In recovery from alcohol or drug addiction, life can be full and we can do things we did not do. Or would have done but not really remembered. When we were drinking or using. Before we stop drinking or using, we think we will never be able to relax and have a good time again but the reality is far from this. I have a much more enjoyable and full life now with many more laughs than I ever did when I was drinking.

An example is my night out last night when I went to see The Beach Boys at The Royal Albert Hall. On tour for their 50^th anniversary. They have had an interesting life which has been affected by alcohol and drug abuse.

In the Family

Brian Wilson was brought up with an alcoholic mother and tough, abusive father. He turned to music as a form of escapism at a young age and is one of the best songwriters of the 20^th century as well as a talented musician and singer. However, his alcohol intake and drug taking in particular (cannabis, cocaine, LSD and amphetamines, to name but some) has been at least in part to blame for his well documented mental health problems.

Isolation

He has spent many years in isolation, not leaving his bed and bedroom for three years (as expressed in the song he wrote ‘In my Room’ : There’s a place where I can go to tell my secrets to…) and spending around 20 years in seclusion. He says he began to hear voices at the age of 25 after taking drugs. I was not until the age of 40 that he got treatment for this. (He says that people with drug and drink problems do not get help as early as they should). His eccentric behaviour has included having his grand piano placed in a sandpit, ‘so I could feel the beach beneath my feet’. He was diagnosed in the 1980s with brain damage caused by excessive and sustained drug use. He says he deeply regrets taking LSD in particular.

Dennis Wilson, his brother, was alcoholic and is well known for his misdemeanors, such as streaking on stage. He was the only Beach Boy who was a surfer and sadly died aged 39 when he drowned following a day’s drinking. He was buried at sea.

Relief in Being Sober – Fun

To return back to yesterday evening, as we returned home after a fabulous concert. There was a woman slumped in her seat on the tube, completely out of it. She asked a young man where she was and where the train was going to. He asked her where she was going.Richmond, she said. The good news, he replied, is that you are on the right train. The bad news is that you are f****d. Lots of the people in the carriage laughed at his observation and way of stating the obvious. Me? I laughed too but also felt such a relief that I never get in that state any more. I can always remember what I did the night before and never wake up to a hangover.

So it was a fun, fun, fun night which I thoroughly enjoyed without a drink and which I remember with complete clarity!

The Haynes Clinic is an alcohol and drug rehab clinic which offers detox and counselling for people with addictions.

Call 01462 851414 for free and confidential advice.