Recently I was pondering on why I hate alcohol. I realised there were personal, societal and religious reasons for this hate and that they all stemmed from how much I love people and how much I hate the damage alcohol causes to individuals, families, organisations and society itself.
Personal
I hate alcohol because:
- When I used to drink alcohol, I turned into a completely different person – and I hated that person. I became loud, silly, often argumentative and sometimes even sexist.
- When I used to drink alcohol, I hated how I lost control of myself and gave in to having sex with men I hardly knew. I was even raped while I was under the influence of alcohol.
- Now that I no longer drink alcohol I hate the effect I can see, smell and feel that alcohol has on others. They become different people entirely and, although sometimes it can be funny watching others being as silly as I used to be, in reality it is not funny at all – it is very sad.
- I hate how alcohol detrimentally affects my relationship with my husband, whom I adore. I find it hard to be with him as he is not his normal gentle, tender self when he drinks alcohol. This affects my connection with him.
I love my alcohol free life now. It feels very different when I attend events – yes, even parties – where there is no alcohol. I had a gathering recently without alcohol and it was so joy-full being able to talk to people without the influence and interference of alcohol – everyone simply stayed themselves and so we had true and meaningful conversations and loving connections. Everyone said how much they had enjoyed it.
Similarly, with other gatherings or when I am with people where there is no alcohol present I have observed a much deeper level of conversation and discussions and everyone seems so much at ease with themselves and each other. I am therefore able to connect with people at a much deeper level and I love feeling their essence (who they truly are inside) and how we are all equal in our essence. Everything appears so simple and loving and time seems to slow down somehow.
Societal
I hate alcohol because:
- Alcohol is a big factor in why men and women are in prison, especially for violence charges. It is estimated that about 80-90% of crime occurs under the influence of alcohol and drugs or is committed to feed an addiction (1).
- Alcohol is a huge contributor to road accidents and the consequent clogging up of our hospitals and the endangering of others’ lives, including those of our medical personnel.
- Alcohol fuels domestic violence, which is largely against women and children – domestic violence is escalating in New Zealand, which has the worst rate of family and intimate-partner violence in the world, even though it is estimated 80% of incidents are not reported (2).
- Alcohol causes arguments, brawls and altercations, between friends, family members and strangers.
- Alcohol can be a big factor in marriage split-ups. It can cause financial strain and can lead to violence, bullying and neglect.
- Alcohol related issues cost the country one heck of a lot of money – would this money not be more wisely spent on health, education and reducing poverty?
- Alcohol causes many health issues including liver disease, heart disease and some cancers. The recent May 2018 expert report released by the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research on the link between diet, nutrition, physical activity and cancer found that there was strong evidence linking alcoholic drinks to an increased risk of breast, colorectal, stomach, mouth, pharynx, larynx and oesophageal cancers (3). As such, not only do these health issues cause much pain, grief and stress to sufferers and their families, and their employees/employers, they are also a huge strain on our health system.
Imagine what our society would be like if we didn’t have alcohol?
Many families would have more money to spend on essentials such as food, power, clothes and rent, which could improve their quality of life. Not as many school children would go to school hungry or be poorly dressed for the cold weather. We would have way less people in prison, which would not only mean more money in the national and regional budgets available for health, education and reducing poverty, but would also mean way less men, women and children detrimentally affected by being in prison. Not as many women and children would be injured, maimed or killed through beating and not as many people would be subject to psychological, emotional and verbal abuse. We would feel safer in our homes and on our streets. Our emergency medical staff would not be subjected to abuse by drunk people in hospital emergency departments, and our health budget would not need to include the huge amounts set aside to treat alcohol-related illnesses and diseases. Our police would not be put in as much danger, nor would they have to deal daily with drunken people or with domestic violence – one call every five minutes in New Zealand (2).
Without alcohol we would have more chance of returning to being who we truly are, living to our potential and with solid purpose in our lives. Our relationships could improve immensely without the influence of alcohol because they would be based on truth and love, without the damage caused by alcohol. We may even be more kind and loving to all we meet and our organisations would be more caring as a result.
In short, our societies would be far more loving, kinder, equal and inclusive of all, and our lives far more joyful.
Religious
I hate alcohol because:
- Drinking wine as part of communion in many churches is a bastardisation of the life and teachings of Yeshua (Jesus). After Yeshua commenced his teachings he would not have drunk any substance that was poisonous for his body. He loved himself and all of humanity too much.
- Drinking wine as part of communion in many churches is a bastardisation of the Last Supper, which symbolised the letting go of food and drink which does not honour and support our bodies.
