StPeteGrad

The other day I heard about this guy who packs away about 1 1/2 fifths of vodka everyday and uses Xanax.

At first, I felt sorry for the guy until I also found out the following:

While his drinking and using were increasing, so were his accomplishments.

He became the CEO of a very successful company starting from middle management 15 years before.
He sits on the board of several other companies as a highly esteemed colleague.
He is on the board of trustees for his Alma Mater (university).
He makes time for his children and they adore him.
He is a pillar in the community.

What???

There was one final important detail about this guy- he does not exist - anywhere.

It was a story my sponsor shared in a meeting Saturday night and I found it quite profound in it's simple truth.

This was just something I wanted to share. Like it or not - he's probably right.

instant

You forgot to mention his athletic exploits, his adoring wife with the model looks, his charity work, and the book he is bringing out !!

officious

as one said to me; We're very good at hiding our drinking when we need to.

north

I've definitely seen that guy before.... it was in one of those beer commercials.

Saliena

Hey can yall please stop talking about me like that? I am right here ya know?!?!?!

ACT10Npack

C.S. Lewis, Ernest Hemingway, W.C. Fields, Babe Ruth, Jim Morrison, Jack London and US Grant were successful alcoholic.

aasharon90

I tried to be a sucessful at my drinking but
failed to many times. Darn, no control.

But hey, im sucessful today with out drinking
poison that nearly took me from this life 21 yrs.
ago.

Im sucessful for not hiding behind the bottle and
not being something I wasnt.

Today, im sucessful for being honest with myself
and others around me. Sucessful for being sober
for a number of one days at a time added together
to get me to a happy place in my life.

Successful at accepting I am an alcoholic that
cant drink successfully. Yeah..!!!!

pikkle69

Not sure I'd throw Morrison in that group... or most musicians that don't make it long enough to go on a reunion tour.

cuyootoo

Harry S Truman was depicted in a movie to be an alcoholic. I think there is some basis in reality for that. And look what he did, launch nuclear weapons on the Japanese. How drunk does a person have to get to say, just nuke 'em ???

Pigtails

Define "successful." Ernest Hemingway killed himself! And, sure, maybe they had some successes while drinking, but imagine how much more productive they would have been if they didn't drink.

Pigtails

Exactly. Amy Winehouse was a "successful" alcoholic in that she was a talented musician. But it was very short-lived and I can only imagine how much more music she would have made had she been able to turn her life around.

I also don't think we should just look at someone's musical accomplishments or sports accomplishments etc. to say whether they are "successful"... we also have to look at their life as a whole. To many on the outside I am a "successful" professional woman, with a lot of educational and professional accomplishments, but my inner life has been in shambles and I have not been happy or healthy. Therefore by my own standards I am not "successful"... YET!

Pigtails

I just read "Unwasted: My Lush Sobriety" and at the end there's a part where she talks about how alcohol and drugs fueling art is just a myth. It ends in destruction and one's brain always has much more clarity when they are sober than when they are drunk, and people are able to harness their inner creativity and be a lot more successful and productive when they are clear-headed. I also read "A Drinking Life" by Pete Hamill and he said the exact same thing-- he thought he was being creative and artistic when he was always drunk, but then he started to notice he was blanking out on simple words, he couldn't write or even think coherently anymore, and it was only once he stopped drinking that he could truly have the state of mind to be a successful, productive writer (and write a very successful memoir!) Stephen King tells a similar story in "On Writing," although it's been awhile since I read it (I need to re-read it because when I did, I didn't even realize the similarities in my issues and his!)

I love to write, and read, and I admire creativity, musicians, etc., and for a long time I struggled because I truly believed that gifted people are the most tortured, and that great art happens under the influence. It is a big reason I didn't look at my drinking or take it seriously ("all good writers drink!"), and, ocne I did, it was a stumbling block because it was a reason I wanted to keep drinking instead of not drinking. Already, with my measly attempts at sobriety, I have been more productive as a writer, more creative as well as more discliplined (and what is one without the other?!), and happier overall, which leads me to the better piece of mind I need to write. Yes, some great writing comes out of depressed, crazy minds, but I no longer want to be tortured, so, other people can write that stuff. (And my mind will always be a little crazy, which is fine with me... I just want it to be sober and happy instead of drunk and depressed).

