Cravings and triggers
There was one thing about my drinking that I simply couldn’t understand. I was perfectly capable in every other aspect of my life but for some bizarre reason I could not control my drinking. I drank more than I wanted […]
Is alcoholism genetic or is it caused by our personal circumstances?
The answer to this question isn’t either one or the other; the answer is “both”. Susceptibility to addiction is genetic, and activation of that susceptibility, where it exists, is environmental. Susceptibility to addiction is quite simple and specific. The adverse […]
Why me?
People struggling with alcoholism are desperate to identify someone or something to blame for their addiction but we confuse things that cause us to drink with what causes addiction… and these are not the same thing at all. Here are […]
Drinking was fun until it wasn’t
When I first read this it hit me like a hammer-blow because I could see where I was headed, and it wasn’t pretty. While it was obvious to me that the amount I drank had slowly crept up over the […]
Lying Minds
Alcoholics are not damaged, faulty or broken, and we aren’t bad or weak people, we are deceived: deceived by our own minds. Most people that drink heavily in their youth will mature out of it and those that drink to […]
Our past is not the problem
We have a desperate need to understand why we drink the way we do. This need isn’t simply an urgent quest for knowledge it is driven by something far more powerful: shame, or rather, the need to avoid it. We […]
Shame and alcoholism
Shame is a soul eating emotion. We often bundle shame and guilt together, but there’s a distinct difference between the two: shame is when we think “I am bad”, and guilt means “I did something bad.” But there’s something else […]
Alcohol is C2H6O… it isn’t magical!
Alcohol (ethanol) is a simple little chemical. It has two carbon atoms, six hydrogen atoms, and an oxygen atom. It doesn’t travel at speeds exceeding the speed of light and it doesn’t have the gravitational pull of a black hole… […]
Self-sabotage is real
As my recovery was strengthening I became acutely aware of the extent to which my mind was actively working against me. Even after I had summoned sufficient strength to fend off the cravings I still had to navigate my way […]
Alcohol tolerance and changes to our brain
It is the reward system that drives addiction, but the consequences of regular and heavy drinking lead us to be not just addicted. Regular and heavy drinking causes changes in us, and most particularly changes in our brain and mind. […]
When we stop
I knew for a long time what happened if I didn’t drink in the evening… I wouldn’t sleep. But what I didn’t realise was that this only showed me one of several changes that had occurred in my brain and […]
I drank because…
I don’t get rattled often these days, but here’s something that gets me frustrated. I often read in recovery blogs, notice-boards, chat-rooms and online communities … “I drank because…” and usually what follows this rattles me. It troubles me and […]
Who becomes an alcoholic?
Why we’ve ended up in this position is a question that haunts us. It is as though knowing the answer will absolve us of the awful things we’ve done. But knowing the answer ultimately changes nothing; we are alcoholics, and […]
Understanding and learning from relapse
Relapse is a crushing and confusing experience. Stopping drinking is hard and I never understood quite how hard it was until I tried. It’s hard because sometimes the test can be ferocious, and sometimes it can be devious… my addiction kept finding new ways to challenge me. Until I realised just how hard it was, and how devious it could be, I didn’t bring enough to the attempt… that’s my experience. But relapse isn’t failure, it is education.
Self-sabotage and the big lie
When we try to stop drinking we are confronted by many challenges. We have to overcome incredibly powerful cravings of course, but there is far more. Our daily routines have to change, people we associate with have to change, and […]