Chapter 41 Safely Crazed
"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth." - Umberto Eco
It seems to me that the UNIVERSE does not wish me any particular harm and is essentially indifferent to me, as Umberto Eco implies here. It's the LOVE & HATE (& other emotions) of mere MORTALS that I'm on the lookout for (Man's Inhumanity to Man is more than enough for me to distill).
*****
Immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in this Autobiographical Fiction. Emerge more fully whole.
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All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.
This Quote by Umberto Eco (pictured) opens Chapter 41 (Safely Crazed) 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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c Enjoy.
Chapter 42 Optimal Delusions
"Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can't cross a chasm in two small steps." - David Lloyd George
LIQUID COURAGE & SHARED COURAGE
This David Lloyd George Quote reminds me of leaps of faith: Faith and trust in those who have found a path to Recovery for themselves and with others. When I first got Sober, I couldn't believe it was possible to be so downtrodden by alcohol that I might emerge with hopes for a better life. Other than the animal instinct to survive, Courage would be needed to stay Sober and Liquid Courage was all that I had ever known. Shared Courage in Recovery became a driving force.
I, for one, could not have done it alone.
Alone meant Alcohol and nothing else at the Empty End. Shared Courage, share it (OBVIOUSLY!). Shun the thought of another drink. That's a chasm not worth crossing. It is not one big step. It is two steps, and then a thousand missteps and surely you will plummet. Staying Sober will allow better bridges to be crossed.
*****
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The Quote by David Lloyd George opens Chapter 42 (Optimal Delusions) of All Drinking Aside.
Resolve to read it. Explore your own mind within its pages. Check out the 5 Star Reviews onAll Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.
the Amazon page while you're there: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c Enjoy.
"You desire to know the art of living, my friend? It is contained in one phrase: Make use of suffering." - Henry F. Amiel
Best as I can tell, if the Human Condition was a book, it could be Titled: "THE JOY OF SUFFERING: The Cognitive Use of the Dissonance in Our Midst." lol
Not kidding.
Strive on.
Recovery, or whatever road you're on, is long.
Be strong. Be weak.
The Dissonance in Our Midst may be a myth, a mist.
Be kind.
*****
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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c
#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books
All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.
The Quote by Henri Frederic Amiel closes Chapter 42 (Optimal Delusions) 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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c Enjoy.
Chapter 43 My Battle, My Bottle, My Brain
"The child is father to the man." - Gerald Manley Hopkins
ALMOST OUT OF MY TERRIBLE TEENS!
Reminiscent of "Pull Yourself Up by Your Bootstraps," this Gerald Manly Hopkins quote means deeply so much more to me than that.
The Child I Was became an Addict, and 30 years later, I was physically a man, yet a Boy-Child was dormant inside of me. I had no bootstraps to pull myself up by. No boots, no nothing. And I could not, would not become Adult alone.
Most all of my Growing Up Sober was with much help from others who had done the same before me. Not all live to Tell the Tale. Humility and Gratitude marked the Trail I learned to walk upon. Truly, this Child was the Father to this Man and it has not been done alone or yet completely done.
Believe me, I still have much Growing Up to Do (18 Years of Continuous Recovery allows me to define myself as a 72-Year-Old Teenager. Next, 19, then 20... Two More Years of Recovery and I'll be out of my TERRIBLE TEENS). lol
Humility, Jim. Gratitude, Jim. And Peace to All in Earshot.
*****
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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c
#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books
All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.
The Quote by Gerald Manley Hopkins opens Chapter 43 (My Battle, My Bottle, My Brain) 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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c Enjoy.
"One's destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things." - Henry Miller
A DRINK was Behind, in Front of, Next to & Inside of Everything I Did, Felt & Thought when I first got SOBER. It took me years in Recovery to See that Recovery is Possible, Doable, Irreplaceable.
It takes time for Recovery to take hold, for us to embrace the clean and sober world with new eyes.
"One's destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things" deserves repeating. We deserve to experience it.
Welcome to the Real World.
*****
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:https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c
#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books
All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.
The Quote by Henry Miller closes Chapter 43 (My Battle, My Bottle, My Brain) 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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c Enjoy.
Chapter 44 Sweet Oblivion, Pretty Poison 05/07/21
"Humor is just another defense against the universe." - Mel Brooks
My BEST & WORST Self-Made Joke: I like corn because it makes me smile EAR-to-EAR!
