Drunkalogues

I don’t know why I love drunkalogues so much. Maybe it’s because they remind me just how crazy I was out there – but more importantly, it often shows me just how crazy it can get!

I remember being told not to compare, but it’s hard not to compare. I think the reason they warn this is because some people might say, “Hey, I wasn’t as bad as that guy.” And then they might think they have a few good years of drinking still left in them.

But really – do you want to be as bad as THAT guy before you get sober? I don’t think so. I got into AA really young – at least back in those days, the mid-1980s, there really weren’t a ton of people in their early 20s.  It sure was easy to hear a story that was a lot worse than mine, but it always served as a warning, a cautionary tale, that reminded me it just gets worse if you keep drinking. Nowadays there are a lot more young people coming into AA in their late teens and early 20s. That’s a good thing. Some of them have hair-raising stories, and some managed to figure out they were going nowhere good, and going there fast, and got sober before they wreaked more havoc.

Sometimes drunkalogues are just darn good stories. I remember a guy who had hair-raising tales of jail time and crimes under the influence – it was like watching a mini-novella on TV.  I think what is really exciting about a story like that is the fact this guy was now sober. The odds were stacked against him – felony convictions in our society don’t make life very easy. But this guy kept coming back and he stayed sober for a long time. It just goes to show the power of the recovery community.