The Funny Thing About Being Sober

Book excerpt: “The Funny Thing About Being Sober” is the punchline to "You Can't Die: A Day of Clarity." It contrasts, in a humorous, sometimes explicit way, the difference between life now, and life before rehab. Drunk or sober, the author is weird. Those around him are surprised to learn that he's even weirder sober than he was drunk. Soon after leaving rehab, the author learns what he long-suspected -- that, for decades, his alcoholism masked a different illness, one that he would now have to confront in sobriety. He does it mockingly, with an irreverent attitude and a steady stream of pranks, stunts and childish behavior, some of which make the news and go viral on Reddit and Buzzfeed. The author concedes that there was nothing funny about the final, shocking years of his alcoholism. In fact, as time goes by, he is stunned by how much he missed when he was drinking. Even though he got sober in 2013, he is baffled when he learns that many of his favorite 90s musicians died twenty years earlier. The author nearly died from alcoholism. At the time, he knew he was dying and accepted it. Having recovered, he refuses to accept his new diagnosis, opting instead to defeat it his own way. Instead of hiding his peculiarities, he puts them front and center. He is not afraid of stigmas, which makes his stories and observations of life thought-provoking and wildly entertaining.