Fairly recently I heard a man speak about his biggest fear as he contemplated becoming a recovering alcoholic. It wasn’t about whether he could get clean or not. It wasn’t about whether he would fit in at meetings or with those in the fellowship itself. No, as the title of this post suggests, he was most worried that his new life without alcohol and drugs would not be as fun as his life had been when he was drinking and drugging.

Let’s face it, a lot of what we were doing was fun, at least it was for me, until it wasn’t fun anymore. For a good while partying is fun. Isn’t it? It’s somewhat tough to “party” when you’re aren’t drinking and drugging though. Go to a club or rock concert and drink soda? How about at a baseball park? I’ll have a hot dog and a beer…oops, lemonade. No weed at the Jimmy Buffet concert? Wow, that sounds like heck of a good time. I want to be a sober parrot head! Unlikely, I think.

Well, as he and I have learned, being sober is fun. I tended to isolate when I was drinking and drugging anyway so the social aspect of AA is much more fun than sitting in my home office with the door locked and hoping that everyone would leave me alone. My friends in AA call or text me, I attend meetings and talk to people there. Sometimes, I even go to AA social events and, well, socialize.

Are there places I won’t go and people I won’t see any more because they would suck sober? Absolutely! The fact is that I can’t remember how many concerts I went to that I can’t remember. So why not go to a rock concert sober? Why not go to the ball game sane? It’s all about living life on life’s terms and not having to worry about where the next drink or drug is coming from. That’s the fun, in my opinion. Not the headaches I used to get, the bloody snot I blew out of my nose every day, nor the vast sums of money gone from my bank account.

Yeah, I’ll take the fun of a sober life over the only perceived fund of drugs and the drinks any time. To me, sober is where the fun is; being drunk and high just isn’t fun anymore, in fact it sucks.

Peace out,
M