Humor is part of the Recovery Process. This is Processed Corn.
*****
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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c
#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books
All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.
The Quote by Mel Brooks closes Chapter 44 (Sweet Oblivion, Pretty Poison) 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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c Enjoy.
"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without also helping himself." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Lost in a Lost World" is a song title. It's alright if you've never heard of it before. I'm using the phrase here to describe how I felt in the deepest part of my addiction. The profound truth of this Emerson quote could not have sunk into my thick skull back then, but I embrace it today as I embrace you with my words.
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Half my brain was scrambled, and the other half was fried until finally I put All Drinking Aside.
Could you repeat the question? lol (I'm feeling better already)
*****
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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c
#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 45 (Albino Grubs) 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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c Enjoy.
Chapter 46 Implosions
"The way to love anything is to realize it might be lost." - G.K. Chesterton
Everything is Transitory. That's why some say that Life is Suffering. I had inklings of it before I began my Drinking Career. "The Sadness of a Happy Time," sophomoric as it may have been, was this youth's knowledge that nothing can, will or should last forever. "Lost in a Lost World" (here we go again). [a morsel from an earlier post.]
Everything is Transitory.
Every... Thing.
Growing up is hard to do.
Clean & Sober or not.
Wear your recovery "like a loose-fitting garment," precious as it is, for one day, too, it will be lost to what some call forever.
*****
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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c
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All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.
The Quote by G.K. Chesterton closes Chapter 46 (Implosions) 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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c Enjoy.
Chapter 47 Alcoholic Bonsai Bastard
"Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Some people I know (Get REAL, me, too) include Intentions in their Self-Image. Intentions may start out as Promises, but they become Lies when not brought to fruition.
OLD JOKE: How can you tell when an Alcoholic is Lying? (When they open their mouth.)
Slowly, in Recovery, I am getting better, but "Grace and Power" still have a bit of catching up to do. I think I can. I believe I can.
Every day Clean and Sober is a change for the better for any and all of us who "begin 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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c
#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books
All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.
The Quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe opens Chapter 47 (Alcoholic Bonsai Bastard) 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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c Enjoy.
A HIJACKED BRAIN, MY FREE WILL IN TATTERS.
My first sober lesson looking back on the Dan Rather Quote opening this post was as follows:
When I first got sober, at age 46, my first job was as a bartender. Grossly oversimplified, I was at the center of three camps:
1) Social Drinkers who generally wished me well, but seemed to have no idea how difficult this was for me,
2) Alcoholics who (whether they admitted they were alcoholics or not) wanted to see me succeed and
3) The third group were admitted Alcoholics who had on an occasion or two attempted to get sober on their own but failed on each attempt. I sensed their own failure had proven to them that it was impossible. Hopeless, but for wanting to see me fail, this third camp would eventually be seen by me as the saddest.
A year passed tending bar before I relapsed. I had to learn to crawl before I could walk, I would later come to understand: Seven more years of Sobriety and Relapse followed. I learned different but important lessons from all three camps, one lesson being that not everyone wishes you well.
After 30 years of daily drinking, this was a bitter pill to swallow. Not that Not Everyone Wishes You Well, but that the reasons behind those wishes to see another fail run deep.
A hijacked brain, free will in tatters, I would eventually learn to accumulate my sober days.
*****
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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c
#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books
All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.
The Quote by Dan Rather (pictured) closes Chapter 47 (Alcoholic Bonsai Bastard) 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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c Enjoy.
Chapter 48 This Pickle Must Change
"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." - Henry David Thoreau
[ALMOST a SYNOPSIS]:
I could not imagine my way out of my addiction before I got clean & sober. I accepted that I was an alcoholic and would likely die clutching a drink. That was before the hospitalizations, loss of jobs and apartments and other consequences snowballed into my having no choice but to die or to attempt sobriety. Now I "Go Confidently in the Direction of" Recovery, which once I could have never imagined I could or would ever want.
*****Autobiographical
Immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in this Fiction. Emerge more fully whole.
Find it on Amazon. Book it here: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c
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All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.
The Quote by Henry David Thoreau opens Chapter 48 (This Pickle Must Change) 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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c Enjoy.
