Daily Recovery Readings

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From the Daily Recovery Readings:
"I no longer try to escape life through alcoholism. Drinking
built up an unreal world for me and I tried to live in it.
But in the morning light the real world was back again and
facing it was harder than ever, because I had less resources
with which to meet it. Each attempt at escape weakened my
personality by the very attempt. Everyone knows that alcohol,
by relaxing inhibitions, permits a flight from reality.
Alcohol deadens the brain cells that preside over our highest
faculties and we are off to the unreal world of drunkenness.
A.A. taught me not to run away, but to face reality. Have I
given up trying to escape life?"

In my case, the escape into an unreal world fueled grandiose thinking and behavior, especially in the business world. I told people not to worry about me: I was "bulletproof." and could take dangerous risks with impunity/ That was the unreal world. The real world was very different.