- Because some institutionalised religions sanction drinking and some sects even manufacture alcohol, it normalises and enables the drinking of alcohol by their congregations.
Now I’m not perfect, so sometimes some reaction creeps in when I think about alcohol. But mostly I hate alcohol because I love humanity so much and I hate to see and feel the huge harm caused by alcohol.
You often hear the old “moderation in all things” argument as an excuse to keep drinking alcohol, i.e. “I only have one or two drinks a day – where is the harm in that?” The harm is that alcohol, a substance that is poisonous to the human body and to societies, becomes ‘normal.’ Children see their parents and other adults drink alcohol, so they drink it when they grow up. Indeed, many people believe they cannot ‘celebrate’ major milestones without it and so there is often a lot of pressure on everyone to drink to “help them celebrate.” So many end up drinking alcohol, not because they want to or because they like the taste (remember your first taste of alcohol? Yuk!): more so to ‘be social’ or to ‘fit in’ or to be “one of the boys.”
But… would you give a baby even a ‘moderate’ amount of alcohol? If not, why not? Let’s be absolutely honest: we all know deep down that alcohol is harming us and harming our societies.
Is it not time that we de-normalised the drinking of alcohol? There will come a time when the harm caused by alcohol will no longer be sustainable. A future without any alcohol is coming – how about we bring that time forward?
By Anonymous
References:
- co.nz. (2018). Qualified addiction counsellors not wanted in NZ prisons | Pundit. [online] Available at: https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/qualified-addiction-counsellors-not-wanted-in-nz-prisons [Accessed 10 Aug. 2018].
- Leask, A. (2016). Family violence incidents increasing. [online] NZ Herald. Available at: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11674698 [Accessed 10 Aug. 2018].
- org. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.wcrf.org/sites/default/files/Summary-third-expert-report.pdf [Accessed 10 Aug. 2018].
Further Reading:
The Abuse of Alcohol – The True Harm
Giving up Alcohol
Shopper Dockets & Alcohol Abuse – Is There Such A Thing As Responsible Service Of Alcohol?
445 Comments
A great sharing on the truth of alcohol and the reality of how it effects us all so harmfully in the world. When this is seen more and opened up with the truth and love we are being lived more and more things will start to change and a new true way of living will become the normal as the tides begin to change.
Drinking alcohol is one that most experience, not all and for those ones I consider them pretty damn lucky. They way it is so normal in society and considered the way to relax, socialise and be merry is a disguise of the checked out way we are wanting to live our lives. Not being honest about the disappointment and hurt that we are trying to avoid. Lifting the lid on this was the only way I was able to stop drinking and it came from a place of want not have to. Drinking didn’t make sense anymore.
I really love my alcohol free lifestyle as well,I always felt like I was in a trap that I couldn’t get out of when I drank but know I am free to choose and I will always choose not to drink for the benefits of not drinking are endless.
The love/hate interaction. Great to hate but awesome to appreciate the corresponding love. Both fuel each other.
Crazy as it may seem, as a young woman, in ignorance and following others, I abused my body with alcohol. It is a senseless trap, young people believe drinking and getting drunk is ‘cool’ and a marker of adulthood, yet statistics tell a very different story: a deadly substance that takes us away from ourselves, leads us to abuse and kill others and costs health services hundreds of millions of pounds each year. Sad to say nothing has changed, alcohol is still marketed in ways that hide the truth leaving millions addicted to it around the world.
To live an alcohol and nicotine free life, brings us back to our natural selves and reclaims our bodies for nurturing and love.
There is so much to hate about alcohol, so much because there is so much to love when someone is being all of who they are, and when we drink we don’t be all of who we are. If we were not so amazing when we connect to each other on a true level then perhaps alcohol would not be an issue.
It’s great to voice what you hate without reaction and holding back. It helps solidify the truth of just how much you love people.
Social gatherings without alcohol are so much quieter. The din of a room full of people consuming alcohol is deafening. Yes, this is from personal experience of someone that added to the noise
Agreed and in my observation people are not themselves.
The decision to stop drinking alcohol has been one of the most amazing choices of my life and one that I will never go back on. The quality of my health and vitality has flourished. What a massive and very expensive disservice we do our selves by making this highly toxic substance an accepted social norm.
We are affected as a society by alcohol much more than we are ready to admit. Unless we are collectively really willing to see this, it will be almost impossible to change.
The sooner everyone sees alcohol for the poison it actually is the better we will all be.
