Alcoholics united

Source: www.liveitwell.org.uk

I've never been one to shy away from drinking. My father used to drink a lot (guess he had a drinking problem!) and I suppose it's fair to assume I've inherited his genes. I can hold my drink and after almost 14 years of experience in 'social' drinking I became something of a savy in what drinks to avoid and how to get a pint of  water in between drinks so I don't get drunk too quickly or wake up with a horrible hangover the next day. And yet, once in a while, I go overboard... Sometimes I have a really big night when I can't even recall how many drinks I had or what did I have. It's all a fuzz and I'm sure I had fun, if only I can remember it...

I know, we all do it, we all have those nights sometimes. The problem is I don't want to have these nights anymore. I've already resolved it with myself that NOW I am a responsible adult who knows perfectly well the damaging effects of alcohol on health. But I also know that if I'm really honest with myself, I don't think I can live without alcohol...

Which makes me wonder: are we perhaps a generation of alcoholics?...

When I was going through my recent depression, I experienced a disgust towards drinking and instead of going out I prefered staying in most days and isolating myself from people. Mainly because I didn't enjoy anything anymore and even if I did go out,  I prefered not to drink.  Not drinking turned me into a spectator of other people who were merrily getting drunk like I used to. Being sober surrounded by drunken people is not fun. It is actually worse. Sometimes I think I drink only to avoid seeing that.

It's a well known fact that people in the UK drink above average. 'The United Kingdom has been experiencing an epidemic of alcohol-related health and social problems that is remarkable by international standards' - is quoted in an Alcohol Concern report - and, despite the fact that we all know that, most of the times we chose to ignore the alcohol consumption limit on a weekly basis.

There are a lot of stupid things I did in my life and I have been beating myself up about. But if I stop and think about it, I realise I probably wouldn't have got myself into any of those situations if it wasn't for alcohol. If there's one thing I SHOULD be beating myself about is DRINKING! Sure, I'm not really going home and drinking wine all by myself until I pass out every day, I exercise, I drink sensibly (most of the times!) but if there are still times when I feel like 'I just want to have fun' and pour drink after drink down my throat as if I'm trying to win a contest, maybe I am one of these people: 'many problem drinkers are not dependent on alcohol. They could stop drinking without withdrawal symptoms if they wanted to. But, for one reason or another, they continue to drink heavily' (www.patient. co.uk).

Should we be worried?...