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What I Learned From Reading My Old Journals

I’m so glad I kept them

Lisa Alexander
Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age
5 min readNov 13, 2024

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Photo credit: Julia Joppien on Unsplash

I should have quit drinking 30 years ago

A typical entry from any one of my journals:

“Had a drink last night and felt sick and made a fool of myself. I need to stop.”

Too bad it took me until this year — 2024 — to finally quit for good.

I wasn’t an alcoholic. My body just does not process alcohol and never has been able to. I would feel great for about 20 minutes after a drink. Then I would get a headache, get super tired, lie down, and my heart would race.

It’s been that way all my life.

Why it took me until I was 60 years old to stop for good, I just don’t know, but better late than never.

I look back on my kids’ childhood with rose-colored glasses

Of all the activities that I do now, the times I get to see my grown children are when I am the happiest. I think about the “good old days” when they were home, and how much fun we had, but in reality, it was stressful as hell.

I have dozens of journal entries where I say:

“Taking the boys to my mom’s today so I can be alone and read.”

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Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age
Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age

Published in Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age

“The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes.” (Frank Lloyd Wright) Non-fiction pieces, personal essays and occasional poems that explore how we feel about how we age and offer tips for getting the most out of life.

Lisa Alexander
Lisa Alexander

Written by Lisa Alexander

Former English professor, full-time yoga teacher, failed Greek Orthodox. Searching for wisdom, clarity, and a fresh bag of circus peanuts.

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