The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Today is 60 days for me (bittersweet it is, as this is my second bout of 60 days this calendar year) and I finished reading Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It struck me as eerily similar to the path of an addict/alcoholic, and I wouldn't doubt that Stevenson grappled with addiction during his life after reading the story. Just wanted to share a passage:
"Yes, I preferred the elderly and discontented doctor, surrounded by friends and cherishing honest hopes; and bade a resolute farewell to the liberty, the comparative youth, the light step, leaping impulses and secret pleasures, that I had enjoyed in the disguise of Hyde. I made this choice perhaps with some unconscious reservation, for I neither gave up the house in Soho, nor destroyed the clothes of Edward Hyde, which still lay ready in my cabinet. For two months, however, I was true to my determination; for two months I led a life of such severity as I had never before attained to, and enjoyed the compensations of an approving conscience. But time began at last to obliterate the freshness of my alarm"
This passage touches on the subconcious voice that works within alcoholics like myself, and I couldn't help but think back to my how I relapsed after 3 months the first time around. For me, it's at the 60/90 days or so when the pain of the last drinking episode begins to dissipate. It's a good day for me to remember where I came from and how bad things were when I made the decision to get sober!