Yesterday (September 5), Nita Strauss went on Instagram to share an image celebrating her nine years of sobriety thanks to a 12-step program. Later, she returned to the platform to talk about how she managed to stay sober while on tour.
“Thank you all for the love today,” the Alice Cooper guitarist wrote in response to her first post’s comments. “I know that in recovery we are never alone, but it definitely can get lonely on the road anyway! And seeing lots of your stories in the comments and the camaraderie that so many of us share put a smile on my face all day.”
“I often think that tour is a dangerous place to try and stay sober because there is so much opportunity to slip at any given moment,” she continued under a selfie and a photo of lobster tacos with water. “Beer, wine and liquor out on a shelf for the taking in every room including the tour bus… Bars on every corner of every day off city where you don’t know a single person, where you could duck in and have a drink or a shot and no one at home would ever know.”
“They say that your integrity is what you do when no one is looking… your sobriety is the same, on the road and off. It’s what you do and how you show up for yourself that counts. Those intrusive thoughts may always be there, but every day you don’t act on them is a win! If you’re reading this and you feel alone on your journey, know that I see you and I’m with you.”
Strauss decided to get sober while on tour in 2015 and credited her husband, Josh Villalta, for helping her along the way. The guitarist shared her experience in her early months of sobriety in a Facebook post celebrating its fifth anniversary.
“My first show without alcohol was in front of 15,000 people. I felt like a scarecrow someone had propped up on stage to scare birds,” she admitted. “Nothing felt natural. I was going through the motions, with this absurd idea running through my head ‘everyone is looking at me. Everyone knows.’”
“I went out by the bus to talk to fans afterward, and do you know what they said? ‘Wow you were so great! Where do you get all that energy? You add so much to Alice’s band!’” the guitarist recalled. “ALL of that insecurity, ALL the fears, ALL the doubt was in my head. Those are your demons that make you think you need them.”
Strauss is set to hit the road again with Alice Cooper’s band on September 6. She will be touring with Cooper until the end of October before performing some solo dates in November.
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