Tequila Makes Me Happy?

One step to the left…. one step to the right… Focus Johnny! Focus! Just two steps forward and you will reach the kitchen counter. There you’ll find your plate…there you go! Now..take you fork and knive..this is the hard part..keep it on your fork Johnny! Just a few bites and a few sips of his drink. Trying to find his way out of the kitchen and back to his room takes all of his effort..finally ended by passing out on his bed. The daily routine, almost habitual. A sight that would have me embarrassed if I were to be seen like that, but totally oblivious to the embarrassment by now, Johnny spends every night in drunken stupor, only able to drink three drinks lately before becoming totally inebriated.

I know he’s not the only one, I know that he “thinks” that it is the only way he can handle his issues..let’s face it, most people with big issues turn into alcoholics? NO! Then what makes us cross that line? When is it that we turn from “party animals” into alcoholics? People are fun when they are drunk, always telling jokes, laughing, doing crazy things. But, would they usually do this in a sober state? I believe not. Alcohol conditions us, if not controlled, to only become “fun” people when drunk, tipsy, wasted or whatever you like to call it. Lately, a fashionable term for being completely drunk, is the word “awesome”. Like, for example, “Had a totally massive party last night, and I was awesome!”. Is this what u become when you are under the influence? Oh, you cannot arrest me for I am awesome!

Yes, there are many dangers to your health when you consume copious amounts of “social lubricants”. Everyone knows this, everyone complains about their liver being embalmed in alcohol. The stigma around alcohol has changed dramatically, advertisers warn us every day to not drink and drive, but yet people drink more, more people die in car accidents while under the influence. Why is this, I ask? I believe that underneath the “drink responsible” ads, there still lies a bottom-line that these breweries have to make. And how to do this? Sell more alcohol.

Back to Johnny, fast asleep, dreamless sleep. He has issues, his daughter is not well, he is single, early-thirties. Why can’t he stop drinking? His reason is that after work, he has nothing else to do with his spare time. He believes that his daughter might die before he does, but still, is this enough reason to spend your nights drunk, instead of spending time with the one thing in life you are proud of?

Drinking is not an excuse, drinking to relax is not an excuse. We laughed more as children when we were younger, than we do now. Reason, I believe, is that when we socialize without alcohol, we believe that it won’t be fun. This is what we are made to believe by society, this has now become the norm. Thus the reason for the increase in people turning into alcoholics, destroying their lives by not knowing what the hell they did the previous night, for every night of their lives.

Stand up, dust yourself off, break free from the stigma that has been created surrounding alcohol. No, I don’t believe it is an issue to have a few drinks now and then, but be in control of yourself and your decisions, for a few drinks might be enough to change the course of the rest of your lives, and those around you. Don’t be the one in hospital who will never be able to have a good time again. Don’t make your passing out a permanent one, one last time.