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itsmeamethyst 's review for:
Drinking Games
by Sarah Levy
Feel very mixed about this book. While it gives plenty of insight into what alcoholism and sobriety can look like for a young woman, I don’t think she did enough to acknowledge the incredible amount of privilege she had, the issues around (not) consenting to sex while blackout drunk, nor any science or real research around recovery. For people struggling with moderation while drinking or who know someone who is, this could offer some helpful insight (she is in a healthy and happy place when she concludes the book) but I believe she is still early in her recovery/healing journey.
Some of my favorite quotes:
“But the truth was, I was powerless over alcohol. When I drank, I lost control. In the presence of alcohol, I put myself in dangerous situations, woke up next to strangers, and lost huge chunks of my memory…A few months into sobriety, it hit me: the insanity of my drinking was my inability to accept that it wasn’t serving me. Once I fully accepted that I simply couldn’t drink safely, I felt an incredible amount of relief. I didn’t have to work harder to be “better” at drinking. I just could not drink.”
“It took me years to understand that the outsides didn't matter; the shame, anxiety, frustration, and loneliness I felt after I drank qualified me for sobriety. And in time, I learned that rock bottom, like anything else, looks different for different people.”
“I hope that social stigma around alcohol use disorder, treatment modalities, and sobriety shifts one day. But until then, I'm trying to keep it simple. I think about my recovery meetings in the same way I think about yoga classes: they are a practice and part of my routine that allow me to show up as a present participant in my life. Along the way, they taught me to ask for help, introduced me to women who built big lives without a drink, and offered me a place to go when I felt lost. Most of all, they gave me what I searched for in every cocktail: the deepest, purest, and most genuine belief that everything was going to be okay. For that, and so much more, I'm grateful.”
Some of my favorite quotes:
“But the truth was, I was powerless over alcohol. When I drank, I lost control. In the presence of alcohol, I put myself in dangerous situations, woke up next to strangers, and lost huge chunks of my memory…A few months into sobriety, it hit me: the insanity of my drinking was my inability to accept that it wasn’t serving me. Once I fully accepted that I simply couldn’t drink safely, I felt an incredible amount of relief. I didn’t have to work harder to be “better” at drinking. I just could not drink.”
“It took me years to understand that the outsides didn't matter; the shame, anxiety, frustration, and loneliness I felt after I drank qualified me for sobriety. And in time, I learned that rock bottom, like anything else, looks different for different people.”
“I hope that social stigma around alcohol use disorder, treatment modalities, and sobriety shifts one day. But until then, I'm trying to keep it simple. I think about my recovery meetings in the same way I think about yoga classes: they are a practice and part of my routine that allow me to show up as a present participant in my life. Along the way, they taught me to ask for help, introduced me to women who built big lives without a drink, and offered me a place to go when I felt lost. Most of all, they gave me what I searched for in every cocktail: the deepest, purest, and most genuine belief that everything was going to be okay. For that, and so much more, I'm grateful.”