Growing Self Esteem

On an annual basis, how many alcoholics fail to get the professional alcohol treatment they require? How many people die each year from a condition that is 100% preventable, such as alcohol poisoning? How many individuals are the victims of alcohol related crime or violence each and every year? How many individuals get injured or lose their lives in alcohol related traffic accidents every year? How many people face serious consequences in their lives because they received a “drunk driving” conviction? How many junior high, high school, and college students lose their lives every year due to an alcohol overdose? How many children are born each year with fetal alcohol syndrome? How many people’s lives are cut short due to hazardous and irresponsible drinking? How many individuals lose their lives every year because of drinking problems?

Why Would Anyone Want to Drink in an Excessive Manner?

So what’s the point in asking these questions? Basically to highlight the devastating and destructive nature of careless and excessive drinking. Indeed, and based on the above questions, I wonder why anyone would choose to drink in a hazardous and abusive manner.

Stated more forcefully, with the host of financial issues, health problems, relationship dilemmas, employment difficulties, and legal proceedings that are correlated with alcoholism and chronic alcohol abuse, why would any person with a good sense of logic want to drink in an abusive and irresponsible manner? If truth be told when some of the above topics are put under the microscope more closely, hazardous and careless drinking becomes more illogical and makes even less sense.

Wouldn’t you think that alcoholics would be able to see some of the alcohol symptoms that they display? In a similar way doesn’t it seem reasonable to think that more families would involve themselves in an alcohol intervention for the individual in the household who is an alcohol abuser or an alcoholic? Not only this but wouldn’t you think that people who drink heavily would try to learn more about their drinking behavior by researching various alcohol related statistics?

After reviewing the findings, the point is so significant that it needs to be repeated: With all of the dangerous and unhealthy effects that are directly or indirectly correlated with repetitive and continuous alcohol addiction and alcohol abuse, why would any individual want to engage in careless and hazardous drinking?

What Can be Done About the Widespread Nature of Alcohol Dependency and Alcohol Abuse in the United States?

So what can be done about the extensive nature of alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency in our country?

1. Our students need more meaningful and more relevant preventative and educational methods and approaches so that more students at all grade levels, including those at college, are “reached.
2. In a similar manner, our students need to learn how to become problem solvers in life rather than gravitating to the “instant gratification” and the “quick fix” of an alcohol or drug abuse “buzz” or “high”.
3. Individuals who are alcohol addicts or alcohol abusers need to look look at themselves honestly and ask why they are not getting the professional alcohol rehabilitation they require.
4. Society needs to get the message to more people about the dangerous and debilitating effects of excessive and abusive drinking.

There’s Room For Optimism if Those Who Engage in Abusive and Unhealthy Drinking Can Become Encouraged to Get the Alcohol Rehabilitation They Need

There’s lots of room for hope and optimism if individuals can start drinking in moderation and those who engage in hazardous and abusive drinkingcan become motivated to get the alcohol rehabilitation they require. Indeed, why put your loved ones through suffering, turmoil, and pain because of your excessive and unhealthy drinking when you have the power to control your life by drinking in moderation or even stopping drinking if you can’t control your drinking behavior?

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Merissa and Augie have been dating for four-and-a-half years. They met while taking the same music class at a relatively large, rural, private liberal arts college located in the Midwestern part of the U.S. While they were mainly good friends at first, they finally began dating when they were in their first year of college.

Due to the fact both of them came from very conservative backgrounds, neither one of them drank very much beyond the experimental stage when they first began dating. As the time went by, nevertheless, they started to go to more keg parties, football bashes, happy hours, and sorority and fraternity parties. Consequently, they little by little began to drink increasingly more the more they dated.

Their Social Life Generally Consisted of Going to Happy Hour With Their Friends, Going to Restaurants Three or Four Nights Per Week, Going to Professional Sporting Events, Going to Parties With Their Friends, and Going With Their Friends to the Local Club on the Weekends

After they graduated, they both found employment in a small city that was about ninety miles from their undergraduate college. Then they at long last made up their mind to move into the same apartment together.

Because they were far removed from the college drinking scene, nevertheless, their social life generally consisted of going to parties with their friends, going to happy hour with their friends, going to professional sporting events, going to restaurants three or four nights per week, and going to the local pub with their friends on the weekends. Stated simply, Merissa and Augie started to drink in a hazardous and excessive manner.

Now that they were living with each other and starting to get more steadfast about their relationship, nevertheless, they began to think about buying a house, getting married, having children, and becoming more responsible.

With any big adjustment in an individual’s life there is normally something that produces the specific modification in question. For Augie and Merissa the notion of having children and buying a new house was this “change agent.” Stated simply, for the first time in their lives, Merissa and Augie began to critically assess their irresponsible and hazardous drinking and the long term effects of alcohol on their health.

