Alcoholism

Newsflash: Alcohol Is a Drug
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Have you ever been asked if you do drugs? If you drink alcohol, the answer is yes, you do drugs. Think of all the people you know who drink alcohol — yes, they all do drugs too.

This is not a stretch, or a play on words, or semantics; it is a literal, straight-up fact.

Alcohol is a drug. It is one of the most addictive and destructive drugs that there is. It’s right up there with heroin, methamphetamine (meth), and cocaine.

“Alcohol is the most commonly used addictive substance in the U.S. 17.6 million people, or one in every 12 adults, suffer from alcohol abuse or dependence along with several million more who engage in risky drinking patterns that could lead to alcohol problems.”

Did you know that there are 2.5 million alcohol-related deaths worldwide annually? Or that alcohol is a factor in 40% of all violent crimes today?

You might think that alcohol is not a drug because it’s legal; think again, it’s a drug.

Why People Do Drugs

People take “recreational” drugs because they want to escape from the real world, and spend some time in fantasy land. The problem is, as you do this over and over again, it turns into a habit. Then from a habit into an addiction. The addiction becomes a rut that gets deeper and deeper — more and more difficult to get out of. You increase your usage of drugs because you develop a tolerance — you need more to get the high that you’ve become addicted to. Meanwhile, you are completely ruining your body and your mind, and the rut is starting to take on the shape of a grave.

The Reality

Seeing people partying it up in a bar or club on a Saturday night, you’d be forgiven for thinking that drinking is nothing but fun. Everyone’s laughing and joking and flirting with each other — having a great time. What’s the problem?

At some point, they’ll all go to sleep — or, if not exactly to sleep, to some degree of unconsciousness. Eventually, they’ll wake up, and reality will set in: the hangover; the regrets; the shame; the realization of the idiotic things they said and did last night slowly dawning on them; trying to remember where the car is parked, or the name of the stranger lying beside them.

Alcohol Is Not the Answer

While doing drugs can start out seeming like fun, if you keep doing it, gradually increasing your intake, it’s not going to end well. So why start in the first place? Getting drunk to escape your problems is like putting a bag over your head and pretending the real world isn’t happening. Just because you are numbing yourself to reality, does not mean that it isn’t there; it will be there waiting with a vengeance when the drugs wear off.

Forget the Booze

To have any chance of improving your life and effectively dealing with your problems, you need to be sober; to be thinking clear, lucid thoughts. Running away from your problems will not solve them, and getting drunk will only make them much worse. Face your troubles head on; slay them one by one; do something with this amazing gift of life that you’ve been granted.

You can start right now and make a beautiful, alcohol-free life for yourself — the way it was intended.

KTB

Your Hard-Earned Money
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How much of your hard-earned money have you wasted on booze? How much will you waste in the future if you keep drinking? What would you guess you spend per week on alcohol? $20? $50? $100? More?

Think about it — every time you hit the booze: after work, at home, weekends, parties, special occasions, vacations — what does it all cost?

Here are some numbers to give you an idea:

  • At $20 per week you spend $1,040 per year, $10,400 every 10 years
  • At $50 per week you spend $2,600 per year, $26,000 every 10 years
  • At $75 per week you spend $3,900 per year, $39,000 every 10 years
  • At $100 per week you spend $5,200 per year, $52,000 every 10 years

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a pile of money sitting in the bank? Money that you would have spent on booze. “Free” money. Plus great health to have fun with it?

What sense does it make to waste your money on alcohol? Ruining your health in the process? It’s estimated that alcoholism reduces the average life expectancy by 10-12 years. What a thing, to be given the miracle of life, the opportunity to be a human being on planet Earth, top of the food chain, and to choose to poison yourself with booze. It defies all logic.

So here’s an idea: quit drinking, and put your money to good use. If you have debt, use the money to pay it off. Once your debts are paid off, transfer the money you would have spent on booze into a savings account each week, every week, and watch it grow. (You could put cash into a drawer, or a jar, or a piggy bank, but you risk losing it if you were burgled, or in the event of a fire.)

The flip side of all of this is that if you continue to abuse alcohol, wasting your money, your health will continue to deteriorate. Down the road you are going to find yourself damaged beyond repair, and up to your neck in medical bills. Alcohol ruins friendships, families, jobs, and lives.

Save your money. Get your health back on track. Do something with your amazing life.

KTB

One Day At a Time
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When it comes to quitting drinking, you don’t have to think long-term — weeks, months, years, the rest of your life — all you need to focus on is today. All we ever really have is today. The past is gone, the future is yet to come — we are never in it. We are only ever in the present, the now, today.

