I fantasise about the perfect share. The share that will amaze and astound everybody in attendance. This is my over inflated ego squaring up to my self worth that decided it was a pacifist some time ago. Splintered facets of a personality long soaked in alcohol. In essence I wanted to first exist, then survive, live and become the fruition of willing through human experience.
I had no defense against the first drink. One drink would be too many and after that a hundred drinks wouldn’t be enough. An obsession of the mind, an allergy causing an incessant compulsion to drink.
A rhetorical question I’ve often asked is who on the Earth wants to drink warm white cider from the bottle in the early hours of the morning? The blind groping in the darkness, the unscrewing of the plastic cap and the glug glug glug of the intoxicating liquid coursing down a parched gullet. Do you know anybody who cracked open a can of super strength lager with their Sunday roast dinner only to announce how it’s malty flavour compliments the chicken? Super lager, strong white cider etc are beverages designed to facilitate alcoholism and they have no justifiable place in society.
How I found myself in desperate need of three pounds to go and fix my dependence on alcohol. Rifling through coats some of which belonged to me and others that didn’t. Seeking out a few coppers, twenty pence in a zip pocket seemed like a nugget of gold and promised a step closer to purchasing yet more alcohol. The terror brewing.
How wretched I had become. The banality of existing temporarily discarded and replaced with the absolute authority, King Alcohol. A snivelling despised servant of an elusive idea. It would never be like the first few occasions of being intoxicated. The warmth spreading out from the empty place within, the hole in the soul had become emblazoned with a rapture of spirit. A reawakening of the divine entity within. Passion for the banal even, enthusiasm for life, but at what cost?
Maintenance of the descendence into dependence. As rhythmic as that sounds I assure you that crossing over into the dark realm of alcoholism is not a transition of choice. The bitterness is tasted, evident by the loneliness and experienced through regret, nostalgia, resentment, anger, depression all rooted deeply in fear.
And so the misery continued throughout my twenties, the roaring twenties. I raged into the next decade of my life with renewed vigour. Each time I got a new job or started a relationship it was going to be different. Pretty much like every time I picked up a drink it was going to be pleasurable, successful and complimentary to the life I aspired to. Perpetual want never gets, add infinitum.
So I arrived at another precipice, you know, the kind an alcoholic never envisages as being potentially fatal. I suppose in that respect you could say I was an optimist, the bearer of the smallest Olympic flame within a stadium of demons whooping cheers of damnation and ridicule. Anyway, I digress, there I stood about to embark on another attempt to live life with my best accomplice, alcohol, by my side.
Relapse. I had the deck of cards perfectly balanced so to speak. Ready to press the self destruct button once again. Three days of drinking regressed me to the child I was growing up. Comatosed in the back bedroom of the terraced house belonging to my parents.
I’d exhausted all avenues of enquiry regarding my hopeless state. All but one I hadn’t thought of. I kind of knew there was a meeting that took place each week but I was convinced I wasn’t that alcoholic, the kind that sits on a park bench with a brown paper bag taking sporadic swigs of liquor whilst lamenting. I was given the ultimatum and finally had nothing to lose I thought. It wasn’t as if i could lose my sanity or even my life!
The first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous I attended was an unforgettable experience. Naturally I was very withdrawn and suspicious. I lied about having a phone when somebody asked if I’d like their number. I consequently discovered that these people wanted the best for me and to see me live a sober life. Unbeknownst to me I had discovered the tribe to which I belonged. Belonging had been something I hadn’t experienced in a long time.
My experience concluded that attending meetings wasnt enough to maintain sobriety. Something was missing. A vital component contained in the first Step. I drank on three separate occasions after my first meeting. I learn the hard way. I returned with humility and humbly asked a kind gentleman at the meeting to sponsor me. I was willing to do what it took to learn how so many people had lived for years without touching a drop.
Personally, Step 1, provided the encouragement, support, self worth and empowerment to live. I am an alcoholic and my life becomes unmanageable when I drink. Inevitably the obsession to drink was fierce and all it would take for another episode of binge drinking would be an emotional event. However, I bow had protection against the first drink. Accepting my alcoholism and acknowledging my allergic reaction to consume more and more once I start had given me an opportunity to live totally abstinent. Step 1 is more important to me than the rest of the program because it ensures I will not relapse. From this precipice I can step back from the abyss and work the program, nurture my relationship with a Higher Power and be the person I’m meant to be.
The Serenity Prayer has become my mantra in life. It is said at the end of every AA meeting and serves as a reminder that I have no control over people, places and things. Gratitude and SERVICE defuses resentment, UNITY as a fellowship means belonging, RECOVERY is fulfilling our potential. I’m an advocate of AA because it worked for me and enables me to relinquish the wretchedness I truly felt inside.
wretchedtorecovery.com 