The Ultimate Anti-Invitation: How to Claim Your Seat at the Table

Wander Women Feature #6 - A chat with Michele Taft of the Ed Keating Center

Wander Women is a featured series by Wandering Weightlessly that spotlights the resilient, brave, and intentional women who have traded the heavy burdens of their past for a life of purpose and community. From recovery and solo parenting to building empires from the ground up, these are the stories of women who have dropped the emotional baggage, rewritten their next chapters, and are showing us all how to navigate the map.

In this feature, we are sitting down with Cleveland recovery leader Michele Taft to talk about the ultimate "anti-invitation," shattering isolation, and claiming a permanent seat at the table.

There is a specific kind of torture in early recovery—and honestly, in so many seasons of life—that can only be described as anxious apartness. It’s the act of completely separating yourself from the world around you, constructing invisible but iron-clad barriers out of your own perceived "not-enoughness." You find yourself desperately wanting a seat at the cool kids' table—or really, just any table where people are laughing and connected—but you remain trapped in your own head, terrified to join, and waiting for an invitation you’re convinced will never come.

Michele Taft was the woman who finally broke down those barriers for me.

She looked right through my hesitation and handed me the ultimate "anti-invitation." She told me: “If you want to be a part of, be a part of. Don’t wait for an invite.”   

She didn't just give me advice though—she gave me a seat at the table. She pulled me into a monthly poker game that broke my isolation and fundamentally rewrote the trajectory of my journey. I went from the wallflower just me, to finding my 'we.'

Today, Michele is a powerhouse in Cleveland recovery circles, directing the very house that once saved her own life. But her story isn't just about leadership. It’s a fierce, beautiful roadmap of what happens when a woman stops waiting for permission, surrenders her heaviest burdens, and builds a rock-solid foundation that can withstand any storm—even when the mission follows you home 24/7.

The Hardest Journey: Navigating Grief, Isolation, and the Road to Surrender

When Michele looked at me all those years ago and shattered my own perceived barriers, she wasn't speaking from a place of detached authority. She was handing me a tool she had been forced to forge for herself.

"I had to learn it also," Michele remembers, looking back at her early days in recovery. "I remember going to Berea Wednesday Women every week—my first homegroup—and a group of women would always go out to eat after. I wanted to be a part of that. But you cannot wait for a personal invitation."  

Like so many of us trapped in that anxious isolation, she stood on the perimeter until her own sponsor gave her the exact same mandate: If you want to be a part of, make yourself a part of . "I said one time I would like to join and I was welcomed, of course," she says. "That became my weekly routine for many years, and I learned so much from the ‘meeting after the meeting’."  

For women battling addiction, that hesitation isn't just shyness; it’s an invisible wall built by a disease that thrives on keeping you isolated. "I believe it is an 'old idea' that we must be 'invited' to go somewhere," Michele explains. "As alcoholic women, we feel like we are not good enough to join in. I try to teach the women here that WE walk shoulder to shoulder. You are me and I am you. We are responsible for our own sobriety and how good we want to make it."  

But learning to walk shoulder to shoulder required Michele to face a fire that would have leveled most people. True bravery isn't a straight line, and her path to the Director’s chair at the Jean Marie House was paved with heavy chapters of raw grief and gradual surrender. Right around the time she was trying to find her way into recovery, she faced the devastating loss of her first husband, Dan.  

"In the beginning, I did not know how to navigate the grief without using," Michele shares with brutal honesty. "After Dan passed, I continued to use, lost the apartment we had, and started couch surfing—with people who lived the way I lived. After about a month, I had exhausted all my ideas and turned to my daughter for help. For the next six months, I could not draw a sober breath and put my family through hell."  

The turning point came on June 21, 2010, when she finally agreed to try something entirely different and walked through the doors of the Jean Marie House.  

"Getting sober, I had to begin to deal with the grief and no longer had drugs or alcohol to numb myself," she says. "It was a long process, but with the support of sober women around me, I was able to gain tools that helped me deal with all of the grief I hadn't dealt with due to my alcoholism. For me, my surrender was gradual, and I believe it truly happened for me when I began to honestly work the steps."

Mastering the Terrain: The Unexpected Road to Becoming Director

Surrendering to the steps was only the beginning of Michele’s foundation building. True testing often comes when the safety nets are ripped away, which is exactly what happened during her first year of sobriety. At just six months sober—a time when most people are still entirely shaky on their feet—the Jean Marie House temporarily shut down. Michele was suddenly thrust back into the world without her sanctuary.  

"It taught me that if you truly want to stay sober, you can do that anywhere," Michele says. "My foundation had to be rock solid in order to maintain my sobriety while we were displaced from the house."   

She didn't just survive the exodus; she mastered it. When the doors finally reopened, the displaced resident returned not as someone seeking shelter, but as a leader asked to facilitate groups for the women just beginning their own journeys. "It felt surreal and empowering," she recalls.  

That empowerment eventually led her to step into the role of Director during a heavy season of transition and controversy for the facility. Leading a frontline recovery space carries a massive emotional toll, especially when the "people part" of leadership gets complicated.  