If you can make it through today without drinking, you will have proven that you have what it takes to kick the booze. Get up tomorrow and do it again. And just as with anything you do over and over again, it gets easier — much, much easier. Not only does it get easier, but, as you conquer each day, you’ll get stronger and healthier. You’ll take back control of your life.

Craving will come and go, but it weakens every time you resist it. To resist craving, you take away its power; to take away its power, you stop thinking about it. Whenever the unhealthy thought of drinking comes to mind, you immediately change your thoughts to something healthy.

If you don’t believe that you can change your thoughts, try this exercise the next time you catch yourself thinking about something negative: Close your eyes and picture yourself on a beautiful island, surrounded by palm trees, and blue skies with puffy white clouds; standing barefoot at the water’s edge, in the powder-soft white sand, with the warm tropical water gently lapping at your feet. Imagine yourself in amazing shape, with a clear mind, and a feeling of absolute tranquility.

You can do that. You can choose to have those thoughts — any time you like. If a negative thought enters your head, you don’t have to dwell on it, giving it power; let it go, and choose to think about something positive instead.

If you write down your reasons for quitting alcohol and carry them with you, or have them easily accessible from your smartphone or computer, you can read them any time you get the urge to drink — refocusing your thoughts, and reminding yourself why drinking alcohol is a bad idea. The craving will pass, and you’ll strengthen your willpower, each and every time you do it.

If you did it yesterday, you can do it today.

One day at a time.

KTB

Get Your Willpower On
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Willpower: the ability to control yourself; strong determination that allows you to do something difficult (such as to lose weight or quit drinking).

After you quit drinking, there will be times when you will crave alcohol, and it will take willpower to overcome that craving. It’s like a tug-of-war between you and the craving. The craving wants you to do something unhealthy, to pull you over to the dark side. But you know what’s over there on the dark side if the craving wins: a brief feeling of euphoria (the buzz from the alcohol), followed by misery (hangover, sickness, missed days at work, lost weekends, wasted money, etc.).

If you don’t currently have a lot of willpower, you will have to fight a mighty battle to beat the craving. It will take every fiber of your being to overcome the urge, pulling on “the rope” with all your might to stop yourself from drinking.

If, on the other hand, you have highly developed willpower, you can make a simple ninja-move and let go of the rope, sending the craving crashing back to the dark side.

People who use their willpower:

  • Stick to their plans
  • Keep their promises
  • Reach their goals
  • Do what they say they’re going to do
  • Learn new skills
  • Climb mountains — real and virtual
  • Make things happen
  • Take charge of their lives

Develop Your Willpower

If you want to succeed at most things in life, you need willpower. And here’s the good news: you have it. We’re all born with it. It’s one of the most important tools you have in your tool kit — consider it a super-power. But, like a muscle, you have to use it to develop it.

You have so many simple opportunities every single day to develop your willpower:

  • Get up when the alarm goes off
  • Choose a healthy breakfast over junk food
  • Brush your teeth – every day, twice a day
  • Make the bed
  • Get to work on time
  • Have an exercise routine
  • Do the laundry
  • Pay the bills on time
  • Wash the dishes
  • Keep your home clean and tidy
  • Resist unhealthy temptations
  • Go to bed when you should

The list goes on and on. To develop your willpower, you do what needs to be done, whether you feel like it or not. No excuses. You will yourself to do the right thing. And you do it before even thinking about rewarding yourself with watching your favorite TV show, or a movie, or going out with friends, etc.

It might seem difficult at first, but, like learning to ride a bike, or to drive a car, it becomes second nature. You develop healthy, empowering habits, and rid yourself of procrastination and old, bad habits. You become your own master.

If you consistently take care of the smaller things in life, every time, when you should, you will be developing your willpower; you will be ready to take on life’s bigger challenges when they arise.

As Nike’s powerful slogan says: “Just do it.”

It’s really that simple.

KTB

A Ninja Walks Into a Bar
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Ninja: a person who excels in a particular skill or activity.

After you make the very wise decision to kick the booze, replacing your old bad habits with new healthy ones can be a major challenge. Not least of all as we move towards the end of the week and, ultimately, the weekend, when our friends convene at bars and parties, and proceed to get ripped on their alcoholic beverages of choice.

The first plan of attack for these situations is to have a serious think about who your real friends are. If all of your friends are reckless boozers, it’s going to be very difficult for you to hang with them and not be quickly sucked back into your old ways.

