I was in my first 72 hours of sobriety when Paul threw out the stat that only 5 percent of those who want to get sober will make it to 90 days.  Of those 5 percent, only 5 percent will make it to 2 years without drinking alcohol.  Let’s see…  Okay, for every 1000 people who desire to get sober, 2.5 of them will be sober in two years.  I’m not shaking anymore, but the acute effects of withdrawal have not left.  My mind is in a fog, my skin has pinpricks running throughout, and I have not strung together more than a few hours of sleep in three days.  By the time I hear this depressing stat, I realize that the easy fix to my discomfort would be to have a few drinks… and apparently, 1,997.5 people wouldn’t blame me.  I’m not getting to sleep anytime soon.  Maybe I’ll just keep listening.

I think we all know that hyper-vigilant friend who attaches themselves to a cause.  There is the one who can string together why shopping at Wal-Mart is akin to feeding “The Corporate Antichrist”.  They are loaded with information about the 6 Wal-Mart heirs making more money than the lowest 42 percent of the population combined.  They’ll make a great case for corporation not paying living wages or providing decent healthcare and in turn, how our taxes subsidize government benefits, the services that could be provided by billionaires.  If that didn’t get you, they’ll pepper you with the working conditions of the children in Polynesia so that you know the true cost of your three dollar Duck Dynasty tank top.  They are not wrong.  They have done their homework. In fact, you are persuaded to the point that you feel ashamed, stop shopping at Wal-Mart for a few days, and maybe even clumsily repeat the stats to a non-intellectual so as to stroke your newfound sense of self-righteousness.  Problem is, within days those facts went fleeting.  While appalled, you were not as committed as your friend.  Your habits did not include the same degree of rigorous study, and in a moment of consumer relapse, you’re pulling once again to the parking lot ready to make an offering to the “Temple of Social Injustice”.  You deny your first impulse to think it through.  You certainly do not want to call your friend so he can feed you additional information.  Let’s not ruin the day by feeling bad about making the easy choice.  Besides, the sun is out and your guns are gonna look sweet in that tank top.

Yes, I am taking a dig at Wal-Mart.  Pick any cause though… If we put the effort into learning about factory farming and the mistreatment of animals that are our food source, we would cringe and give pause to the effects of our consumption.  Find out a few more facts about the mortality rates of the workers who assemble our smartphones and we are confronted with moral choices.  The truth is, when it comes to these issues, we shop, consume, use, and abuse as a means to survive.  We use the littlest amount of thought to procure the food, clothing, and technology to communicate.  It is the basis for survival and we let the lizard portion of the brain do the thinking.  Ease and value compete against taking a more difficult, long term approach that benefits everybody.

Now let’s be honest. How many of those inspirational, uncompromised, hyper-vigilant, cause oriented, intellectually sound, unwavering social renegades do we know?  Not that many.  Most of us slowly go the way of the buffalo which makes the impassioned moral minority pretty easy to spot.  That minority friend, whatever their cause, is the rare bird that continually absorbs information, which in turn, informs their actions.

I was pretty discourage with that statistic that Paul relayed over my headset that night.  I had no false sense that I was going to be in that minority of the first 5 percent, let alone in the second 5%.  If I was involved in this human experiment called sobriety, there was no indicator from the last 10 years of alcohol abuse that I would succeed.  I was all impulse and little intellect when it came to using alcohol.

I am close to 40 days sober.  I have just gotten current with Recovery Elevator podcasts at episode 99.  I started at Episode 00 and listened throughout the 40 days straight through.  I am so thankful for the wealth of information and experiences that have been shared on the podcast.  There is such a diverse amount of helpful experience in sobriety on the show.  As I reflect on what might be the common source of success in everyone’s personal recovery program, it’s that the sober alcoholic is continually feeding the executive center of their brain.  The AA attendant gets information and advice from a group share or a big book.  The self-employed travels in a car with a podcast in the background. A mom finds a group to confide in and have a source reminder of a difficult past.  Someone struggles with temptation, they get immediate advice from a Facebook Forum.  In quiet times the recovering alcoholic finds books, websites and blogs.  Information.

I do not have a rigid program for sobriety.  My goals are to be 100% honest with my wife and accept her help, insight, and accountability.  Second, it is to reprogram my doublemindedness with helpful and encouraging information daily.  If the lizard portion of my brain is the quickest to respond and tell me that I need a drink to survive, I want the part of my brain that controls reason, behavior, and executive decision making to be full and ready to Giving Up Alcohol.  I think it takes community and positive information.

At my core, I know who I am.  I shop at Wal-Mart. I eat fast food. I own an IPhone.  I am an alcoholic.

Ultimately, I want to be that annoying, hyper-vigilant friend when it comes to my alcoholism, but I now understand why so few will make it.  The same impulse to eat, commune, and provide shelter the easiest way possible is the same impulse that beckons me to take that first drink.  The difference today is, I understand that drinking is not a means for survival.  It wants to destroy my future.

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