Many people around the world face struggle when it comes to alcohol and many just like you are finding ways to get over it. You are not alone in this struggle and countless others have also succeeded in overcoming it. If you are already at the stage where you know that your relationship with alcohol is problematic, then congratulations because you are already at the first step.

If not, then this article is for you. We will tell you just why you should start reassessing your relationship with alcohol before it’s too late.

The mindset of many people who are still very much in love with alcohol is that without alcohol, life would be less fun. They think that social events such as birthday parties, family parties, or any kind of social gathering would be incomplete without alcohol. Essentially, they subconsciously consider alcohol to be equivalent to having fun.

However, the truth is that you can still have fun while being sober! You don’t have to be dizzyingly drunk and embarrassing yourself just to be the life of the party. In the long run, alcohol can negatively affect our mental health, which may lead to social and emotional problems later on.

One thing we must clear before we go any further though is that you don’t have to be labeled as an “alcoholic” for you to address your relationship with alcohol. This is because if you genuinely want to simply stop drinking, get a better social life, and improve your life overall, then this is for you.

So here are some of the signs that you might want to address in your relationship with alcohol:

1. Drinking no longer feels worth it
2. You’ve started drinking alone
3. You’re known as the “fun one” in your friend group (when you drink)
4. It’s negatively impacting your performance at work
5. It’s negatively impacting your relationships
6. You want to live a life you don’t need to escape
7. You use it to cope with your emotions or anxiety
8. You wake up with anxiety and shame the day after a night out drinking
9. Your entire social life revolves around drinking
10. People have told you they’re concerned
11. You’ve started adjusting your goals and values to fit your drinking habits
12. You WANT to

Drinking no longer feels enjoyable

There may come a time when drinking doesn’t feel like an enjoyable activity to you in the first place. It no longer gives you the joy, thrill, or excitement you once felt when you were the life of the party when you drank. Essentially, drinking alcohol does not feel the same way to you when you first started.

If this is relatable to you, then it may be time to try to sober up as you may have already built quite a tolerance for alcohol. This may be one of the reasons why alcohol will no longer feel the same way to you back then. Oftentimes, this leads to people increasing the amount of alcohol they consume just to get the same effect because of the previously mentioned tolerance.

Drinking alone

We’ve mentioned being the life of the party previously, and if this was you back then, but you now find yourself drinking alone more often these days, then it might be time to stop drinking alcohol too.

There may be plenty of reasons why a person drinks alone. It might be like the previous reason above wherein they no longer find alcohol to be enjoyable even with friends. On the other hand, it could also be that they simply enjoy being alone more than being with friends. This may also lead you to spiral into more alcoholism if left unchecked as you wouldn’t need any social events just to start drinking and can do it anytime and nearly anywhere instead.

Tired of being the “Fun guy”

If you’re like a lot of people out there, then there may have been experiences for you when you were invited to an event such as a company party or someone’s birthday party simply because you were the “Fun guy”.

This can put a lot of pressure on your shoulders especially once you get tired of playing the “Fun guy” at parties for various reasons. It may also be making you feel bad that some of the people around you only like to see your “Fun” side while drunk instead of interacting with the real you.

It negatively impacts your work

Speaking of colleagues, having a problem with alcohol can also impact your work. Countless people have already experienced getting fired from their jobs simply because of the irresponsible things they did when they were drunk. You would not want to be one of them.

Alcohol can also impact your focus, productivity, and even punctuality for work. Aside from this, it may also impact your relationship with your coworkers and even higher-ups.

It negatively impacts your relationships

It’s no secret that alcohol can severely damage our relationships with other people. How many stories of husbands and wives getting torn apart because of alcoholism have we heard? How many breakups have there been because of things done during irresponsible drinking? And how many people have found it difficult to form and gain new social bonds because of their alcohol dependence?

You’re using alcohol as a means of escape

Alcohol not only feels good after a certain amount, but it also allows us to feel relaxed, and carefree. This lets us feel like all our worries are far away even just for a moment. Hence, it is also no wonder that many people are using alcohol as a means of escapism.

Life isn’t always great and this is why many people turn to alcohol to forget life’s worries even just for a while.

However, if we keep doing this, then life will not improve in the first place. Our lives will be stuck in the same place if we let alcohol give us an illusion of relaxation. We must not rely on alcohol just to survive mentally and have the willpower as this often spirals into alcoholism and will be even harder to get out of.

So strive to face our problems as much as you can or look for better ways of coping instead of using alcohol.

Using alcohol as a coping mechanism

Speaking of having to cope, dependence on alcohol can also often be traced back to our emotions. Just like with dealing with life’s worries, people also often use alcohol to soothe their anxiety, fear, and worries. This is mainly due to its relaxing effects.

However, just as mentioned before, alcohol is not the solution when it comes to problems like these. Instead, having better coping mechanisms such as working with me:)!

You feel ashamed after a night out drinking

When we were young, perhaps drinking outside while hanging out with friends just became a normal part of our routine. We wake up the next day carrying on as if nothing really happened. However, as we get older, things start to change.

There may be times when we start to feel ashamed of the things we do while out drinking with our friends. The hangover we get is also not helping with how we feel about it either, especially if it comes with anxiety for various reasons. This is also a sign that drinking too much alcohol is not for us anymore.

Your social life is centered on drinking

If your social life revolves around the concept of having to drink just to have fun, then we’ve got bad news for you. Your social life probably isn’t healthy for you. In fact, it’s pushing you closer to alcoholism every day.

Just like what we’ve mentioned before, if keeping your friendships requires you to attend every drinking party, and be the “Life” of it, then you need better connections in your life. You don’t always have to play the role of a drunk entertainer for others and you can definitely be fun while being sober!

Everyone around you is concerned

On the other end of the spectrum, the people around you may instead be already concerned over your well-being. If they worry about the frequency of your drinking events, or the quantity of the drinks you have, then it is definitely a sign for you to address your relationship with alcohol.

Don’t disregard or downplay their concern because most of the time they are right. They are the ones who see you from an outside perspective and are right when they are alarmed for your health.

You have goals

This is perhaps one of the clearest signs that you have to address your problems with alcohol. When you start setting goals for yourself, one of the top ones on the list should be about your relationship with alcohol. This includes things such as limiting consumption, planning to avoid events that encourage drinking, avoiding people with bad influence, etc.

When you start having goals, we all realize that alcohol can be quite a hindrance for us which is why we avoid it at all costs.

You simply want to

Last but not the least, one of the clearest signs you should address your relationship with alcohol is simply your wanting to. Want to change your life for the better, want to be a better person, want to treat your partner right, want to be a good role model to others, and other kinds of reasons to start being sober.

When you actually want to minimize the impact of alcohol on your life, everything else becomes easier.

Bottom line – Some of these may not apply to you specifically, but we know that many of these will also be relatable one way or another. There is no right or wrong reason to start wanting to be sober. Every reason is valid no matter what others tell you. So get started now on your journey to improve your life and in becoming a better person.

And please remember, you can be sober and STILL have this much!

Much love

Louise x