ACT10Npack

Your doing the "what if" which is pointless. They were success in their field of work and they had drinking problems or alcoholic or whatever you want to call it. But they were human and had problems in life. Which is a normal thing that everyone has. It's just how you deal with it. They decided to use the bottle to deal with their problems.

Pigtails

This describes many alcoholics, not just the ones you listed. I am just saying in my book they are not successful. If they aren't happy and healthy, they're not successful at life, although they may have had some career or artistic acheivements.

alaina02

My unmanagability came from within. I graduated college with honors and landed a great job soon after. Im in the IT field and thats tough to do. I also managed a house, a car, and other fun things. HOWEVER, i was a sad individual. I was miserable on the inside. Depressed, anxious, resentful, and full of fear. I could not handle my own emotions. Then i sobered up. Now i am succesful and HAPPY =)

everyday in sobriety is a good day!!

ACT10Npack

In your book they are not successful, but most people would say other wise. They give joy, hope and purpose in life. Just because they having trouble in their personal life does not mean their gift to the world does not make them any life successful. It's not a Disney movie!

Just trying to be mean but I don't put people down because they're personal issues.

chainsaw4618

Hey Pete: Great story, but possibly wrong. I think that guy existed in my head for several years! Fortunately, I'm in the process of kicking him out and recovering some manner of real life back in the world. Day 42 here. Good luck to all of us.

Pigtails

I'm not trying to put them down either. I am just saying I think it's sad, for instance, that Hemmingway and Morrison ended their lives tragically. I think the point of the OP's story was to say that no one who drinks/drugs is successful in the end, and I think that in those cases, it came true. I wish they would have sought help. I am not trying to put them down and agree that they had successes but I am saying that by my definition of success and what I want out of life, I would take happiness over successful writings or music any day (and I love to write and am an aspiring author. This is all that I meant to say.) For the sake of finding common ground, because I wasn't trying to fight with you at all, I agree that they were successful musicians/authors/etc. I feel like it was rather patronizing to tell me life is not a disney movie. I know that but life doesn't have to be drinking or drugging oneself into oblivion either, or shooting oneself in the head...

As an aside, I'm a fan of C.S. Lewis and I am wondering why you say he was an alcoholic? I believe his father and brother were, and that he has written that Christians don't have to be teetotalers, but, no where have I read that he was an alcoholic. Just wondering.

camedown

I became a very successful alcoholic. I succeeded at blacking out every night. I succeeded at putting myself 20k in debt. I succeeded at alienating most of my friends. I succeeded at destroying my relationship with my daughter. I succeeded in putting myself hours from death. If I wasn't a successful alcoholic, I wouldn't post here or go to meetings.


camedown

MarylandRick

My career was in high gear right out of college. By my 29th birthday I was in an executive position at a very succesful company. I married a beautiful woman, owned a home, a boat, etc. That is when my drinking really took a turn for the worst.

Between 29 and 35 I began to drink more and more unbeknownst to most everyone except those closest to me. I continued to define myself by my 'success' but all I had become was more clever and resourceful and at hiding the booz, as well as the guilt, shame and sorrow I was really feeling. I was spiritually bankrupt.

By my 35th Birthday I still hadn't lost anything tangible but that would not have lasted much longer if I had continued drinking. Hiding my alcoholism was becoming far more difficult to do. In fact, if I didn't actually have to force myself to work I would have done nothing but drink, although I was practically doing that already.

Last week I celebrated my 36th birthday and am 115 days sober today. I have a completely different outlook on the definition of "success" and I try to no longer define my happiness by my title, income or possesions. I have a stronger relationship with my higher power than I have ever had in my life and I am growing spritually everyday. My new goals involve my spiritual condition and my continued sobriety.

I don't think the hypothetical person in the original post is so ridiculous to believe. In fact, I think he/she is all around us and feeling the same pain we all experience.