Alcohol and Us

As human beings, we are pleasure seekers. We want to gain as much pleasure as possible, while experiencing the least amount of pain. We want to feel comfortable. We want a sense of peace. We want to feel safe. We want to have fun. Most of us would like to experience joy and happiness. We want to feel confident. We like to relax. Most of want to feel the sense of purpose and importance. I feel that it's also safe to say the most of us would like to experience love in one another. We want meaning in our lives. We want people to like us and respect us. We want to feel good about ourselves and who we are.
The purpose of this isnt to betitle people who drink, or to condemn alcohol itself. However, I do feel that our society takes the power of alcohol for granted. I also feel that it is important to make clear the devastating effects that alcohol can have on just every aspect of people's lives. I challenge you to read what follows with an open mind, and to analyze your own personal behavioral patterns.
People consume alcohol for one of two reasons (or both)...
1. To alter their state of consciousness
2. To be "sociable"


I do hear people say they drink because "they enjoy the taste"

There are people who claim they drink alcohol due to the medical statement that small percentages of alcohol consumed on a regular basis will decrease the chance of heart disease. There are many alternatives to heart disease prevention other than alcohol consumption.

The "Social Drinker"

The term "social drinker" for me is, someone who drinks infrequently and can control their drinking. If you ask someone if they drink, most people will put themselves in this general category.
There are people who can "drink socially" and are able to control their drinking.There are also people who claim to be "social drinkers" who drinks infrequently but have a difficult time stopping once they get started.

Altering the state of consciousness

There are people who deal with physical pain better than others. Generally when people have a headache, of some sort of minor physical pain, they take aspirin or another form of painkillers to relieve the pain. Many normal people tend to deal with emotional pain or emotional "voids" in a similar way. People who do not deal well with negative, or even positive emotions may tend to "medicate" themselves with alcohol or other substances in an attempt to get rid of a particular emotion or feeling. They try to suppress these feelings. Much of this kind of behavior may even be subconscious; although this is one reason people "alter their state of consciousness"

There are many people out there who try to fill certain voids in their life by acting in a wide variety of irrational ways. Many times, they go as far as to violate their own personal code of morals in an attempt to fill these "voids" I do happen to believe that alcohol consumption is one of the most common ways (if not the most common way) that people attempt to fill certain "emotional voids". These emotional voids or negative feelings can be any feelings from the absence of love, to a feeling of boredom, to a feeling of inferiority, to a feeling of loneliness, to a general sense of discontentment.

How many times have you heard someonse say, "I need a beer?" or "I need a drink"? If you say that you need a drink, what you are really saying is, "I would like to alter my state of consciousness" If you have already been drinking you might say, " I need another beer." In this case, what you are really saying is, "I would like to alter my state of consciousness more. Im still not content with how I feel" Most of the time people do not request another beer because they are thirsty.

People who drink and get drunk on semi-regular to regular basis have lost the ability to cope with certain aspects of their life. Their "coper's" are broken. These people have come to rely on alcohol and it's sedative affects to cope with various thoughts, feeling, or circumstances.

Remember that we are pleasure-seeking people. We dont like pain, whether it is physical or emotional. Emotional pain, certain "voids" in people's lives and the fact sometimes people are not comfortable with some of the situations they may be in, are all reasons that people "medicate themselves" and "alter" their state of consciousness".

People's drinking habits obviously vary from person to person, and just because one drinks, I do not put everyone in the same category regarding alcohol usage as I do myself. The fact is some people have a drinking problem and they know it. Some people have a drinking prob. and wont admit it (to others or themselves). Some people have drinking prob. dont know it. Some people drink from time to time and do not have a drinking prob. at all. Then there are the non-drinkers who abstain from any alcohol consumption.

Beer, wine and hard liquor can be found anywhere. You dont have to look hard. This powerful drug is legal. Countless drugs that are less powerful that alochol are available only by prescription by a doctor. Alcohol consumption plays a major part in people's lives during their quest for pleasure, or lack thereof. It is important to know just how much of a lie alcohol is in direct correlation with our pursuit for peace and pleasure. Nonetheless, we all have emotions and feeling which need to dealt with on a daily basis. It is how we deal with these feelings and decisions that we make us who we are.