But maybe you’ve got some sensible friends who occasionally have one or two drinks over the course of an evening, and then stop. They don’t get wasted, they remain in control (to a degree), and are fun, good people to be around. You want to keep these friends in your life.

Now, back to our ninja — that’s you. Imagine your new, ninja self, going to a bar with your good friends and ordering an iced tea, or a refreshing sparkling water with ice and slice, while they all order their alcoholic drinks. Imagine yourself doing this with ease, knowing that you are in full control of your actions and choices.

Next, imagine the evening progressing, and you being aware of how the alcohol is affecting your friends, how they’re getting a bit goofy, how maybe they start to share information that they might not have if it wasn’t for the booze. Picture yourself fully engaged in conversations, having fun, sipping on your healthy drink.

As the fog of alcohol plays tricks on your tipsy friends, imagine yourself seeing everything in pure, crystal clarity — fully aware of your surroundings, in absolute control of yourself.

Lastly, imagine yourself waking up the following morning, after a great night’s sleep, with no trace of a hangover, ready to make the most of your amazing life.

And it’s not like you have to work for months or years to get to this point. You can choose to stop drinking right now — in a split second; in one swift and decisive ninja move.

KTB

Because Life is So Precious
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Have you ever pondered the odds of your being born a human being? The top of the food chain? On planet Earth? Let’s look at some numbers.

If you go back 40 generations, starting with you, then your parents, then grandparents, great grandparents, and so on, how many people would you guess had to be involved? In 40 generations? Hundreds? Thousands? Try more than 2 trillion. That’s trillion with a “t.” Let’s not even get into the odds of all of those people meeting and having a productive roll in the hay together, nor consider going back another 40 generations, lest our heads explode.

There’s a Buddhist story that if you threw a lifesaver randomly into any of the oceans on the planet (around 140 million square miles of them), and if there was only one turtle in all of the oceans, the odds of you being born would be akin to the turtle surfacing for the first time and poking it’s head through the lifesaver. Which is to say, almost no chance at all.

And what about death? Have you ever considered the chances of dying? Let me grab my calculator… Oh, wait, I don’t need it. Chances of dying: 100%. Guaranteed.

Do you know how precious and fleeting your life is? You were born, against all the odds, not a flee, nor a rat, nor plankton, but the highest of all life forms: a human being.

After the absolute miracle of your being born, how crazy is it to poison yourself and ruin your life with alcohol? I’ll tell you how crazy: 100%.

Wake up! Now is the time! Do something with your mindbogglingly precious life! The past is the past — forget it. The rest of your life begins right now, in this very moment. Do you want to make something of it? Or just continue as you have been? Drinking, unhappy, unhealthy? You know the answer.

This is your shot. Your life. Once you’re gone, you’re gone. You will never have this chance again. Ever.

KTB

No Labels Necessary
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We do need labels — on some things. For example, the label on a bottle of wine will tell you how much alcohol it contains — around 13.5% on average — or on a hard liquor bottle — around 40% on average. They are useful labels. If you’re getting ready for a night of boozing, they’ll give you an idea of just how much damage you’re getting ready to inflict upon yourself — on your heart, your liver, your brain, etc.

Other labels aren’t so useful. For example, some use the label “recovering alcoholic” to describe themselves or others. I choose not to. To me, the label “recovering” puts you in a position of weakness. It implies that there is something wrong with you, that you are sick, that you might be healthy some time in the future, but in no way should you consider yourself healthy right now.

Personally, I don’t care for the idea of having to go through life believing that there’s something wrong with me, and I don’t care what labels others might want to tag me with either — that’s up to them.

Here’s how I see it: drinking makes me feel bad, not drinking makes me feel good. I have chosen to not drink, because I like feeling good. If anything, I might say that I was “recovered,” but I don’t need that either. I’m not drinking, I feel much better for it, end of story. It’s that simple. No labels necessary.

Interestingly enough, here’s a link to an article that describes the problems with identifying with either label, recovering or recovered.

In my book, if you choose to kick the booze, you will go from being a person who used to drink, to being a person who doesn’t drink — and a happier, healthier, wealthier one at that.

KTB

But All My Friends Drink!
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Most of my friends drink to some degree or another, do I just end the friendships now that I’ve quit drinking?

It’s going to be difficult to stay off the booze if your friends are all heavy boozers. Here are some straightforward pointers for dealing with this problem.

