APPLE OF HIS EYE –
July 8th, 2025 – Quitting booze six years ago was the making of me. I was 54 and it didn’t just save my life, it got me a new job: helping other people make the break too. But while I was busy being a supposed role model to others, behind the scenes all was not as well. As is often the case with former addicts, I’d simply swapped one craving for another kind.
Before January 2019, I was drinking a litre of vodka a night, my cholesterol levels were through the roof at over nine, and my blood pressure (184 over 126) was officially called a “hypertensive crisis”. I’m lucky I didn’t drop dead. (And yes, like everyone else, when the doctor asked “how much are you drinking?” I’d shrug “I like the odd drink.”)
Thankfully, after over 40 years of heavy drinking, I successfully gave booze the boot. But what no one really talks about is the fact that life doesn’t miraculously become perfect when you’re sober. The reason most of us end up abusing alcohol (or drugs) is to blot out some kind of pain. But even when you remove the toxin, its still there, lurking in the background.
