Here’s the really unfortunate thing about alcohol.
It’s so freaking good.
This legal, globally marketed, mass-produced drug.
It can act as a stimulant, pain reducer, anxiety suppressor, and social liquid courage drug that dilutes your past to a bearable level whilst also removing the reality that you do worry about the future.
All whilst bending, it’s affects based off what the individual desires most.
If you want a stimulant, you’ll use it to keep the party going.
If you want to grieve, you’ll use it to allow your body to feel deeply.
If you want to avoid an uncomfortable moment ahead, you’ll use it to drown out the noise of your future.
If you want to forget your past, you’ll use a certain intoxication level that makes life seem bearable.
If you want time away from people, you’ll use alcohol as a secret little best friend that will keep you company.
If you want to get angry but can’t, you’ll drink and become aggressive.
If you want to cry but don’t know how or why you’ll become overly emotional when you’re drunk.
If you want to feel comfortable and confident but don’t, you’ll use it to engage in social situations.
If you want to spend time with your partner but fear not connecting deeply, you’ll drink to avoid them or even just drink around them to spend time with them.
If you don’t want to think or feel anything at all, you’ll drink to a level that you’re either hungover or intoxicated for the majority of your life. Never really being able to be still and be present with yourself.
You’ll be angry that you feel like shit or happy that you no longer feel like shit.
Not only that.
It’s completely socially acceptable and even encouraged to use alcohol for these reasons.
Leaving individuals scratching their heads as to why they keep drinking even though they don’t really want to.
And here’s why.
You never drink because you ‘like alcohol’ or the taste of it.
You only ever drink because of the many shifts and changes it creates within your mental, emotional, and even environmental/physical worlds.
I’m not saying you don’t like the taste. I am saying the taste is just a part (a very small part) of why you drink.
Alcohol is what we crave. Flavours of alcohol just justify our craving or excuse as to why we want the drink in the first place.
Gone are the days when we ignorantly overconsume alcohol and write it off as “I love the taste”.
You love the taste and…
When you can clearly articulate all the reasons, as well as taste, as too why you drink, you’ll be a big step closer to creating a relationship with alcohol you love and respect.
When we can uncomfortably become aware that many of us (really all of us, to be honest) use alcohol as a self-medicating technique, we can own and appreciate our intake levels without a BS story to justify it.
Or we can start to reduce our intake levels without feeling inadequate to the rest like there’s something wrong with us but not everyone else.
Drink a lot or drink a little.
There’s no right or wrong.
Moderation is key, and choosing what you consume is freedom.
Just being honest with ourselves and knowing that sometimes we use alcohol (medication) to socialise or alcohol (medication) to connect with our partner or alcohol (medication) to switch off after a long day.
And if we choose to acknowledge this, we can all agree on one very important thing.
We’re all addicted and attached to consuming things that shift our mood, state, and overall sense of being.
Here’s to being honest about the power & utilisation of alcohol in our culture.
Tommy Carts
DLFF