🧠 Sober Soul Care Sunday | What Are You Addicted To?

For the first-borns, the healers, the peaceful leaders, the ones who never wanted to be a burden by Dee Anne Berry

Hello Dear Soul, how are you—from 1 to 10?

I’ve been asking this question daily to my son for years. We check in throughout the day, because nothing is permanent—including how we feel.

🧡 A little housekeeping: If my posts are landing in your spam, click the ⭐️ star above to move them to your inbox.

Today, I’m a 10. I have no complaints. I am content. And that, to me, is the goal when living mindfully with Buddhist practices.

But it wasn’t always this way.

I once drowned in deep suffering. I drank so much booze because I couldn’t bring myself to physically end it. In my youth, I ate cotton balls ( anorexic eating disorder voice) and self-harmed to ease the pain to distract my depression.

But the universe needed me to stay.

I am a rare bird—one who’s been tracking my health and my late mother’s since the 1980s. Decades of bio-hacking, healing and searching for the root cause.

And now, I’ve reached the finish line.

I’ve healed the lifelong issues that began in the womb.

Environmental illness. Sick building syndrome. Mould illness. These were the hidden drivers of my constant stress and inflammation. They led to chronic conditions that no doctor could name.

Now, I help cycle-breakers end the cycle— of chronic illness, fatigue, pain, inflammation and our C-PTSD addiction stress.

🧠 Sober Soul Care Sunday | What Are You Addicted To?

“I have survived many acts of violence and violation against my body and always led a life of love, knowing that hurt people hurt people—including themselves. I was one of them. The traumas—some brief, some prolonged, all deeply wounding.

For years, I stayed in abusive relationships, believing this was what I deserved. I was born into a home where love felt absent, where I felt like a burden.

I didn’t know how to escape and I didn’t feel strong enough to try. But I now understand: it wasn’t weakness. It was survival. And I am no longer ashamed of the ways my body tried to protect me.”

🌿 Opening Reflection

What are you addicted to?

Alcohol, Sugar, Scrolling, Shopping, Over-exercising, Work, Relationships, Control

I’ve lived through them all.

🔥 The Truth I’ve Lived

While helping others heal since the 80s, I was suffering in silence with my own addictions—trying to be the perfect health nut, the peacemaker, the first-born who could never sleep well.

I never wanted to be a burden.

I was told daily by my mother that I was the cause of her divorce, her pain, her bad days.

She took her frustrations out on me.

And I accepted it.

I had strong shoulders.

I cared.

It was one of my many gifts—one I kept quiet most of my life.

Until I hit 40. That’s when I started meeting others like me.

I thought I was the only one who received messages from the universe.

🌌 My Intuition, My Calling

I’ve learned when others are about to pass—before they do. I reach out because the universe guides me to. And then it’s up to them: Are they ready to awaken to a peaceful life or still sleepwalking?

I am an intuitive.

A highly empathetic soul.

An Intuitive Relationship & Clairsentient Soul Alignment Guide.

When I was a child, I already knew. I just didn’t have the language yet.

🔥 The Truth Doctors Miss

We are not mentally ill.

We are environmentally ill.

We are inflamed, overloaded and grieving in bodies that were never given a clean start.

Especially those of us born first—into toxic wombs, toxic homes and toxic systems.

Last fall, I collapsed in front of a doctor fresh out of med school.

Seizing.

Shaking. In a full cytokine storm.

He told me it was mental. Dismissed me. No apology. No accountability.

But the hospital saw my channel—De-Stress With Dee SOS—and they saw the truth.

I am part of the solution. And so are you. There will be those with dark souls and loud egos who try to silence your bright light. Don’t let them.

🧬 The Invisible Load of First-Borns

We receive the highest toxic load in the womb.

We are born into grief, into stress, into environments that shape our addictions before we even speak.

And when our bodies scream in midlife, they call it menopause. But it’s not. It’s inflammation.

It’s SIBO.

It’s histamine overload. It’s leaky body syndrome. It’s environmental illness.

🌫️ What the Research Confirms

• Mold exposure during pregnancy can cause respiratory issues, immune dysfunction and systemic inflammation in both mother and baby.

• Environmental toxins like pesticides, heavy metals and endocrine disruptors interfere with fetal brain development and immune system formation.

• Chronic maternal stress alters the baby’s stress response system, increasing risks of C-PTSD, anxiety and addiction later in life.

• Lifelong trauma starting in childhood—especially when unprocessed—can lead to a cascade of chronic illnesses:

  • Increased risk of chronic pain, gastrointestinal issues, hypertension and autoimmune disorders

  • Disrupted brain development and hormonal regulation, leading to emotional dysregulation, anxiety and depression

  • Higher likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease, inflammation-related conditions and premature aging

These exposures don’t just disappear.

They live in our tissues. Until we detox them. Until we grieve them. Until we honour the body that carried them.

💔 The System That Doesn’t See Us

Disability in Canada doesn’t recognize environmental illness. After a 3-year battle, I am done asking to be seen. I am resting in peace now—while still living in service.

Because someone, somewhere, will hear this message and carry it forward.

Just like my mom before me.

Same symptoms. Same silence. Same systemic gaslighting.
She was loud trying to be seen and heard.

I chose a different path as a silent observer of life.

💧 The Healing Invitation

If you are addicted, know this: It’s not weakness. It’s your body trying to survive.

Your environment, your unprocessed grief, your chronic stress—they are fuelling your choices.

And they will stay in your tissues until you detox them.

This is not your fault. But it is your time. To heal To hydrate To honour your soul.

💗 Community Love & Healing Acknowledgement

Before we close, I want to take a moment to acknowledge a beloved soul in our sangha community who underwent breast cancer surgery this past week.

If you feel called, please send peaceful love and extra healing strength her way.

Wrap her in your loving kindness prayers, your light, your quiet whispers of hope.
She is not alone. We are with her—in spirit, in breath, in healing intention.

Sending Loving Kindness from Canada’s Capital,
Momma Lovey Dee :)

You are not a burden. You are Love. You are Peace. You are not broken—your tissues are simply overburdened with toxins.