The Daily Struggle of High-Functioning Alcoholism
I’ve been sober for a while, but I think about drinking every day.
As I write this, I’ve been sober for 571 days. And I have thought about drinking for each one of those 571 days.
Unlike a lot of people who have problems with alcohol, I didn’t start drinking as a teenager. In fact, I don’t think I had my first drink until after I was 21. After those first few drinks, I didn’t drink again until I was in my mid-30s. I became friends with a college-age guy at my workplace who drank more than anyone I had personally known (and I had several alcoholics in my family) but who still managed to go to class and work every day and generally keep his life together. He’s now a lawyer and seems to be doing well.
My friend introduced me to what was my drink of choice for several years: Evan Williams whiskey. It doesn’t taste as good as Jack, but it gets the job done and is less than half the price. It probably wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that I loved the stuff. Although I did have an on-again, off-again affair with some cheap vodka.
Throughout my drinking years, I was moderately successful. It took me a while to climb the ladder of success at work, but I made it as far with the company I was working for at the time as I had any interest in…
