I’m grateful for the thunderstorm I just got to watch and for the wispy clouds drifting by now. I’m grateful for a visit from my daughter. I’m grateful for doing something new last night. I’m grateful every time I get a glimpse of how far I’ve come. I’m grateful to be sober today.
Read this post on Substack:
Well, I went ahead and did it last night. I went to “Story Night” at the Churchill Tavern1 and was lucky enough to get my name pulled from the hat and got to read “Equine Therapy.” I think it went pretty well. I was definitely a little nervous and think there was room for improvement in the delivery, but I’m not going to nit-pick the details. It went pretty well, I got a lot of nice feedback and it felt really good. I will definitely do it again.
I did introduce myself exactly like I told you I would and it drew an audible gasp from the audience. I laughed, said I was telling them that because it was relevant to the story I was going to read, but then confided that every alcoholic’s secret nightmare is accidentally tacking on “and I’m an alcoholic,” when introducing themselves in non-AA settings. There was a long pause, but that got a pretty good laugh. I launched into the story and it seemed like people enjoyed it. So, now there’s even more incentive to write some more.
I know I read too much into these situations, but it also confirmed to me that there is still a lot of stigma around the word “alcoholic.” I drew gasps when I introduced myself and when I mentioned the podcast title—people just aren’t using to hearing it very much and that’s ok—now there’s even more incentive to say it some more.
But that’s not the focus—the focus should be that this is something I’ve always dreamed of doing and I’m getting to do it. Being an alcoholic is what gave me my voice and being able to do this is 100% a gift of sobriety. Like a good alcoholic, I conjured up extreme fantasies at either end of the success/failure spectrum on the subway ride downtown. None of those things happened—Oprah wasn’t there—I just got a chance to read something I wrote to an audience of people who seemed to like it.2 I was, of course, scouting for pennies yesterday, but as I was waiting on the platform for the subway home, I realized that I hadn’t really needed one.
Thanks for Letting Me Share
These folks are serious about the theme—including piped-in audio of Churchill giving speeches in the bathrooms. Maybe, too far.
The official business plan here at Sober HQ does involve getting in front of Oprah at some point.
That’s great! Glad to hear it went well.
The gifts of sobriety just keep coming