'Grip of alcohol'? Aren't we all with rock bottom Govt / Brexit disaster etc and subsequent impact upon us little people?

James o Brien had a nice show about alcohol.

I think many people feel that after a long days work them 2 beers or glasses of wine some how make it feel like you're getting more out of your limited time frame. In reality you're probably just adding fatigue to the body.

People's dependency of having a drink to wind down is a relatively dangerous rabbit.

I'll drink to that thought...hic!

Trying to think of the last time I came across a dangerous rabbit..ah yes: [Link]

What’s their unit intake and damage?

I’ll have to watch this on iplayer. I watched Bodyguard instead last night.

COYP

Watched this last night.

And as somebody who has not had a drink in over 6 years, it invoked mixed emotions given how much of my previous behaviour I saw being played out on the screen with how much Chiles seemed to mirror my own experiences and attitudes along with the platitude of excuses to attempt to justify it horrifying me.

It also saddened/made me shout at the telly to see that ludicrous group, that claim to help to want people to stop or moderate their drinking, meeting in a pub. Of all the stupid notions I have seen around sobriety then the idea that you can knock the booze on the head by meeting up in a boozer is right up there at the very top of the moron tree.

All I wanted to do was shake him by the throat and telling him to knock it on the head. And I suspect that is what he craved somebody to do for him but I have to stress that is very much my take on it.

My own view on alcoholism is that is not a disease but more a condition that you are born with. Effectively an adverse reaction to alcohol which causes you to crave more once you have imbibed. There are clearly other issues involved but I suspect that is more about a general human malaise, and not confined to people who get ‘the taste’ once they are on the back of a couple of cheeky ones after work.

And that it is against this metabolic reaction that people should judge their behaviour, rather than assuming that just because you made it home to your own bed and have no intention of pouring a bottle of cooking vodka over your cornflakes that you don’t have a problem.

My own experience was that I never actually enjoyed one or two drinks. Made me feel even more ratty than I was already. If I was in a situation in which I had to limit my intake for a variety of reasons then I would not bother. Seemed pointless to me and still does. So I was a binge drinker and would, if I could, do it daily but with all the provisos that others claim means they are not alcoholics.

Then one morning, laying on the sofa with a hangover that would have killed a horse, and having to let people I loved down again (nothing dramatic but I had promised to take the kids swimming and simply could not function enough to do so) something snapped. Had a couple of drinks that evening, just to sort my head out, then the following day took myself off and spoke to some kindly people who seemed pleased to see me and told me a simple truth. I only needed to give up one single drink a day. The first one. Don’t pick that up and you are on the right path.

Now in and of itself, that does very little to deal with the rest of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune that life throws at us but when you can wake up without a hangover, you are in with a chance although things do not get better overnight. The best definition of a chronic alcoholic I ever heard was that it was a person whose life got worse once they stopped drinking and that really hit home because once I put the bottle down, the s*** really did hit the fan for me in a variety of ways but I am out the other side now, and pleased for it.

Also, much like that boring ex-smoker, I know I can come across as OTT about the booze now and the reality is that once you do give up, then the dynamics of all areas of your life change and I cannot pretend that it is easy. It is not. But I am also convinced of two things.

The first is this. If you think you have a problem with the booze then you probably do.

The second is that there are no half-ways measures on this. No controlled drinking or self-imposed limits. You might get away with it for a while but it is a devious b****** and this idea of being in its ‘grip’ is a perfect one. You either drink or you do not. As binary, and bloody awful to face up to as that.

Edited by Matov (29 Aug 2018 8.59am)

Edited by Matov (29 Aug 2018 8.59am)

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." - 1984 - George Orwell.