The hero of this interview is not an artist, not a director or an artist. And not a hero at all, but a very ordinary person, one of my friends. Although I consider him an extraordinary and amazing person. I myself, even with excess weight, do not always successfully fight; he and I alternately win – first I’m over him, then he’s over me. A friend of mine managed to overcome his addiction to alcohol. And this is not a victory won once, this is a victory that he gains over himself day after day for many years. So, Sergey, 48 years old, entrepreneur, Moscow. - Sergey, how many years have you been sober? - Seventeen years. - How long have you been drinking alcohol? - The first time I got drunk was when I was almost sixteen. I got into trouble at the circus, where my class and I went, and my father really got it from me back then. This was the start. Well, then, no matter the drinking, there is unconsciousness, a severe hangover. At the institute, I completed my first year normally, and then - beer, vodka, partying and all that. - Well, everyone drinks in college. In any case, this was not uncommon in those years. But not everyone has any undesirable consequences. When did you feel that this was becoming a problem for you? - When the carefree student life ended and independent life began. And I felt this especially acutely when the Soviet Union broke down, and with it the general leveling, and a lot of opportunities appeared, many paths opened up along which you can go, but you have to go sober. How did you manage to overcome your addiction? - There wasn't much of a fight. I just refused, that's all. It's like stopping eating sweets - well, I stopped and stopped. You decide what is best for you and choose a lifestyle that matches it. And you simply no longer think about how it could be, you don’t have internal discussions: “but how, and what.” Just “no” - that’s all. - What does alcohol do for people? Why do people drink? - Firstly, pastime. At first, this gives a state of mental balance. Things and problems go away, and you are left alone with this “holiday”. It’s like putting on rose-colored glasses – and everything is great. It’s not that everything is great, but everything is relegated to the background. It doesn’t matter if you have a piece of wall that isn’t covered with wallpaper, you take a closet there and put it there and you’re done. Well, still, tradition. After all, this is a traditional “sport” for us. Although, it does not always and not necessarily turn into an addiction. I had a neighbor. I was nineteen years old then, he was fifty. We had a good relationship, I went to see him and took books to read. His library was quite uncharacteristic for that time - science fiction, detective stories. We were drinking once, he asked: “Do you feel it?” "What?" - I say. “Do you feel how Christ walked through your soul with his bare feet?” There were also such moments. Alcohol is not a problem for all people. For some, it remains an opportunity to relax, relieve stress, maybe even think about something important, about the soul... - Are you a believer? - No. - Then what is the soul for you? - Don't know. The soul of an alcoholic is what begins to rejoice at the sight of a bottle of vodka. -Have you ever had any problems caused by alcohol? - Mostly fights. And so - no problems. It’s just that everything except this “holiday” faded into the background and it turned out that life was passing by. This was probably the main problem – the lack of problems. When you live with alcohol, then all those problems and tasks that face every person and that we all must solve in our lives - you don’t see them. And it turns out that you drink, and everything you should be doing seems to be on a siding. And you seem to be in the carriage, but you’re not going. - How has your life changed after giving up alcohol? What's new and what's missing? - There are no casual acquaintances whom I considered friends. This shame and discomfort disappeared in the morning. Hemorrhoids are gone, all these little troubles that arise out of the blue and out of nowhere. For example, I got drunk and lost my passport. Orgot drunk and lost the keys to the car and apartment. And it begins - we need to restore documents, change locks. And all this grows unexpectedly. It wasn’t, it wasn’t, and half an hour later - bang - and a problem that might not have happened if you had behaved differently. Actions that are committed in a sober life may not always be correct, but in any case they are committed consciously. And if some consequences are undesirable, they, these consequences, are the result of your conscious choice. And when you do something under the influence of alcohol, you become sober, and you realize that you would never have done this sober. Because when you are drunk, a transformation of consciousness occurs, somehow you see the world differently. You start drinking, and time shrinks. And besides the fact that you get into some kind of trouble, you just feel that life is passing around you, and all this is pupating in some kind of little world with bottles. So all this is gone. - What appeared? - Everything else appeared. Life appeared. Normal life. You understand everything, see everything, evaluate everything correctly. Everything got on the rails and started rolling. Family relationships normalized. People who knew me as a drinker began to treat me differently - as a more serious person who could be relied on and trusted. The self-reliability rating has increased. - How did it happen – your refusal of alcohol? Have you used any psychological techniques or means? Did you seek anyone's help? - Not drinking on your own is difficult at first, so you need a certain brake in the form of a tablet sewn into soft tissue, or an injection into a vein. Through this, a certain drug is introduced into the body, which, when interacting with alcohol, if it enters the blood, supposedly causes irreversible disturbances in the functioning of various organs, even death. Nothing is known about this for sure, and I personally doubt that something like this would actually happen. But since the risk, although minimal, and with it the fear of these very consequences, was still there, then for me, at least, this method worked. I was "stitched up." First for three years, then, without waiting for the expiration of this period, so that there were no temptations, for another three, and another. For the last nine years I simply haven’t been drinking, and there is no longer any need to “stitch up.” And then he “stitched up” not only himself, but also several other people. - Like this? - These were my employees. I already had my own small business then. And after I myself went through this “stitching up” procedure, I offered it to people who could, through their actions, play a positive or negative role in business. Potentially these were valuable employees, but with alcohol problems, like me. Always, when you start a business, you try to attract friends. And the friends from my past are people my age and drinkers. He set certain conditions for them, offered them a choice - either we work, earn money and don’t drink, or we don’t work. And people in most cases decided that we don’t drink. Many haven't drunk since then. Life began to play for them in a new way. When a person sees that some positive changes have occurred during his abstinence from alcohol, he makes a conscious choice that it would be better without it. - So, we can say that you created conditions for people, helping them make such a choice? - I created the conditions primarily for myself. And along the way, it turned out that these conditions were created for people too. - You talk about all this so easily. Does this mean that anyone can cope with alcohol? - When a person is not worried about his moral character, then, of course, it is harder for him. When he is in a drinking environment, it is harder for him. When he has to drink for work (signing contracts, making deals, etc.), it’s harder for him. Basically, of course, if a person is weak, he will not be able to do this. It's the same as losing weight. If a person is weak, he will not be able to refuse food or get on a treadmill. There must be some kind of core in it. Probably the level of dependence too…