Not so long ago cigarette smoking was the norm; people smoked in cinemas, on planes, out on the streets, in front of children, on the tube, on trains, in restaurants, in parks, in cafes, in pubs, in hospitals, on the TV, let alone their cars and their homes – cigarette brands were advertised widely in the media and we all thought that this was simply how it was. Once we cottoned on to the fact that really that what we were promoting was not good for the universal whole we decided that we would stop smoking in all those areas, raise taxes on the product and ban the advertising. We are beginning to go that way with sugar.. interesting that the daddy of them all – alcohol, where it is the norm to drink on planes, out on the streets, in front of children, in the park, on the tube, on the TV, on trains, in restaurants, in cafes, in pubs, maybe not in hospitals or cars (I could stand corrected on that one) but definitely in the home.. is taking a little longer to bust through.
Alcohol, is the next frontier to cross and we will get there, but right now there is resistance.. The enormous drinks industry, continues to grow and alcohol sales gross the biggest profit in pubs, clubs and restaurants. Society’s attachment to alcohol is still monumental with most people believing it to be central to almost every social event. Breaking the consciousness around alcohol is fundamental if we are to support people to simply connect to themselves and understand they don’t have to use a poisonous substance to take themselves out, they can just be their natural and beautiful selves.
I think most do, if they are being truly honest. So do we in fact need to address the why…?
‘This is such a valuable conversation, we need more conversations like this as we see the alcohol consumption in schools increase.’
This is very true Fiona, we don’t really question what we have accepted as normal, why would we? – it just doesn’t stand out. Yet what’s presented here is the far reaching affects alcohol has on us and our communities at large, it may be a strong article for those that accept alcohol as normal, but it is not natural, this is what this article offers in its wider context.
“When I used to drink alcohol, I turned into a completely different person” Me too and this was deeply shocking. I wonder what we open our selves up to when we poison our bodies with alcohol, because sometimes it used to feel like someone else had taken over my body. It explains why some people can’t remember what they have done when they sober up.
There are two entire isles in most supermarkets in the UK dedicated to the sale of alcoholic drinks such is the demand for alcohol. It’s time we were totally honest and admitted that it is not the drink but the alcohol itself that has us going back for more, then we can begin to understand the why behind that choice.
Agreed Michael, as someone that would regularly drink every night a bottle or two I look back and when honest can say that I felt like my life was missing something and a huge tension or wanting more but not knowing what that more was. I’m sure we all have our own reasons but in the end poison is poison.
I certainly don’t judge anyone for drinking alcohol as I was on it for years and had a lot of great and fun times that I wouldn’t change but when you weigh up all the damage it causes to our health, relationships and the disorder it can cause in our communities it seriously isn’t worth it.
When you say; ‘I hate alcohol because I love humanity so much and I hate to see and feel the huge harm caused by alcohol.’ It puts a whole different spin on the meaning of hate. It takes away the reaction and brings in a sense of purpose as it says no longer are you willing to stand by and watch your fellow brothers fall and destroy themselves.
Alcohol is a crude thug even when it’s dressed up as champagne.
Ditto we think its everything when in fact it takes away the everything we naturally are, that said if we don’t know we are everything or have been able to live in that way – then its the best form of escape that I could find.
I hate alcohol and it is okay to claim that. Alcohol changes the ones we love and invites us to live who we are not – simply said where there is less alcohol there is more love.
There sure is Christine, it is amazing how much it changes people yet how common it is. For me it shows us how unsatisfied and discontent we are with our lives that we need a substance to take the edge of it.
When taking a step back and looking at this topic objectively, seeing vast numbers of the population getting drunk on a Friday or Saturday night (even during the week now), staggering around our towns and cities, vomiting on the street and getting into fights, abusing NHS staff etc… clearly something is wrong somewhere.
If we want to kick alcohol as a society we need to get honest first about how it makes us feel, but from the body, not the head. If asked this question most people would say it relaxes them, that it eases tension, but does anyone really say that it simply numbs them so that they don’t have to feel their choices, or that it gives them a headache, or that they find it much harder to connect to themselves or to each other or that their bodies don’t feel that great when their organs have to eliminate the toxins they have ingested?
I’ve never had a great relationship with alcohol but it did not stop me from trying. What is it about us that is so persistent to fit in?
If we would newly introduce alcohol into the food marked it would not get approved by the food and drug administration bodies that take care of the products that are allowed to be sold in our societies because it is pure poison for our bodies.
While I used to drink alcohol in the past I cannot say that I really liked it. The taste and the after effects where horrible. After a night drinking, I always had regret for the behaviours I went in after a few glasses but the next time I just did it again. You can say that the alcohol or the energy possessed me after me making the initial choice to choose for this way of numbing.
