Broken by William Cope Moyers

[retteacher]

I'm not quite through w/this memoir, but what a wonderful story. I expecially loved his journaling about his drinking thinking. He's actually more a coke addict, but the thinking (denial, arrogance etc.) & the relapsing (lieing, sneaking, etc.) all apply to me as an alcoholic.

The biggest things I learned:
-Regardless of how long we put it off, we have to feel our feelings eventually.
-The people & issues in my life aren't always going go my way. I have to learn to deal w/uncertainty & disappointment. NO MORE DRINKING TO NUMB OUT.

I can't recomment this enough. Mary

PS: There is a heavy emphasis on the 12 steps. I don't mind that. Moyers went through Hazelden.

[Tabby]

Broken by William Cope Moyers

It's been a while since I read the book, but I really recommend it.

Cope wondered why he had the addiction problem when his parents and younger siblings did not. I learned that you don't have to come from a family of alcoholics to have this problem. Before I would condemn myself for "not having an excuse" to over drink, because the problem is with one's thinking/belief system. Cope wanted to catch up and surpass his father's success by the time he turned 30, but he just couldn't do it. I understood that part of him where anything one does just isn't good enough. This book helped me to get off my own back.

And the letter his wife wrote to him had me in tears. The funny thing is I didn't see the letter from Cope's perspective but that of his wife. She wrote: "My heart is broken. I remember when my heart used to feel joy, and I don't know how I'll ever get back there again..." This is exactly the way I felt when my drinking escalated following a divorce many years ago.

I so identified with her although I also drank. Cope's response also got to me. I do not own the book, but I just had to copy bits and pieces because it so spoke to me.