“Living life sober, there is no escape.”
Those words from rock legend Pete Townshend in an interview really struck a chord with me recently.
I think he was meaning an escape from your anxieties and demons. I really relate to that. I often drank to escape mine, for sure. Only to find them back louder and more persistent when it wore off.
Ultimately, the drinking led me down a far darker road – to the point where alcoholism almost took my life.
It’s nearly four years to the day where I was in an ambulance outside my mum’s house and paramedics fought to save me.
I often reflect on my life so far and challenges which I have faced, and indeed to continue to face.
Challenges which so many of us face on a daily basis.
I think it’s essential that we self-reflect and learn from our past in order to be able to improve our future.
The biggest one I have taken on: living life sober.
In the pursuit of this life of sobriety, I like to take i the opinions and advice of others. Often by speaking to them directly or through my own research.
They say: “A problem shared is a problem halved.” And I think we all take a little reassurance in knowing that we are not alone in our struggles.
Not that I would ever wish struggle on anyone. I would never wish any of my bad experiences on another person.
But I feel talking about my own – and listening to others’ – experiences really beneficial.
In fact, I feel that there was absolutely no point in me sinking to the depths of despair, absolute rock bottom, if I could not use my experience to help others and perhaps prevent even one person from doing the same.
So I encourage you to speak out if you’re struggling to stay sober.
But just as important, is to listen.
Listen to, and take onboard, others’ stories and experiences. There are often golden nuggets in there that you will come to swear by in future.
Those golden nuggets may well become part of your story, in turn which may prove invaluable to someone else’s story of recovery.
It led me to realise (after a long time I must admit) that we really must face our demons and confront them in this life.
Although this may sound daunting, it’ll give you the freedom to live your life with much more clarity and vigour. Which then, in time, becomes a life you don’t want to escape from or will ever have to.
As trying and testing these times are, you can come through them, and when you do, your whole life can become infinitely better.
Try your absolute utmost to fight for the life you deserve. And once you start that fight, in time, you will realise there is no limit to what you can do.
You owe it to yourself and others to be the absolute best you can be. It is a challenge we should take on with absolute relish. A challenge that once faced and won, will give you and your loved ones so much to be grateful for.
And who would ever want to escape that?
