23 Aug 2012

An article I wrote for Drink Tank.

Thirty-three years ago I woke up and felt an overwhelming urge to give up the grog. And I did. It was the day before Mother’s Day in 1979 and I haven’t had a drink of alcohol since. At the same time I  gave up drugs as well. Completely.

The decision to stop drinking altogether is the single most important decision of my life. I believe it is the foundation that underpins all that is good in my life.

I know this sounds dramatic. But it feels that dramatic to me. When I drank, I couldn’t guarantee my behaviour. It wasn’t always bad, but sometimes it was very bad indeed. It was unpredictable.

Sometimes when I drank, I changed. My behaviour became aggressive and argumentative, or promiscuous. I experienced memory loss. I woke up with tattoos and I couldn’t remember how I got them.

At times, trying to remember what happened the night before was like flashing a torch around a dark room full of mysterious objects. I could catch glimpses of what was there, but I couldn’t discern the full picture.

Since I stopped drinking, I have never experienced anything like the same problems.

These days, most of the people I know have never seen me drink. And that is just the way I like it.

Read the rest of the article here: http://drinktank.org.au/2012/08/abstinence-aok/