He Thought the Old Timers Weren’t His People — Brent F.
About This Speaker Tape
1996, Houston. A one-year-old daughter is crying in a bed while Brent F. is passed out cold from whiskey. He wakes up to his wife shaking him, but his first instinct is to blame her for letting the phone ring too much. He enters the rooms of AA, but looks at the old timers and decides they aren't his people. He spends the next two decades treating sobriety like a chore to keep the heat off his back, drifting through "half-hearted efforts" and "faint sobriety."
Brent describes the "beguilement" of marijuana and the "lurking notion" that he could eventually drink like a gentleman once he retired. He cycles through treatment centers and prescription drug addictions—Ambien and Vicodin—while maintaining a facade of business success. His ego becomes "sky high," convincing him he is the smartest man in the room, even as his life dissolves into panic attacks and agoraphobia. It takes a total collapse of his spirit and a Higher Power to finally stop the cycle.
Discussion
Be the first to share your thoughts on this tape.