The Silend Enemy

When I started this blog it was an open question. Who deserves to be label as an alcoholic?

The question was open, but my mind was not. I wanted to find the information and to prove myself right. I wanted to reach the conclusion that everyone who enjoys an alcoholic drink would become labeled as an alcoholic.

I DID find the answer to that question. Not everybody who enjoys a drink is an alcoholic, but also it doesn’t take a lot of heavy drinking to become an alcoholic. Most people opinion’s of who is an alcoholic is very different and extreme. Many people think that an alcoholic would be someone who has destroyed his life.  It only takes a little alcohol on a regular basis for a person to start experiencing the consequences of alcohol.

 In other words; I was wrong, but so were the opinions of the majority of the people I talked to during the past couple of months.

Alcoholism or alcohol dependency should be looked at as the decease that it is.  We should be aware of it the same way we would be about any other decease or sickness.

For example; We don’t go out in the snow without gloves and a winter jacket because we don’t want to get a fever or a cold. In the same way, we should not drink every day or multiple times per week, because we don’t want to become alcoholics.

Today we live in a society in which alcohol is not only accepted, the majority of people feel it is necessary let loose with a few cocktails. Working as a bartender, I was able to observe many successful people who would return to my bar and get a drink after a long day of work to relax. But what if every day was a long day at work? And that one drink after work happens to be every day?
The reality is that it does not take a lot of alcohol for the human body to start developing a dependency for alcohol. And trust me; getting your body used to not having alcohol is not easy. Drinking and getting crazy sometimes is fun, but in my personal opinion it is not worth it compared to the hard times after.  I think all of us has experienced this dreaded morning at some point after a few too many ‘Cheers’.
In other words, Limit yourself to no more than half a bottle or a few beers per week. Don’t use alcohol to avoid problems or to feel better about a bad situation. The side effects of alcohol will be worse than whatever problem, or whatever bad situation you may be having.

Know your limits and always keep in mind what alcohol really is.

- Jairo Jimenez

Works Cited

Allsup, Richard. "Psychological Dependence On Alcohol: A Process Model." Healthcare Counselling  & Psychotherapy Journal 10.4 (2010): 17-22. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Oct. 2011.