Chapter 81 Empty Bottles and Refillable Pain
"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort." - Herm Albright
*****
YOU'VE BEEN WARNED! Simultaneously TONGUE-IN-CHEEK and deadly SERIOUS, Herm Albright's Quote here stands as an inside joke and a whisper to any and all NAYSAYERS out there who may be within earshot (At least, that's my interpretation).
Many of what I thought of as Goody Two Shoes' Declarations of "The Wonder of it All" that I heard in my early Recovery and which I assumed would Piss Off the Pope, turned out to being nothing other than my need for an accumulation of sober days and the shedding of the terrible addiction skin I had lived within for dozens of years.
Recovery is Possible, Doable and Irreplaceable.
Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
"A GRATEFUL RECOVERING ADDICT!" How I used to hate hearing that. NOW I AM THAT!!!
*****
Immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in this Autobiographical Fiction. Emerge more fully whole.
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 Herm Albright (pictured) opens Chapter 81 (Empty Bottles And Refillable Pain) 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.
"Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live. It is asking other people to live as one wishes to live." - Oscar Wilde
*****
RELIGIOUS ZEALOTS ARE SO DEEPLY STEEPED in their ideology that they often can't see the forest for the trees.
Rather than indoctrinating people looking for Recovery, I try to meet them where they are and guide them to find ways to get from Point A to Point B.
SEE IT MY WAY is a FAIL.
LET ME HELP YOU FIND YOUR WAY... therein, the REWARD.
*****
Immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in this Autobiographical Fiction. Emerge more fully whole.
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 (pictured) closes Chapter 81 (Empty Bottles And Refillable Pain) 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 82 You Can't Handle The Proof
"He who has a Why to live for can bear almost any How." - Frederick Nietzsche
*****
WHY Recovery? BECAUSE Addiction SUCKS.
RECOVERY is Possible (Any HOW), Doable (Any HOW) and Irreplaceable (Any HOW).
"Nothing matters more than that we remain sober because when we remain sober everything matters more." - All Drinking Aside, p. 269
*****
Immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in this Autobiographical Fiction. Emerge more fully whole.
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 Friedrich Nietzsche (pictured) opens Chapter 82 (You Can't Handle The Proof) 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.
"Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes." - Oscar Wilde
*****
THIS OSCAR WILDE QUOTE is bewildering. I look at my own life in the rearview mirror and see that things likely couldn't have been much different than they were in order to bring me to my present moment. This does not mean that all that has happened has been a foregone conclusion. I could have died. I could have lived differently, even in my Recovery. The mistakes of a large part of an entire generation need not be perpetually carried forth into the next generation like some gigantic repetitious Wheel of Life.
It is too late for me to do much of anything else about my storied past but to be Grateful for the Accrued Wisdom gained through my experience, while simultaneously acknowledging that the lives of others in this and future generations need not be swallowed up by addiction in order to reap the rewards of Addiction Survival. Much can be taught. Much may be learned. Much will be lost.
Wilde's quote is thorny, hopeful, tragic, human, complex, on and on, more words are needed than the words he used to express what I suppose was an Epiphany of sorts for his character. Like a movie I wish to see again and again, his words deserve multiple re-readings.
*****
Immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in this Autobiographical Fiction. Emerge more fully whole.
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 (pictured) closes Chapter 82 (You Can't Handle The Proof) 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 83 Catch The Beat, Dance Your Feet
"The best way to cheer yourself up is to cheer somebody else up." - Mark Twain
*****
THE LONGEST WORD IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, indeed, is SMILES [there's a mile between the two S's]. I'll leave it on this very Elementary School level here and not take a deep mental dive or go off on some spiritual tangent: A Human Communion will Cheer Up Almost Everybody. "We are not a Glum Lot" is how I've heard it expressed in Recovery Meetings.
I have found this to be true.
For me, Addiction is a disease of Separation & Isolation. I had become "an Alcoholic Animal" as the Subtitle to my Autobiographical Fiction, All Drinking Aside, suggests. My Recovery would become a return to the Human Race.
A Dear Departed Friend used to frequently say to me "Jim, when all else fails [and before all else fails], help somebody else." And so it goes.
