

The trouble with drinking, the trouble with me - cj
http://www.paulcarr.com/drink/

======
megaduck
This reminds me of a (probably apocryphal) story I once heard about Charles De
Gaulle. Supposedly, once he made up his mind to quit smoking, he rounded up
all of his staff for a meeting.

He then pronounced, "From this moment onwards, none of you will ever see me
smoke a single cigarette." True to his word, he quit entirely and permanently.
He was incredibly proud, and the fear of being caught was a massive and
effective deterrent to cheating.

It seems like Mr. Carr is trying to take the same tack. I wish him the best of
luck with it, alcoholism can be quite pernicious and difficult to kick.

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jsz0
Probably the most important thing about quitting alcohol, or at least cutting
back, is to determine which members of your social group are intentionally or
unintentionally fueling the addiction. I've noticed a disturbing trend with
alcoholics where they seem to adopt more serious alcoholics into their social
group as a tool to justify their own comparatively tame alcoholism. _I like to
have a few drinks but man, Johnny... that guy is a REAL alcoholic. Let's buy
him some drinks and watch him fall down!_ Anyone who gets uncomfortable or
defensive over another person quitting any addiction is a dangerous influence.
If they can't accept you as a non-drinker then you need to be willing to cut
them loose.

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indiejade
_And what sells the most books and makes people read blog posts – losing
loves, getting arrested, being fired, inching towards cirrhosis of the liver –
is not actually that much fun when it’s you doing it._

Yep. Drama follows people like us everywhere. Takes guts to put it out there,
being sober today (I am, too). Congrats. A lot of writers tend to burn hard
and crash, and I don't want to end up there, either.

To quote a friend of mine: "It's kind of a bumpy, unrewarding ride anyway. I
don't recommend. One star on Yelp for health benefits."

~~~
natrius
Just wait until sobriety pays Yelp to move a positive review to the top.

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benatkin
I think he's right about announcing his decision being a good tool to help him
quit. Of course, if he fails, it will backfire. Also, I don't want to raise
awareness and encourage people to try using that tool, except to those who can
directly benefit from it. If publicly announcing your decision to quit was
widely viewed as an acceptable course of action, failing to follow through
would be viewed as an acceptable course of action as well.

------
sjs
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but
they've always worked for me."

Hunter S. Thompson

~~~
michael_dorfman
They didn't work so well for him when he put that final gun in his mouth.

Look, I'm a big HST fan, and the drugs, alcohol, violence and insanity sure
led to some great times for his readers. For his family, and in the end for
himself--not so much.

~~~
ssanders82
Thompson didn't commit suicide in some Kurt Cobain "woe is me" manner. He shot
himself at age 67 after battling painful and chronic medical conditions, when
he decided he had lived a full life and wanted to go.

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jessriedel
Why is this on HN?

~~~
bootload
_"... Why is this on HN? ..."_

Good question.

Think of it as a kind of message from the future from the non-nerds ~
<http://paulgraham.com/nerds.html> A message from all the cool kids at school
who smoked, drank and who now hit a certain age realise it wasn't such a smart
idea after all, but didn't want to stand out amongst their peers. The kids
that are dead or in wheel chairs probably already know this.

That's the message smokers and drinkers of my youth seem to tell me.

~~~
bad_user
Bummer ... I'm a nerd that smokes ... guess I'll die soon without being cool.

~~~
bootload
_"... I'm a nerd that smokes ... guess I'll die soon without being cool. ..."_

The good thing, the faster you give up, the more chance you have to recover.

