Revising life

The past 2-3 months have given me cause to re-evaluate what's important in my life and to realise that behaving like a 20-year-old when you have the responsibilities of a (nearly) 29-year-old is not sustainable. In fact, it gives rise to the sort of regrets that I have spent a goodly portion of my adult life trying to avoid.

So here it is, published in electronic black and white. I don't intend to take another drink unless it is a celebratory one. In honour of a published short story or novel.

I have tried to stay off the grog in the past and generally failed because it plays such an integral part in my social life. But it also eats away at the area of my life that is going to matter when I look back in 20 years and judge my achievements. I don't want 'The Beauty Without' to be my one and only publication. Being hungover kills creative skills and therefore improves the chances of that happening.

Will I fail again? Possibly. During the course of writing this blog, I received an email inviting me to catch-up drinks with friends. I should be able to catch up with friends and eschew the alcohol. Why do I need it? Does it facilitate better friendships? Not in my experience. In my experience, it facilitates the necessity to apologise to friends.

I've had these thoughts before, but I really want to learn my lesson this time. I only have so many life-hours, and drugs and alcohol steal too many of them away.

The Slightly Fearful Writer