“It was an easy job. You could do it drunk if you were clever....

“It was an easy job.  You could do it drunk if you were clever.  But I just got tired of the routine.  I’d spend all day drinking, smoking, and practicing with my band, then I’d freshen up and go wait tables in the evening.  I felt like a zombie.  Like I was going nowhere.  Then one day I asked the boss for two weeks off, and he said ‘no.’  So I quit right there.  I left everything behind.  I took my motorcycle and drove to a new town.  It felt like I was finally getting somewhere.  Like I’d broken out of my prison.  Like I was progressing.  But I couldn’t escape myself.  I had no opportunities.  No skills other than music.  I tried telemarketing for awhile, but I’m not that kind of person.  So my life fell apart.  I got evicted.  I ended up in a tiny apartment.  I isolated myself.  I’d broken away from all of my chains, and I thought that would make me happy.   But I realized that some of those chains I liked.  It’s nice to make money.  It’s nice to be trusted by other people.  It’s nice to be responsible for my own life.  Those chains were the proof that I could take care of myself.  And when I lost them, I got scared.    I fell apart.  It took a long time to pull myself back together, but things are better now.  I’ve got a therapist.  I’m working as a bartender.  I have a great girlfriend, a nice apartment, and my own parking spot.  I’m almost back to the place I ran away from.”
(Montreal, Canada)