Neo
I say this respectfully - but from my experience I can't agree with either of these statements
I find it difficult to really get into listening to my tunes without pining to increase the enjoyment and bring me "closer" and more intouch with it without chemical aids. it just ain;t the same without it
As a musician, I enjoy my music more sober - both listening and playing - when I lose myself in it - and I still do - I know whats happening, and that makes the enjoyment greater for me - for me I'm not just aimlessly floating anymore, I'm surfing the waves.
and this one is particularly absurd, mate.
Maybe people outside the UK don't realise the associations with booze and masculinity/identity that it has in England. I feel kind of like a fraud drinking a pint of coke or lemonade in a way, I dunno I am struggling to see how I will ever be truly comfortable with it TBH.
I get it. I looked at life differently when I was 23 too - it was a lot more about fitting in and how I looked, especially to other people. Now I just couldn't care less.
I hope it takes you a lot less than the 20 years it took me to get to that inner security.
Doing the steps and working on yourself you have a great head start, Neo. Keep it up.
However you do it, eventually you'll find the fear of drinking is replaced by a calm, a certain knowledge that drink can't hurt you...all you have to do is not drink it
D