I used to be successful.

I built my life with the precision of a master craftsman, each decision, each action, a calculated step towards success. My business, once a fledgling idea, blossomed into an empire under my guidance.

I was respected, admired, even envied. But beneath the facade of triumph was a flaw so fatal, it would eventually become my undoing: my relationship with alcohol.

It began as a companion to celebration, a toast to success, and a comfort in stress. But as the stakes grew higher, so did my consumption. I deceived myself into believing that alcohol was the elixir of the successful, the badge of the untouchable. In reality, it was eroding the foundation of everything I had built.

My descent was slow, almost imperceptible at first. Missed deadlines became lost contracts. Brilliant decisions turned into costly mistakes. The trust and respect I had spent years earning evaporated like mist under the scorching sun of my indiscretions.

The ultimate price came when my business crumbled. Investors pulled out, partners withdrew their support, and the empire I had built from scratch disintegrated before my eyes. But the loss of my business paled in comparison to the diagnosis that came too late: irreversible damage to my liver, a stark testament to years of abuse.

Lying in a hospital bed, I reflect on the irony of it all. I spent my life chasing success, only to have it undone by the very thing I thought signified my triumph.

The cost of my denial and pride was not just my business, but my health and the future I had envisioned.

If I could impart any wisdom from the ruins of my life, it would be this: success is not measured by the wealth you accumulate or the power you wield, but by the choices you make and the lives you touch. Alcohol, I’ve learned, is a thief in the night, stealing far more than it ever gives.

Do not let the allure of the moment cloud the consequences of tomorrow. The regrets of a life wasted on alcohol are a burden too heavy for any soul to bear.

With every fiber of my being, I wish I had never let alcohol become my master. I share my story not for sympathy, but in the hope that it might spare another from walking this path of regret. Choose wisely, for some choices, once made, can never be undone.