Many active alcoholics and drug addicts often feel like they are invincible. To them it’s as if there’s nothing in the world that could ever go wrong from having just one more time of drinking or drugging. Then there’s those who have already discovered their addictions and are working on their recovery. But even many of them fall off the wagon to go back out for just one more night of partying. Unfortunately, in both cases, the majority of them find out the hard way what can happen with the “just one more time” syndrome.
I have accepted today in my life that I don’t have “just one more time” of drinking or drugging. With all the people lately that are dropping like flies due to tragic DUIs and overdoses, and with all those sustaining permanent life changing injuries or conditions due to the consumption of alcohol or drugs, I’m not willing to take the chance.
We hear it all the time in the news these days where someone famous has overdosed from one more night of partying like Cory Montief, Heath Ledger, and Chris Farley did. Then there’s the less prominent ones many of us have experienced lately where friends and loved ones have passed away just as suddenly from going out just one more time to party. For the “lucky ones” who’s lives don’t expire from the “just one more time” syndrome, there are things such as DUIs and other terrible accidents that can happen too. A good example of this is with a friend of mine who relapsed one night after a period of sobriety a few years ago because he wanted to have that one more time of partying. That evening he fell off a balcony and became permanently paralyzed from the waist down. I’ve also known of those who have gotten into major car accidents during that night of drinking or drugging and have ended up killing someone else. The result? Many, many years spent in jail. Ask any of those people who were the “lucky ones” if the “just one more time” was worth it. I’m sure each of them would say no very profoundly. For me, it’s not worth the risk to go out and have any substance, be it alcohol or drug, ever again just to get that feeling of ease and comfort for one more time. I’m 100% positive I wouldn’t make it back into recovery as it would either kill me or land me in jail.
If you have had a problem with alcohol or drugs, the next time you are thinking of going out for “just one more time”, take a moment, breathe, and ask yourself if it’s worth the risk of you or someone else dying or becoming permanently injured because of it. In that moment of doubt, do what you can to seek help from a recovery program, a clean and sober friend, or from a Higher Power such as God. Any of those actions will probably end up saving your life for doing so.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
