Passing down “Being Human”
I recently stopped drinking. I cut back in January and fell back in to the Bad Habits again by mid-February. I recognize these are, in fact, bad habits and nothing that brings me joy or helps me grow. For someone so introspective about the art of Being Human, in recent years, I’ve become unwilling to sit with what it feels like to Be Human most evenings.
As anyone who knows me would expect, since January I’ve read seven books about alcohol, alcohol addiction, quitting alcohol, motherhood and alcohol, and what alcohol does to women specifically. I have a truckload of facts I can rattle off and even many authors’ experiences I could relate to and share. This is all very fine and good, but facts and book quotes don’t take away the reality of physical addiction, unhealed emotional pain, and learned avoidance. That is where the work starts. Continue...