Ten years ago I was drunk and doing drugs on the streets of Chicago. Today I am sober. I’m skydiving to commerate my journey to freedom from drugs and alcohol. I continue to live strongly with bipolar disorder, and I embrace the spirit of aloha, hanging on for dear life.
loha is an ancient spirit that lives and breathes within the Hawaiian Islands. It exudes passion, pulsates with energy, and erupts with joy. It is encircled in light and undaunted by darkness. Aloha is love. Aloha is life. Aloha is empathy. And it’s a mindset that helps with my bipolar disorder.
Up until my sobriety, I neglected my body and soul. I was an antisocial, inoperative sub-humanoid with stale-beer-odored dragon breath. My life was a cesspool, a puke-riddled pigsty and a hellhole of flotsam and jetsam. But all that, my dear readers, is in the past.
Jingled. Antifogmatic. Crapulous. Nippitaty. Clearly I went through the thesaurus looking for synonyms for “drunk.” Back in 2012, that’s not only how I was, it was who I was. Five years ago, I was stuck in a whirlwind of alcoholic madness. On my last night of drinking, I went to a Super Bowl party of…
On this — the fourth anniversary of my sobriety — I’m proud to say that my bipolar family has grown in ways I couldn’t possibly imagine. Your support for me — on my blog, on Facebook, and elsewhere — has been the motivation I’ve needed to keep going.
On Superbowl Sunday 2012, I sat down with my last six-pack of beer. I think I took it easy since I knew I was going to rehab the next day. I also admitted I was an alcoholic.
