The broadcast of I don’t plan to drink again on TV3’s Sense ficción has made a large part of my environment still think about its relationship with alcohol. In the documentary, Flora Saura warns that “the alcoholic is more like you than you think”. To the point that, among the great diversity of witnesses who participate, there are four with whom I went out partying: Saura herself, her colleague David Carabén, Daniel Vázquez Sallés and Sebastià Alzamora.

Both Tià and Dani have written about their addiction, the former in an article and the latter in The Prince and Death. They reflect the case of a guy I went out with, and I couldn’t stand it. Because it is very painful to see the self-destruction of someone you love, to be there and not be able to do anything about it, or not know what to do, or not have the strength and understand that the same thing is happening to him, but with himself . It is very sad to witness how he transforms with each drink he drinks, unable to stop, until he becomes a stranger. You can give up and go; he doesn’t

Eider Rodríguez in Construction Materials and Aina Fullana in The Good Days describe family relationships with a father who has a discreet and devastating drug addiction. And very common. An addiction that usually arises from social life, from fun. The father in Fullana’s novel reminds me of a lot of people I’ve gotten involved with. For years I was a risky consumer; he tried to relieve his anxiety and shyness with alcohol, and he did not always control the limits. Terrifying teasing with partners or friends, excruciating hangovers, obsessive shame for what I had said or done, and gratuitous discomfort when I should have been having a good time made me slow down. Then I read La huella de los días, by Leslie Jamison, and I recognized myself in it. With another outcome.

Alcohol causes problems. Close friends and acquaintances have problems with alcohol. Some face them, others assume them, others minimize them. No one dares to talk about it until they’ve gone through detox. This is why Flora Saura’s documentary and the books mentioned are so important. Because, without romanticizing or moralizing, they remind you that you are there, there, that those habits are yours, that these are your people and you look alike. Then you wonder if you shouldn’t be one of them too.