u/NuclearCalm

This subject has been mentioned here in the past but after my recent experience I think it bears repeating. Hopefully some of you can benefit from this.

I've always been a heavy drinker ever since I was ~19 or so (36 now). My habits would ebb and flow from moderate social drinking to getting absolutely shitfaced alone in my apartment. Sometimes I'd take a year off. Sometimes two weeks. I never considered myself to be a full-blown alcoholic as it's actually fairly easy for me to resist the urge when I need to. But once I start hitting the bottle, it's hard for me to stop until I hit "the sweet spot" where I'm fairly inebriated but still sober enough to function the next day. For me this is around 4-5 drinks, a few times a week. Mostly it's all been out of boredom and less so due to self-medicating. Suffice it to say, I've had a complicated relationship with alcohol.

I've toyed with the idea of total sobriety forever, but that always felt like overkill. Because I know there have been expanses of time where I've been able to moderate and drink like a normal person. So I decided to try Naltrexone.

There are different methods for taking it. That's something you have to take up with your doc. But for me, I take it an hour before I'm going to drink. And let me tell you, this shit has almost instantaneously eradicated my desire to drink. It's extremely difficult to describe but it basically just makes drinks taste boring. You feel the general relaxation from the alcohol but none of the giddiness that encourages you to consume more. I had a beer with a buddy of mine a week ago and stopped at one. Haven't had any desire to have another since then.

It feels like such a god damn miracle that I'm wondering what the catch is. But so far it's pretty astounding and I feel like I've tumbled onto something life-changing for me. Obviously miles may vary and I've been lucky enough not to experience any of the side-effects (emotional flattening). But for anyone curious about cleaning up without the daunting task of total abstinence, it may be worth looking into. Good luck!

Currently going through some typical 🚬 drama so I decided to spend my weekend solo at my buddy’s cabin (unrelated).

Spent nearly 5 hours last night finishing Bolaños “The Savage Detectives” (fantastic, by the way). But I really want to grind to the finish so I could start Paul Bowles’ “The Sheltering Sky” today, which I’ve been excited to read.

Woke up, made a cup of coffee, and got set up outside. Gorgeous morning. And then I decided to read the author’s preface and the motherfucker spoils the novel within a couple paragraphs.

Same thing happened when I read “Lonesome Dove.”

What the hell is that?

My theory is that these once-great authors insist on inserting a new preface whenever a new edition is published. And in their ego, combined with their sundowning brains, they just assume that everyone has already read it. Perhaps their clout is just too great for their publishers to even suggest, you know, maybe it’s not a good idea to spoil the fucking novel before it starts.

Usually I skip intros and prefaces anyways because I’m lazy. I’ll take this as a sign that my laziness in general is from here on out validated.