The best thing that has ever happened to me

[Mr. Machette]

Stay up, Player!

[Devil]

First, let me say good for you.

Second, I can't remember if you've said you have kids but let me offer you some sincere advice from a guy who grew up with a father who was (and still is) a recovering alcoholic......never make the mistake of thinking your sobriety makes you special. Always remember you're just doing something that normal people are supposed to do. It's just a starting point and it doesn't mean you aren't a cocksucker.

Don't expect other people, including your family to give a **** or be impressed in any way, especially ten years from now when the novelty of you not being shitfaced has worn off. Don't assume you can forgive yourself for the **** you've done and it will magically be all good with everyone else too. Some things you've done will have a long term impact on relationships in your life. It will always be your fault. Don't kill yourself over it, but don't blame others for holding your actions against you.

Go forward and make the most of the new day.

[ermghoti]

No problem.

Let's reboot all our brains, then.

Spoiler:

See? My brain is all blank now, like if I had seen Cthulhu.

I don't know that my mind is blank, but my stomach is certainly empty.

[battlefields]

First, let me say good for you.

Second, I can't remember if you've said you have kids but let me offer you some sincere advice from a guy who grew up with a father who was (and still is) a recovering alcoholic......never make the mistake of thinking your sobriety makes you special. Always remember you're just doing something that normal people are supposed to do. It's just a starting point and it doesn't mean you aren't a cocksucker.

Don't expect other people, including your family to give a **** or be impressed in any way, especially ten years from now when the novelty of you not being shitfaced has worn off. Don't assume you can forgive yourself for the **** you've done and it will magically be all good with everyone else too. Some things you've done will have a long term impact on relationships in your life. It will always be your fault. Don't kill yourself over it, but don't blame others for holding your actions against you.

Go forward and make the most of the new day.

No kids, so I haven't screwed up a child's future. Ever thought of AlAnon? It might help you address some of that residual resentment you might have towards your old man, Devil.

You talk of "normal people", but I think there must be a difference in culture. Here, "normal people" drink in excess, often. I know of only two people who NEVER touch alcohol or drugs, me and a guy I train with who is Edge. Everyone else I know drinks and a majority of those drink to excess. "Normal people" can't understand how someone doesn't drink. "Normal people" are so intrigued by my sobriety that I am often accosted for hours at a time by people grilling me on how I do it. "Normal people" say famous quotes to me that I once used to bellow at the top of my drunken lungs, things like, "I never trust a man that doesn't drink", or "I feel sorry for people that don't drink, because when they wake up in the morning, that's the best they are going to feel all day". "Normal people" literally cannot fathom a week without a drink. I saw a status update from a girl on Facebook today, she said she had finally managed to last from Monday to Thursday without a drink and that she was sitting down to a bottle of wine at the time of writing, midday on fucking Friday. She last Four and a half days and was proud of it. "Normal people" think a bottle of wine and a few beers is just "a couple of drinks". That's your "normal people", Devil. "Normal people" in Australia are alcoholics, the difference, which makes me special, is I admit to it and more importantly, don't give in to it.

I'm impressed considering the decade plus spent under the influence in some form or another and that's all I care about. I have been an inspiration to others, my sister included, who is also now several months clean and sober. Other people's thoughts of me is of no concern to me. I have forgiven myself for the things I did, I have attempted to make amends to the people I have hurt and to those that still harbour pain, it's not my duty to provide an anaesthetic if they do not accept my attempts to make amends. It is on them to clear out the pain in their life, to let go of what ails them. My story can serve as the trigger to get people thinking about their own substance slavery and if it assists them, if I can help just one person realise there is another option and it saves them from a destructive existence, then telling my story is worth it.

I just go forward and make the most of a new day. Woah, deja vu.

[Devil]

No kids, so I haven't screwed up a child's future. Ever thought of AlAnon? It might help you address some of that residual resentment you might have towards your old man, Devil.

You talk of "normal people", but I think there must be a difference in culture. Here, "normal people" drink in excess, often. I know of only two people who NEVER touch alcohol or drugs, me and a guy I train with who is Edge. Everyone else I know drinks and a majority of those drink to excess. "Normal people" can't understand how someone doesn't drink. "Normal people" are so intrigued by my sobriety that I am often accosted for hours at a time by people grilling me on how I do it. "Normal people" say famous quotes to me that I once used to bellow at the top of my drunken lungs, things like, "I never trust a man that doesn't drink", or "I feel sorry for people that don't drink, because when they wake up in the morning, that's the best they are going to feel all day". "Normal people" literally cannot fathom a week without a drink. I saw a status update from a girl on Facebook today, she said she had finally managed to last from Monday to Thursday without a drink and that she was sitting down to a bottle of wine at the time of writing, midday on fucking Friday. She last Four and a half days and was proud of it. "Normal people" think a bottle of wine and a few beers is just "a couple of drinks". That's your "normal people", Devil. "Normal people" in Australia are alcoholics, the difference, which makes me special, is I admit to it and more importantly, don't give in to it.

