos, the present tense) — every Friday, alternating. Click to read Everything is Gray, a…
margaretcioffe.substack.com
So, technically, I went from unscheduling summer to planning a whole bunch of fun home-learning activities. But I am still making sure to keep last week’s Mess & Magic in mind while we get into this new phase of parenting. #substack #momsky #writing #homeschool
Unscheduling Summer
Mess & Magic: Issue #8
open.substack.com
New Mess and Magic is up! This week we unscheduled summer because it turns out summer as a parent is the complete opposite of the summer of our childhood. #substack #momsky #summer #bakingsky #artsandcrafts #memoir
Unscheduling Summer
Mess & Magic: Issue #8
open.substack.com
Consistency over perfection → rest when my body asks for it → eating enough instead of eating less. Unlearning hustle culture and diet culture is actually what gets us to the goals we were chasing in the first place. #recovery #momsky #addiction #mentalhealth
