On Drinking and Loneliness

I had walked into that first meeting carrying some pretty heavy baggage on my back, labelled SELF-PITY, FEAR, ANGER AND 'LONELINESS'. That night I dumped the sack marked LONELINESS in the middle of the floor and I've never carried it since. All I had to do, my new friends were telling me, was to be willing to keep an open mind and to be honest with myself. They know how I was feeling because they had been there, and suddenly I no longer felt alone.

Carol Bristow: Central 822