The Difference Between Enjoying A Drink And Alcoholism

Mind altering drinks (and plants and fungi!) have been in existence for centuries, and of course there’s a reason why some enjoy them so much. When enjoying a drink or two, it can sometimes be hard to know whether your drinking is within healthy boundaries, or whether you may have an alcohol dependency:

If you start drinking and find it hard to stop, you may have a problem:

For many people battling with an alcohol dependency, they describe their alcoholism as being like a switch that literally gets flipped after the first sip of a drink. They struggle to stop at just one or two, and often end up drinking far too much.

Do you constantly worry about whether your glass is full?

Are there times when you should be engaged in the conversation going on at your table, but instead you’re trying to (metaphorically or literally) catch the bartender’s eye for him to refill your glass before you’ve even finished; this behavior may indicate that you have a dependency upon alcohol, or at the very least, an unhealthy relationship with it.

If you regularly black out from alcohol consumption, you very likely have a problem:

There may be the occasional time when you’ve attended a party and drank more than you realized, causing you to black out, but if this is happening on a regular basis, then please seriously think about seeking professional help for alcohol dependency and abuse.

Is your life beginning to slip through your fingers?

If excessive drinking is beginning to prevent you from functioning in your everyday life and causing you to feel unable to take steps towards a ‘normal’ life, then talking to a professional about your problem is likely to help, and if you seek help soon enough, there’s every chance that you could quickly begin to get your life back on track.

Do you feel ashamed of the way you behave when you’re drunk?

While you may not always remember how you behaved after a long night of drinking, there will be plenty of people out there who will remember, and if you hear repeated reports about things you got up to that embarrass you or make you feel ashamed, it’s a good time to get some support to bring your drinking, and your life, into a healthier balance.

Perhaps the most important question to ask yourself if you’re not sure whether you need to seek help for your alcohol dependency (or if you even have a dependency), is whether your life feels happy and you feel healthy. If you wake up a lot of mornings with a sore head, feeling down and depressed, and constantly worrying, then these are clear signs that you might be doing more than simply enjoying a drink; you may be using drinks to cope with larger issues. If that’s the case, please seek the care you very much deserve.