After one of the first recovery meetings I attended, a woman said to me, “You never have to drink again.”

I thought, is that supposed to be comforting? Because it makes me want to die.

I didn’t want to not drink again. I wanted to drink normally, passably. I wanted to go back in time and un-screw-up all the things I screwed up. I wanted to erase the series of bad nights that other people knew about and re-claim my position as fun friend, cool co-worker, up for anything pal, silly sister, good time daughter, mom like all the other moms who can have playdates and wine, girl who can go out for happy hour.

Unfortunately or fortunately the circumstances of how things unfolded for me in the end were public enough that people in my life whose opinions mattered (family, my ex) were invested in my sobriety. And to say they were invested is to say they were at the “enough, or else” place. Specifically, “enough, or you’re not going to have your daughter anymore” which was really the only consequence I cared about.

I was pissed. Pissed. Angry at myself for the instances that got me caught and pegged into that place. Angry that I was now set aside into the group of “people with a problem” when pretty much everyone else in my life behaved in ways that arguably edged close to that place, but didn’t quite cross over, that the distinction actually does matter, and my opinions about it all meant exactly nothing.

I wanted another option. The two I was faced with were both equally undesirable, impossible: to keep going as I had, or to get sober.

I wanted a third door.

There had to be a third door.

I was going to find the third door.

I tried to un-know the fact that there wasn’t one in many ways. I kept close tally of who knew I was and wasn’t drinking and made sure I had a few reserves to hang with. I didn’t let anyone in AA or other sober circles get too close to me. I kept quiet about my going-ons, compartmentalized.

I told partial truths to everyone and the whole truth to no one. There was nobody watching me at home now that I was separated, so…nobody was watching me at home. I used the excuse that my first sponsor went out, that my dad—after ten years of sobriety—decided to start drinking again and seems to be just fine. I searched for that third door with the desperation and denial of someone in the deep grief of having lost a loved one unexpectedly.

Surely there must be another way. Surely they can’t be gone. Surely I will wake up and this will all be different. Surely this is not my life.

But it was. It was my life and this was my thing and I could not undo it or fix it or make it not so.

I had a similar experience when I found out I was pregnant. I realize how shocking that is to hear and it’s a bit painful to admit even today, but it’s the honest truth: I didn’t want to be pregnant when I got pregnant. God had a much better plan then, too.

Someone close to me said early on, “So what! So you can’t drink! It’s just alcohol, Laura. Do you know how many people don’t drink?”

First of all, no. No, I don’t know how many people don’t drink, and the last time I checked, we don’t hang out with any of them. I believe we’ve even said jokingly, “I don’t trust people who don’t drink.” Ha ha. Wink wink.

More importantly, this person—who I love and who had nothing but the best intentions—enjoys their own drinks, hasn’t gone many days without a few in as long as I can remember, and that hasn’t changed just because of my problem. This same person, who doesn’t have a problem per-se, who can say to me, “so what!” also ain’t givin’ up their own “just alcohol.”

What a mindf*ck. How unfair. And how little it matters.

It turns out, that person’s relationship with alcohol (and everyone else’s) is actually none of my business.

But yet, this is something anyone who is faced with sobriety has to come to terms with: something like 80 percent of the population drinks. Some people don’t give a shit about drinking, but most people do, even if a little. When you don’t drink, most people wonder why. Are you pregnant? Religious? Medical condition? Oh, you have a problem. And then it gets weird. This matters much less to me now but it mattered a hell of a lot to me for a long time.

Navigating all this sucks horribly. More than anyone who hasn’t faced it can imagine.

It’s easy enough to say, “no big deal!” but for someone who has fallen into the problem area, it’s a big, big, big deal. The biggest deal. Telling someone who cares about drinking the way I did that it isn’t a big deal is like telling someone with asthma that breathing through a straw is no big deal. Except asthma doesn’t have the added bonus points of stigma and shame. People who have asthma aren’t embarrassed about needing more air. They’ve probably never lied about it, either.

I write this today from a place of not looking for that third door and with a zillion pounds of compassion and empathy for the version of me that searched for it so hard.

I write this today having accepted there was no third door breath by breath, messily, and over time.

I write this today knowing I couldn’t have arrived here one moment sooner, and that I’ve only arrived for today.

I write this today to tell anyone that has heard “You never have to drink again” and felt like taking a machete to that person’s ears, I know and me too.

I write this today for anyone thinking no third door is some kind of cruel punishment, a consequence of being broken.

I write this today to say the prizes behind door two, the one where you step into the mystery of a whole different life—the one you don’t want and wouldn’t have chosen, not in a million years—are far more fabulous and dazzling than anything you could conjure up behind door number one. Fabulous not in the way Beyonce is on the outside, but like the Buddha was on the inside. Dazzling in the way the sunlight dances on water: magically, simply, gently and all over.

Door number one, the door I’d given anything to stick with, that door sucked. That door was total destruction. That door was a half-life and broken dreams and unrealized potential and a lot of selfishness and fear. But it sure looked pretty; it looked like everything. Door number one was the great palace lie: you come in here, it’ll all be alright. Door number one lied to me.

I was so angry there was no third door.

I am so grateful there was no third door.

I might be angry again.

I’ll hopefully stay grateful, too.

But at least now I know. At least now I know.

Relephant: 

Dear Alcoholic Girl.

Author: Laura McKowen

Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photo: Author’s Own