Boleo

I wish it had been that simple for me. I could have skipped about 5 years of "very bad things". All I ended up doing through repeated attempts at self managed abstinence was, teaching my body how to recuperate between binges. The dry spells did get a little longer each time but the relapse's got even worse each time.

I was one of those unfortunate alcoholics that could not get the obsession to drink out of my head with just calendar days of not-drinking. I had to find a way of ending the suffering that made life uncomfortable in my own skin in the first place. I had literally lost the power of choice when it came to drinking simply because life without drinking was not worth living. Drinking was but a symptom of a much bigger malady - feeling constantly restless, irritable and discontented.

What I did end up with was a whole new way of life where suffering was no longer the result of me making mountains out of molehills. Today I let molehills stay molehills and even find I can make mountains back into molehills by using a few simple spiritual principles. Thus the old Buddhist saying:

"In this life, pain is inevitable - suffering is optional".