How Would Their Excessive Drinking Affect Their Mental Health, Their Relationship With Their Parents, Their Finances, Their Relationship With One Another, and Their Ability to Have Children?

Would their abusive and excessive drinking unfavorably affect their ability to have children? How would they be able to continue spending so much money on drinking if they were to start saving for a new house? How adult-like would they be if they had children and continued to drink in an excessive and irresponsible manner? How would they be able to face their parents and tell them about their long term aspirations, goals, and dreams while they still drank in a hazardous and abusive manner while having fun as they did when they were in college? What would their hazardous drinking do to their relationship? How would their abusive and heavy drinking affect their mental health?

From a different perspective, although neither one of them ever suffered from alcohol poisoning, received a DUI, or experienced alcohol withdrawal symptoms, they realized that their abusive and heavy drinking was becoming an issue that they could not turn their backs on anymore.

After Giving Their State of Affairs Some Serious Deliberation, Merissa and Augie Finally Realized That Their Dreams, Hopes, and Aspirations Would not be Attained if They Continued Their Heavy and Hazardous Drinking

All of these queries plainly pointed to the same conclusion: Merissa and Augie needed to get a more complete picture of the fact that they couldn’t continue their excessive and irresponsible drinking if their aspirations, dreams, and hopes were to be accomplished.

Once they arrived at this conclusion, they notified their drinking friends about their marital plans, about their goal of buying or building a new house, and about their plans to start a family. They also told their drinking friends that they still wanted to pal around with them but that they would be drinking in strict moderation from this moment forward so that they could start to realize their future dreams, plans, and hopes.

Shockingly, all of their friends expressed relief because they too had been reevaluating their lives and concluded that their life-styles were too centered around drinking. They also realized that they would have to change drastically if they were to become more mature and exhibit more respect for their careers, their goals, and for their health in the next ten or fifteen years.

After their conversation with their friends about their plans, dreams, and hopes, Augie and Merissa basically started to have more meaningful relationships with all of their buddies. The primary reason for this was the fact that all of them had the same outlook regarding their excessive and abusive drinking and their short and long-term plans, goals, and aspirations.

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Jeffrey was a high school ninth grader who usually seemed to be living on the edge. Jeffrey had a risk taking personality and as a rule wanted to do what his older brothers were doing for fun. The key drawback with this was that all three of his brothers were at least 21 years old and were thusly able from a legal vantage point to operate a car or truck and to consume alcohol.

Jeffrey, nevertheless, had a tough time grasping the truth that as a fifteen-year-old person he should not be drinking alcoholic beverages. In fact, nevertheless, Jeffrey generally drank with his friends after school, particularly on the weekends.

One weekend, Jeffrey was invited to drive around with some of his older friends. One of his friends was old enough to purchase alcohol. After purchasing some wine coolers, wine, and beer, Jeffrey and his friends went to a park and drank for roughly three hours.

A Young Man Becomes Unconscious

After drinking around ten wine coolers, Jeffrey started to feel queasy and then threw up. When he lost consciousness on the football field, one of his pals called 911 for immediate medical assistance. It was fortunate that the call for medical assistance was made because when his cronies went to the hospital to see Jeffrey, they learned that Jeffrey had been suffering from alcohol poisoning symptoms. More precisely, Jeffrey had overdosed on alcohol.

When Your Buddies Drink Too Much

Jeffrey had learned that drinking heavily can lead to alcohol poisoning but he never thought that this would ever affect him. After all, some of his friends over and over again boasted that they could drink twenty four or more cans of beer at one sitting without suffering from any serious difficulties.

Armed with this information, Jeffrey was frankly taken aback to discover that he had overdosed on alcohol because he “only” had around ten drinks. When he stated this to the attending healthcare professional at the hospital, on the other hand, the healthcare professional notified Jeffrey that drinking ten glasses of wine over a two or three hour period of time could certainly be substantially more alcohol than can be metabolized by the body. The doctor further emphasized how too much alcohol can cause the brain to shut down a person’s respiratory system and that when this transpires, a person can die.

The First Warning of Hazardous Drinking

This was the first sign to Jeffrey that he was drinking in a perilous way and that there are ramifications for such deeds. The healthcare practitioner told Jeffrey that he was a fortunate individual because he almost perished from an alcohol overdose the previous night.

The physicain also talked to Jeffrey’s parents and suggested that they get alcohol rehabilitation for Jeffrey. His parents were elated that Jeffrey was all right and told the healthcare professional that they would get Jeffrey alcohol rehabilitation.

While conversing with his parents, Jeffrey informed them that there must be a solid reason why he did not perish and that he felt grateful that he was still alive. He also told his parents that the odd part about the entire drinking episode was that he had learned about alcohol poisoning the last six week grading period at school.

When Paying Attention in Class Can Affect Your Life

At the time, what his health teacher, Mr. Franklin, was saying didn’t seem to make a lot of sense to Jeffrey. Now that he almost died, in spite of this, he felt that he should have listened more attentively in class and applied what he had learned to his life.

