“It’s the Holidays, How About Just One?”
Proof-
There’s something in the alone-in-the-crowd-ness of the holiday party circuit, the forced pleasantries and laughter, the charge to be friendly and engaging- but only in a superficial way- that is very much like the existential condition of the alcoholic psyche. So the holidays not only remind me of drink; they remind me of how it felt to be a drunk.
In fact, I have frequently been overheard to explain to the sort of person who still finds it good sport to ask me how I came to be addicted to alcohol and what it’s like now to be stone cold sober: “You know how you feel at Christmas at the umpteenth family gathering or company cocktail party. You really need that drink, right? That’s the way I used to feel all the time.”
And as with one’s first adolescent love, a certain euphoric recall about the drinking life remains lodged in the psyche of any drunk no matter how many years he has remained sober. Even after 16 years, especially at holiday time, a tiny voice still occasionally visits, asking, “Why can’t you just have one?”
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Jim Atkinson
Were I to have a glass of wine today, I’m confident I could limit it to one, though I’d want more.
Suppose I defined the interval of time to the next glass to one year; I’m sure I could make it. Having gone a year, I’d justify to shortening the next interval to six months; I’d make it. Then it’d be three months, two months and in not time, two minutes.
No thanks.
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William Veale
