Letting your hair down on vacation can be a dangerous time for you. — I quit drinking two times. That's two failed times. I succumbed to the drink at a wedding in both relapses. These weddings were also a vacation. My husband and I went to New Jersey from Arizona to be with family for a week. Bill's beautiful nieces were the brides. They…

Does being alcohol-free get easier? Is it supposed to? — How’s sobriety going for you? Are you glad you quit? Or do you regret giving up the drink? I picked up Austin Kleon’s book Keep Going — 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad which several Medium writers recommended. I bought it hoping it would help me…

The moment arrives when you no longer wonder if quitting would be a good idea. You know. — I love my alcohol-free life. I also loved my drinking days. I wasn’t always worried about my imbibing. That was unfortunate. Had I paid more attention to my drinking escapades, perhaps I would have found sobriety years sooner? Be that as it may, I didn’t, and I am sober now…

Enough with the stories. Isn’t it time to get on with truly living? — Are you still drinking? I know you planned on quitting this week. But there’s that BBQ tomorrow, so you’ll start Sunday, right? I’ve been there. If I had a buck for every day I “planned” on giving up the drink and postponed it for some half-assed reason, I’d have a…

Though, conversely — what you’re doing forms who you become. — Newfound sobriety is the ideal time for us to become more. To be the person we were meant to be — the time to trade in the old model for a bright, new shiny one. Own your sobriety. Be proud. It may have been rough going for you. Some of…

What came first, the depression (chicken) or the alcohol (egg). — Do you drink? Are you depressed? Throughout my many years of drinking, I rarely was depressed. Sure, I had moments of sadness. There were periods of my life when gloom descended upon me daily for an hour or so. I had a difficult childhood, and that had a severe impact…

Sometimes I wonder if I'm qualified to write about drinking. — What do I know about addiction? What gives me the right to talk about overdrinking? Is it because I drank for over 50 years? That's not a typo. I began drinking in my mid-teens and quit after I retired. I'm almost four years sober. Yes, I am qualified to write…

It’s not always understandable why and if that happens. — I had what I considered a difficult childhood. I know others had a more troubling time; however, each of us has the individual experiences that shaped us. My father was tough on my sister and me. He believed in using the belt as a disciplinary measure. He also rarely showed…

Does it make you think perhaps you’re not as bad after all? — I’m reading a novel, Bright Burning Things, and the protagonist is an alcoholic woman with a four-year-old boy. How could she drink three bottles of wine when she is solely responsible for little Tommy? And, Tommy was hungry and needed a bath. What kind of a mother is she? My…