Help is Everywhere

Some of my friends talk to me about people they know, family or friends, who need to cut down on drinking like I’m the world’s authority on sobriety because I don’t drink alcohol or use recreational drugs of any kind, ever, and don’t intend to do so ever again. I will take a couple of Advil if my shoulder is hurting after hanging on the monkey bars at the schoolyard, and I suppose if I needed surgery I’d take whatever the doctors recommended, but that’s about it.

Mind-altering substances like booze aka: craft beer, wine, bubbly, champers, cocktails, nightcaps, are not my friends. In the spirit of doing more stuff that’s good for me, true me, and less stuff that’s bad for me, I don’t drink or use drugs. For me it’s much easier to be all-out on that stuff. There’s some neuroscience about that too if you’re into that kind of thing.

I suppose it would be nice to be one of those people who could have a small glass of wine with dinner one night and then not drink again for weeks or days and not think about it. Just like it would probably be nice to be one of those people with perfect thighs or be able to fly like a bird. It would be nice, but it ain’t me, not this time around. This time around I’m a bit of an extremist, an addictive personality, which works in some contexts but not in this one.

So I gotta stay in my truth, for me, for this one particularly just because the mind-altering stuff, the drink, the drugs, have a weird way of really messing up a lot when left unattended, especially over time. I’ve seen it, I’ve experienced it. It’s not how I want to live.

When I got sober I wasn’t sure how I wanted to live, but I knew it wasn’t how I was living. That was enough. I’m grateful I found people to help me figure this stuff out, to figure out how to do this living sober thing relatively early in my descent.

I hope those friends of my friends maybe read this or see something or notice what’s up and think about finding help. Help is everywhere. I’d love everyone to feel as good as I do, as relaxed as I do, as grateful for this life as I do. I’m gonna keep going.