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Post by X factor on Apr 26, 2013 17:06:47 GMT -5
 Alcohol...the Seductive trap. Let's take a journey into the world of alcohol addiction...and inevitably many of the comparisons and consequences of alcohol addiction will mirror signs of other substance addiction as well... Whether alcohol or drugs or prescription drug addiction...the end result is death... First spiritual death, then mental death, then physical death, in varying stages... This won't be a fun easy 'rah rah you can over come anything if you just put your mind to it' type of read... Rather it will be more like a journey on the back of someone who knows, has been, and at times still lives the content that will be written about. The script is being written 'as we go'...no garunteed happy outcome...just observations. If there is intent or an objective here...I guess it would be to hopefully prevent people with potential, from ever thinking that alcohol or drugs can fix what's wrong with their lives...cause it won't...expecially if you haven't arrived to wherever it is you think you want to go in life....alcohol or drug addiction will simply prevent you from ever getting there... And with that let's get on with it.  |
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Post by X factor on Apr 26, 2013 18:33:20 GMT -5
Don't tell yourself that if you stop drinking...things will get better after a few days...cause they won't...absolutely will not... They may actually even get worse... Only now you have nothing to help you to cope...as you realize the mundane, dull, dry reality you feared, is still there starring you in the face...  RealityYes, cold hard reality will still be starring you right in the face...even after you haven't drank for 3 days, 4 days, 5,10 and so on.... Don't expect reality to go away simply cause your sober...just like it didn't when you were drunk or high... Being sober simply allows you to begin changing your own reality through a series of smart, or smarter, decisions...one at a time. Like trying to turn a big ocean liner ship around in the ocean...  These ships are large, and once they build momentum and speed, they can't just turn on a dime... Instead it takes a series of coordinated turns, and engine/rudder adjustments to get them turned around...one degree at a time... But if they never start, the turn will never begin... Same with being sober... Sobriety in and of itself is not the cure...The cure lies in what you do while sober...the decisions you make while sober. And sadly this is the phase that leads many back to drugs or alcohol...sure they sober up for a few days...weeks, but did nothing with the sobriety...so life still feels as empty as ever, if not more... It happens to celebrities often, who are in and out of rehab regularly. (But their cause and effect is a bit different than what I'm discussing here) Just remember that being sober in and of itself is not the cure...it's what you do with that sobriety that matters... To be continued... |
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Post by X factor on May 10, 2013 16:34:23 GMT -5
Here are some thoughts of how someone who's currently trying to stop drinking might be thinking to themselves, or who has to stop for health reasons, real or imagined...
Begin:
1. "Can't drink, can't do drugs, what the hell can I do?!!"
2. "Life is boring as hell without alcohol"
3. "This is not fair...I'm not rich, don't have a lot of money to spend, at least alcohol was a cheap, affordable way for me to have fun"
End:
Just a few thoughts someone currently struggling with alcohol might be having...where they know they must stop drinking, yet still have the urges, and no plan.
It can be a very frustrating time in ones life, especially if there's nothing else to really hope in or for.
Sometimes drinking and dying can seem more appealing than living and crying...
To those who struggle.
Again, this isn't no 'rah rah, I've been sober for 24 years type of writing or posts...this is more coming from the sentiment of those still on the battle field of alcohol addiction...which are symptoms of many other things that could be wrong or lacking in some ones life....
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Post by X factor on Jun 1, 2013 12:18:58 GMT -5
Don't tell someone else to not drink, if you're not willing to fill that void in their life that they will feel when they put down the bottle or beer.
