Memoir by Alison Ashby Offers Raw, Honest Look at the Journey to Sobriety and Self-Acceptance
July 2025 — In her deeply moving and unflinchingly honest memoir, Progress Not Perfection: A Memoir of Addiction and Recovery, Alison Ashby shares her decades-long battle with alcoholism, relapse, and redemption. Now an Amazon bestseller, the book is resonating with readers from all walks of life—offering hope, understanding, and a powerful message: recovery is possible.
Ashby, a licensed alcohol and drug counselor with graduate degrees from both the Kent School of Social Work and the Hazelden Betty Ford School of Addiction Studies, blends her professional knowledge with lived experience. Beneath the polished surface of academic and career achievements, she was silently struggling—cycling through periods of sobriety and relapse, arrests, hospitalizations, and personal devastation. Her story is one that will feel familiar to many: the invisible battles, the relentless pursuit of change, and the heartbreak of starting over again and again.
In Progress Not Perfection, Ashby takes readers through the most difficult chapters of her life, including jail, civil commitments, alcohol poisoning, and the challenges of parenting while in recovery. She offers practical insights into the tools that help her stay sober, such as the twelve steps, spiritual practice, mental health treatment, and Alcoholics Anonymous. Her candid storytelling brings light to the misunderstood and often stigmatized realities of alcoholism—especially among women and mothers.
“I wrote this book to break the silence,” Ashby says. “For years, only my closest family knew how much I was suffering. I want others to know they’re not alone—that addiction doesn’t have to define them, and that it’s okay to be a work in progress.”
Now living in Florida with her family, Ashby continues to advocate for recovery and mental health awareness. Her popular blog at alisonpeyton.com explores motherhood, sobriety, and personal growth with the same vulnerability and grace found in her book.
Progress Not Perfection is a must-read for anyone affected by addiction—whether directly or indirectly—including addicts, alcoholics, social workers, students, and loved ones. It is a powerful testament to the strength of the human spirit and a heartfelt tribute to everyone walking the road of recovery.
