Member-only story
Sobriety Is My Superpower
Learning to shed past beliefs in favor of curiosity so that I can reach my fullest potential
The first time I drank alcohol I was 14 years old.
It was a foamy room temperature Bud Light from a beer ball.
I had scored the winning goal for our varsity hockey team in the championship game of a New Year’s tournament. My parents let me (read as trusted me) go to a New Year’s Eve party with the upperclassmen on my team.
It was a sleepover.
I was the only Freshman there.
I slept in a bed with two Seniors. Females. One was a peer advisor.
The next morning we went to an iHop, drowned pancakes in syrup and used orange juice to take Tylenol. I learned what it meant to have a hangover. I also learned how to fix a mimosa. A teammate made them for us under the table with the 6oz bottles of cheap champagne he snuck in through the kangaroo pocket of his team issued sweatshirt.
The table toasted me, “Happy New Year!” I scored the winning goal, I was the only freshman at the party, I hooked-up with her.
With them.
This installed a series of narratives that would direct the next decade of my life.