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Post by X factor on Jun 13, 2013 16:58:57 GMT -5
Not drinking, putting down the bottle, cutting back on beer and booze, doesn't nessisarily make you feel good about anything, in the beginning. What it does do though, is give you more of a fighting chance to deal with issues. You'll have more physical energy and mental clarity, and moods with stabilize. But aside from that, optimism won't just suddenly come flooding into your life. Being sober, expecially when older, still cannot just within itself, substitute youthful glee, which is based on hormone production. You will never feel at 50, the way you did at 20. You can still feel happy, and be optimistic and positive, but just not in a 20ish type way. Age is wonderful, when you age right. Some people age right, laid all their bricks in the proper place and turn 50 or 60 or 40 with a positive past, positive, supportive, foundation, with no regrets, just success. Others turn 30, 40, 50 or 60 with a very unsturdy base, one that feels as if it could collapse at any minute. And look back and see nothing but regret, do to bad decisions. People with regret are more prone to alcoholism. The body can deal with drinking better when young, do to high metabolism, when young, bodies cells are always being replaced at high speed...damaged cells discarded and replaced, but as one ages, and metabolism slows, and body starts dealing with other age related issues, alcohol can greatly complicate things. That's why when you get over a certain age (varies for different people)...alcohol accelerates age related issues.  That's why you don't see many older heavy drinkers, cause either they stop drinking or simply die off. Our bodies have a difficult enough time fighting off normal age related effects like diabetes, cancer cells, eye sight, hearing, hair loss ect. Drinking, or heavy drinking, just makes it much harder for ones body to function normally with age. So either one learns to not drink, or not drink nearly as much, or one gets ill, and dies. It's a choice you have to make. And for those accustomed to drinking, it's not an easy choice. Continued on next post... |
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Post by X factor on Jun 13, 2013 17:30:13 GMT -5
 Stress is an induvisual thing...what stresses one person out, could relax another. Some people are stressed do to being poor, but at the opposite end, there are millionares who stress do to wealth related issues. Like Mel Gibson, he's one of the wealthiest actors in Hollywood, yet struggles with alcoholism... And by no means is he the only one...there are lots of folks in 'high society' who stress, and become alcoholics. Those of us who struggle with poverty, like to believe that wealth smooth's away all problems and issues...but obviously it doesn't... Famous celebrity alcoholicsInteresting list...a short one, but do your own research and you'll discover many more. Everything is relative...if some ones never been poor or without wealth...their highs and lows have to come from other areas. If wealth and glamour is normal to someone...than it's not noticed...not a source of joy. Unlike someone who's been poor their whole life, then suddenly hits the lottery...they will totally appreciate their new found wealth, the 'contrast' of being poor than wealthy, much more than someone who's never been poor.  Sorry, but money is everything, if you've never had lots of it, never been able to relax, not worry about bills, food, rent, car repairs, new shoes, health plans, living conditions...hell ya money is everything to a poor person, who when they suddenly have it, have the ability to change 'ugly' things in their life...to separate themselves from bad enviornments, and thus experience more peace. Sure, when all that settles, they, we, still have to deal with 'self'...but at least a lot of stress points will have been illuminated. Again...this is a different read than most blogs about alcoholism or drinking, it's more reality based. No 'rah rah' you can do it, type of sentiment, it's more like 'you can do it if you want, but won't always be easy' The sun won't suddenly come out when you put down the bottle or beer. Being sober simply gives you a slightly better chance of making it in this world. Will help you make better decisions, spend your time more wisely, give you more energy, and keep you in better health. You have to want that for yourself, and or your family, if you're married and have young ones. You have to want to be healthy, so you can be there for them, and others, if you are loved. And if you're not loved by anyone in particular...than you have to love yourself. Self is worth loving and caring for. back soon... |
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Post by X factor on Jun 14, 2013 16:06:20 GMT -5
 Here are some positive things about not drinking... If you were in a wheel chair, do to drinking related health issues, how much would you pay to be in good health again and be able to walk? $200,000, $500,000? 1 million dollars? When you don't have good health, how much is good health to you? Point being, you have good health now...and until it's gone most don't realize how much it's worth. So pretend you were the one in a wheel chair do to advanced diabetes, or weakened heart, destroyed nervous system do to heavy drinking or even smoking...and someone granted you a wish to be able to walk again, and be in good health. Grant yourself that wish and put down the bottle. |
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Post by X factor on Aug 24, 2013 19:53:20 GMT -5
The effects of alcohol on your face, and skinThe above link describes the effects alcohol has on the face and skin. If one is into looking young and beautiful, excessive drinking should be avoided. But by no means is alcohol the only trap, escape trap, that people fall into. There's emotional traps also. There's plenty of non chemical traps, habits, addictions, that one can fall into in order to cope with life. Married families, who have perfect lives, attend church, Dads a Church Deacon, Mom attends civic functions, hobbits raised perfectly in suburbs, no crime, no vices all is well types, don't understand what it's like to have all that removed...either gradually or suddenly.  Now obviously no family is perfect...cause people aren't perfect, none of us are hardwired to be 'happy' all of the time. But those in tight social structures do tend to have more layers of protection in which to fall back on, than those removed from such social structures. When you're alone, by yourself, and dealing with issues...the bottle or can, can become your Uncle, Brother, Sister, Mom and Dad all in one. The bottle, when alone, can become your best friend that says 'Come on, you can do it, everyone else doubts you but I don't'...gulp gulp gulp... There's no easy answers or solutions here... Recovery from heavy drinking is a whole industry of corrective steps to self healing. Just like creating a 6 sided dice...a dice may seem like a simple square object...but the tooling and chemicals, and logistics, and manufacturing space required to make 'dice' is an industry within itself. And how much more complicated is the human mind than 'dice'?  We're all going to eventually wear out and die...the question to self has to at some point become, 'While alive, what kind of condition do I want to be in?'.... When your 'will' to be healthy and strong, over comes your need for a drink...change will begin to occur. But that still doesn't mean the battle is won...to be continued...
