lilac0721

Today I start day 3. I hope the last day 3 of my life.

Yesterday, I was court-appointed counsel for someone who was arrested for public intoxication. The narrative of the police report was really sad. Even more sad was that my client said that he has no doubt that it happened, but he has absolutely no recollection. Just 2 months prior, he'd been taken to the ER after being picked up on another public intox charge.
Worse, as I talked to him I could tell that he is very intelligent and educated and stuck in a rut of homelessness and joblessness and overall hopelessness. I smelled the odor of alcohol on his breath. I was certain that this was a person who had become so dependent on alcohol that it never completely leaves his body.

I am grateful that I am not in that situation. If I let my life continue on the downward spiral I've been in and out of for the past few years, it could be me.

I don't think it was coincidence that just a day after deciding I can't drink I would encounter this man and be in the position of helping him with the consequences of his drinking. That could be me if I keep going the way I've been going.

doggonecarl

Each alcoholic, I think, if he or she is going to recovery, has that moment of clarity--call it an epiphany--and uses it as a springboard to getting and staying sober.

I hope this was yours. Stay strong.

lilac0721

I too hope that yesterday's experience was my moment of clarity. It is certainly something that has been missing in my past attempts at recovery and maintaining sobriety.