Alcohol exists in our societies because of our rejection of the love we are from, the love of our Soul, of God as otherwise, it would not have a place to exist.
There is a lot of alcohol drunk in the street where I live and broken bottles are a regular sight. There are vehicles, children and dogs out in the road and broken glass is a dangerous hazard. Add to that the disturbance of people shouting noisily, some aggressively, and occasional violence, and you have all the reasons why i too hate alcohol.
Alcoholic drinks are big business and so the company producing them work hard to feed the desire for them however they do not have to do too much as we are already crying out for ways to not be in life, feel the tensions we don’t life and face our own choices which hurt us.
The reason I gave up drinking alcohol was because I could see the pressure it put on relationships, the many lives it affected and the emotional and fiscal cost to the health service. Once I saw how it affected families, the domestic violence and the children who witnessed the abuse, I couldn’t un-see it and it is at that point I realised it no longer held any pleasure for me.
It is so illogical to like alcohol when you consider all the implications. However I used to love it. Then I got honest with myself and realised I loved how it changed how I felt and it was only when I liked how I felt that I stopped needing something to change it.
I am really up for exploring the question about what life would be like for all of us if there was no alcohol. And before we jump into replacing it with another drug, actually considering how much clearer, cleaner and more enriching life would be without all the impacts of alcohol. Very interesting.
Yep … I hate alcohol too. I hate its stench, I hate what it does to people, I hate how it is justified, I hate how much it’s costs us, I hate that it is allowed because of the taxes it generates, I hate how it is promoted, I hate how teenagers drink it because they are protesting against the lovelessness of life, I hate how this drug/poison is pedalled as an acceptable norm, I really hate the violence it generates, I also really hate that so many people guauge how good their night out was by how drunk they got. Hello? What are we doing and accepting and why? Alcohol has never made sense to me. It never will.
I actually think the tide is turning on alcohol, from day dot we have been using and abusing it and abusing each other because of it, but I think at last there maybe a little light at the end of a very, very long tunnel and all we have to do is keep hating it and seeing through it and keep reminding ourselves and others the damage it does to ourselves our families and communities and one day maybe it will just be a thing in our history books.
We can give up alcohol but not always realise that we’re continuing to drink the ‘cool aid’ of emotional drama, individuality and illusion. These are also extremely poisonous.
I totally agree Joseph, it can be easy to not do one thing yet substitute it with something else which looks different on the surface but underneath is the same thing.
“I love my alcohol free life now.” Yep me too. Never thought I would ever see the day when I could live without drinking alcohol, but the quality of vitality and health I experience today as a consequence of not drinking is beyond belief. It has enabled me to see just what a toxic and lethal substance it is, regardless of the type, flavour and quantity.
Our use of alcohol is excessive but nonetheless it is only on a par with our deep unrest. And of course, that is why we use it, in an attempt to quell our inner agitation. And that’s why prohibition does not work, we need to address the unrest in order to address our alcohol consumption.
That’s true Alexis, because if it wasn’t alcohol it would be something else.
It’s great to look at our extreme alcohol consumption in context. If behaviours around alcohol are becoming more extreme, in this case as you say, we can say that our unrest is also getting deeper. In understanding the behaviour, if we are open to seeing it, then we can begin to ask the question why that inner unrest and agitation is escalating. What is at the root of this tension and why are we so willing to numb it with poison over and above dealing with what is really going on?
I really hate the expression ‘Beer o’clock’.
This is so reductionist, isn’t it? It also totally validates the consumption of a poison and tries to normalise it in a flippant way, but underneath you can feel the loaded consciousness of an addiction that is passed off as something playful.
Alcohol has become synonymous with social events and socialising now. Interesting that the focus of these is around people meeting and connecting with each other but with alcohol present this presents this happening and means that people are not fully connected to themselves so cannot offer this to another.
Has alcohol become our lubricant of life?
When we stop using alcohol as a means of disconnection from ourselves we are still left with the tension and feelings that we could not deal with.
I hate that people feel the need to drink alcohol for all the reasons they may drink it – I did it to fit in, to feel a momentary false sense of invincibility, to experience something that wasn’t the everyday pain of seeing the world in a mess – including the mess that alcohol made it. I’m sure I can pick more reasons as to why I drank it but now I’ve not drunk anything for years and I’m so glad I’ve got no urge to do so. I hate how we’ve set up the world so that people feel the need to have to drink because I know when I felt into the effects of drinking it was horrible beneath any momentary highs.
