The StepsYou have to plan time to go to the liquor store to get that bottle. You may even find yourself going to a few stores to see where you can get the cheapest price. You have to find or make the time to do the drinking itself. This is very often time that you make available at the expense of others. Not spending your time with those around you who are most important in your life.
You may find yourself having to spend time planning how to, and then covering your tracks. Clear up all the signs that you were drinking, so as not to appear to bad. Make sure no bottle caps or receipts are left lying around. Make sure all that trash is taken out to the garbage. Better yet, if you really want to cover your tracks, take the trash out to your neighbors trash can!
If you didn't drink it all (which rarely happened) you have to find the perfect hiding place for the leftovers. Work on remembering which closet you wife never uses, so that she won't find your last remaining swallows of your bottle.
Think of all the things you could have been doing instead of drinking. Spending time with family and friends (not drinking buddies, but true friends who appreciate you). Time wasted at work due to hangovers. Experiences you could be enjoying - travel, hobbies. Time wasted that could have been spent educating yourself.
Drinking uses up your time that could be spent doing other more positive activities.
Lack of sleep. By this I mean quality sleep. If you've drunk a large quantity of alcohol and then "gone to sleep" , its probably not going to be a restful invigorating sleep. Instead of your body "recharging" itself, your body will use a large amount of energy to burn off the alcohol in your system.
The side effects to your health can start to multiply. The alcohol is damaging to your system, Your body needs time to heal, but you don't give it that time. If you continue to drink, you will continue to damage your body.
Forgetfulness. The impact that alcohol has on your memory is very extreme. Everyday events may just wash by, never being recorded by your brain. If important facts are forgotten, the consequences can be very destructive. If you can't remember what you were doing on a specific day, you may wind up spending alot of time trying to recreate a job or task that is already done, or worse yet, completely failing to do a task at all.
This can put a further strain on relationships with those close to you. They will become resentfull of having to clean up after you - finishing those tasks you have left only partially completed.
Lack of motivation. Being impaired by alcohol definitely stops you from doing things. It seems allot easier to just sit and "mellow out" than to get yourself going to do something. Applying yourself to a task may be too great of an obstacle.
Alcohol is a very effective tool for stopping motivation. Being drunk or only even slightly impaired can cause an extreme lack of energy to be generated by an individual. A lot of work can be put off when you are drinking for a variety of reasons. First of course is the depressant aspect of the drug. You may even realize that the work is too difficult to accomplish when impaired. Now you have an even better reason to put off doing that task.
An altered perception of reality. This is probably very obvious to most, but of coarse while drinking is almost impossible to identify. Some one may think they have great plans. You think you are doing a great job of whatever task is at hand. At best you are probably just barely completing the job.
Alcohol is a depressant, true, but while drinking one sometimes thinks they are being uplifted somehow. It masks the reality that what you are doing is most likely very ordinary and plain. This is an image that is conveyed by the advertising world, and perpetuated by glamorizing individuals with "bad boy / creative genius" personalities.
Basically, alcohol is a great thief. It steals your health, your time, your money, the respect that others have for you, and ultimately your own respect for yourself.
The Steps
Various Topics
Personal Stories
Assorted Quotes
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