Opinion
Alcohol
Reflections on 13 years sober
by John Risby
Published: June 24, 2017 Last updated: August 28, 2023
You only get one life.
Two’s company, three’s a crowd. There’s no room in a relationship for excessive alcohol.
I tried to stop drinking — and failed — about four times. This time, so far so good.
It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere. And?
If I hadn’t stopped drinking, I’d possibly be six-feet under by now.
The Seven Deadly Sins are almost compulsory for alcoholics. Not always by choice. Now I can choose my sins.
One over the eight was normal. It may as well have been just called nine.
I used to think three score and ten would be a good — if optimistic — age to reach. Now I hope it’ll just be the start of another chapter in my life.
I’ve no idea if I stopped drinking earlier than I needed to, or in the eleventh hour. I honestly don’t care.
Recovering alcoholics are a dime a dozen. I’m not special. I’m just me — faults and all. But that’s cool.
Thirteen might be unlucky for some, but for me it’s the number of years I’ve been sober so far.
And I’ve never felt so lucky.
About The Author
John Risby
Co-Founder of The Alcohol-Free Shop and AlcoholFree.com. John is a recovering alcoholic who stopped drinking in June 2004. Born and raised in Manchester, he now lives in Malaga with his wife and young daughter. He came to terms with being an alcoholic many years ago, but still finds the concept his daughter is Spanish very strange.
