iWant: My Journey from Addiction and Overconsumption to a Simpler, Honest Life

 

In iWant, investigative journalist and author Jane Velez-Mitchell traces her unique quest for an addiction-free life over the course of many years, detailing her struggles to stop drinking, smoking, overeating, and overworking. During this journey, Velez-Mitchell comes closer to discovering her authentic self, embracing her ethnic identity, and accepting her true sexual orientation. With layers upon layers of addictions removed, she is able to distinguish between what she wants and what she truly needs, and ultimately confronts her addiction across the board—Overconsumption.

Using the Twelve Steps in every aspect of her life, Velez-Mitchell shares how she shed many of the self-destructive habits that plague Americans, habits responsible for a host of social ills from the obesity crisis to environmental wreckage. She admits to having been one of the 300 million Americans who shops and acquires addictively and describes how the Twelve Steps have put her on the road toward shedding unnecessary material possessions and limiting waste—despite a society that glorifies excess.

While her journey is ongoing and she is still seeking answers, the culmination of Velez-Mitchell's work to date is having held the first Overconsumers Anonymous meeting, in which she and others like her admit to being powerless over this very real addiction and are ready to adopt a more spiritually fulfilling, economical, and environmentally friendly lifestyle.

Jane Velez-Mitchell is an award-winning television news journalist and host of Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell on HLN, CNN's Headline News channel. She is a nationally recognized expert on addiction and recovery and has commented on substance abuse and addictive behavior for a variety of cable channels, including CNN, HLN, Court TV, Fox News, and MSNBC. Jane rose to cable news prominence in her role as substitute host on HLN's Nancy Grace. She has been featured on CNN's Larry King Live on several occasions, discussing high-profile criminal cases and the roles addiction and obsession play in those sagas.