10 of 180 QUOTES by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous in ALL DRINKING ASIDE (Chapters 1 - 10, Part One of Nine)

Chapter 1 Alcohol Is Power

"I ENVY PEOPLE WHO DRINK - at least they know what to blame everything on." - Oscar Levant

I did once envy people who drank. That, of course, was before Alcohol taught me what Addiction feels like on the inside. I was a Bartender when I first got Sober 26 years ago. I remained Sober for that first year only. Eight years of being on and off the wagon followed. I've seen the BLAME, SHAME & PAIN of Addiction in my childhood, before my first drink, during my 30-year Drinking Career and in all the years since. 

Just about everything Oscar Levant is Famed for saying is a little off-center as if from his slightly askew perspective he may shed light on the hidden humanity he allows the reader to reveal (almost in secret) to themselves.

DRINK RESPONSIBLY is my granddaddy OXYMORON.  

*****

Immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in this Autobiographical Fiction. Emerge more fully whole.

ALL DRINKING ASIDE: The Destruction, Deconstruction & Reconstruction of an Alcoholic Animal  

Find it on Amazon. Book it here: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO 

#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books

All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.

This Quote by Oscar Wilde opens Chapter 1 (Alcohol Is Power) of All Drinking Aside.

Resolve to read it. Explore your own mind within its pages. Check out the 5 Star Reviews on the Amazon page while you're there: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO Enjoy.

"Because you are alive, everything is possible." - Thich Nhat Hanh

Being OVERLY OPTIMISTIC has some possible DRAWBACKS. If or when failure ensues, as it inevitably on occasion will, Self-Blame and a sense of Moral Failure may result rather than a Realistic Humility and Reassessment of Goals and Strategies to Achieve them. 

This very moment is Theoretically Impossible. After all, who could have predicted it? Every moment has many potentialities and possibilities. "If you're dead, there ain't much happenin'!" falls short of the logical conclusions one is to gather from this Quote by Thich Nhat Hanh. 

If I can survive ADDICTION (& I have), a Good Life is at my feet and RECOVERY is POSSIBLE, DOABLE & IRREPLACEABLE.

I am more aligned with this Quote than is perhaps comfortable to admit. How do I explain that? I BLAME YOU, CULTURE OF RECOVERY!

*****

Immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in this Autobiographical Fiction. Emerge more fully whole.

ALL DRINKING ASIDE: The Destruction, Deconstruction & Reconstruction of an Alcoholic Animal  

Find it on Amazon. Book it here: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO 

#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books

All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.

This Quote by Oscar Wilde closes Chapter 1 (Alcohol Is Power) of All Drinking Aside.

Resolve to read it. Explore your own mind within its pages. Check out the 5 Star Reviews on the Amazon page while you're there: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO Enjoy.

*****

Chapter 2 Psycho Analysis 

DO NOT CONFUSE the INSANITY of ADDICTION with FUTILE ATTEMPTS at ACHIEVING ECSTASY. ADDICTION is NEITHER a SPIRITUAL nor a RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 

Addiction is an Exercise in Futility Before the Barn Door Even Opens.

 "And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." - Frederick Nietzsche

The PERPETUAL & SYSTEMATIC seeking of OBLIVION, years in its formation, Does Not a WHIRLING DERVISH Make. 

*****

Immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in this Autobiographical Fiction. Emerge more fully whole.

ALL DRINKING ASIDE: The Destruction, Deconstruction & Reconstruction of an Alcoholic Animal  

Find it on Amazon. Book it here: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO 

#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books

All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.

This Quote by Frederick Nietzsche (pictured) opens Chapter 2 (Psycho Analysis) of All Drinking Aside.

Resolve to read it. Explore your own mind within its pages. Check out the 5 Star Reviews on the Amazon page while you're there: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO Enjoy.

