101 Days Alcohol Free
This wasn’t a decision I ever thought I’d make, because it wasn’t a decision I had to make. I could have existed forever in that gray area between someone who doesn’t like drinking and someone who drinks because that’s what people do. It wasn’t even a decision I intentionally made until a few weeks had gone by since I’d last had a drink, and I realized I didn’t want to have another one. Harry’s 100 days had recently come and gone, and I could see the appeal of the choice he had made. I liked living with someone who didn’t drink, and I realized I too wanted to be someone who didn’t drink. I wanted our life together to be alcohol free, and it’s turned out to be the beach st choice I ever made. I am happier and healthier than ever, and I never wake up with regrets.
That’s not to say quitting drinking has been easy. I’m still adjusting to the changes this choice means for my life, and I will be for a while. I come from a place where people pride themselves on how much they drink, and I spend a lot of my professional life around people drinking. I can’t expect any of that to change, but I can decide not to let it bother me, and I can also decide to keep my distance from what does.
I don’t know how long I’ll stay alcohol free. I can quit quitting any time I want to - that is the privilege of not being an addict. I was never a big drinker, because I was never very good at it. I was warned my whole childhood not to become an alcoholic with certain family members used as scare tactics, and it worked, in so much as I did not become one. But I was never warned about loving alcoholics, nor about how much they can hurt you when you do, and my entire adult life has been consistently effected by the addictions of others. I may never have had a problem with alcohol myself, but I always had a problem with alcoholics, so I figured the best way to minimize that was to quit drinking myself. That’s what I told myself at the outset, but then I started going to Al-Anon, and I quickly learned there was so much more going on here. Now begins the hard work, and I couldn’t be more ready to start doing it. However intimidating it might be (and disruptive to my status quo), I have no doubt this was the right choice, for me, for now.