The pressures that come from those who drink encouraging those that don’t to do it can be quite disturbing. As a university student, I was the only person I knew who didn’t drink at all. I was completely ostracised by the student community. This was very painful but I simply could not bring myself to compromise. It did mean a miserable 3 years at college but I am glad that I didn’t compromise myself in this way. It completely stinks that the energy that comes with drinking alcohol is so destructive!
Why do we continue habits that we know are harming us, others and society in which we live? We label it as something we ‘like’, something we are ‘helps us’ and something we are ‘addicted to’. How come we do not stop and question the fact that we call ourselves the smartest species on the planet, think we are the master of our thoughts and at the same time engage in a behavior that as this article shows is thrashing ourselves, others and impacting our whole world?
17/11/18 Everyday Livingness: It is quite revealing about where we are at as a society when not drinking a poison like alcohol is considered strange!
Great point. I remember when I stopped drinking alcohol at the age of 24, I was put under enormous pressure by a lot of people for quite a while to ‘just have one’ or ‘come on join in’.
“Many families would have more money to spend on essentials such as food, power, clothes and rent, which could improve their quality of life.” Yes thinking about the fact that there are people so lost and in reaction to the world that they buy rather alcohol than nourishing foods and warming their house really makes me aware of the state we are in as humanity.
I hate alcohol because of what it does to people. And this is an emotional hate, a reaction from past experiences. Whereas I feel that perhaps this does not allow for each person who chooses alcohol to have the space to choose freely. Yes, there is great harm that comes from their choice, in terms of the damage that alcohol does to the human body and how it can affect our relationships with each other. But I am learning to recognise that if I then go in and impose my own emotional hurts on to the situation, this could in fact only make things worse, because in my experience it can be very debilitating to have someone judge you for the choices that you make, even when those choices are not so great. For some reason in the judgement it can be much harder to change.
For many years of my life alcohol played a big part in everything I did and every occasion so to be free of that consciousness is an amazing blessing and I don’t think I would have ever gotten out of it without the constant support of all those associated with Universal Medicine.
Yeah hate seems a harsh word but if used in its true context it is the fuel to bring about true change as it is about fully seeing something for the harm it does so tolerating it is no longer possible.
Since quitting drinking any alcohol several years ago, there is more awareness, without judgment, of how alcohol changes people, to their own detriment even after one glass.
What I hate is the fact alcohol, a poison, is legal and available for all to buy even though its harmful effects are well known. A society that accepts this as a norm is is the greater evil.
Alcohol is in effect a poison to the body. Its no wonder that it causes so much disturbance to our mental, emotional and physical state of being.
Alcohol – One of the most devastating substances Humanity has ever invented.
About 2000 BC in Greece, mead was a popular alcoholic drink made of honey and water. With sugar, yeast, water and a bit of time, the byproduct is alcohol. Could it have been a mistake in storing things that we stumbled, onto this magic elixir rather than an invention? But, that has not slowed us down in experimenting with it for a very long time!
Lets toast your good health, a hair of the dog, cheers and drown our sorrows such are the lengths we go to, to make our addictions feel normal and thus not feeling life.
The chemical classification of alcohol is that it is a poison. Does that not say it all?
Yes, doesn’t it! But we often go to poisons to escape ourselves. I know I did. Aren’t all the intoxicants poison to our bodies?
How can something that by its nature, numbs us and we, in turn, say it makes us feel better by feeling less?
Alcohol is so normal, so much a part of the society that we live in, that we allow it inspite of the clear indicators of how unhealthy it is… from the headache the next morning telling us its a poison for our bodies, to the piles of bodies that end up in the morgue from violence, car accidents, poisoning etc. On the one hand its totally ridiculous that this is even legal, and yet its woven deeply into our society – why can’t we see the harm it does?
Alcohol was woven its self into all aspects of our life and every garment we ware. Do we need to return to how we were born and walk naked through life once again?
I guess Steve we do, for when we do we will perhaps wake up to the devastation it and many other things cause society all to avoid dealing with the hurt we feel, whatever that may be.
I hate that hangovers are joked about and there are many so called remedies for them, such as my old preferred one, the hair of the dog, but the best remedy of course is not to drink in the first place.
“A future without any alcohol is coming – how about we bring that time forward?” I have the immense privilege of managing a hospitality establishment that does not permit the consumption of alcohol on site, a strange phenomenon in the leisure industry. And the result – an extremely welcoming, safe and friendly environment for families, couples and solo travellers to relax in and not one iota of trouble in over 11 years of trading. Anyone who enquires about why we have such a policy is simply met with the answer “No Alcohol, No Trouble.” Who can argue with that?
