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Everything Without Drinking
Learning to mark time in sobriety
It is not a question of missing the shenanigans, but of what’s going to come and take their place. The day starts with an observance of the bells and whistles of the straight and narrow: presence, awareness, renewed interest in ordinary and sometimes boring things, productivity, waking up without a hangover, the embarrassment of riches that comes with morning hours free and full of potential. Gamifying the very concept of discipline.
The fine print of this peace: It never ends (may it never end). It’s a region with 24 hours of daylight. In that light, we are still and always here, with the same bad habits, weaknesses, and patterns of behavior. We are still complex and overthinking, perhaps even more than we were. We take up practices that have been recommended for 80-some years (no, thousands): Simple connections with other people and ourselves and a higher order of things. Practices that break us down to our more animal selves.
I wonder what I would see if I were in these woods with the residue of wine or Tito’s still along for the ride. I would not notice the buck lifting his head in a crowd of trees the same color as his fur. Well, there is no the—he is out there somewhere, chasing the scent of the solitary doe we see the next day. But we never see him. Still, in this state, the mere…