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Post by X factor on Aug 28, 2013 18:20:41 GMT -5
"Life after alcohol, what do you do?" When you stop drinking, you're not always drunk or in a sleepy stupor...now suddenly you find yourself with more energy and time on your hand than you know what to do with. What do you do with that extra time and energy? Good question... When you've been sober, or haven't had a drink for a week or so, you begin to realize how much of your moods were artifisially generated from the effects of alcohol. And maybe that's not always so bad...if done every now and then, but the heavy drinker has to do it every day. And that's when it becomes bad. So when you stop drinking, it can be a challenge getting back in touch with yourself, the way you were, before you ever started drinking...maybe a time when you still thought dreams could come true ect. When you stop drinking, you go back to the emotional time and place that you were when you started. So if you started drinking heavy at age 19...and stop at age 27...when you stop drinking, you go back to where you were at 19, only now your body is older, and more worn. Problem is, while drinking for all those years, the natural dorphines, and other hormones in your body responsible for moods, have gone dormant. Dormant...they are not there at first...cause alcohol was the substitute. So you wait to have these natural highs and lows, that you felt at age 19 or 20, but they're just not there. Your natural emotions went on vacation...they're like 'Well hey, since you don't need us anymore, and have alcohol, we're going on vacation'. And it's that prolonged dull feeling that makes many return to drinking if there's nothing to fill that void...like the rush of natural adrenaline. When you drink or do drugs, you don't need to do anything to get a or that feeling...you can just sit in a chair and get high or drunk, without doing anything...  So when you stop drinking...and still just 'sit'...nothing occurs...you wait...but nothing occurs. Activity has to occur before your body begins to become alive again. And many fail to realize that, and as such slip back into the bottle. There is no easy solution here to not drinking...and as I said from the opening post, this is going to be written in a more realistic way, not for the one who has already recovered, and not drank for 10 years, but for those still in the trenches... |
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Post by X factor on Oct 11, 2013 14:27:53 GMT -5
Alcohol...the Seductive trap... It's a trap that will get you every time. It's a trap, most are able to get out of, heal, and then head back, thinking 'This time I'll out smart it'... You can't. Then again a lot of that depends on your personality, and environment and circumstances. But obviously money or riches, is no protection against the alcohol trap. Income poor drinkers always think 'Well gee, If I had all their money, milliones, I'd have no reason to drink'... And income rich drinkers always think 'If they had my money, and the issues that came with it, they'd be drunk all the time too'... But alcohol don't care if you're rich or poor, the effects are the same. But the effects on the non working wealthy, can be hidden better. It's easier for a wealthy type, who doesn't labor for a living, to spend weeks, months, even years, in a drunken stupor, until noticed by someone. But the poor, income poor, aren't so isolated, and so the effects of them drinking can be seen by and effect others in the home, office, job. An investor class rich person, or someone years ahead of their daily bills, doesn't have to show up to work the next day at 5 am...where the previous nights drinking effects performance and safety. Whether rich or poor...sheer will power is the only way to stop. Or one day you look in the mirror, and don't like what you see anymore. Or the fact that you get winded just jogging across a small field. Or maybe a medical scare, or a combination of all of the above and more.... Even an embarracing moment where u acted and behaved, hung around with folks you normally wouldn't. Sometimes these things make you stop and pause for a while. Until one again you approach that trap...try to out smart it, and get caught up all over again. There is no solutions here...just discussion. The only solution is to restrain 100% But that's just not realistic for most. There are many who don't drink, and never will, for religious reasons, or other personal reasons. Chemical addiction is one of the worst addictions, cause you think you need a substance, when in fact you simply do no not. |
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Post by X factor on Nov 29, 2013 20:55:11 GMT -5
 Once alcohol gets a hold of you...trying to stop, or control it, is like trying to pull a barbed arrow head out of your side... There's no easy way to do it...it's painful, and of course anything that's painful we don't want to do. To an alcoholic, or someone who drinks a lot, trying to stop is just like pulling a barbed arrow out of your side...it's painful, as such for many it's easier, more convient to leave the arrow inside. But when you do that infection can, and usually does follow. If one continues to drink heavily, instead of stopping, or cutting way back, a similar infection insues...infection that effects moral and motivation and even ones over all moods, outlook and happiness. Drinking heavily is like piercing oneself with an arrow, and leaving it inside, cause at the time it seems less painful to pull the arrow out, or to stop drinking. But eventually once an infection occurs, the pain of the infection, a ruined life, is much worse than the pain of pulling the arrow out would have been. Again...this is not a rah rah...oh you can do it, you can stop drinking; type of journal. It's reality based...and that reality is many drink cause there's other holes in their life that can't be so easily filled...if so they probably wouldn't of started drinking to begin with. Many put down the bottle or cans for a week, just to start back up again cause the hole or void in their life is never filled. And the ugliness of ones circumstances begins to seep in again...with no apparent escape...so alcohol becomes that escape, cause while drunk or buzzed...like Clark Gable said in the Movie 'Gone with the Wind'...  