Cheer up, Buttercup!
Luck is for Losers.
"Work it. You're worth it."
*****
Immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in this Autobiographical Fiction. Emerge more fully whole.
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 Mark Twain (pictured) opens Chapter 83 (Catch The Beat, Dance Your Feet) 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.
"The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope." - Samuel Johnson
ALCOHOL, the ULTIMATE ANESTHESIOLOGIST, suffocates emotions, delivering neither pleasure nor hope. Beyond pain, all feelings deadened, destroyed, obliterated. Nothing, then less than nothing, Alcohol, that most singular oxymoron, MORE, severed from meaning, More. Meaningless, more.
In Recovery "nothing matters more than that we remain sober because when we remain sober everything matters more."
Take Flight.
*****
Immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in this Autobiographical Fiction. Emerge more fully whole.
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 (pictured) closes Chapter 83 (Catch the Beat, Dance Your Feet) 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 84 All Drinking Aside
"THE TRUTH IS BALANCE, but the opposite of truth, which is unbalance, may not be a lie." - Susan Sontag
*****
In an attempt to Simplify, OVER-SIMPLIFICATION may end up Ruling the Roost. We (NOT ME, OF COURSE) divide our world into Ones & Zeroes where everything is clearly white or clearly black with Gray Areas almost Unimaginable. Oft times our lives are not simply so Yin or Yang.
A Wheel has many spokes and bumps in the road abound. Life's Spectacles are best seen through Spectacles allowing things to be both Black & White and Full Color.
Can I be any less clear? You bet your sweet imbalance I can.
But when all discussions have subsided, I am left with "Nothing matters more than that we remain sober because when we remain sober everything matters more."
Balance, Truth, Lies, Imbalance. WHATEVER, and All, are on the Table.
"Recovery is Balance, but the opposite of Recovery, which is Addiction, may not be a lie [may not be a lie, but also, is not a life compared to the Better Balance one may find when Recovery Bound]."
[Damn, I fucked up Susan Sontag's Quote! Forgive me those of you who will. This may not be a lie.]
*****
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 Susan Sontag (pictured) closes Chapter 84 (All Drinking Aside) 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 85 The World Between
"WHEN WE REMEMBER WE ARE ALL MAD, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained." - Mark Twain
ADDICTION seems so close to other INSANITIES. It enmeshes with them, nuzzling up till every crack and crevice is filled. When nothing else is left, what remains self-replicates.
This is not a MYSTERY. It stands EXPLAINED.
Pour me no more. Give me space between all spaces. Fill me in, RECOVERY. There is always more and nothing less will do. I did not drink today.
ADDICTION,
"Fuck you."
*****
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 Mark Twain (pictured) closes Chapter 85 (The World Between) 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 86 Memory-Go-Rounds
"THE BEST WAY TO DESTROY an enemy is to make him a friend." - Abraham Lincoln
"I'M ONLY HUMAN" is my concocted self-defense against my failure to live up to the intent of this Quote by Lincoln. I tend to want to cut off HIS nose (not Lincoln's nose! lol) to spite MY face. It's sad and a little bit embarrassing, and yes, the truth hurts.
My Pollyanna Defense died on the vine. GRUDGE is an Animal and I have raised it well.
Better Sober than Drunk. Better today than yesterday. Better tomorrow, I can only hope, my friend. I can only hope.
*****
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 Abraham Lincoln (pictured) opens Chapter 86 (Memory-Go-Rounds) 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.
"THE YEARS TEACH US MUCH which the days never knew." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Knowledge is a fabric accumulated on the loom of years.
ADDICTION taught me nothing in its grasp. RECOVERY brought me more than I could ever ask for.
I DID NOT KNOW WHAT I DID NOT KNOW.
Use the skills you developed in your Addiction to acquire your next hit, shot, snort or smoke and you'll be fine. They will be assets as you start to get your life back and gather and expand your repertoire.
"Nothing matters more than that we remain sober because when we remain sober everything matters more."
