Narcissist. One of the most overused words I hear thrown around today — outshining even “existential” and “praxis”, perhaps. In many cases, though, as it was famously said: “I do not think it means what you think it means.” Those who favor hyperbole often label all sorts of people as narcissists, accurately or not. They’ll […]
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The 12 Steps of The 12 Steps
1. I don’t need to be here. 2. What am I doing here? 3. This isn’t so bad. 4. Actually, the coffee’s awful. 5. Might as well get a sponsor. 6. I haven’t held hands this often since grade school field trips. 7. This book doesn’t even have a wizard in it. 8. I hate […]
Accepting Things We Cannot Change
Acceptance is one the central concepts in recovery — after all, what would the first step be without it? Unfortunately, it doesn’t always come naturally. Having spent 20 years of my life in and out of various 12 step recovery programs, you’d think I’d have learned long ago to take things as they come. I […]
Digging Deep
Every alcoholic has their own personal rock bottom. Once you’ve hit it, it’s time to stop digging. We don’t all take that advice, of course — but then again, it isn’t rock bottom if you can keep digging, is it? Sometimes we find ourselves losing friends, but that isn’t enough to dissuade us. Family goes […]
An Unsolved Case
Most of these blogs, in case you can’t tell, usually start with some random inspiration, are hastily written, and only later edited to make some sense (hopefully). In this case, I was learning about the history of violent crime and how it was studied in the latter half of the 20th century. You know, a […]
A Dry New Deal
I came across a study recently in which the compiled data was illustrated as a world map — with different countries being one color or another based on the average percentage of a citizen’s income they spent on alcohol. In the United States, we’re at just about 1%, which doesn’t seem so bad if you’re […]
An Argument for Literal Interpretation
Confession, Prostration, and the Extreme You Makeover The initial steps in the suggested program of Alcoholics Anonymous exist to break down the facade you’ve created, whether out of pride or ignorance, that you’re in control of your drinking. This can be rectified by reducing or destroying the ego: we admit that we’re powerless over alcohol, […]
Under Pressure
I was an avid diver for years. Living in Florida, but not close enough to the beach for day trips, cave diving was the norm. It’s probably some of the most dangerous and technical diving that one can do recreationally, but because of that I made a point of planning, preparing, and triple-checking everything. It’s […]
Mother’s Day Forgiveness
With Mother’s Day here, I am fortunate enough to have some great mothers in my life to celebrate with. Being clean and sober for myself means that I can be an active participant in the lives of these great women. Firstly, my wife is the best example of a perfect mom that I’ve ever seen. […]
Alcoholism is Dark, and Full of Terrors
As one does, I often spend my Sunday nights watching Game of Thrones. If you’re not familiar with the series, I’ll try to summarize it in a sentence: it’s a medieval political drama set in a fantasy world that includes underappreciated giant wolves, dragons, magic, zombies, shape-shifting ninja assassins, pirates, nonsensical plot lines, often terrible […]