Alcohol

The children’s rhyme makes it seem so simple: first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in a baby carriage. Of course this perfect image isn’t always a reality. The hope and expectation is a happy, healthy, bouncing little baby in your arms, but what happens when something, God forbid, goes wrong? Alcohol…

Have you ever made a mistake while binge drinking that you later regretted? Are you suffering from chronic liver disease due to a lifetime of alcohol consumption? Are you experiencing blackouts after combining alcohol with opioids or street drugs? If you are finding it hard to quit despite the consequences, you might be addicted to…

Six Weeks Until Christmas by Simon Tait Chapter 13: Brain New World I’m writing this on the last day of January, having “graduated” IOP. A couple of months ago, I watched Tom pass a similar milestone and was in awe of him. Three months, ninety days, a quarter of a year, all seemed impossible. Merely…

Six Weeks Until Christmas by Simon Tait Chapter 12: Christmas During the final IOP sessions before Christmas break, our counselor advised us the festive season was a particularly difficult time for alcoholics. Nobody in the room needed reminding. It’s impossible for anyone, let alone an alcoholic, to navigate the festivities without exposure to adverts portraying…

Six Weeks Until Christmas by Simon Tait Chapter 11: Living and Learning When I reached one month of sobriety I felt a sense of achievement akin to graduating from university. Since fifteen, I had never been sober for more than two weeks, so this was an accomplishment.    Picking up groceries from a local store,…

Six Weeks Until Christmas by Simon Tait Chapter 10: Relapse I continued my baby steps through IOP, reading, making new friends, getting back to work and, in general, applying myself. But relapse struck faster than it took me to build this my new reality. It seemed as if I had discovered a new property, surveyed…

Six Weeks Until Christmas by Simon Tait Chapter 9: Recovery Sandwiched in between the weekends in New Orleans and Las Vegas, I began intensive outpatient treatment (IOP), a new experience on my recovery road. An information brochure at the facility told me it uses twelve step and proven clinical treatment methods to help you make…

Six Weeks Until Christmas by Simon Tait Chapter 8: One night in Vegas My second, pre-detox booked trip arrived two weeks after New Orleans – a night of boxing in Las Vegas for the fourth fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez. I was out of the southern frying pan into the Nevada fire.…

Six Weeks Until Christmas by Simon Tait Chapter 7: Fade to Black By spring 2012, my California misadventure continued in the same way as described. At work, I still enjoyed my post but applied for a role in Texas better suited to my communications background. But on the drinking front, affairs literally darkened. My boozing…

Six Weeks Until Christmas by Simon Tait Chapter 6: People, Places and Things During Detox, a number of counselors advised the group to avoid familiar people, places and things as they may trigger relapse. At first, I struggled to grasp the concept. ‘People’ represented me and a handful of others as I lived thousands of…