Living in denial of an alcohol problem?

An interesting phenomenon of sobriety is people’s reactions when you tell them you don’t drink. Rarely does someone say, ‘Ok - tell me about that’.

Mostly, people dive straight into their own internal monologue and hit you with it. ‘Oh, well I don’t drink that much anyway,’ or ‘Really?  Well, I only have an occasional one, at weekends. I never drink on a school night. Well, unless it’s a special occasion’.

Sometimes you get ‘What, never? Isn’t that boring? What do you do to relax?’ or ‘Surely you have a glass of something at Christmas?!’

I always listen intently when anyone replies to my factual statement of sobriety with anything other than simple acceptance. So many people are in denial about their own relationship with alcohol, for many reasons.

If this is you, then think about this: If alcohol were invented today, it would be a class A drug.  

On that basis, there should be no shame, and even less surprise, that for some people, alcohol can cause a problem.

Denial is part of that problem.  Denial is a weight. It’s an energy leak. It diverts your mental energy away from solving a problem and instead invests it in inventing and maintaining justifications and excuses all wrapped up as reasons.

If this is you, just think about what you could do with the time and energy you’d regain if you could take a break from the thing that is creating the problem you are denying.  

Sobriety is not a life sentence. It doesn’t have to be forever.  Sobriety gives your mind and body a chance to throw off mental chains, reset your body’s chemical balance and work on resolving stuff that you’ve been carrying. It´s freeing. It’s a chance to get rid of the weight of denial, and really look at your life from a position of calm and peace.

If you’d like to explore this a bit more - get in touch.