Alcohol usage has become mainstream in society today. Despite the dangerous warnings of alcohol consumption and the associated behaviors, many drink essentially because it makes them feel good. These feelings are so exhilarating that it leaves people wanting more.
In today’s world, life gets busy! The typical parent has so much on the go; they have bills to worry about, responsibilities at work, responsibilities at home, child care, spouse care, appointments, and activities. And in addition to all these, they have mental health issues of depression, anxiety, fear, resentments, and/or jealousy. The fact is, people are typically looking for a solution that would take the edge off their minds and help them to actually find some joy out of their day.
Despite the fact that alcohol helps take the edge off of things, it also brings along unhealthy risky behaviors. Behaviors that can cost you your relationships, finances, health, home, drivers license, freedom, and most importantly, your life.
One can easily see this on paper…
If you want to see how alcohol has affected your life then journal all the problems in your life and see whether they are at all associated with the drink. Has alcohol been present in all your affairs? Are you able to stop with just one? Are you downsizing to wine because you have bad experiences with hard liquor? Have you tried searing off liquor in the past? Have you tried changing your friends or company? Have you been drinking alone? Have you tried changing your environment? Have you tried reading inspirational books? Have you tried stopping but found some trivial reason to start again? Did you have a bad experience and forgot the humility that followed a year, a month or even a week later. If you have answered yes to any of these, you may want to keep reading.
“Prevalence of Drinking: According to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 86.4 percent of people ages 18 or older reported that they drank alcohol at some point in their lifetime; 70.1 percent reported that they drank in the past year; 56.0 percent reported that they drank in the past month.”
“In 2012, about 3.3 million deaths– 5.9% of all global deaths—were attributable to alcohol consumption [2]. In 2013, an estimated 22 million Canadians, almost 80% of the population, reported that they drank alcohol in the previous year”
“Impaired driving in Canada, 2015. Police reported 72,039 impaired driving incidents in 2015, a rate of 201 incidents per 100,000 population. Of the total number of incidents, 122 were cases of impaired driving causing death and 596 were cases of impaired driving causing bodily harm.”
Most are wondering, if not alcohol, then what is the solution to all our problems.
This can be best answered by the following illustration:
Take a tree as an example. The tree has the visual trunk and branches, above ground. Then, it has its roots implanted deep under ground. Despite the many attempts in removing the tree from the surface level, the roots will eventually always grow the same tree.
Our lives are similar. No matter how many times we try removing our surface problems with surface solutions, our root causes will always regrow the same surface problem.
Take any life challenge, if the challenge has caused you to feel surface problems of depression, anxiety or anger and you have chosen to take the surface solution of alcohol, since you have not addressed the root cause of your emotions, you will drink again.
Alcohol will not solve any of your problems; it will only make you feel better for a short period of time.
You may be asking, if surface problems are really not my problem then what is? You may also be curious to know what other solutions exist that are sufficient enough to solve all your problems.
What are my root problems that cause me to drink…
Most life challenges will have a direct impact on one’s ego, pride, self esteem, pocketbook, relationships, security and/or ambitions. These are considered to be root problems, as they have direct influence on ones behaviors. The problem arises when the individual does not work to understand the life challenge and try working through the associated emotions. Instead, they try to minimize the problem by drinking alcohol. Overtime, these buried emotions give rise to the surface problem of Addiction, which causes an emotional stunt in one’s emotional growth. As a result, the individual is u able to cope with life on life’s terms without the drink.
What would be a root solution to my drinking problem…
To address the root causes of your alcohol use, you would need to explore the psychological health barriers that keep causing you to repeat old behaviors. This is best done with a Life Coach.
www.GobindWellness.com