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Aideen McQueen is getting ready for another Galway Comedy Festival and so many other things besides.
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McQueen → publish → Festival
Her one-woman show Waiting For Texto has propelled her into another league of comedy, she’s just debuted a new show Womanosphere at the Edinburgh Festival and will be touring it next year and she’s also lined up to support Dublin comedian Ed Byrne on his forthcoming tour.
It’s been a brilliant year but life could have been so different had Aideen not got the help she needed to quit alcohol.
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she → propel → alcohol
But this is not a soberista tale for the month that’s in it - Aideen wasn’t sober curious, she was an alcoholic.
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she → ’ → it
‘There’s a big difference between the real non-drinkers who need to stop and the podcast people who just want to have a better sleep score on their Strava app or whatever they’re using,’ she says.
‘I loved drink but it did not love me so it was a battle.
‘
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it → ’ → me
I had problems for years and I’d be on and off and there’d be interventions from the family.
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I → have → family
and I would get sober for a while and then like I think I was fine and then something bad would happen and I’d start drinking again.
'
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I → get → while
I might find another boyfriend and get a new job and my life would get better and then I would just derail it.
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I → find → it
I didn’t do it consciously, but it was a pattern that happened for years.’
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that → do → years
All drinking stories start off as fun, she says, but in the end it was the opposite.
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it → start → end
‘I was drinking in the morning,’ Aideen says.
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Aideen → drink → morning
‘I’d be queuing up for the off-license to open at 10:30am and I’d be just standing there in the supermarket desperate, desperate for a drink.
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I → queue → drink
I was very physically addicted to alcohol — I wouldn’t advocate for people to wait until they got to this stage or to the point where you are buying Listerine because you can’t find any other alcohol to drink before they seek help.
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they → advocate → help
But different people get off the train at different times with alcoholism — some people just want to be healthier, some people want to focus more, but.
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people → get → alcoholism
I went really far with it, I would say people still go further.
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people → go → it
People talk about rock bottom - once you get there things will start to get better.
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things → talk → bottom
But we all know people who are on the street, people who’ve had their leg amputated because of addiction, people who just have gone so far and you think they must be at a rock bottom, yet they drink again.
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they → know → bottom
In fact it was helping other people that became the catalyst for Aideen’s recovery.
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that → help → recovery
‘I was exhausted,’ she says of the reason she finally managed to quit.
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she → exhaust → reason
‘I kept relapsing.
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I → keep → ?
I was going to meetings, but I wasn’t really committing to it.
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I → go → it
And then when I committed to the meetings, I started actually volunteering in 12-Step meetings.’
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I → commit → meetings
‘When I started to really embrace working with other people who are alcoholics and putting myself out there, not just feeling sorry for myself and trying to fix myself with self-helpy stuff.
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who → start → stuff
'Once I started embracing the community of 12-step recovery and doing work there, that really put me on a good footing and I’ll do that hopefully for the rest of my life, you know, because I love it now and enjoy it and have a great life.
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I → start → life
It’s the foundation of my life, and then everything else kind of falls into place after I do those things that I need to do.
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I → ’ → that
So I’ll go to meetings every second day, and I volunteer and I’m there for people, I’m there for myself.
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I → go → myself
I can concentrate more.’
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I → concentrate → ?
There’s no comparison, Aideen says, between then and now.
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Aideen → ’ → ?
‘I feel I have purpose in my life, which is lovely.
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which → feel → life
People sometimes go, “would you not have a drink?
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you → go → drink
Would you not have one?”
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you → have → one
If they don’t know me they think I’m being fussy or watching my weight or something.
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I → know → weight
And then I have to tell them “Look, the last time I drank was a four-week bender and I ended up in the psych ward, so please just give me a Guinness Zero!’
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I → have → Guinness
Ireland has really changed though in that most of the time people don’t try and force drinks on you.
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people → change → you
‘Everyone here has an uncle who’s been away for a month and comes back and he can’t drink and he goes to meetings,’ she says.
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she → have → meetings
‘Actually 20 per cent of Irish people don’t drink.
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cent → drink → people
It’s the highest level of teetotallers in Europe.
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It → ’ → Europe
‘It’s a bit of a stereotype.
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It → ’ → stereotype
But I went to Dubai gigging two or three weeks ago and oh my God, that’s a party town.
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that → go → Dubai
I nearly had to take out 12 step pamphlets and show them to people.’
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I → have → people
Waiting For Texto touches on Aideen becoming sober too in the confines of a comedy play that is basically about waiting on a text.
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that → wait → text
…and 34 more, not listed.
The Aporia