The feeling and quality in a room full of people gathering and connecting with out any alcohol is completely different, the absolute opposite to what it would be like if there was alcohol. Depending on where we are at is which one we prefer. I used to drink, just about daily as working in the hospitality industry pretty hard to get away from. When I started to cut back and then feel the difference not drinking was I made the choice to not drink anymore. I still worked around it and that was fine, well late nights got pretty intense to work around. What I have been able to see is how much alcohol really does have a massive impact on so many levels. More importantly feeling it in my body and the poison that I chose to put in simply didn’t make sense anymore and my body loves me for it.
It is useful to take a moment to reflect on what we hate about various aspects of life we have become resigned to as normal, just like this blog – and then to let ourselves become aware of what it is that we hold as more important to the extent that we carry on with those things.
I feel if we all sat down and allowed ourself to feel how our lives are controlled by alcohol we would be off to a good start of at least being honest about something in life that we have accepted as normal but is not normal at all to the potential that we can naturally live.
Alcohol is a strong poison – it is a good disinfectant and it is very hard to drop when we have a need for it. Once we deal with the need I found it then becomes quite simple whether to stop or whether to continue to drink.
It’s hard to believe now that I used to enjoy a couple of glasses of wine when out with friends. As I became more connected with my body, the need for alcohol diminished and soon after, alcohol actually left me – there was nothing to ‘give up’
What I REALLY hate is that I was so lost that I chose to drink the stuff in the first place. That’s the core of it, the alcohol was just supplying what I was demanding.
I’ve heard many people speak about how alcohol gives them confidence. Confidence to be who?
Which begs the question of what is alcohol really good at and why does society love it and allow it in spite of all the obvious damage it does. Why do we like being someone else so much? What happened to the simplicity of just ‘enjoying ourselves’ and that being more than enough to share with others?
I remember when I used to drink at parties how I’d come away feeling empty and like I hadn’t really spoken to anyone, despite having been there for hours and ‘spoken’ to loads of people for loads of time. What I was missing was the connection – both with myself and with others, which is impossible once alcohol enters the equations since it directly and immediately takes us out from whom we truly are.
I know when I have drunk too much alcohol in the past I would give myself over to all kinds of behaviour that I wouldn’t do when sober. That in itself tells me from experience, let alone the hang over, that drinking alcohol is denaturing and harmful.
We all know the effects of alcohol as growing up most people who drink have vomited and experienced dizzying and disorientated effects of it. Yet we continue to drink because we get something from it. For me it was the social aspect, along with the being able to let go of everything effect – temporary but in the moment worked! But it was never something I really enjoyed and my body would tell me heavily the next day. The question comes how long do we continue to ignore what our body is telling us?
My father (since deceased) for the first 14 years of my life drank nearly every day. He drank with his mates at work and in those days in the army, it was an accepted part of life to drink at work and then continue after work and on the weekends. The one thing that I noticed when he gave up drinking was how our relationship changed; it was as if I had a father for the first time. I could have a decent conversation with him, and there was a depth to him that I had never seen before. I discovered that he had a relationship with God (hardly went to church) and had carried that around with him all of these years. He was emotionally and physically in a lot of pain from the things that he had seen in the army, and he was a deeply sensitive man.
The WHO has stated that ‘alcohol is a causal factor in more than 200 diseases and injury conditions.’ The global alcoholic drinks market is expected to reach 1.8 trillion dollars by 2026. That number pales in comparison to what it costs in medical treatments!
Great expression on why you hate alcohol anonymous, it is time more of us spoke up about it all, and there are countless, downsides to alcohol. I wonder how better off the NHS would run without having to deal with all the alcohol related diseases.
Kev it would also be good to explore the supposed ‘upsides’ of alcohol and to see if after an honest discussion we still consider them to be true upsides.
“Alcohol is a big factor in why men and women are in prison, especially for violence charges. It is estimated that about 80-90% of crime occurs under the influence of alcohol and drugs or is committed to feed an addiction (1).” Humanity and alcohol are not a good mix, as these statistics clearly confirm. If we insist on consuming poison on a regular basis then we cannot be surprised when it poisons our attitudes, behaviours and actions.
Since I have stopped drinking alcohol I have noticed how when I am out with people who are drinking there comes a point when they are not there to connect with in the same way as when they are not drinking.
I’ve seen this also Michael and at times I’ve seen something dark in the eyes of the drinker.
