Alcohol control

Alcohol, Alcohol, Alcohol…

God's gift to the planet or the devil’s liqueur?

This all depends on your relationship with this substance. Is it a drug for you, is it your medicine, is it your poison or maybe even your passion, what exactly is it to you?

The relationship with alcohol varies from human to human and after taking an entire year of drinking when I was 25 I had a few realizations. It has the ability to completely destroy your life or even change it for the better. To rip away everything you once had or facilitate the addition of lots of new exciting things to your life. To ruin your relationships or help forge new ones. It’s not all bad but it’s not all good either.

I personally had lots of uninhibited free-flowing good times drinking and created many memories off the back of these. However, I also had many occasions where I ended up far worse off than when I began with the liquor fuelled tirades leading to nasty consequences. Potentially even near-death experiences as a result of over fuelling myself well past my limits, acting irrationally, and totally out of control.

I think most people can probably relate to the opposing sides of alcohol's influence and can begin to understand the power this substance wields over us.

Sometimes we can control it but for the most part, it seems to have control over us.

I’ll just have one or two drinks tonight… the classic line that often gets thrown out the window once the two drinks are in us. In a heartbeat, we detach from the sensible part of us that wants to “get home in a reasonable hour” so we can “have a productive following day or weekend”. Fuelled up we then completely put aside our responsibilities and push them further back, delaying the inevitable.

Now, I’m not saying this is always a bad thing.

Sometimes we have to be impulsive, have fun, and let loose as these are often the best nights out. However, when this becomes a consistent weekly habit and something we hinge our entire workweek upon then we start to diverge from what really matters. We shirk our attempts to achieve anything greater than what we are already doing in the name of getting drunk, draining our bank accounts, and having a nasty hangover.

Ah, the hangovers… they seem to get worse and worse the older we get.

Is this because our tolerance to drinking is higher than when we were younger so we need to drink more to get the same buzz or is this our organs slowly degrading and unable to tolerate the consistent stress they are put under?

I personally think it is a combination of both among other factors. We then enter a cycle of trying anything and everything to avoid the hangover; supplements, prescription drugs, greasy foods, sports drinks, panadol, basically any quick fix we can find. Rather than resting and letting the body’s natural process do the work we look for quick fixes that generally put more stress on the body on top of the toxic load of alcohol.

Don’t get me wrong though. Alcohol definitely plays a vital role in social situations and is a part of many ancient practices however in excess it disrupts our entire system. It affects our decision-making process. It lowers testosterone in men. Affects hormones in women. It inhibits fat loss. It takes a heavy toll on our organs. It disrupts our gut and is usually combined with high amounts of refined sugar, artificial flavorings, and preservatives which cause even more damage to us.

From a health perspective, consistent consumption of alcohol has effects that go way beyond a hangover and we could probably agree that there would be a correlation between high consumption of alcohol and dissatisfaction in life.

It’s a slippery slope...

I’m not here to tell you what to do or not to do. It’s always your decision so do your own research if you are interested in understanding more. All I wish to highlight is the damaging effects of a bad relationship with alcohol.

Next time you go to have a drink maybe ask yourself why are you drinking; to connect with others or to block out the disconnection you experience within yourself.

Do you have control of it, or does it have control of you?