Ghostly

Someone originally posted this on another site. This was one of the most amazing things I have ever read – it literally brought tears to my eyes. It was like (other than one line) my mind wrote this, and it was telling my story. I’m sure many of you can relate. I wanted to share it. It is a quick story about someone explaining to their friend why they stopped drinking alcohol.

I copied this and pasted it in a document I keep. The document gives reasons and inspiration not to drink. It also lists consequences. I started it on day 1 and it has grown to over 7 pages. Please read on.

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"How come you don't drink anymore?" a renewed acquantance from long ago asked the other day.

"Anymore than who?, I asked.

"I mean any longer. How come you don't drink anything these days?"

"Drink? I drink...coffe, milk, juice, tea, soda pop, water..."

"I mean drink" he said. " you know, booze."

"Oh, booze, No I don't drink booze any more, you're right," I said, "I couldn't trust it anymore. It turned on me. Once my friend, it became my enemy."

"Maybe you got a bad batch." he said.

"No the sauce is the same. I changed. Becasue I have this illness of alcoholism, my tolerance weakened. Alcoholism doesn't come in bottles, it comes in people."

"Sounds pretty confusing" the fellow said

"You think you're confused," I said, "You should have seen me. I drank for happiness and became unhappy... I drank for joy and became miserable... I drank to be outgoing and became self centered... I drank for sociability and became argumentative and lonely."

"I drank for sophistication and became crude and obnoxious...I drank for friendship and made enmies... I drank to soften sorow and wallowed in self pity... I drank for sleep and wakened without rest."

"I drank for strength and felt weak.. I drank medicinally and got sick.. I drank because I thought my job called for it and I lost my job.. I drank for relaxation and got the shakes.. I drank for confidence and became uncertain.. I drank for courage and became afraid.. I drank for assurance and became doubtful... I drank to stimulate thought and blacked out... I drank to make conversation and it tied my tongue... I drank for warmth and lost my cool. I drank for coolness and lost my warmth... I drank to feel heaven and came to know hell. I drank to forget and became haunted. I drank for freedom and became a slave...I drank to erase problems and saw them multiply... I drank to cope with life and invited death ..or worse... I drank becasue I had the right and everything turned out wrong."

"Gosh!" My friend exclaimed, "That must have taken a bunch of booze to get you in that shape."

"Just one" I told him, "The first one. For me one is too many, and a thousand is not enough."

"So that is why you don't drink anymore...?"

"Yep, I make it a rule, I DON'T DRINK WHILE I'M SOBER!"

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I hope I didn’t break some protocol by posting this from another site. I really wanted to share this though.

Ghost

penny74

"Alcoholism doesn't come in bottles, it comes in people."

Indeed.
My friends can drink and go fo a run the next morning where as l will need 4 beers just to get out of bed.

NewBeginning010

This is awsome... Thanks! ;-)

ozgoddess

Great post Ghost

coming_clean

really nice....

MelindaFlowers

Thank you Ghostly. This made my eyes a little misty too.

Kmber2010

Well said....thx for sharing!!! Oh so true!!

Rusty Zipper

sobermax

Thank you for this ace post. Loved it.

Adepitice

It's pure gold. I loved it.

KINGOFNEWYORK

Brilliant. Saved it in my own little file of all the great writings I find to help motivate me not do drink..Thanks for sharing Ghostly...gave me some more ammo other than my standard "Ohhh, I still drink, just not today"...or the "I'm on allergy medication"....

I thought the line "I couldn't trust it anymore. It turned on me. Once my friend, it became my enemy."....Soooo true...

Rev

Nice.

Rev

least

Thank you for posting this and saving me the time and trouble (and mental exercise) of thinking up all those reasons. All true, for me. But now that I no longer dance with the devil he can't knock me off my feet.


I printed this out and will give a copy to my alcohol counselor to use with her groups.

loveon2legs

Thank-you for the post..it hit home, and brought tears to my eyes....For every person who asks me why I don't drink...I think this would answer them!!

Grace2

O.M.G that could be me. I'm going to print it and keep it in my purse.

Zencat

"Keep It Simple" in its most eloquent form... love it.

Desert2trees

"All but one line"

Same here Ghost - it might be a different line for you than me, but this is a conclusive story for me.... if I had any question at all before, as to whether I had reached the point where I was the problem - or whether I was just a social drinker who got "out of hand" once in awhile. Those questions are now answered. This post is one of the most valuable tools I now posess.

One million, trillion, billion 's Ghostly :ghug3

priceyjunk

thanks very much for this post. I was getting really strong cravings to drink, (wouldnt have caved in, no alcohol in the house) but this helped me to remember why I decided to become sober (and am on my 66th day!), and made it much easier to bear.

I always reflect on how things are so different for me now. I may crave a drink at bed time, but when I resist, I wake up feeling happy with myself, which is what I was aiming for while I was drinking but could never have.

least

Amen!!

priceyjunk

I just wanted to share something else with you guys. Earlier, I met up with some friends I havent seen in over 10 years. Back then, we used to binge drink alot but I wasnt a daily drinker yet. we went out for a meal, and I think this would have been a real vulnerable situation for me. Particularly with the brief desire to have a drink for old times sake. I certainly wasnt sure when I'd see them again.

But this post came to my mind, and I actually resisted the urge to join in. I was asked the usual questions, and gave 'health reasons'. Instead of forcing the issue, it seems my friends really respected that I was choosing not to drink! a couple even asked me what my secret was! I certainly dont see them as alcoholics, but it felt really good to be in a situation where abstinence was being percieved as a strength and this really made me feel validated.

looking back on it, my life has really changed and I think part of the reason I started to drink daily was to try and recapture those care free days. I must have felt that getting intoxicated would give me a brief reprieve from my ever increasing list of responsibilities. But seeing my old friends made me see how much life had moved on, and I think, has helped me become a little more accepting of the changes that have happened in my life.

But i just wanted to thank Ghostly again for such a wonderful post.