Enough reasons to hate alcohol. That is knowledge. The fact that people miss the tools to deal with life and hurts were caused, and although they know that alcohol is not good for them, they still resort to it. For them alcohol is therefore a false tool of life, even promoted by society.
I have witnessed many instances when people adamantly carried on some behaviour for years, claiming that there is nothing wrong with it and that all the talk about a harm was just a ruse. Until they had a baby and all of a sudden they decided to cut out that activity.
Most people deeply care about their babies and are willing to be very responsible in their actions in order to ensure their baby is okay. The fact that this situation is so common, suggests that we DO know the harm in many instances event when we claim to others (and at times to ourselves) that we don’t. What is in question is the level of care and responsibility we are prepared to be living.
It is very exposing of why we need alcohol in our lives socially when you see what it does, it does its job of being the opposite of the love we are and we fight this tooth and nail which seems literally insane when all we want is to be loved and give love. But the bit where we all come unhinged is knowing to be love is to be responsible for every movement and that’s not something most of us want. So until then alcohol is the perfect companion to full and numb us to what we turn out back on.
Interestingly maybe the more sensitive we are to that fact, the more use of it there is.
It is clear to see here (as well as from experience) there is absolutely zero benefit from alcohol. It instead destroys the body, relationships, lives and society. I really appreciate that I no longer drink it.
To hold another as an equal and love them dearly while under the influence of alcohol is very, very beautiful. Nothing ‘should’ ever get in the way of knowing and holding another in the glory and grandness of who they are in essence.
Very true Caroline, no matter what one is choosing we are all deep down love just choosing to live varying levels of it depending on how much hurt we are carrying onto from the past.
What I hate about alcohol is that it is still so socially accepted, it does so much damage to our health, relationships and society and that I was caught up in its consciousness for too many years of my life.
Yes, it is quite strange how the smallest risks are considered unacceptable while the certainty of damage from alcohol only gets questioned at the margins and not universally.
Most alcoholic spirits taste awful and only palatable with mixer drinks and yet we force ourselves to believe we enjoy them, just to fit in with others. I’ve not drunk alcohol for over fifteen years, love the way my body feels and the money saved re-directed to buy nutritious foods to support my body.
In the UK there is renewed push to market beers to younger consumers, making it appear ‘cool’ with claims of being healthier, for example the growing ‘craft’ beer industry and locally made gin products The number of UK gin distilleries has doubled since 2013. However you dress it, it’s still the same poison, the one thing not stated in marketing ads.
I’m on a train watching a man slowly work through a number of tins of beer. Fascinating to observe how his movements change and thus impossible to deny that alcohol affects us and so we have to look deeper at why we are so willing to actively run away from who we are.
It is a real indictment of the pride of our spirit and our arrogant determination to do whatever our thoughts dictate in the moment, that we have a situation when our body can throw up the excess alcohol, can give us clear messages that this behaviour make it debilitated, can have hangovers the next day and we can see so many signs on a social basis that drinking alcohol can be devastating – and yet we just go off and find the next way of ‘coping’ with the symptoms so that we can go off and do it all again.
I’d love to do a survey whereby everyone was asked “did you enjoy your first stats of alcohol?” I’m very sure of what the huge majority would say…and yet we deny what our bodies are so clearly telling us.
I was at an event recently and people were drinking wine and oh my gosh did it stink it was overwhelming how foul the pungency was. But yet when enthralled those can sniff and sip and comment on all the notes in the wine. I know the same is true of smoking the suffocating stench of smoke is undeniable but when you smoke you are oblivious to it. It is fascinating.
And the cost of it!!! Both in the price of the consumption of the stuff but also in the repairing of the damage it has caused, some of which is quantifiable; like hospital and health costs – but much of which is unquantifiable; lives and relationships destroyed.
Alcohol is discombobulating because it interferes with our energetic circuiting that is otherwise naturally sound, on point and harmonious.
I began to hate the effects of alcohol in my first month at uni, it stopped becoming a fun experiment and started to scare me how quickly I could completely loose control of myself and my physical functions. You only have to look at how much alcohol costs the NHS to know something is majorly wrong, we are completely irresponsible with ourselves – and as a result everyone has to pay for it – literally.
Yes, we are literally paying for it! We are also paying for it on so many levels in society – from the altered energetic state from just one drink of all who drink, from the child who knows that when his parents drink alcohol they are no longer themselves but confused because it is so widely accepted, from the relationships that get damaged because of the arguments and abuse it encourages, from the separation and competition it promotes to the pack energy it promotes, to the ill health it promotes, to the break down in society it promotes, not even speaking of the financial burden it generates – all under the label of a little of what you fancy does you no harm, except that this is a lie and a little of what you fancy under the term of what is labelled safe may just simply be a convenient truth that allows us to ignore the obvious signs that what is really needed is a deepening with the relationship to self rather than an avoidance of it.