*****

Chapter 3 Color Me Empty

"People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar." - Thich Nhat Hanh

PANIC ATTACKS & AUDITORY HALLUCINATIONS. Drinking took me there and still I could not let go. For 30 years, the Drinking Life was the only Life I knew. Eventually, even Relapse felt familiar.

The world seems never quite the way I perceived it yesterday. I must be gentle with myself. Letting go can be learned. Letting go of yesterday, retaining lessons learned and letting in the present moment. Life is impermanent. Wave after wave, yesterday, today, tomorrow, letting go.

*****

Immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in this Autobiographical Fiction. Emerge more fully whole.

ALL DRINKING ASIDE: The Destruction, Deconstruction & Reconstruction of an Alcoholic Animal  

Find it on Amazon. Book it here: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO 

#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books

All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.

This Quote by Thich Nhat Hanh opens Chapter 3(Color Me Empty) of All Drinking Aside.

Resolve to read it. Explore your own mind within its pages. Check out the 5 Star Reviews on the Amazon page while you're there: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO Enjoy!

"I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it." - Garrison Keillor

On Reflection, this Garrison Keillor Quote led me to this Favorite Verse:

“Halfway to Nowhere and Another Drink”

There was a time when I was not there,

But I did not know it yet.

I would drink to forget,

Forgetting what I did not know.

Not yet.

I did not know yet.

Where was I then, when I was not there?

For years I lived somewhere between myself

And the next drink.

I would drink to forget what I could not think,

Halfway to nowhere and another drink.

I was grieving and I did not know it.

Someone was dying, but I could not feel it,

Feel my own dying.

I could not own it because it owned me.

Denial is so hard to feel,

Yet, there it is, standing next to you.

You: Halfway to nowhere and another drink.

[from All Drinking Aside]

*****

Immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in this Autobiographical Fiction. Emerge more fully whole.

ALL DRINKING ASIDE: The Destruction, Deconstruction & Reconstruction of an Alcoholic Animal  

Find it on Amazon. Book it here: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO 

#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books

All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.

This Quote by Garrison Keillor 

closes Chapter 3 (Color Me Empty) of All Drinking Aside.

Resolve to read it. Explore your own mind within its pages. Check out the 5 Star Reviews on the Amazon page while you're there: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO Enjoy.

*****

Chapter 4 Disease Management [omitted]

Chapter 5 Maintenance Drinking

"THE CHAINS OF HABIT ARE TOO WEAK TO BE FELT UNTIL THEY ARE TOO STRONG TO BE BROKEN." - Samuel Johnson

I WANT TO WRITE THIS IN THE SKY:

"By the Time I Had a Reason to Stop Drinking, Reason No Longer Had Anything to Do With It." 

That is how I explain it in my book. Addiction is Insanity. 100% Under the Influence, EVEN AFTER the Substance of Abuse has been removed from the body. The brain has been changed. The Grand Canyon of the Brain has been Drained of the Substance and the slightest Rivulet could bring back a Tidal Wave. That's just me. That's how it always happened for me. No matter how long the period of absence from drug use, in no time flat, it was like I had never stopped. 

I WANT THE SKY TO KNOW that Addiction is Progressive, but Recovery is PROGESSIVE, too: 

"Loving to Drink. Living to Drink. Dying to Drink. Dying from Drinking. This is the Progression of Alcoholism. Wanting to Live. Learning to Live. Loving to Live. Living with Love. This is the Progression of Recovery."

A bit Repetitive (all of the above) to regular readers of my post. Repetition is a great learning tool. I have a thick skull. If yours is thinner than mine, please accept my apologies! Variety is the Spice of Life, but as I've heard said, "if you stick with the basics, you never have to go back to them."

*****

Immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in this Autobiographical Fiction. Emerge more fully whole.

ALL DRINKING ASIDE: The Destruction, Deconstruction & Reconstruction of an Alcoholic Animal  

Find it on Amazon. Book it here: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO 

#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books

All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.

