Elizabeth Vargas, ABC News Anchor
Elizabeth Vargas, anchor of 20/20, shares her harrowing struggle with alcoholism and anxiety. She discusses how Transcendental Meditation, daily practices, and community support have been crucial in her recovery journey.
Deep Dive Analysis
13 Topic Outline
Introduction to Elizabeth Vargas and her memoir
Elizabeth Vargas's journey with meditation and TM
Meditation's role in managing anxiety and panic
How Transcendental Meditation is practiced
Connecting anxiety, self-medication, and alcoholism
The turning point: Vargas's alcoholism escalates
Impact of the World News Tonight demotion
Personal insecurity and public scrutiny
The progression of severe alcoholism and blackout
Challenges of rehab and achieving lasting sobriety
Daily practices for maintaining sobriety
Family impact and the purpose of sharing her story
Alcoholism as a brain disease
5 Key Concepts
Transcendental Meditation (TM)
A meditation practice where one closes their eyes, sits comfortably, and repeats a secret Sanskrit mantra for a set period. The core instruction is not to banish thoughts but to let them float by like clouds or balloons without attaching to them, thereby training the mind to let go of mental clinging.
Reflective Pause
The ability, cultivated through meditation, to stop and examine anxious feelings rather than reacting impulsively. It involves stepping outside oneself to observe symptoms like a racing heart, question the reality of the fear, and assess whether a panicky reaction will be helpful.
The Four Agreements (relevant to Vargas)
A framework for personal conduct, two key agreements of which are 'not to take things personally' and 'not to assume.' Elizabeth Vargas notes her historical difficulty with these, which exacerbated her professional and personal struggles.
Alcoholism as Self-Medication
The use of alcohol to cope with underlying stress, anxiety, or unhappiness, which initially provides a sense of relief or confidence. However, this eventually becomes a destructive cycle where alcohol exacerbates the very problems it's meant to solve, leading to a 'death spiral.'
Alcohol Baseline Change
A physiological alteration in the body that occurs with heavy, prolonged alcohol consumption. The body's 'normal' state shifts, requiring alcohol just to feel regular, and leading to intensified anxiety and withdrawal symptoms when not drinking.
6 Questions Answered
Elizabeth Vargas was first introduced to mindfulness meditation in rehab, but later learned Transcendental Meditation (TM) through George Stephanopoulos and the David Lynch Foundation, which became a crucial tool for her recovery.
Meditation, especially TM, teaches individuals to pause and observe anxious thoughts without attachment, allowing them to float by. This practice builds the capacity to examine fears, question their reality, and choose a calmer response instead of panicking or self-medicating.
Anxiety is highly intertwined with alcoholism, with a significant percentage of alcoholics suffering from it. People often use alcohol to self-medicate anxiety, but over time, alcohol actually intensifies anxiety and makes achieving sobriety much more difficult.
Her public demotion from co-anchor of World News Tonight, combined with deep personal insecurities and the immense stress of being a breadwinner and working mother, significantly fueled her increased drinking as a coping mechanism for humiliation and anxiety.
Alcoholism is a brain disease that physiologically alters the body's baseline, making alcohol necessary just to feel normal and dramatically increasing anxiety during withdrawal. Therefore, simply telling an alcoholic to stop is ineffective, akin to telling someone with depression to 'just be happy.'
She aims to make others suffering from alcoholism and anxiety feel less alone, offer understanding to family members of alcoholics (emphasizing that the actions are not personal), and fulfill the recovery principle of helping others.
14 Actionable Insights
1. Cultivate Reflective Pause
Practice meditation (e.g., Transcendental Meditation for 20 minutes daily) to develop a reflective pause, which helps manage anxiety and prevents impulsive, panicky reactions to life events.
2. Examine Anxiety Logically
When feeling anxious, stop and mentally step outside yourself to examine the situation, questioning if the fear is real or logical and if your anxious reaction will actually help.
3. Practice Letting Go of Thoughts
Regularly practice letting thoughts float by without attachment, treating it as mental exercise to build resilience against panic and prevent fear from overwhelming you in stressful moments.
4. Listen to Your Intuition
Cultivate stillness and quiet through meditation or other centering practices to better hear and trust your gut instinct and intuition, as these internal guides have proven reliable.
5. Adopt The Four Agreements
Live by the principles of being impeccable with your word, not taking things personally, not making assumptions, and always doing your best to improve personal interactions and reduce self-inflicted pain.
6. Protect First-Year Sobriety
In the first year of sobriety, prioritize protecting your recovery by avoiding major life decisions and new relationships, as this period is extremely fragile.
7. Engage in Recovery Support
Maintain sobriety by regularly attending meetings with fellow alcoholics, meditating, and reading, which provides valuable insights and helps manage underlying anxiety.
8. Understand Addiction as Disease
For family members of alcoholics, understand that addiction is a brain disease, not a personal slight; the person is in pain and struggling with self-love, and simply telling them to stop is ineffective.
9. Practice Daily Presence
Actively practice ’taking it in’ by being present and appreciating both significant and mundane moments, such as the sky or the smell of the air, rather than constantly rushing through life.
10. Use Yoga Breathing for Calm
Employ yoga breathing techniques to calm yourself when feeling anxious, such as on airplanes, as it helps to center your body and breath.
11. Strategize Career Decisions
Approach career decisions calculatingly by assessing your strengths, identifying what genuinely makes you happy, and choosing paths where you have the best chance of success.
12. Find Alternative Centering Methods
If formal meditation feels inaccessible, find other ways to center yourself, such as sitting quietly in nature, engaging your five senses, and avoiding distractions like phones or music.
13. Acknowledge Addiction’s Futility
For those struggling with addiction, reach the point of realizing that the substance will never truly ‘work’ to manage underlying issues, and commit to finding healthy alternative coping mechanisms.
14. Help Others in Recovery
As a principle of recovery, help other people by sharing your story or offering support, as this is a recommended practice.
5 Key Quotes
Praying is when I talk to God. Meditating is when God talks to me.
Russell Brand (quoted by Elizabeth Vargas)
Panic is instinct, you know, with bad wiring.
Elizabeth Vargas
You don't drink alcohol because you like the taste. You drink it because you like the way it makes you feel.
Elizabeth Vargas
I didn't realize until I stopped drinking how much the alcohol had been fueling the anxiety even long before the drinking turned truly destructive.
Elizabeth Vargas
To just simply tell an alcoholic to stop drinking is like telling somebody with depression to be happy. Just smile. Get over it.
Elizabeth Vargas
2 Protocols
Transcendental Meditation Practice
Elizabeth Vargas- Close your eyes.
- Sit in a comfortable place.
- Use a meditation timer (e.g., iPhone app) for 20 minutes.
- Ensure the environment is quiet, free from distractions like ringing phones or children.
- Repeat a given Sanskrit mantra over and over.
- Allow thoughts to float by like clouds or balloons without attaching to them; do not try to banish them.
- If a thought arises, acknowledge it and let it continue floating by, intending to address it later.
Anxiety Management (Reflective Pause)
Elizabeth Vargas- Stop when you start to feel anxious.
- Psychically step out of yourself to examine what's happening (e.g., heart racing, breath quickening).
- Ask yourself: 'What's happening right now? Why am I feeling anxious?'
- Evaluate the situation: 'Is this fear real? Is my being anxious going to help it?'
- Choose to relax or let go of the fear, rather than clenching or spinning out of control.