As an alcoholic, one thing that I didn't really ever lose was my love of reading. So, naturally, the first thing I did as I started working on becoming sober was to read. I have read a lot of sober and alcoholic books and here I am sharing the best places to get started on your sober journey.
Even if you still have a drink in your hand right this minute - you can still work on your sober journey by discovering and constantly returning to the idea of sobriety. Sometimes sobriety can seem so far away that just reading about it can be one positive connection when all you have is the despair of drinking in the present moment.
Like a distant light, keeping the thought of one day being sober can lure you back again and again to another attempt at sobriety. And one time, just like me, it might be the final time and you can enjoy a lengthy period of sobriety.
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The Alcoholic Reading List
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These books are a big part of the reason I have been able to get in the right headspace to tackle my alcoholic drinking.
Reading on My Kindle
I was a late adopter when it came to e-readers - I got my first Kindle in 2014 - but it really changed the way I read and processed information. Before Kindle, it was all about ordering books online and then waiting for delivery and then, when I had the paperback, actually getting down and reading it. It was basically old school reading the book. And what's wrong with that? Well, nothing, really. Worked for generations, will work for generations more.
So why the fuss about the Kindle? Well, to be completely honest - reading is just so much more accessible and simple. Here's why - I don't have to carry the exact book I want to read with me and then pull it out and read it. I can carry my whole library with me, with one little device.
So what does this mean? Well, it mean I can read anything I like at any time - and instead of having to read this book because it is the one I have carried with me, I can change and read what I want, when I want. It's very powerful to be able to flip back to a different book and catch a grab and then flip to another and keep reading. It's like you have your whole library at your fingertips no matter where you are.
You can read mulitple book at once, and you can schange your reading effortlessly - so if you get tired of a title, you can read some other book for the rest of the train ride. Sounds simple, but it is very effective to help you keep absorbing information and learning - how many of us take three or four books with us on the train, just in case we want a choice? No one - exactly my point.
Next, reading from a kindle means you can cut a quote and save it to your device - so you can build a quote library. This is especially powerful for us alcoholics in recovery who need access to our most inspirational quotes - at short notice.
Next, you can buy any book, virtually anywhere with Wifi - and this is brilliant. You can download a book whenever you want. Connect with Wifi and download a book in seconds - and payment is simple with a stored credit card. It means when you have that thought balloon of "I would really love to read that book someday" you can actually do it right there and then and buy it for yourself, and have it downloaded to your personal library collection in moments.
This alone has been a major game changer for me - as I would always be stumbling across titles and thinking I would like to read it someday, but then never getting around to buying it - or having to look for a printed version at some other site and - meh - it just wasn't an effortless flow. With the Kindle it is and I have built a library collection of titles that I read and re-read over and again.
Finally, the actual physicality of the Kindle is something you will come to love. Turning the page is as simple as a swipe or touching the right hand side of the tablet. It's just nonsense when people suggest they "like the feel of paper" and offer this as a reason for not owning a Kindle.
Nobody loves the smell of paperbacks and the romance of bending a book cover more than I do - but even I appreciate the simple user-friendliness of swipe-to-turn technology. And, it's back-lit, which means you don't need a reading light or, even worse, to be rolling around in bed disturbing your partner turning the light out.
For making reading accessible, offering an unlimited scope of titles and being so simple, small and light - the Kindle is now my main go to when it comes to reading books. I find it quaint and traditional when people refuse to even consider a Kindle based on some misguided belief that real paper books are inherently better, or more real. Your choice, but for me getting access to the story and the words on the "page" matter more than whether it is paper or digital ink.
OK,
These are the books that I am reading right now - I am posting the links to Amazon so you can buy them direct.
I started reading about alcohol through other blogs and books by alcoholics. But that's not where I am going to start this book list.
My starting point was personal development and self growth. I needed some space from all the heavy stuff I was reading about alcohol - and it was still too close to me personally - so I took a step back from the whole being alcoholic thing - and started reading about getting things done and changing your life from just a "so-called normal" standpoint.
I know, it's crazy - I have this alcoholic blog and next thing I'm telling people to start way over there. But maybe, in this attempt at giving up alcohol, we'll step aside from the 800 pound gorilla in the room and just deal with some smaller goals first. It's actually a proven strategy - to not focus straight up on the big ugly goal - but instead build your confidence by achieving some success around the edges. And I like this idea, because I wasn't being asked to reach right into my chest and pull out my still-beating-heart - my drinking problem - and throw it on the table and have it flip flopping around like a fish out of water. It can be simply too much to take on straight up - and let's face it, I was beat - I'd been bashing myself against a heavy drinking problem for years and to go head first at it just seemed wrong.
Soi I started with some smaller, easier to achieve goals that would set my momentum in motion. Exercise - writing a journal - drlinking green smoothies in the morning. Simple, seemingly unconnected tasks that would help me re-build my life in a way that would lead to stopping drinking. And by building these habits into my life, I would be in a stronger place when quit day rolled around.
Look, it's about being at rock bottom and being open to new things. If you insist on staying just the way you are - you will get what you have always gotten - which is drunk. My last drink, as I saw the flashing blue lights of the Police and heard the cop yelling - "Hey, don't run, we just want to talk, we're not going to hurt you," was a total moment where i knew things were just about to change, whether I liked it or not.
Here's a great book to get you started on breaking the hold alcohol has on you. It might not even men tion alcohol or alcoholics in it once, but there are plenty of truths and honest reflections that apply to drinking and staying alcoholic when you just know that it isn't working any longer.