On the Wagon

I have been an enthusiastic imbiber of spirits and wine since I was a teenager, and I enjoy my brown liquor as much as the next man. It is, alas, time for me to quit drinking altogether due to a number of issues:

1. My doctor says that my cholesterol medicine is hard on the liver and that drinking, also a liver batterer, is not advisable.
2. My doctor says that alcohol interferes with my anti-anxiety medication.
3. My doctor says that my hiatal hernia, reflux esophagitis and irritable bowel syndrome are all exacerbated by alcohol use.
4. Alcoholic beverages have unwanted calories and, in the case of wine and good Scotch, are a might costly.
5. I am such a lightweight that even a single drink throws off my sleep patterns and leaves me tired and irritable.

All these are such compelling reasons to give up strong drink that failure to do so would smack of irrationality or possible alcoholism. I am pleased to announce that I stopped drinking on December 30 with no ill effect. I am already sleeping better and am starting to feel better and more energetic overall. I am even more pleased that I have not experienced symptoms of withdrawal or engaged in the kind of rationalization that I did when I quit tobacco, to which I was definitely addicted.

I was pretty sure that I was not an alcohol addict, but you never know. I would probably have flunked one of those "Are You an Alcoholic" quizzes since I drank almost every day and would even (gasp) drink alone. Moreover, I deny that I am an alcoholic, a sure sign of dependency. I don't take alcoholism lightly as I have had a number of friends and relatives who were raging alcoholics who messed up their lives and their immediate family members' lives pretty badly. I have a hard time comprehending what it is like to be addicted to alcohol so much that you give up your wife, your kids, your job, your house, everything, just so you can keep drinking.

With alcohol down, I can now move on to conquer my other bad habits and deadly sins with a view to attaining physical and spiritual perfection before the year is out.