The Best Kind of Friends

We have to choose our friends carefully, because the people we spend our time with have a big influence on us. The people you want in your life are:

  • Kind
  • Decent
  • Honest
  • Healthy
  • Fun to be around
  • Inspiring
  • Motivating
  • Supportive
  • Genuinely interested in you
  • Reliable
  • Trustworthy
  • Positive
  • Loyal

People who are truly your friends, who care about you, will respect your decision to kick the booze. They will support you one hundred percent.

The Questionable Friends

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You might want to question the depth of the friendship with friends who tease you about quitting alcohol, and try to coax you back into drinking. Are they really your friends? Would somebody who really cared about you want you to be drunk? Would they let you drink and drive? I think you know the answers to those questions.

It’s not that they’re malicious, that they are intentionally wanting to jeopardize your health, your happiness, your life. It’s more likely that they’ve just given up caring about their own lives. If they don’t care about what happens to themselves, how can they care about what happens to you?

Choose Wisely

George Washington said: “It is better to be alone than in bad company.”

A Buddhist would advise: “If you cannot find a good companion to travel with, walk alone, like an elephant roaming the jungle. It is better to be alone than with those who will hinder your progress.”

While it might not be easy to completely sever the ties with the heavy boozers in your life, you should seriously consider reducing time spent with them to a minimum. And spend more time with your true friends, the ones who respect and support you. Or maybe try spending more quality time with family, or alone. Read an inspiring/entertaining book, learn a new language or skill, work out, practice yoga, meditate, there are endless healthy ways to spend your time.

To kick the booze, you must become a different person. A better, stronger, smarter person.

Give it a go, you’ll be AMAZED at what you are capable of.

KTB

Do This and You Won’t Drink
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There’s one simple thing that you can do that will stop you from drinking: THINK.

  • Think about how bad you’re going to feel with that hangover tomorrow if you drink today.
  • Think about the fact that you’ll be poisoning your precious body if you choose to drink, destroying your liver, your heart, and your brain, among many other things.
  • Think about the money that you’ll be wasting, money that you could be saving and putting towards a new car, or a great vacation, or setting aside for a rainy day.
  • Think about the stupid things that you’ve done under the influence of alcohol — do you want to repeat those?
  • Think about the promises made but not kept, and all the things you’ve said under the influence of booze that you’d like to take back.
  • Think about the fact that all of your worldly troubles will be waiting for you with a vengeance when you awake.
  • Think about all the things that need to be done tomorrow that won’t get done if you drink.

And then think about the benefits of choosing not to drink:

  • Think: you won’t wake up with a hangover tomorrow, filled with regret and berating yourself.
  • Think: you won’t be poisoning your precious body (it will appreciate it more than you could know).
  • Think: you’ll be saving your hard-earned money for something so much better.
  • Think: you won’t be tempted to do those stupid things that booze would have you do.
  • Think: you’ll be better able to cope with any problems that you might be dealing with. We all have problems in life; drinking does not solve any of them.
  • Think: you’ll have much more energy tomorrow, and you’ll be able to think clearly, allowing you to attack the day and get things done.

There’s a moment when we make a final decision — it’s a split second — like a light switch. It’s on or it’s off; I choose to drink, or I choose not to drink. The next time you’re getting ready to flick that switch, think about the guaranteed consequences of the choice that you’re about to make:

  • Drink and you will suffer.
  • Don’t drink and you’ll be a better, smarter, stronger person.

It should be a pretty easy decision, right?

Just think.

KTB

Cut Yourself Some Slack
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If you swore that you’d never have another drink — maybe you promised yourself that “this time, I mean it” — but you succumbed to the urge and drank, don’t be too hard on yourself. There are literally millions of people fighting the very same battle that you are.

Cut yourself some slack — you are human — and do all that you can to treat the hangover.

It can take days to fully recover from a night of boozing, but with each day you will get progressively better. It might help if you write down just how awful a hangover makes you feel, and refer back to those notes the next time you are considering drinking. Somehow, we seem to quickly forget how bad the effects of alcohol can be.

Start Over

If we break our promises, we have to get up, dust ourselves off, and start over. Try to be aware of the situations that tempt you to drink, and then try to avoid or change those situations. If you’ve had a terrible day at work, and the norm is for you to hit the booze, do something healthy instead. Go for a walk, read something inspiring, remind yourself that by choosing to not drink, you are making yourself a better and stronger person.

You have to break the bad habits, and create new, good habits. I recently purchased some new glasses because my old ones made me think of wine. A small change with a big effect.

You can do this.

KTB