Alcohol leads to alcohol. When you have a stinking hangover, it can feel like the only thing that can get you through is more alcohol. A cold beer, a glass of wine, a Bloody Mary. Hair of the dog, right?! (BTW it doesn’t work. It might temporarily boost endorphins, but all it does is put off the inevitable crash.)
It is not your fault that you say you’ll just have one glass of wine and you end up having a bottle, and maybe more. Alcohol goes straight to the part of the brain that manages impulsive behaviour, so staying for another glass or 3 seems entirely reasonable, even though you swore you wouldn’t.
It is not your fault that alcohol is the biggest spender on advertising. There are messages EVERYWHERE telling you that drinking is cool, sexy and fun. I’ve never seen a booze brand promoting hangziety, missed alarm clocks, drunken fights or lost handbags. Alcohol brands spend x2 on TV and x4 on outdoor ads than the average brand - hardly surprising that drinking is so prevalent. We are being told to drink!
It is not your fault that sport is associated with drinking, be it Jack Grealish on a 4-day bender, F1 stars spraying champagne, pints in the pub in front of the football (notice how football grounds are RIGHT NEXT to pubs) or uni initiations to the Rugby team. Thinking about advertising again, 49% of active alcohol sponsorship deals focus on the most popular sport in the world - football.
It is not your fault that both celebration and commiseration are linked to booze. You have a good day - a birthday, passing exams, getting married. And drink is abundant. You have a bad day - a crappy work project, you get bad news, you go through a break up. And your mates pour you a beer.
So go easy on yourself. And if you want to chat about what a life without alcohol could look like … DMs are open, discovery calls are free. 🤩