Actually, in a weird way, not drinking has really strengthened some of my friendships. I was so terrified that giving up my shitcanned Fridays (and Saturdays, Sundays...) would make my friends run for the exits- but they haven’t. In fact, they’ve gotten really into planning dates that have nothing to do with booze-…

yeah it’s hard around then!! i feel like life really kicks into gear and the “holy fuck am i never going to ever drink again???” shit creeps into your mind. HANG IN THERE. nothing will be better if you drink

Congrats to you!

I will say this on every one of these posts but, Sarah, your book is the best book about addiction I’ve ever read. I cried while I devoured it in like 2 days because I related so much. Thank you so much for writing it.

I’ve been sober for 11 months now and I was very scared that people would think I’m strange for not drinking. But honestly, most people really don’t care and the few that are seem more self conscious about their own drinking than my abstinence.

I’m just so fuckin’ glad this column began when it did. I quit drinking 3 weeks ago. It’s really hard and it sucks and I feel pretty much exactly all the ways you’ve described. So, thank you.

I know everyone has already said it (including myself on a previous post) but this series is some of the best stuff I’ve read on Jez in a long time - probably because it really hits close to home for me. I’m not sure where I sit with my relationship to alcohol but I know it needs to change... and it’s seriously…

I loved drinking so much. Everything about it. Except the part where it made my life suck so bad. I always think about how in Sweden, the big day to catch drunk drivers is on Monday morning (still alcohol in system from Saturday night!). When I was in my 20s, I was drinking like 4 nights a week. Or more???? So many,…

My favorite Jesus.

Watched the video and thought to myself how strange it is that you could tell someone is a blithering idiot just by the back of their head.

Yep. I recently reconnected with a friend from high school, we had lost touch over the past 8 or so years and I reached out to her recently. Since I last saw her she has struggled with addiction and is in AA. She is a few months sober. She told me that she cannot hang out with most of the people she used to know,…

Yes, the isolationist tendencies we alcoholics have can be terrible for our addiction.

White woman here, and Cory Booker is always my first thought. Definitely NOT interested in seeing an all-white ticket, even if they were both women.

What a poetic fucking response. So beautiful and so useful even beyond alcohol and other substance abuse. Thank you for sharing and doing this series.

She has to pick a Mexican-American. It would be crazy not to. She can’t just count on Trump to turn them out for her.

Oh yes. I take medicine that doesn’t mix well with alcohol and I just don’t really like it. Lots of people seem to think it’s a judgement about them. Which it’s not. I serve alcohol at my house, just like I buy my mom that ice tea she likes and I don’t.

I’ve never really understood why anything counts as fun if, afterward, you can’t really remember it. If you can’t remember it, how do you know it was fun?

Thank you for this post. It’s helping me to imagine what it would be like. I can’t drink at all, so I’ve never really had a chance to figure out why other people…

Honestly, I think this is a function of age, maybe? I’m not sure how old you are, but I’m sure it’s much more common in your 20s. I am in my 40s, and my partner does not drink (he’s 45). At this point in our lives, no one thinks twice about it. Perhaps it’s because almost everyone knows someone who doesn’t drink for…

I gave up alcohol for Lent this year and was surprised to find how many of my friends I didn’t actually like very much.

This is a great opportunity to learn about being a good friend and family to someone working on sobriety. Don’t be a dick and tempt them with bars, getting drunk, and then fault them for drinking. I see this too often with my own family, “If s/he really wants to be sober, s/he won’t drink.” You literally just ordered…