Are we still the person we were when we were a drunk?

I feel most at ease with newer friends. They know this incarnation of me whereas older friends knew the older me and expect that from me, it's tiring. I think our personalities are dynamically transient.

We change one day to the next and embracing the change and growth is a healthy thing. If you were a person you didn't like, you can let that person figuratively die. The drunk DG is dead to me and i'm embracing this evolution and embracing adversity for the first time in my life because i know it's the water to the seed. To answer your question, i don't believe we even have the fundamental, base identity we think we do.

I used to think i must just be a horrible person and that's that. I know now that's complete bullshit. This moment is all we have and we can be who we want to be, within reason, the longer we practice being it. I was once painfully shy. I was once drunk and selfish all the time. I was once arrogant and angry. I reject those traits. People who meet me now only know this person, so to them that part of me never even existed.

To them i don't harbour the pain and embarrassment of my past with every meeting. That's not some way of running from who i was, it just helps me realize that i don't need to feel the way i do with old friends and family. I'm not sure that even makes sense, but it's been helping me. Be who you want to be, not who others are expecting you to be, but especially not who you expect you to be. You're stronger than you think.

/r/stopdrinking Thread