A Sober Traveler and an Anniversary

enjoying an Indonesian energy drink in Bali

I debated writing this post for awhile. It’s always the one on my “post ideas” list that never gets written. But a very special day is coming up, and I thought that now is the time to share this part of my life with the world.

What it means to be “clean”

On Wednesday, November 17, 2010, I’ll have been clean for six years. Being “clean” means that I don’t do drugs or drink alcohol.

In 2004, I was in the midst of a heavy drug addiction, and I didn’t think there was an end in sight. I imagined myself six feet under before the age of 30. My life was bleak to say the least.

Luckily for me, I was the object of a violent drug-related incident, causing me to hit a mental, emotional, and spiritual rock bottom. I say I was lucky because this ordeal gave me a way out. The proverbial road forked, and instead of continuing on the path of death and destruction, I went right.

I won’t go into the nasty details of my addiction, nor will I talk about what drugs I did, how much, or what I did to get them through this platform. I will say, however, that six years later, I’m living the life of my wildest dreams, and I have no intention of giving it up.

What it means to be a sober traveler

The Crack House by Hryck., on Flickr

It means that I don’t smoke weed around a bonfire. It means that when I go out with new friends in a new country, I buy a juice or a Red Bull. I don’t take shots on my birthday, I don’t eat wild mushrooms growing out of cow poop in fields, nor do I shoot heroin offered to me by hill tribe ladies in Laos or do lines of Colombia’s most infamous export.

It means that when I look at drunk 16-year-old girls puking on themselves in a bar, I see a little bit of myself in them. It means that when I walk by homeless crackheads sleeping in the streets of big cities, trying to hustle a few cents from hailing taxis for people or cleaning their shoes, I look at them not with disdain nor disgust nor fear nor pity, but with a profound empathy.

What it doesn’t mean to be a sober traveler

It doesn’t mean that I’m better than anyone. It also doesn’t mean that I don’t go out, or that I don’t have fun. Though I admit to being antisocial at times, it’s due to my introverted personality and not my sober status.

the freedom to do weird things without alcohol

It doesn’t mean that I look down on my drinking peers. It doesn’t mean I avoid situations in which alcohol will be drunk or weed will be smoked (though I do skip full-on drug fests).

I do most things that other travelers do, except I do them without drugs and alcohol.

So this Wednesday, I’ll be privately celebrating my six-year anniversary, reflecting on my past, feeling excited about my present, and being grateful about it all.

For anyone out there who may be reading this who is struggling with an addiction, be it drugs, alcohol, sex, shopping, food, whatever, I want to let you know that there is another way of life that is available to you at any moment.

“The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours – it is an amazing journey – and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.” – Bob Moawad