"What do I know of man's destiny? I could tell you more about radishes." - Samuel Beckett
RADISHES & ROSEBUDS
I, too, do not know the Ultimate Destiny of Mankind. I could tell you more of Rash Decisions than of Radishes, more of Homelessness than feeling at Home in the Universe, more of More and Now than of Enough and Forever. Never did I Wait for Godot, unless Godot was a goddamned Drink. Now, All Drinking Aside, it's on Recovery that I Ride with Radishes & Rosebuds on my Side.
*****
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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c
#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books
All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.
The Quote by Samuel Beckett closes Chapter 48 (This Pickle Must Change) 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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c Enjoy.
Chapter 49 My Hiroshima, My Nagasaki
"A mind stretched by a new idea never shrinks back to its original dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes
Addiction narrowed my options until the only choice left was for me to continue to drink. Near death's door, too emaciated to even pick up a drink, ambulances remembered and not remembered carried me. That is how I quit drinking. I never, ever, simply decided to stop.
Many relapses followed.
The idea of sobriety eventually took hold and reshaped me.
At long last my thirst for living became unquenchable.
There is nothing much miraculous about Addiction. At one time, early in my Recovery, I thought that my biggest accomplishment up to that point had been that was that I was not dead. Not exactly a miracle, but close enough. The Rewards of Recovery have, of course, been numerous, but simply put, the opportunity to live my life Under the Influence of Life instead of Under the Influence of Substance Use and Abuse has been the greatest reward.
"A mind stretched by a new idea never shrinks back to its original dimensions."
Oh, really?
Yes, really.
Yes.
Real.
*****
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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c
#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books
All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.
The Quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes opens Chapter 49 (My Hiroshima, My Nagasaki) 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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c Enjoy.
"I have an everyday religion that works for me. Love yourself first, and everything else falls into line." - Lucille Ball
Had you asked me to guess who originated this quote, Lucille Ball would likely not be near the top of that list. It reminds me of the Emily Dickinson poem "Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church- I keep it, staying at home" or the Gracie Allen quote "Everything you own, owns a part of you."
There's no room here to explain how I'd string these three Pearls on the same Necklace, but for the surprise they give me off some religious tangent. I guess that's what makes them Pearls.
*****
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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c
#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books
All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.
The Quote by Lucille Ball closes Chapter 49 (My Hiroshima, My Nagasaki) 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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c Enjoy.
Chapter 50 Safety In Numbers
"It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated." - Alec Bourne
OMG! If anyone tries to cite this post as written by one Jim Anders, please explain to them that IT MUST BE APOCRYPHAL! Jim could NOT be THAT Stupid, writ large. A film I never saw, The Bourne Identity, stars Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, "an amnesiac attempting to discover his true identity." [sounds like me in an alcoholic stupor wondering how I managed to find my way home in a blackout - AGAIN.]
I SERIOUSLY THOUGHT that "It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated" was a line that Matt Damon spoke in that movie! I figured the star's FILM NAME must have been Alec. You know, Alec Bourne?
FOR STARTERS, Alec[k] Bourne was "a prominent British gynecologist and writer known for his 1938 trial, a landmark case in which he was prosecuted for performing a termination of pregnancy on a 14-year-old rape victim."
A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE IS A DANGEROUT THING.
[APOCRYPHAL: Don't forget that part.]
*****
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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c
#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books
All Drinking Aside bookends each of its 90 Chapters with Quotes by the Famous, Infamous & Anonymous.
The Quote by Alec Bourne opens Chapter 50 (Safety in Numbers) 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: https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c Enjoy.
For an added treat, check out my Non-Fiction, BECOMING UNBROKEN: Reflections on Addiction and Recovery on Amazon here: https://lnkd.in/dkF767RT
"I'd like to live as a poor man with lots of money." - Pablo Picasso
*****
RECOVERY IS MY CURRENCY
I wanted none of my 30-year Drinking Career when only Death or the Unknown could follow. Little did I know that Recovery would become my Everything. From Addiction to Recovery, I began to live as Picasso would have liked to (in a manner of speaking).
I AM THAT POOR MAN WITH LOTS OF MONEY. Recovery is my Currency. Interest is Paid (overflowing) in Another Day Sober. Poor me, the Richest Man Alive.
*****
For an added treat, check out my Non-Fiction, BECOMING UNBROKEN: Reflections on Addiction and Recovery on Amazon here: https://lnkd.in/dkF767RT
In the meantime, Immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in my Autobiographical Fiction, 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 Pablo Picasso (pictured) closes Chapter 50 (Safety in Numbers) 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 BOTH OF MY BOOKS!
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