Oops, Stuck for the Duration

My work requires fairly extensive travel. Even though I prefer driving because of the freedom and flexibility it allows in my schedule, sometimes the distances and timelines can only be satisfied by air travel. So I usually find myself flying three or four times a month disguised as a mild mannered businessman.

In such cramped circumstances, squeezed between too many fellow travelers at 30,000 feet you would think that addiction and recovery topics would be taboo but amazingly enough I have had some great discussions over the past year.

There was the time I got to grill the doctor of infectious diseases about ailments directly related to substance abuse. Then there was the time I got to talk to a psychiatrist specializing in sleep disorders about how people new to sobriety can learn how to sleep again without any chemical lullabies.

Click “Read more” to continue…

Of course there have been times when I have been asked to do most of the talking, sharing my experiences as an alcoholic and in recovery like the time I spent with the newly sober white-knuckled recovering heroin addict. With this last incident, I even noted that is seemed as if I was fated (an addiction magnet) to find worthy recovery blog content with every flight.

Wrong. This week on a trip to the Midwest I sat down next to a rather unique dressed older gentleman. Immediately getting a bad vibe, I quickly decided this would be one of the flight legs spent with my nose in a book as much as possible. My perverted sense of curiosity got the best of me though and I payed for it by having to listen to this guy explain to me for over an hour about going to AA meetings… even though he was adamant about the fact that he has never drank a drop in his life!

If you have ever listened to an addict or an alcoholic who is nearing rock bottom try to convince themself that all is well by trying to convince others of the same, them you know what I am talking about. The lies are painfully obvious, and they were making me extremely uncomfortable.

Oops, stuck for the duration.

Perhaps if in a less public place, one preferably with multiple exits on the ground floor, I would have asked a few penetrating questions just to see the reaction. Five miles high, buckled in next to what can be politely described as an unstable entity, I sanely opted for discretion, tuning out, and nodding at the appropriate times hoping all remained calm.

Note to self: Tone down the curiosity for sea level conversations