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Apr 22, 2009

Sobriety

As of today, April 22, I’ve been clean off of all drugs and drink for many years.  It feels good.  People often ask me for advice on making money in the film industry, and I talk a lot about hard work and being open to what you’re good at and letting go of dreams that you might not be best made for, and other shit like that.  But, the truth is, when I permanently removed the chemicals from my brain, I was able to think more clearly, make better choices, and work harder and more consistently.  At first the creativity may have been a bit of a struggle but, over time, due to my diligence and openness, that magnified as well.  If I kept doing all the things to my body I was doing as a young man, I doubtfully would be alive.  But, if by some miracle I was, I certainly wouldn’t have the personal or professional achievements I have today.  I have nothing against anyone who chooses to drink or do drugs but, for me, it is a huge part of what’s made me a successful filmmaker.  And I suppose, as I sit here on this warm mesh of gratitude, I feel a bit guilty for generally leaving that out of the equation of how I got here.

It’s also my brother Matt’s birthday.  Happy birthday, you little fucker.  

For those of you uncomfortable with this rare serious note, don’t worry.  I’ll be back soon with more rape and poo jokes.  Yes, every once in a while JamesGunn.com may hit a rough earnest spot but, in general, the glib shall reign.

Be well,

James

 

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  • http://www.myspace.com/Chris_Quartly Chris Quartly

    I didn’t see this blog until I returned from holiday but I just wanted to say congratulations. It’s not always easy to kick bad habits.

  • http://http://home.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user&Mytoken=1240017244324 KingpinXXX

    I never got involved in drinking or drugs. But I know how hard it is to quit I grew up in a family with several addiction problems (Mom & Dad). And my father ultimately died at the age of 49 because he didn’t stop. CONGRATULATIONS of your sobriety. Now bring on the POO jokes.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=602890821 Philip Davetas

    Man, I haven’t seen this blog until I slipped past it yesterday. You blog so damn much lately, that it’s almost hard for me to keep up. Firstly, congrats on your cleanliness and sobriety. I’ve seen how tough it could be on folks to stay that way. I used to volunteer at the VA and man, do you hear and see a lot of fucked up scenarios. What’s worse is that most of these guys went through war and came back only to become junkies and staples of the VA hospital. Not because they need to be, but they want to be. It also doesn’t help that these guys are constantly fucked over by the VA system. Not that there aren’t good things and good people at the VA, but I think there’s abuse on all ends which makes for a fucked up relationship. You have the junkies wanting to surf the system. You have the VA hierarchy tired of their asses. And you have others that really need help and because of that shitty relationship people after them have to suffer.

  • amv86

    Congratulations! A lot of people close to me are currently ruining their lives as well as lives of other people with drugs. I’m glad you have been able to stay sober mostly for yourself but also because without your projects and tireless social networking, I don’t think I would find a comparable form of entertainment to distract me from completing the work I should be doing on the computer.

  • http://myspace.com/beardchris ChrisB

    Congrats on the years of sobriety!

  • Tracy!

    Congrats my friend. This is a nice little change from your vulgar dark humor most of your blogs usually are, even though I appreciate those just as much.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=775838202 Ben Newton

    Congrats, and thanks for sharing this part of yourself with us.

  • Maddy_Bauer

    I’m not really a drinker myself. If I really want to, I drink, but 9 times out of 10 I just hit the coke (or preferably Irn Bru) and party happy, sober and ready to ridicule the numpties the next day who went too far :P.

    Personally I prefer to go out on a night out with folk who don’t drink or at least keep it in moderation. It makes for a genuinely good time rather than everyone who is drunk thinking it’s fucking awesome when in actual fact you’ve been sitting in the corner of a shitty club, listening to the campest 80s music while surrounded by nothing but ugly or gay members of the opposite sex and so rendering you bored to tears! At least when sober you have the sense to find a change of scene ;).

    So is this blog in place of phoning your bro to wish him happy birthday, or did you fold and phone too?

  • http://twitter.com/LuckyAmeliza sooo_yeah

    I think that having a little serious moment every once in a while helps make all the funny things, more funny. kinda like the reverse of a laugh to break up a tense moment. I also find that I share alot more than I normally do here as well. I kind of get the same thing, if I hang around people enough they share things with me that they don’t tell other people.

    definatly congrats to you.

    people often think I’m a little strange when I tell them I don’t like to “party” but I have good reasons. first I’m allergic to smoke, so smoking anything is out of the question. lol. but I don’t like to take anything that changes the way I perceive the world becuase as a kid ( and even now) I always took comfort in my “imaginary world” and was always daydreaming and making up stories in my head, so taking anything kept me from that made me extreamly sad. it was because of that,and some bad side effects, that I wasn’t medicated for my ADD. I used to cry and tell my mom that my brain was to heavy. lol seriously. I even hated taking anything when I was sick (still do sometimes)

  • Brian G

    Thanks for the post. I’m in total agreement with you here. I, too, was a partier until a few years ago. Now I create an animated web series that I write, score, and act in, and if I hadn’t given up my parting ways I wouldn’t be doing any of that. Not tooting my own horn, just saying that I can’t party and be productive. I know people who can, I just ain’t one of ‘em.

  • http://www.jamesgunn.com James Gunn

    Yeah_ok – honestly, as I’ve said before, you need to remember I’m usually looking for jokes, and a lot of what was on the Overrated blog was essentially that, including blow jobs, jazz, and so on. In some other cases, such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, I really do think it’s something that’s ridiculously overrated. But don’t let my blow job comments get you down.

  • http://www.myspace.com/missmadamn Caryl

    Congratulations on your longtime sobriety and your personal and professional successes you attribute to it. It’s always inspiring to hear success stories of all kinds :)

    And, Happy Birthday to your brother!

  • ThatGermanGuy

    Congratulations! My cousin died from the effects of alcoholism. He never became really sober and spent most of his last few years in hospitals. It was pretty scary and sad to see him die slowly and that was just from “normal” stuff like Alcohol! So I’m glad that you know that becoming clean and sober was the right thing to do, because otherwise I would tell you know.

    Oh, and Happy Birthday Matt!

  • http://www.manicmeltdown.com yeah_ok

    Wait, p.s. what I meant was congrats on getting sober. It’s not easy, sometimes. You go, boy. :)

  • http://www.manicmeltdown.com yeah_ok

    Just a quick note to say–thanks for sharing this rare serious note.

    personally I found myself stopping the party crap (for the most part) but neither do I cast stones at partiers either. We all gotta do our own thing.

    btw in one of your earlier blogs about the overrated things, you now have totally fucked up my thinking about blow jobs. (your word choice of having sat through thousands of ‘em… heheh)

    now everytime the hubby gets one I’m thinking hmmmm… is he fucking waiting for this shit to be over or what. LOL. Ah well…

    ah well. sorry. now I’ve told the world.

    I wonder what the fuck it is about you & your work that makes me spill this private information (to the whole fucking world, no less.) (like anyone cares.)

    ah well. there are worse things I could do…

    I’ll shut up now.

    later,
    d



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