The Dark Side of Alcohol

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I’m taking a wild guess you don’t have to venture too far in your friend or family mix to find someone who’s in trouble with alcohol.  I’m not talking about sharing a bottle of wine at dinner or having a couple of cocktails after work.  That’s not problem drinking.  I’ve watched most of my friends gradually dial it back from twenty year old drinking to fifty year old drinking.  I think it’s called drinking like a normal person.

The problem drinker is a binge drinker or a blackout drinker.  They drink because they are bored or lonely.  Hide their drinking.  They drink to constantly change how they feel.  They drink when they’re upset.  They drink with dinner, before dinner, after dinner, making dinner.   They drink until they throw up, pass out or both.  They drink because they can’t stop. 

Unfortunately as family members we enable them.  Don’t want to upset them by calling it out so we tip toe around them instead.  Pretend we don’t notice the obvious.  We accept and love them for who they are.  We have no other choice.  It’s their call.  There’s a history of alcoholism in my family.  I have to be careful and so do my kids.  It’s an illness.  It’s addiction and it’s hereditary.  It was explained to me like this; genetics loads the gun and environment pulls the trigger. 

Drinking excessively is bad for your body, your relationships and your mental health.   It’s so normalized in society how could anyone “not drink”.

The ads portray alcohol as a fun companion.  Of course they don’t mention when things go sideways because the brain is impaired.  The canoe trips, camping, skiing, football games and celebrations are fun with or without alcohol.  The world is full of fun happy people who never use alcohol.   I wish more kids growing up understood this better. It would help break the cycle of addiction.

I’ve been around alcohol my entire life and watched it take many people down.  It’s really sad and it upsets me.  Am I The Only One?
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