Beth McDonough
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Beth McDonough

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Most people don’t realize they’re emotionally poor. They build impressive lives. They hold demanding jobs. They keep secrets. They smile for photos. They drink to cope. And quietly, they starve inside. Standby is not just a memoir—it’s a mirror. When veteran investigative crime reporter Beth McDonough became the headline she never saw coming—publicly fired, publicly arrested, and privately unraveling—her collapse looked like the result of addiction. But what it revealed was something deeper: emotional poverty. A lifetime of surviving without safety, achieving without self-worth, and coping without connection. This powerful recovery memoir traces Beth’s journey from public humiliation to private reconstruction. From newsroom adrenaline to courtroom silence. From addiction and shame to accountability, healing, and the slow, courageous work of rebuilding a life from the inside out. Standby goes beyond a sobriety story. It explores emotional deprivation, identity loss, perfectionism, and the dangerous lie that success can save you. With raw honesty and hard-earned grace, Beth invites readers inside the moments most people hide—the jail cell, the firing, the isolation, the reckoning—and into the choices that begin emotional wealth: truth, responsibility, self-forgiveness, and the rebuilding of self-worth. This book is for anyone who has: • Lost a career, identity, or reputation • Struggled with addiction, shame, or emotional survival • Built a life that looked good but felt empty • Been forced to start over when everything collapsed • Wondered if wholeness is still possible For readers of recovery memoirs, women’s healing journeys, and books about resilience, trauma, and reinvention, Standby offers more than a story. It offers recognition. Language. And the quiet permission to rebuild. Because healing doesn’t begin when everything is fixed. It begins when you stop standing by… and start standing for yourself.
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