'Frankly my Dear I just don't give a dm'... And that's how alcohol makes many feel...problems no longer matter... But they do, and don't go away. You wake up and they're still there...same issues that were there before drinking began...only now you have less courage to deal with it while sober, and feel even more naked and exposed, frail. And so the cycle continues...whether it be with alcohol or harder drugs. And the only solution is to pull that arrow out...and just know, admit, ahead of time that it will be painful, and feel unbearable at times. And time is the only medicine, the longer body is separated from alcohol or drugs, the less you'll want it. If one is already a millionare, lives in a gated Mansion, and has achieved their life ambitions...fine. Drinking to them becomes a health issue. But for those still trying to climb up in life, drinking can totally derail your dreams if allowed to get out of control. It will take you off your game, and make you lazy, amongst other things. Just be careful out there...expecially during these Holidays... |
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Post by X factor on Jan 18, 2014 22:11:16 GMT -5
Dennis Rodman checked into alcohol rehab, according to radio report I just heard.
Sometimes I wonder is it easier to fall into alcoholism when rich or poor?
When one is poor, one thinks 'Gee if I had all the riches in the world, why would I drink, I'd have no anxiety that causes me to drink to begin with, no worries, no stress, nothing to escape from, after all I'm wealthy and can just buy my way out of problems'.
But obviously that's not the case, since every month seems some rich celebrity is checking into or out of rehab.
Fame and fortune obviously aren't enough to prevent one from drinking.
There are poor back wood people addicted to booze, and there are rich millionaire socialites addicted to alcohol, like Mel Gibson's public bout with it a few years ago.
I guess even the rich are still human, frail, and still need confidence, maybe even more since more is expected of them, at least the entertainment class of rich.
If ones a millionaire out of the public eye, not known, filthy rich, and still drinks heavily, than obviously there's other things going on in life, and with self, that causes them to drink heavily.
This is worth a closer examination in future posts.
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Post by X factor on Jan 25, 2014 19:50:45 GMT -5
 If alcohol could talk to you... 'Come here baby, I love you, you're alone, I'm alone, why not lets get together and have a bit of fun? You have no friends, you're alone, I'm a lone, life is short, the night is short, so lets get together and mice things up. Health?, aah what's that, everyone dies anyhow, it's how you live in between birth and death that matters, and I can help you live, I can give you that magic energy, bravado, that boost, that confidence that you so lack without me, so come on, let's get together tonight, just me and you. I, alcohol, will have you feeling like a million bucks in just a matter of minutes. No ones going to call you, you're not going to win the lottery, your bills aren't going away anytime soon, your social-economic status isn't ever going to change, but I can change how you relate to it all when inside your system, I can make you just not give a dm about any of it, so come on, let's get together. I'm alcohol, and I'm here for you'. Fast forward to the morning.... This is alcohol talking to you the next morning...  'Get out of my bed, get out of my room, and get out of my house...I don't know you. It's not my fault you're late for work, unmotivated to do anything, feeling tired, and wore out, I never forced you to do anything. You're pathetic, don't get me involved with your problems and issues. Now scat... Oh, and by the way, later tonight when you're feeling lonely and depressed, I'll be here for you again. The two faces of alcohol. |
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Post by X factor on Mar 8, 2014 19:29:46 GMT -5
How a drinker may feel at timesJust maybe I like being drunk, why, cause when I'm sober, I realize no one loves me, no one cares about me.
When I'm sober I realize how small I am, how little I matter to anyone or anything on this planet.
So just maybe I like being drunk, at least when I'm drunk the pains of reality aren't there, I can at least pretend I'm something.
In Fact I think I'd rather die drunk than sober, at least if I die drunk it'll seem more like an adventure, where as if I die sober, it will just be scary and chilling.
Don't you dare take that bottle out of my hand, if you yourself aren't willing to step in and replace what the bottle gave me.
If you can't love me, value me, than don't bother taking the bottle out of my hand.
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Post by X factor on Mar 13, 2014 21:32:26 GMT -5
Alcohol is like Satan in a dress.
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