"By applying the steps and principles and by keeping in constant contact with my higher power, sponsor, and support group, I was able to block out the 'noise,'" Michele says. "My main goal was to be of service and uphold the core beliefs of the Ed Keating Center."   

The Ed Keating Center’s mission is a vital lifeline in Cleveland, providing a chance for individuals to rebuild their lives from the ground up without financial barriers. But upholding that mission means making choices that carry immense gravity. When asked about the hardest part of sitting in the Director’s chair, Michele’s answer is short, sharp, and heartbreaking: "The hardest decision I have to make is asking a woman to leave knowing what they are going back to."   

Navigating those boundaries extends to the families of the residents as well. In a landscape where addiction fractures entire households, Michele has to balance deep empathy for a family's pain with the firm boundaries required for a resident to actually heal.  

"I am able to empathize with the families but also let them know that the residents and the families both have to heal," she explains. "This is a family disease, and my focus is on the resident trying to stay sober... Every situation is different and I help my residents navigate rebuilding healthy relationships and boundaries."   

The beauty of enforcing those boundaries is that Michele is living proof of the reward on the other side of them. The heavy, systemic wreckage of addiction can be completely reversed. Her own social media is a beautiful testament to the bond she shares with her mother, daughter, and granddaughter.  

"Recovery has completely transformed those relationships," Michele says. "Today I am able to be a caretaker to my mother and a reliable mother and grandmother. I no longer 'take' from these relationships. Recovery has given me the ability to make living amends, and be the best daughter, mother, and grandmother I can be on a daily basis."

Leaving the Weight Behind: Traveling to Reset & Finding Your 'We'"

When your life’s work is helping others navigate survival, the heavy realities can easily become all-consuming. For Michele, that weight is uniquely shared. Her husband, Martin, leads his own major recovery efforts under the Ed Keating Center banner at The Rock. It is a rare, beautiful partnership built on a foundation of profound mutual understanding.

"It is comforting knowing that my husband understands the emotional weight that this career carries," Michele says. "He has been doing this many years longer than me, so the insight and advice he provides me is invaluable."

But when you both run frontline sanctuaries, the mission inevitably follows you home. They must remain available 24/7 for resident and facility emergencies. To carry that kind of continuous, 365-day gravity, you have to know how to intentionally step away and drop the weight. You have to know how to travel to reset your soul.

For Michele, that reset has a very specific geography: the ocean air of Florida.

"Seeing the ocean from a balcony room while I pray and drink my coffee completely rejuvenates my soul," Michele says. It’s a sacred, quiet space where the titles of Director, caretaker, and leader evaporate. In places like Clearwater and Miami, she finds a beautiful combination of familiar sanctuary and new exploration—a space where she has the ultimate freedom to simply be Michele alongside the partner who helps her carry the daily load.

Looking back to roughly 2012 when our paths first crossed, it is awe-inspiring to see the woman Michele is today. When asked what she is most proud of in a journey that spans from the depths of raw grief to the helm of a major community institution, her answer circles right back to the bedrock: "I am most proud of my continuous sobriety since then, because without that none of this would be possible."

Michele Taft’s life is a brilliant masterclass in what it means to wander weightlessly. She reminds us that dropping the heavy burdens of our past isn't something we have to do alone in the dark. In fact, the only way to truly break the spell of our own "anxious apartness" is to stop waiting for permission, step up to the table, and claim our spot.

For the woman reading this who still feels stuck, intimidated, or entirely invisible on the outside looking in, Michele leaves you with this parting gift:

"If you want to be a 'part of' you need to make yourself a 'part of'. The sooner you become a 'part of', the easier it becomes to live your best possible life. Find your 'we'!"

How You Can Help: Support the Ed Keating Center and Walk Shoulder to Shoulder

The life-saving work of the Jean Marie House and the Ed Keating Center depends on the community standing together to ensure that no one is turned away due to an inability to pay. If Michele’s story touched you, consider walking shoulder to shoulder with the women of Cleveland by making a donation to support their mission today.

Click Here to Donate to the Ed Keating Center

Ready to trade your "anxious apartness" for an ocean view? Stop waiting for an invitation to start living. At Wandering Weightlessly, I specialize in designing intentional, budget-friendly travel experiences and group retreats that help you drop the emotional baggage and find your community after a major life transition. Whether you are navigating recovery, solo parenting, or a massive lifestyle shift, you don't have to stay stuck on the perimeter or figure out the next chapter alone. Let's trade the heavy burdens of your past for a permanent seat at the table. Contact me to book now!

Join the Village!

The journey to an untethered life is never meant to be walked—or traveled—alone. Whether you are navigating sobriety, solo parenting, or the beautiful chaos of foster/adoptive life, there is a seat at our table. Come join the conversation and see how we’re eating the elephant, one month at a time.

• Wandering Weightlessly on Facebook: Our primary community for parents and

• Suitcases & Sobriety: A sober travel collective - A sober travel collective for the sober and sober-curious.

• Friends of Bill W Cruising - 12 step Cruise community

• Friends of Bill W Travel - 12 step travel community

• The Connected Compass - A trauma-informed travel collective for families who need a different kind of map.