*****
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 Ralph Waldo Emerson (pictured) closes Chapter 86 (Memory-Go-Rounds) 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 87 Fight Fear With Flight
"Nothing matters more than that we remain sober because when we remain sober everything matters more." - Jim Anders
*****
Everything is TRANSITORY. Life is short. Consequently, my Gratitude is ABUNDANT. Look at the Progressive Natures of Addiction & Recovery: "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."
My quote, pictured here, was an Epiphany of sorts. Everything is Transitory. True enough. Let us live out our remaining days in Recovery. Everything WILL matter more.
*****
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 Jim Anders (pictured) closes Chapter 87 (Fight Fear With Flight) 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 88 The Necessity Of Doubt
"It is because Humanity has never known where it was going that it has been able to find its way." - Oscar Wilde
The Oscar Wilde Quote is Counter-Intuitive, Sarcastic and Realistic.
You decide.
All I can say is that on my personal level ADDICTION was going nowhere for me and in RECOVERY I found my way (NEITHER Counter-Intuitive NOR Sarcastic). Accepting RESPONSIBILITY and attempting to live with a Realistic Humility is my Game Plan now.
Recovery is my Everything.
Oscar Wilde never fails to give the Reader something to think about. I hope that I, at times, have followed suit.
*****
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 (pictured) closes Chapter 88 (The Necessity Of Doubt) 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 89 A Tall, Dark Stranger
"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." - Aesop
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT starts HERE: The most minute occurrence on the smallest scale could be the start of something big. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Be the start of something good. Be kind. Be kind. Be kind.
*****
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 Aesop (pictured) opens Chapter 89 (A Tall, Dark Stranger) 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.
"REAL GENEROSITY towards the future lies in giving all to the present." - Albert Camus
Like Viktor Frankl (author of Man's Search for Meaning), Camus, too was a SEARCHER. My own search for meaning had drugs and alcohol in the mix. In my ADDICTION, the drink or drug in my hand was never enough. Perhaps more meaning could be found in the NEXT ONE. During my 30-year fall down the rabbit hole, drug use offered me little or no GRATIFICATION in the present moment.
In RECOVERY, the present moment is a generous gift which allows the possibility of a satisfying future to exist.
Yes, I twisted this Quote to suit my purpose here, but that sort of proves the point, doesn't it?
*****
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 Albert Camus (pictured) closes Chapter 89 (A Tall, Dark Stranger) 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 90 Perpetual Reconstruction
"DON'T LIMIT A CHILD to your own learning, for he was born in another time." - Robindranath Tagore
The INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION was in full swing long before Robindranath Tagore was even born (1861 - 1941). A hundred years earlier and for all of human history that preceded it, his stark warning would have been viewed as a LUNACY because each successive generation was passed the human torch from the previous generation without incident or much, if any, need for modification. In essence, life on Earth had not changed significantly from the INVENTION of the WHEEL to its INDUSTRIALIZATION shortly before Tagore's birth.
He lived to see the onslaught of Henry Ford and MASS PRODUCTION.
Since his lifetime, all life has changed dramatically yet again and with an ever-quickening pace. The DIGITAL AGE is upon us, and change has escalated and become more divergent. Never has it been truer to say, "Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time."
Giving advice to the children of tomorrow is a FOOL'S PARADISE. By the time a child has children of their own, our modern life has already made DINOSAURS of them.
"Don't limit a child to your own learning" has become the best starting point for any generation.
*****
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 Robindranath Tagore (pictured) opens Chapter 90 (Perpetual Reconstruction) 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.
"HOW BEAUTIFUL IT IS TO DO NOTHING, and then rest afterward." is a Spanish Proverb and the last Quote of 180 by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous in my last book, All Drinking Aside: The Destruction, Deconstruction and Reconstruction of an Alcoholic Animal. It is also the first Quote in my second book, Becoming Unbroken: Reflections on Addiction and Recovery.
As poignant and important as this Quote is, what it omits is that THERE IS STILL WORK TO BE DONE. It is a reminder to me to maintain a life in balance.
Life is good. Strive on, "then rest afterward."
*****
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. a Spanish Proverb (pictured), closes Chapter 90 (Perpetual Reconstruction) 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
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