I don\u2019t know about you but I have stumbled many times getting to where I am now.\u00a0 I began stumbling, literally, when I took my first drink at 13.\u00a0 Hiding behind the garage at an outdoor family gathering, I gulped down my whiskey and coke before any one could notice me.\u00a0 The rush I felt was quickly matched by the uneasiness I experienced as I headed back to the group.\u00a0 With darting vision, I hurried into the house so no one would guess what I had been up to.<\/p>\n
What I could have learned then was that alcohol had the capacity to \u201ctrip\u201d a person up in more ways than one.\u00a0 However, what I learned instead over the next few months was that with every drink I took, I felt a bit less fear.\u00a0 Around boys, particularly.\u00a0 Over time, the continued use of alcohol gave me the courage to \u201cstand apart,\u201d to move forward, even to eventually set many highfaluting goals, most of which seemed way beyond my reach, throughout the next 33 years, in fact.<\/p>\n
As an example, I\u2019m convinced that I would not have tackled graduate school\u00a0 following the demise of my 12 year marriage if I had not fueled up<\/i> on alcohol.\u00a0 Perhaps that seems a far-fetched idea but I\u2019d venture to guess that many alcoholics in the rooms of AA would concur.\u00a0 We could muffle the cries of the scared ego if we drank just one more whiskey on ice.\u00a0 I knew I wasn\u2019t a scholar, in my sober moments; but with a little alcohol in my system I was certain I could accomplish what the others around me were accomplishing.\u00a0 And one of the areas I was fearless about was writing.\u00a0 While I observed my fellow students avoiding like the plague the major papers that were required for every course, I eagerly leapt to the challenge.\u00a0 Unafraid.\u00a0 Undaunted.\u00a0 Undeterred.<\/p>\n
That I met the challenge successfully gave structure to the rest of my life.\u00a0 Learning, as I did, how pleasurable writing could be, set the stage for my passion to flourish.\u00a0\u00a0 Twenty seven books later and I\u2019m still committed to \u201cthe dream.\u201d\u00a0 The fortunate news is that I didn\u2019t have to keep drinking to accomplish it.\u00a0 In fact, had I continued to drink, I would have failed the \u201cfinal test.\u201d\u00a0 Writing the dissertation took a sober head.\u00a0 I feared I couldn\u2019t master that.\u00a0 But did.\u00a0 With the help of many others.<\/p>\n
I am not assuming that you, the reader, had a journey like mine, one that was both helped and then hindered by alcohol, but before I go further, let\u2019s pause.\u00a0 Think about your own journey from your teen years to now.\u00a0 Just close your eyes for a few minutes.\u00a0 Just as suggested in an earlier blog, pause, breathe and pause again.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I don\u2019t know about you but I have stumbled many times getting to where I am now.\u00a0 I began stumbling, literally, when I took my first drink at 13.\u00a0 Hiding behind the garage at an outdoor family gathering, I gulped down my whiskey and coke before any one could notice me.\u00a0 The rush I felt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-karens-musings","category-reflections-in-the-mirror-you-and-yourself"],"yoast_head":"\n