You made me smile ... but that's sort of what I mean. The blindingly obvious solutions are suddenly not just "obvious", but actually desirable! No ifs ands or buts .... you mention a year of puking up your first 3 drinks ... actually if it only took a year of abject morning puking to convince you that "clearly you shouldn't drink" that's pretty enviable!took me a year of puking back up my first 3 shots of 80 proof every morning as soon as i woke up just to stop the shakes. i finally figured it out. clearly i shouldn't drink.
35 yrs every day drinking here. last 5 year was drinking a half gallon of 80 proof a day. I'm a slow learner i guessYou made me smile ... but that's sort of what I mean. The blindingly obvious solutions are suddenly not just "obvious", but actually desirable! No ifs ands or buts .... you mention a year of puking up your first 3 drinks ... actually if it only took a year of abject morning puking to convince you that "clearly you shouldn't drink" that's pretty enviable!
I've had various monkeys on my back, including booze, to a greater or lesser degree for 25 years! Even when I've had sober interludes and have felt proud of having a real life, with work and children etc, I've never been rid of the sick nostalgia for the other life, which from experience I know is always just utter shit. The existential equivalent of pouring petrol on yourself and lighting a match.
You know, although I have other addictions, booze has always been the spookiest .... it's like a person. A very manipulative sneaky person ...but at least it's "always there for you".35 yrs every day drinking here. last 5 year was drinking a half gallon of 80 proof a day. I'm a slow learner i guess
I suppose I mean "moment of clarity" in the AA sense. When you've given up on giving up, but have a sudden flash of ... "It doesn't have to be this way". Or even just a feeling that you've got a place, a home to go to, that's waiting for you no matter how far you're sunk in your habit.
The other night I was feeling sad and distressed about not only my addictions, but about the horrible violence of my last relationship.
And I was getting back into bed after using the bathroom, and this sentence suddenly popped into my head:
"After all, he bit your face."
Which referred to an event I'd forgotten (my face was ferociously bitten by my ex) but also seemed to refer to everything in general .. sort of like, "it's time to come in now, isn't it? You've been bitten enough ..."
And for about two seconds I had this feeling of total calm and objectivity. Like a door opened, and there was a place and a feeling of peace and common sense and respite and above all, NONE of the past MATTERED - why should it? It wasn't about "healing": it was more like a glorious and steady conviction that I'd never been hurt, and couldn't be hurt.
But sadly it was only a couple of seconds.
I've got the intellectual recollection of this feeling, but its emotional quality - which is very hard to describe - has gone.
i just don't like sobriety. i don't feel any happier when I'm clean. just know it's the right thing to do......You know, although I have other addictions, booze has always been the spookiest .... it's like a person. A very manipulative sneaky person ...but at least it's "always there for you".
I just posted this on another thread about "what drug caused you problems", it sums up why booze has brought me the most problems, and been the hardest thing to escape from:
"Alcohol has been in my life since I was about 13. Good ole booze. Many people, for sound reasons, don't like AA, but AA is on the ball when it describes alcohol as "cunning, baffling and powerful". Maybe because it is legal and socially acceptable, booze will easily persuade you that it's benign, that it's your friend, and that you are damned well entitled to its very loyal friendship, even if your life has been ruined by things you've said and done while drunk. Fuck that, and fuck what everyone says, booze loves boozers and loves to get its way. Booze is the only drug that seems to me to have a "personality". "O thou invisible spirit of wine/if thou hast no name/let thee be called Devil!" (misquoting from Shakespeare, but you get the drift)."
Another confusing thing with alcohol for me is that its not always my drug of choice. I've had years of being unable to go longer than 2 days without getting drunk, but also years of no drinking at all, but the most damaging trick is years of moderate drinking, when I don't ever want more than 2 or 3 drinks and don't like the feeling of being tipsy. This is the most damaging trick because then I'll get confident, convince myself I've grown out of being an alcoholic ...all the better to set up very sophisticated denial mechanisms when, inevitably, I revert to really heavy boozing again. And all that goes with it: at best, embarrassment: at worst, atrocious behaviour and regrets that make you want to die and can only be remedied by ... more booze. C
i just don't like sobriety. i don't feel any happier when I'm clean. just know it's the right thing to do......
The right thing to do ...because not being sober is cheating?
i go to extremes until recently. stay drunk for 5 years. same with all drugs i like. once i start, i wanna feel that way forever. we all know that's like chasing a phantom. iirc
Yeah...I've been chasing a phantom for so long now I don't know what else to do. I had 7 months in and out of hospitals and women's shelters (on opiates too, for smashed knee) until february. Since February I've been on a bender. Booze and stims. Dunno how to be normal anymore, and oh dear, so lonely tbhi go to extremes until recently. stay drunk for 5 years. same with all drugs i like. once i start, i wanna feel that way forever. we all know that's like chasing a phantom. iirc
it's a hard cycle to break but not impossible. I'll just keep trying if i fuck up again.Yeah...I've been chasing a phantom for so long now I don't know what else to do. I had 7 months in and out of hospitals and women's shelters (on opiates too, for smashed knee) until february. Since February I've been on a bender. Booze and stims. Dunno how to be normal anymore, and oh dear, so lonely tbh
I did after my last heroin overdose. After heart surgeries, losing everything, it was that last and final overdose - it was a bad one. Something about it just changed me to my foundation. Would take way too long to explain it, and honestly it was probably all just a result of misfired neurons during the overdose and oxygen deprivation, but regardless - it changed my way of thinking and led me to sobriety.
That's great man, you are lucky. I wish that was my experience but it just seems like over dosing has become normalized due to so many. I have no idea why I am still alive but if I dont find a way to beat my addiction for good , I'll be dead soon. Its sucks and its not worth shit.