This Quote by Samuel Johnson closes Chapter 5 (Maintenance Drinking) of All Drinking Aside.

Resolve to read it. Explore your own mind within its pages. Check out the 5 Star Reviews on the Amazon page while you're there: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO Enjoy.

*****

Chapter 6 This Disconnect

"IF I TRY TO BE LIKE HIM, WHO WILL BE LIKE ME?" - Yiddish proverb

It was never my intention to create a Roadmap to Recovery for Readers to blindly follow. I suggest that you start from where you are and read my books through the prism of your own experience. My realities (and unrealities) and yours will intersect and diverge many times as you turn the pages. I am not a Sherpa helping you scale Mount Everest. My Addiction Experience is not yours. Your Recovery is not mine, faith-based or evidence-based, the choices are yours to make. Each of us must and will find their own tailor-made path to a rich and rewarding Recovery Lifestyle.

My story will entertain, inform and offer you differing moments of self-reflection & self-determination. To paraphrase the Yiddish proverb which opens today's post: Do not try to be like me, discover the you inside yourself through connection with me and others. ALL DRINKING ASIDE is but one of many journeys. Enjoy them all. Ditto, BECOMING UNBROKEN: Reflections on Addiction & Recovery.

Courage can be learned and should be shared. 

Be You! Strive on! 

But please remember that "Nothing matters more than that we remain sober because when we remain sober everything matters more."

*****

Immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in this Autobiographical Fiction. Emerge more fully whole.

ALL DRINKING ASIDE: The Destruction, Deconstruction & Reconstruction of an Alcoholic Animal  

Find it on Amazon. Book it here: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO 

#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books

All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.

The Yiddish proverb which opens this post is from Chapter 6 (This Disconnect) of All Drinking Aside.

Resolve to read it. Explore your own mind within its pages. Check out the 5 Star Reviews on the Amazon page while you're there: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO Enjoy.

*****

Chapter 7 The Bottleneck

"THE DEEPEST DEFINITION OF YOUTH IS LIFE AS YET UNTOUCHED BY TRAGEDY." - Alfred North Whitehead

DO THE MATH:

"The deepest definition of youth is life as yet untouched by tragedy."  

+PLUS+

"The best slave is the one who thinks he is free." - Johann von Goethe

=EQUALS=

"By the time I had a reason to stop drinking, reason no longer had anything to do with it." - Jim Anders

MATH DONE: A+++ for YOU!

*****

Immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in this Autobiographical Fiction. Emerge more fully whole.

ALL DRINKING ASIDE: The Destruction, Deconstruction & Reconstruction of an Alcoholic Animal  

Find it on Amazon. Book it here: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO 

#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books

All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.

This Quote by Alfred North Whitehead opens Chapter 7 (The Bottleneck) of All Drinking Aside.

Resolve to read it. Explore your own mind within its pages. Check out the 5 Star Reviews on the Amazon page while you're there: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO Enjoy.

*****

Chapter 8 An Alcoholic Is.

"WE LEARN AS MUCH FROM SORROW AS FROM JOY, AS MUCH FROM ILLNESS AS FROM HEALTH, FROM HANDICAP AS FROM ADVANTAGE - AND INDEED PERHAPS MORE." - Pearl S. Buck

Negative experiences present challenges. Overcoming these challenges sharpens our skills. In principle, we want to erect guardrails to protect and to prevent damage to our children, but the excessive use of them may create an insular life with little sense of triumph. I would not wish addiction on anyone. There are enough 'slings and arrows of outrageous fortune' in life without addiction being piled onto the mix.

I am lucky to have survived most of the unnecessary consequences of addiction. We don't need A PROVING GROUND FOR HOPELESSNESS. 

*****

Immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in this Autobiographical Fiction. Emerge more fully whole.

ALL DRINKING ASIDE: The Destruction, Deconstruction & Reconstruction of an Alcoholic Animal  

Find it on Amazon. Book it here: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO 

#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books

All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.

