{"id":53982,"date":"2017-03-07T13:48:11","date_gmt":"2017-03-07T19:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=53982"},"modified":"2017-03-07T13:48:11","modified_gmt":"2017-03-07T19:48:11","slug":"one-day-at-a-time-a-journey-through-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/one-day-at-a-time-a-journey-through-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"“One day at a time”: a journey through addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Emilie Syberg<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alcoholism can create chaos, loss, and even despair. Many battle the addiction up to the breaking point before finding the way out. Overcoming alcoholism, however, can lead to a singular grace, a new life, and a more profound understanding of self. On a recent Chicago morning, Paul talked about his past, present, and future journey through alcohol addiction, his love of the bass guitar, and the importance of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. To protect his privacy, his last name\u2014and his face\u2014are withheld from this essay.<\/p>\n

\"Shoes\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Paul has been sober since April 5, 2001, an occasion he has marked in ink. (Emilie Syberg\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Sex<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Paul experimented with alcohol as early as 12, mixing vodka and water to sip while riding his newspaper route. In high school he moved on to drinking with his \u201cpunk rock\u201d friends every weekend. (Emilie Syberg\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"East\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Hobbled by alcohol, Paul won a college football scholarship but flunked out of school twice. For the next 16 years, he worked at restaurants, played in bands, drank, then \u201cmoved when the fun ran out,\u201d everywhere from Ohio to Tennessee. \n(Emilie Syberg\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Bass\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Paul plays bass, guitar, drums, keyboards, violin, but is just \u201cpassable on a sax.\u201d (Emilie Syberg\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Lot\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Walking the path to sobriety is a navigation of major ruts and cracks. Paul\u2019s first marriage ended, his job disappeared, and no one returned his phone calls. \u201cEveryone gets a custom built ass-kicking just for them,\u201d Paul says. But God literally pulled him back from the brink. With the help of a friend, Paul began attending daily Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. (Emilie Syberg\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Book\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Paul talks about the quotes that hit home in the AA book. \u201cIt says right in this book, \u2018We found that alcohol was but a symptom.\u2019 You get to this point where you realize that alcohol\u2019s a cloaking device for you to be able to say, \u2018It\u2019s not my fault!\u2019 I\u2019ve come to learn that \u2018I\u2019m sorry\u2019 means \u2018Look out, because I\u2019m gonna do it again.\u2019 Always.\u201d (Emilie Syberg\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"PAUL<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\u201cI still have the exact same gratitude that I had when I got [to sobriety]\u2026more\u2026tenfold. A thousandfold,\u201d Paul says. \u201cWhen I think about all the people out in the city\u2014right around this neighborhood right now\u2014who are just sitting and chugging them back because they have to, because they don\u2019t have any other choice, or they don\u2019t know that there\u2019s any other choice\u2026in the program, they call it \u201cthe gift of desperation.\u201d I\u2019m just desperate enough to turn around and say those three magic words: I need help.\u201d (Emilie Syberg\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n
Paul searches for albums at Reckless Records on Broadway. (Emilie Syberg\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Emilie Syberg Alcoholism can create chaos, loss, and even despair. Many battle the addiction up to the breaking point before finding the way out. Overcoming alcoholism, however, can lead to a singular grace, a new life, and a more profound understanding of self. On a recent Chicago morning, Paul talked about his past, present, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":381,"featured_media":54006,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3516],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-winter-2017"],"yoast_head":"\n"One day at a time": a journey through addiction - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/one-day-at-a-time-a-journey-through-addiction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""One day at a time": a journey through addiction - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Emilie Syberg Alcoholism can create chaos, loss, and even despair. 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