Alcohol and Reality

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Messages 1 - 17 of total 17 in this topic
D Murph

climber
Topic Author's Original Post - Nov 14, 2017 - 06:34pm PT
Nothing beats a phone call from a family member who's literally in the midst of making a terrible decision, especially when you know nothing you say can matter.

I don't know what to think about alcohol and drugs. For many years - let it roll! Twenty years later -- RHU/A5. Some things more than others of course.
zBrown

Ice climber
Nov 14, 2017 - 07:33pm PT


Alcohol is the worst.


Even though I consume it.



Ghost

climber
A long way from where I started
Nov 14, 2017 - 07:49pm PT
I started a thread on this subject a while back, and it soon sank into ST oblivion. Perhaps this is a good place to repost...
_ _ _ _ _ _

We are watching a friend destroy himself.

A brother. One of us.

In the recent discussion of our collective grief and whether climbing was worth the potential pain, I posted that yes, it was worth it, because for some of us, climbing was more a way to survive, than a way to die. That the alternative, the life without what climbing (or whitewater, or whatever) gave us, was far worse. What I said was

Some of us simply didn't fit in to the space we were allotted in the Betty Crocker world we were born into. Those of us who found a home in the climbing community were the lucky ones. Yes, some of us died in avalanches, rockfalls, rappelling accidents, whatever... But most of us survived, and when we look at our brothers and sisters who didn't find what we did, the ones who turned to alcohol, drugs, and crime... Well, the answer seems clear to me.

But for some, even the climbing is not enough, and our friend Tom is one.

We are in tears, and all I can think of right now is the Steppenwolf song
"Snow Blind Friend"

You say it was this morning when you last saw your good friend
Lyin' on the pavement with a misery on his brain
Stoned on some new potion he found upon the wall
Of some unholy bathroom in some ungodly hall

He only had a dollar to live on 'til next Monday
But he spent it on some comfort for his mind
Did you say you think he's blind?

Someone should call his parents, a sister or a brother
And they'll come to take him back home on a bus
But he'll always be a problem to his poor and puzzled mother
And he'll always be another one of us

He said he wanted Heaven but prayin' was too slow
So he bought a one way ticket on an airline made of snow
Did you say you saw your good friend flyin' low?
Flyin' low
Dyin' slow.

Yes, he's our brother, and your brother, and yes, he'll always be another one of us.
Dropline

Mountain climber
Somewhere Up There
Nov 14, 2017 - 11:00pm PT
Yeah, alcohol is sh#t and it’s f*#ked me up good.

But you see, I don’t have an alcohol problem that eye have to admit. Twas my father who was an alcoholic. Eye barely drink at all.

Yeah, alcohol is sh#t and it’s fucjedcme up for my entire life.
fear

Ice climber
hartford, ct
Nov 15, 2017 - 05:32am PT
The latest frenzied media garbage about the latest scary boogeyman, the OPIATES, drives me nuts.

Booze kills more people every day than the opiates could ever hope to.

Imagine if we could put even half the money we spend on the latest scare tactics and Wars on XXXX to actually trying to help treat addiction and it's many actual individual causes.
Bushman

climber
The state of quantum flux
Nov 15, 2017 - 05:47am PT
My son and daughter in-law have both destroyed their lives with alcoholism and opiate addiction and are permanently disabled at age 40 and 38 consecutively. My son suffered strokes and a heart attack, and daughter in-law had intestinal infection and was in a coma as a result of their maladies.

It has altered our entire family dynamic. Drug and alcohol addiction is a mental illness that can be multi faceted. There's no one right answer and sometimes none at all.

bushman
Spider Savage

Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
Nov 15, 2017 - 07:36am PT
Slippery slope to stand on.


America is awash in guns and alcohol. It is our destiny to deal with it.

Each individual must take it on and get it under control.
knucko

climber
Nov 15, 2017 - 07:50am PT
It was a junk-house in South Carolina
Held a boy the age of ten
Along with his brother Billy
And a mother and her boyfriend
Who was a triple loser with some blue tattoos
That were given to him when he was young
And a drunk temper that was easy to lose
And thank god he didn't own a gun

Carolina Drama - The Raconteurs
jeff constine

Trad climber
Ao Namao
Nov 15, 2017 - 08:29am PT
Alcohol SUCKS Period! Unless you are getting a shot from the Dr, for injection site cleaning.
mynameismud

climber
backseat
Nov 15, 2017 - 08:57am PT
A couple of family members drank themselves to death, a couple more on the way. Quit drinking June 5th. Outside looking in.
Off White

climber
Tenino, WA
Nov 15, 2017 - 09:15am PT
Quitting drinking is not necessarily a panacea either. Sometimes the physical damage done can't be reversed, the emotional carnage can't be overcome, and the behavior is not changed. I feel Ghost's situation deeply and personally, I bet any number of us here do too.
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
Nov 15, 2017 - 09:20am PT
OW, the damage has to be extreme for cessation not to have considerable benefits.
red'sea

Trad climber
lexington
Nov 15, 2017 - 09:22am PT
aye.

i fall nearly everyday for the glow it promises.
though at each day's end, i limp away
behind eyes awash in grey.

and those hopeful eyes around me, the ones
whom depend upon me, can no longer look my way.

because their hope has eroded.
and they are ashamed.
MH2

Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
Nov 15, 2017 - 10:40am PT
brother, sister, son, daughter, father or mother, but always another one of us

this is not a reason to be ashamed but a reason to do what you can
Nuglet

Trad climber
Orange Murica!
Nov 15, 2017 - 10:47am PT
Rastamon no drink firewater
MikeL

Social climber
Southern Arizona
Nov 16, 2017 - 06:16pm PT
I’m sure this will give me trouble.

Somehow we desire our problems. We are in love with them just as much as we want to be rid of them. Our problems are often emblems, and they can sustain us. We, the psyche, very often needs them.

Each affliction releases psyche—consciousness—in some form or another. That is, every pathology provides a way of seeing that provides insight. For example, depression is something that a person owns, something that a person has; but it’s not what a person IS. Depression is not a person’s identity.

If alcohol is a problem for a person, it’s psychologically useful to ask what the soul wants from alcohol without making or defining it as “a problem.” Or, . . . what does alcohol want from consciousness?

I just want to suggest that nothing anywhere needs to be wrong. We don’t need to be catholic.

(What the hell, . . . all desires are shameful.)
Ghost

climber
A long way from where I started
Nov 16, 2017 - 06:18pm PT
^^^^^

How many friends or family have you lost to alcohol?
Messages 1 - 17 of total 17 in this topic
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