When one alcoholic/addict shares with another alcoholic/addict

[MajestyJo]

“How come you don’t drink anymore?” a renewed acquaintance from long ago asked the other day.

“Anymore than who?” I asked.

“I mean any longer. How come you don’t drink anything these days.?”

“Drink? I drink…coffee, milk, tea, soda pop, water, fruit juices…”

“I mean drink,” he said, “you know booze.”

“Oh, booze. No, I don’t drink booze anymore, you’re right” I said. “I couldn’t trust it anymore. It turned on me. Once my friend, it became my enemy.”

“Maybe you got a bad batch,” he said.

“No the sauce is the same, I changed. Because I have this illness of alcoholism, my tolerance weakened. Alcoholism doesn’t come in bottles, it comes in people.”

“Sounds pretty confusing,” the fellow said.

“You think you’re confused,” I said, “You should have seen me. I drank for happiness and became unhappy…I drank for joy and became miserable…I drank to became outgoing and became self centered…I drank for sociability and became argumentative and lonely.”

I drank for sophistication and became crude and obnoxious…I drank for friendship and made enemies...I drank to soften sorrow and wallowed in self pity…I drank for sleep and wakened without rest.”

I drank for strength and felt weak...I drank medicinally and got sick… I drank because I thought my job called for it and I lost my job… I drank for relaxation and got the shakes… I drank for confidence and became uncertain…I rank for courage and became afraid… I drank for assurance and became doubtful… I drank to stimulate thought and blacked out… I drank to make conversation and it tied my tongue. I drank for warmth and lost my cool. I drank for coolness and lost my warmth… I drank to feel heaven and came to know hell…I drank to forget and became haunted… I drank for freedom and became a slave… I drank for power and became powerless…. I drank to erase problems and saw them multiply… I drank to cope with life and invited death…or worse… I drank because I had the right and everything turned out wrong.”

“Gosh!” my friend exclaimed, “That must have taken a bunch of booze to get you in that shape.”

“Just one.” I told him. “the first one… For me one is too many and a thousand is not enough.”

“So that’s why you don’t drink anymore”

“Yep, I make it a rule, I DON’T DRINK WHILE I’M SOBER!”

Posted by BW on another site. Original author unknown.