My turn........
I was born 50 years ago in a small town in the south east area of Queensland, Australia. I now live in it?s capital city, Brisbane.
I had an average upbringing. My father was very much an authoritarian figure, but both parents were loving and my brother and I enjoyed a happy and healthy life. Our household was not religious, nor did my parents drink very much and our father encouraged my brother and I to read and absorb as much as we could. I remember many happy nights spent around the table discussing astronomy, physics or ?what?s it all about?.
By my early teens I was already experimenting with hallucinogenic mushrooms, LSD, dope and alcohol. It seemed that I was drawn to these things and in retrospect it was as though I was, at that stage, trying all these things in order to make a final choice of what would be my preferred ?drug for life?. I went to university, got a degree and then moved to Melbourne and began a career in the music industry working in publicity and promotions. It was a career that I would be in for the next 17 years and in the early days I just loved it. I drank at the many functions and concerts I attended and all of them to blackout. I drank at parties and pub gigs and all of them to blackout. I drank with friends, I drank with strangers. I worked in Melbourne, London and San Francisco with various record companies and recording studios and drank to blackout. During this time, I married an American musician and lived in the USA for four years. He had a very bad drink and drug problem and we compounded each other?s problems. I have no recollection how many times the paramedics picked me up on the streets of San Francisco or New York passed out from drinking.
After four years I returned to Melbourne. In my mid-30?s I knew things were getting seriously worse. People were noticing ? I nearly lost a job. I'd been thrown out of hotels and I even spent one night in jail after being picked up by police. I'd been wandering in a blackout on the streets of St.Kilda and they had no idea who I was. I had finally realized that I was out of control with my drinking and I simply couldn?t stop. I parted from my husband, moved to Brisbane and got a new role, still in the music industry.
It was then I first went to AA. I tried this on and off for years without much success. I was never a spiritual person and the cliques and ?higher power? ideals always seemed to me to be archaic and out of touch. I hated the "sharing" part and I'd always spend most of the meeting rehearsing my speech.The longest sober period I could achieve was about a month, much to the displeasure of my AA colleagues. I was desperate so I left the music industry and moved into a more conservative type of employment. My drinking continued, however now it was in private. I had always been a binge-drinker and I evolved to never drinking in public with my friends. I became a solitary drinker and, as I lived alone, this suited me perfectly. After a while, however, I became bored and went traveling again. Without the constraints of my home environment I did stupid and dangerous things ? got drunk in a Paris street caf?, on the beach in Cannes, in a Vancouver bar, in Victoria Station in London ? all on my own. Somehow I survived. When I returned to Australia I tried AA, once again to little or no use. I got a job with a large corporation and continued my lonely and miserable path ? drinking (hopefully only on weekends, but sometimes I took sick days) and working in a job in which I was moderately satisfied.
Seven years ago, I met my soul mate, my current husband who is a drinker but doesn?t have a problem with it. He saw my binge drinking and while he knew of my utter misery, had no idea of what he could do to help me. Life went on. In every other aspect I was happy. I had a wonderful husband, a nice house, four loving cats, but I hated myself and the person alcohol forced me to be.
In June of this year I had neck surgery and took two months sick leave from my job. I later decided to work full time for the web design company my husband owns. Hence the ease of working from a home office with the beer fridge just a whisker away. Then one day after a particularly bad binge session, I came upon RJ and her book and the rest is history as they say??????? ???
I was born 50 years ago in a small town in the south east area of Queensland, Australia. I now live in it?s capital city, Brisbane.
I had an average upbringing. My father was very much an authoritarian figure, but both parents were loving and my brother and I enjoyed a happy and healthy life. Our household was not religious, nor did my parents drink very much and our father encouraged my brother and I to read and absorb as much as we could. I remember many happy nights spent around the table discussing astronomy, physics or ?what?s it all about?.
By my early teens I was already experimenting with hallucinogenic mushrooms, LSD, dope and alcohol. It seemed that I was drawn to these things and in retrospect it was as though I was, at that stage, trying all these things in order to make a final choice of what would be my preferred ?drug for life?. I went to university, got a degree and then moved to Melbourne and began a career in the music industry working in publicity and promotions. It was a career that I would be in for the next 17 years and in the early days I just loved it. I drank at the many functions and concerts I attended and all of them to blackout. I drank at parties and pub gigs and all of them to blackout. I drank with friends, I drank with strangers. I worked in Melbourne, London and San Francisco with various record companies and recording studios and drank to blackout. During this time, I married an American musician and lived in the USA for four years. He had a very bad drink and drug problem and we compounded each other?s problems. I have no recollection how many times the paramedics picked me up on the streets of San Francisco or New York passed out from drinking.
After four years I returned to Melbourne. In my mid-30?s I knew things were getting seriously worse. People were noticing ? I nearly lost a job. I'd been thrown out of hotels and I even spent one night in jail after being picked up by police. I'd been wandering in a blackout on the streets of St.Kilda and they had no idea who I was. I had finally realized that I was out of control with my drinking and I simply couldn?t stop. I parted from my husband, moved to Brisbane and got a new role, still in the music industry.
It was then I first went to AA. I tried this on and off for years without much success. I was never a spiritual person and the cliques and ?higher power? ideals always seemed to me to be archaic and out of touch. I hated the "sharing" part and I'd always spend most of the meeting rehearsing my speech.The longest sober period I could achieve was about a month, much to the displeasure of my AA colleagues. I was desperate so I left the music industry and moved into a more conservative type of employment. My drinking continued, however now it was in private. I had always been a binge-drinker and I evolved to never drinking in public with my friends. I became a solitary drinker and, as I lived alone, this suited me perfectly. After a while, however, I became bored and went traveling again. Without the constraints of my home environment I did stupid and dangerous things ? got drunk in a Paris street caf?, on the beach in Cannes, in a Vancouver bar, in Victoria Station in London ? all on my own. Somehow I survived. When I returned to Australia I tried AA, once again to little or no use. I got a job with a large corporation and continued my lonely and miserable path ? drinking (hopefully only on weekends, but sometimes I took sick days) and working in a job in which I was moderately satisfied.
Seven years ago, I met my soul mate, my current husband who is a drinker but doesn?t have a problem with it. He saw my binge drinking and while he knew of my utter misery, had no idea of what he could do to help me. Life went on. In every other aspect I was happy. I had a wonderful husband, a nice house, four loving cats, but I hated myself and the person alcohol forced me to be.
In June of this year I had neck surgery and took two months sick leave from my job. I later decided to work full time for the web design company my husband owns. Hence the ease of working from a home office with the beer fridge just a whisker away. Then one day after a particularly bad binge session, I came upon RJ and her book and the rest is history as they say??????? ???
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