Newborn


Excerpt from the preface of Ballad of a Sober Man

Recovery from the nightmare of active alcoholism and drug abuse is very much a rebirth. We emerge kicking, screaming, and terrified into a cold environment, far too glaring and harsh for our oversensitive central nervous systems. We slowly learn how to adjust our senses without the protective, but faulty, shield of euphoria-producing chemicals. Having regularly used alcohol to suppress the emotions I never permitted myself to process and develop, I was forced, in sobriety, to adapt; I had to learn the skills and coping mechanisms needed to handle life situations in a healthy, adult manner. During my drinking years I was certainly capable of dressing myself, showing up, passing exams, attending events, and generally acting civil in my social and professional life; in reality, any decent actor could have managed that. Meanwhile I was, in all respects, emotionally stunted, my development as a human being frozen in time by my self-spun alcoholic cocoon. I trapped myself in a multidecade stage of spiritual suspended animation.

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