Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry

I have not watched the show, Friends, (gasp! i know, i know). But I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Matthew Perry’s experience, childhood, thought processes, self-sabotage, grief, pain, addiction, and isolation. It was a book I couldn’t put down. 

Below are my favorite excerpts from it: 

Even at 3 years old I’d learned I’d have to be the man of the house. I had to take care of my Mother, even though my finger had just been sliced off. I guess I’d learned at 30 days old that if I cried, I’d get knocked out, so I’d better not cry; or I knew I had to make sure everyone, including my Mother, felt safe and OK. 

I have spent upward of $7 million trying to get sober. I have been to 6 thousand AA meetings. I’ve been to rehab 15 times. I’ve been in a mental institution, gone to therapy twice a week for 30 years, been to death’s door. 

10 years later, I read the following words in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous: “Drinkers think they are trying to escape, but really they are trying to overcome a mental disorder they didn’t know they had”. 

I’ve detoxed over 65 times in my life-but the first was when I was 26.  You can track the trajectory of my addiction if you gauge my weight from season to season- when I’m carrying weight, it’s alcohol; when I’m skinny, it’s pills. When I have a goatee, it’s A LOT of pills. 

When I can get someone, I have to leave them before they leave me, because I’m not enough and I’m about to be found out, but when someone I want doesn’t choose me, that just proves I’m not enough and I’ve been found out. 

This is truly a wonderful fascinating read, to get your copy, click below:

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