Donal O'Callaghan

“There’s something about sober living and sober thinking, about facing long afternoons without the numbing distraction of anesthesia, that disabuses you of the belief in externals, shows you that strength and hope come not from circumstances or the acquisition of things but from the simple accumulation of active experience, from gritting the teeth and checking the items off the list, one by one, even though it’s painful and you’re afraid. When you drink, you can’t do that. You can’t make the distinction between getting through painful feelings and getting away from them. All you can do is just sit there, numb and sipping, numb and drunk.”
― Caroline Knapp, Drinking: A Love Story

“At heart alcoholism feels like the accumulation of dozens of such connections, dozens of tiny fears and hungers and rages, dozens of experiences and memories that collect in the bottom of your soul, coalescing over many many many drinks into a single liquid solution.”
― Caroline Knapp, Drinking: A Love Story

“When life gets dark, that's when stars appear among us. Shine bright, beautiful ones. Throw light from your burning hearts.”
― John Mark Green

“Be the one to stand out in the crowd,
Be the one to go where they’d rather not.
Beautiful things don’t beg for a chance to glow
They throw out their lights and just shine out loud!”
― Chinonye J. Chidolue