I almost forgot about it, but thanks to Jasmine’s very introspective blog regarding the long term lure of returning to “normal” drinking I went back and tracked down this most excellent story at the TimesOnline about how society treats non-drinkers.
Often in recovery groups I’ve heard those that drink and drug without extensive life issues as normal, but this has always bothered me because obviously that makes me abnormal by default… and that is how I am often treated by a society that has an unhealthy fascination with alcohol. I don’t mind being treated differently because I don’t drink, in fact I often use the attention to advocate for my cause…which often has those that were almost forcing a drink into my hand to be suspiciously absent for the rest of the evening.
In recovery I have evolved, and developed the ability to handle stress as well as relax and unwind without the use of chemical substances. So, no more will I refer to drinking as “normal”, but instead I’ll refer to my content abstinence as being an evolved and highly sought after trait.
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Thanks in large part to this site I quit alcohol in early February, as you know. I have since made other HUGE changes in my lifestyle (including an amazing raw diet that I would never have been able to pull off had I not first spent two months detoxing from the booze). And so along with not drinking I am also now seen as “weird”, even “crazy” because of what I am not eating. Like everyone else I enjoy being socially accepted, and yet at the same time this desire is what led me to booze in the first place. The journey of recovery is a long and exciting one: I am learning, slowly, to sit in silent non-judgemental harmony as others rack up reasons of why I’m so weird…And yet, as you said, I feel more “evolved” than abnormal, and I trust that those who are likewise evolved will recognize this. And those who don’t? The saying “when you point your finger at someone, your other three point back at you” (true, try it) comes to mind.
Thanks again to everyone who helped me evolve: my goal isn’t to be normal or accepted, but happy and healthy in the midst of an abnormal world.