I'm impressed considering the decade plus spent under the influence in some form or another and that's all I care about. I have been an inspiration to others, my sister included, who is also now several months clean and sober. Other people's thoughts of me is of no concern to me. I have forgiven myself for the things I did, I have attempted to make amends to the people I have hurt and to those that still harbour pain, it's not my duty to provide an anaesthetic if they do not accept my attempts to make amends. It is on them to clear out the pain in their life, to let go of what ails them. My story can serve as the trigger to get people thinking about their own substance slavery and if it assists them, if I can help just one person realise there is another option and it saves them from a destructive existence, then telling my story is worth it.

I just go forward and make the most of a new day. Woah, deja vu.

I would never go to Alanon because I don't need to go to a meeting because someone else is a drunk. I don't need counseling because other people are fucked up.

I'm familiar with the whole AA mantra about making amends and letting go. It's bullshit and it's a cop out. The problems you caused are yours to fix. Thinking you can just apologize and absolve yourself of further responsibility is chickenshit.

Truthfully, people usually become alcoholics because they're fucked up people to start with. Alcoholism is the symptom, not the disease.

[Colin]

Normal people" literally cannot fathom a week without a drink

Honestly I'm happy for you bro, but I don't think I can agree with this comment.
It's quite possible that there are large subcultures that feel this way, and the concept of 'Normal' is bullshit in the first place.

I rarely drink. (I don't particularly like the taste of alcohol or the sensation of drunkenness) And there's nothing special about me in that regard, and QUITE a lot of people are just the same.

Refusing alcohol point blank isn't tough for anyone who isn't addicted to alcohol.

[battlefields]

I would never go to Alanon because I don't need to go to a meeting because someone else is a drunk. I don't need counseling because other people are fucked up.

I'm familiar with the whole AA mantra about making amends and letting go. It's bullshit and it's a cop out. The problems you caused are yours to fix. Thinking you can just apologize and absolve yourself of further responsibility is chickenshit.

So the alcoholic has to forever be indebted to the person they have harmed even after attempting to make amends because the person they harmed is a whining ***** who can't let bygones be bygones? Bit of a problem there, how can one move on if another is constantly whining about what they did in the past? Was it so bad what they did that it is unforgivable? Nothing is unforgivable, there is only the unforgiving. And I feel pity for the unforgiving.

You should really look into addressing some of this anger towards your old man, dude, it's apparent.

Truthfully, people usually become alcoholics because they're fucked up people to start with. Alcoholism is the symptom, not the disease.

No argument here. I'm just not trying to medicate myself with a potion that makes it worse.

Honestly I'm happy for you bro, but I don't think I can agree with this comment.
It's quite possible that there are large subcultures that feel this way, and the concept of 'Normal' is bullshit in the first place.

I rarely drink. (I don't particularly like the taste of alcohol or the sensation of drunkenness) And there's nothing special about me in that regard, and QUITE a lot of people are just the same.

Refusing alcohol point blank isn't tough for anyone who isn't addicted to alcohol.

I hear you. I get it. Maybe I've just been surrounded by those large subcultures, but I legit know no different, even though I have moved states and met entirely new people. I'm sure there are people in my circle of friends that don't drink much, maybe a couple of beers here and there. But I can almost guarantee that they sometimes have an entire six pack dun dun duuuuuuun. They aren't addicted to alcohol, but they drink and sometimes they might have a drink to cope with some stressful situation, then not have a drink for a while. It's ubiquitous, it permeates our society at a level you couldn't imagine until you say, "I do not drink alcohol at all".

Every industry I have worked in prides itself on being "big drinkers", seriously, from tradies, to property sales, to insurance to fucking charities. Every single workplace in my experience of employment in Australia has at some stage had someone in it puff their chests out and say, "I work in [such and such], we drink hard". ****, even some workplaces I have just visited have told me the same. Tell me that a majority of the working (and therefore visible) nation won't be drinking heavily next Tuesday afternoon. Keep in mind that binge drinking is defined as the consumption of 4W-6M standard drinks (Women/Men), which on average is 3-5 bottles of beer or glasses of wine. Standard bottles of beer and glasses of wine. Who pours a Standard glass of wine?

I'm glad you recognise it is tough for someone that is addicted. Cheers.

[Colin]

Yes it would be hard to refuse if you are addicted - and it certainly must make it tougher to be surrounded by it.

[Grab my fist]

I had a "need for speed" problem many years ago, just to keep up with my work. When loved ones repeatedly remind you of how much of a knob you become, it makes it easier to give up. Personally, I found giving up smoking a shitload harder.

Funny though, I was a lot better fighter when I was on drugs and had no training under my belt...

Keep up the good work. The cravings will fade more and more as time goes on.

By the way, QLD has the best hardcore bands hands down.

[Ming Loyalist]

Haha. I read a bit about the Straight Edge movement, back in "the day". At a point most SXE kids were quite the opposite.

i was active in the NYHC scene in the 80's, "back in the day" there were also a lot of whiney pussies in the SE group. not everyone agrees with me, but i think youth of today were responsible for the collapse of the NYHC scene, with their preaching elitism and hypocrisy.