Jeffrey notified his parents that he couldn’t wait to go back to the classroom and apologize to Mr. Franklin for not showing more attention to a topic that was as noteworthy as learning about alcohol abuse and how to avoid alcohol poisoning.

His parents smiled at Jeffrey and said that they were thrilled with the way he was accepting responsibility for his harmful drinking behavior. All he had to do now was to let this near fatal experience have an effect on his life in a positive manner so that he would be motivated and inspired to never again go through a case of alcohol poisoning.

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When Janice was in high school, she had established a reputation as a studious individual who rarely, if ever, had fun drinking with her peers. She seemed determined to do well academically so that she would be able to pursue a career that she not only enjoyed but one that also gave her a degree of security from a financial point of view.

After much reflection, ultimately she decided that she wanted to be an attorney. In order to reach this goal, nonetheless, she would first have to get four years of undergrad education.

After Finishing High School Janice Gets Accepted Into An Illustrious Undergraduate University as Training For a Career as an Attorney

After Janice finished high school, she applied to and was accepted into an esteemed program in religion. Her rationale underlying this decision was that this subject would be good training for law school and wouldn’t be indistinguishable from the majority of law school applicants who choose political science as their undergraduate minor or major.

After graduating with high honors at the undergraduate level, she applied to and was accepted at a famous law school at one of the Big East universities.

She liked her legal studies but on occasion she was swamped with all the work that was necessary at law school. Similar to her high school and undergraduate days, nevertheless, she made pals quite easily but barely participated in social events until the school period was done.

After Being Pleased That She Had Done a Super Job on Her Exams, Janice Wanted to Let Her Hair Down and Have Some Fun

Janice was the kind of individual who worked thoroughly to finish what she started and then would take a rest when she could. As it turns out, however, a large number of the things she did between school sessions or during summer breaks did not involve drinking. Obviously, Janice was anything but a partygoer. Now that her final examinations for her second year in law school were done and realizing that she had done a super job on her finals, nevertheless, she wanted to let her hair down and do something enjoyable.

Drinking at a Local Watering Hole Results in An Alcohol Overdose, Calling 911, and An Ambulance Ride to An Alcohol Treatment Clinic

So Janice and some of her classmates went to a local pub where they had a few mixed drinks. As the hours flew by, Janice continued to drink without having to worry about exams the following day. In actual fact, Janice revealed to her pals how thrilled she was to ”get down” and drink with her buddies from school.

As the evening proceeded, Janice and her buddies continued to drink. In fact, she was having such an incredible time that she didn’t want the night to come to an end. It was almost like she was making up for lost time and attempting to force a year’s worth of fun and excitement into a single evening. Such a “game plan,” however, does not often work. In truth, when Janice went to the restroom and threw up, her buddies started to get anxious about her health.

Around ten minutes later when Janice started to slur her speech, talk in a confused manner, and then pass out, nonetheless, her friends instantaneously realized that they needed to call 911, the emergency services number, and ask for medical assistance because they suspected that Janice was displaying alcohol poisoning symptoms.

Once Janice was in the hospital, the head physician validated what her pals had assumed, namely, that Janice consumed far more alcohol than her body could handle and, as a consequence, she experienced an alcohol overdose.

After the medical team pumped her stomach until no gastric contents were visible, Janice was moved to the recovery room. After staying around two hours in recovery, Janice was then transferred to one of the regular hospital rooms. Fortunately, the most critical part of her hospitalization was over and all of her vital signs were back to normal.

In response to Janice’s medical condition, her friends attentively telephoned her Mother and Father. As a consequence, early the next morning, her Mother and Father and her best friends went to the hospital to visit Janice and check on her medical progress.

Janice Comes Close to Dying, is Thankful to be Alive, and Promises to Never Again Drink in an Excessive Manner

Janice was conscious of the fact that she came an inch from losing her life and, consequently, was pleased to be alive. At the same time, nonetheless, she was somewhat depressed knowing that she had almost passed away the previous night. Her parents were aware how relentlessly she worked in graduate school and how little she let herself have any fun. Nonetheless, they also realized that Janice needed to keep away from abusive drinking.

As a result, they suggested that in the future, whenever a drinking situation arises, that she always drink responsibly. Janice was of the same opinion and promised her friends and her Mom and Dad that she would never again drink in an irresponsible and hazardous manner. In her own words, “I never thought that I would become one of the alcohol abuse and alcoholism statistics in the local university newspaper. I now understand that abusive and hazardous drinking is not for me. I affirm that this will never happen again.”

Fortunately, Janice was not only “school smart” but she also displayed a lot of common sense. That is, she immediately realized that she had made an error and made up her mind that she would never make the same error in judgment again. As a matter of fact, she now knew that she had involved herself in “binge drinking” and that even one instance of this type of excessive drinking can end in death.

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