This Quote by Pearl S. Buck opens Chapter 8 (An Alcoholic Is) of All Drinking Aside.

Resolve to read it. Explore your own mind within its pages. Check out the 5 Star Reviews on the Amazon page while you're there: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO Enjoy.

"NOTHING HAPPENS UNLESS FIRST WE DREAM." - Carl Sandberg

As a child I knew drinking alcohol was a hallmark of being an adult. "If you want to be treated like an adult, then start acting like one" was an oft-heard chorus of my youth. I would drink and I would smoke and I would show them all exactly how adult I was (my reactionary train of thought). When I became an adult, I could and did do as I wished. In a few short years I would be living my dream.

That dream became my nightmare.

30 years after my first drink (& 8 years after my last drink), I learned that "You can have Drunk Dreams Sober, but you can't have Sober Dreams Drunk."

How's this for a Twist?

Eyes Wide Open, Living New & Sober Dreams.

*****

Immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in this Autobiographical Fiction. Emerge more fully whole.

ALL DRINKING ASIDE: The Destruction, Deconstruction & Reconstruction of an Alcoholic Animal  

Find it on Amazon. Book it here: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO 

#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books

All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.

This Quote by Carl Sandberg (pictured) closes Chapter 8 (An Alcoholic Is) of All Drinking Aside.

Resolve to read it. Explore your own mind within its pages. Check out the 5 Star Reviews on the Amazon page while you're there: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO Enjoy.

*****

Chapter Nine: Packing Peanuts

"Everything you own, owns a part of you." - Gracie Allen

When I hit bottom, I accepted the pain of loss,

but not the loss itself.

My beautiful, beautiful alcohol had died.

Oh, Gracie, Gracie, Gracie, if you only knew

that what you say is true,

but only partly true for me, you see,

I'm an alcoholic and part of me was not enough.

Alcohol wanted all, to have all and to be before all else.

And when I crashed, it crashed with me, yet only it had died.

I cried, I cried and wished that I had died instead of it.

How would I live when alcohol was the only thing I finally lived for

after alcohol took all else?

"Everything you own [alcohol owned all of me],

Owns a part of you [until there's nothing left]."

Oh, Gracie, Gracie, Gracie, what you say is true.

If only, only, only someone knew.

When I hit bottom, I accepted the pain of loss,

but not the loss itself.

My beautiful, beautiful alcohol had died.

*****

The message that is here, if you're anyone like me,

is that you are not alone, I am not alone - after alcohol's demise.

Together and without it, we shall build new lives.

The truth I've learned: I own nothing if I don't own me.

To be free of alcohol is the only free for me.

*****

"Everything you own [Recovery is my everything],

Owns a part of you [Without it, I'm not free]."

Oh, Gracie, Gracie, Gracie, it's me who's thanking you.

For it is you who taught me that all of this is true.

After I hit bottom, I worked through all the pain,

and the loss of alcohol was nothing

but the freedom I had gained.

Now, "Everything you own, owns a part of you"

is beautiful, a beauty found within, connected.

Your words, the same, Gracie,

You see, it's me who changed.

Today, I own Recovery

Like Alcohol once owned me.

Recovery is shared as I become unbroken.

Gracie, Gracie, Gracie: No truer words been spoken.

"Everything you own, owns a part of you."

*****

ADDITIONAL QUOTES BY GRACIE ALLEN:

"When I was born, I was so surprised I didn't talk for a year and a half."

"This used to be a government of checks and balances. Now it's all checks and no balances."

"Smartness runs in my family. When I went to school, I was so smart my teacher was in my class for five years."

*****

#alcoholism #addiction #recovery

*****

I hope you enjoy ALL DRINKING ASIDE: The Destruction, Deconstruction & Reconstruction of an Alcoholic Animal  

Find it on Amazon. Book it here: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO