Forgetting My Life as a Drunk

Can we remember our past without dwelling on it?

Photo by Peter Pryharski on Unsplash

The longer I stay sober, the less connected I feel to my old life as a daily drinker.

I quit drinking in December of 2016. It’s been seven years, three months, two weeks, and two days since my last sip of alcohol. That’s quite a long time.

During the first few years of sobriety, I could vividly remember every terrible detail of my life as a drunk. It was easy to recall the feelings of misery and hopelessness that my addiction created.

These days, it’s hard for me to even believe that my old drunken self was really me. It feels like I’m looking back on someone else’s life rather than my own. It’s no longer my recent experience, but instead just a memory of a memory.