Recovery Is Not A Permanent Condition
It’s just another disempowering label
Just over five years ago, my buddy Brian reached out to me. It was right after Thanksgiving, and he was in a rough place. Brian was a heavy drinker, and his drinking was causing big problems on the homefront.
After a holiday getaway to New York City and a series of bad decisions, his wife finally had enough.
On the morning after another one of his drunken stupors, she was ready to catch the first train back to Maryland and leave him in the Big Apple — possibly for good.
At the time, Brian and I were mostly acquaintances, but he knew I had a long history of drinking and sobriety, and he had no idea where to start.
He asked me about Alcoholics Anonymous (typically the first place people think of) because he knew little about the program other than the name.
I told him I had a lot of experience in AA, but I had left for many reasons, so I didn’t feel right advising him to go there.
Instead, I told him about a book that I had read recently that completely changed the way I looked at alcohol. He was all ears.