When we take it to a global scale and not just to our localised experiences it’s easy to see the enormous damage we are choosing on a mass scale. The question begs to be asked, ‘why do we choose to be so blind to it?’
There are countless downsides to alcohol so one wonders how it ever got so ingrained in most cultures and societies, it just shows us how far away we are from living a natural existence when we ingest a substance that is damaging in so many ways and on so many levels.
Agreed Kev and yet there must be something in so many cultures and societies, if not all, that is pushing us to need this alcohol. It shows clearly that all the cultures and societies that are common across the world are obviously missing something key
Alcohol separates us and cuts us off from truly connecting to people. I found this difficult to accept before I came across Universal Medicine knowing what was happening when people drank alcohol yet didn’t have the understanding that they were choosing to cut themselves off first from connecting to their essence because of a buried hurt they were carrying.
We get into a mind set that alcohol is something we need for our social life but, as many of my alcohol-free friends can testify, our social lives improve because we are able to have deep conversations that come from the heart and a lot of fun – without the awful hangover. We are not loud, we go to bed early and no-one is injured in the process.
I drank quite consistently and at times heavily in my 20’s and 30’s and stopped in my early 40’s. I am appreciating that choice as I do not want to contribute to the mess that alcohol creates. – or more honestly humans create when they choose to drink alcohol.
It’s quite incredible when you think about it that such a destructive substance is not only allowed to run through pretty much every area of our lives but that we actually champion it.
I know Alexis, its amazing how we put up with something that is not loving to cover up the tension of other things being not loving. I did that all the time, was a complete wreck when it came to drinking and was super unproductive.
There is really nothing in our body that wants to drink alcohol. Our body is always honest in communicating: no thank you, not for me and yet we override and convince ourselves that we even like alcohol and the people who don’t drink are boring. It is great that the correlation between disease and alcohol and abuse and alcohol are more out in the world for everybody who wants to take care of their body to have a different choice.
Recently there was a news item saying a third of young people don’t drink, which I think is awesome. So much harm is caused by this drug just like other drugs, actually more so because it is so socially acceptable so it’s impact is greater. I have never regretted stopping drinking just regret not doing that sooner.
How insidious that we have had for so long an activity which most of us can logically reason has harmful effects on us personally and on a society level, sanctioned by man-made religious doctrines and made acceptable because so many people assume if something is included in any religious practice it must have its origin in God’s word!
I remember we had a drug presentation at school, and the most damaging drug was alcohol – its impact has permeated so much of life and that is just the impact that is obvious or measurable. We have allowed this substance to take hold and become normal, but do we ever consider why we need it.
Yet how many people would call it a drug? When I was growing up, it was very definite that my parents and their friends considered there to be a big, thick line between drinking and narcotics. A line that protected their choice to drink.
I agree, deep down we all know that alcohol is not good for us but we deliberately avoid knowing this. This means that a huge number of people in the world are living a lie about alcohol and a society based on lies is not a very healthy one.
What’s more Elizabeth is that once one lie has been told (pretending that alcohol isn’t bad for us) then that is a standard that is then set and then allows so many other lies to be told. For example, if we are abusing our body with alcohol, does it then matter that we are abusing ourselves with other substances and foods?
A world without drinking alcohol would offer the opportunity for everyone to know who they are.
I’ve always felt unsafe around the unpredictability of people who had been drinking and how aggressive some people could get. I recall travelling on the tube when events were on and you would be sharing the carriage with many who were drunk and although some were funny which as you said is actually very sad to see some were unpredictable and intimidating.
The thing is when we are brought up in a culture of drinking alcohol it usually doesn’t enter our heads that it’s bad for us. For me, it was the pure fact that I would get horrible hangovers and feel ill for about three days that would deter me from drinking. Otherwise, I kept on trying to fit in and have a so-called ‘good’ time with friends. So what will it take for humanity to see the truth about alcohol?
Are we living a yo-yo life? Work hard, and party harder becomes our battle cry, with alcohol to fuel the way! Life is a flow and, we choose to live it only in the rapids, that has rocks that are always waiting for us!
You are absolutely right here Gill if we were all connected to our souls we wouldn’t need the fix of alcohol or other things we turn to which there are countless, to try and fill that gap left when we don’t know our true selves.