Some people always ask me, how do I know if I have a drinking problem? and I seem to always give similar responses. It got me thinking just recently, while looking back at my own past, that there are some pretty big (and probably obvious) signs that you have one. I figured, to start things off for the year in the “blogosphere” of Clarity, we’ll list 5 clues that could mean you need to quit the booze, or at least start.
1. You spend way too much mental bandwidth thinking about it.
Do you ever find yourself getting to the end of the working week, on a Friday afternoon, let’s say 2pm? heck, it may even be mid-morning, and you’re just itching to get to the bottle shop. Maybe you’ve even been mentally planning all day what you’re going to drink, or who you’re going to be drinking with? I use to think this type of behaviour was normal, that EVERYONE had that inner-alcohol dialect at around knock-off time, turns out, it’s probably only in people who perhaps see alcohol as more of a best mate.
You need to go out late at night to get more booze.
This is a pretty no-brainer one when you think about it, would you go rush out to buy eggs or bread at 11pm at night? Probably not. You can’t wait until tomorrow when people are shopping at a normal hour? You may have a problem. It is funny though, because looking back, I thought this kind of behaviour was absolutely normal as well. Yeah mate just stocking up, again, because I already drank what I had purchased on the drive home that afternoon.
If it’s in the house, you gotta drink it.
Do you ever buy alcohol for the house “just in case” you might have some friends over to knock back a few cold ones? This was certainly not something I did. If you ever feel obliged to drink at home, just because it’s there, i’m sorry to say but… this probably a clue that you’re not a normal drinker.
You reward yourself for quitting alcohol for 30 days, with alcohol
Seems kind of counter-productive doesn’t it? Congratulations you kicked the booze for 30 days! You may now go ahead and write yourself off because you definitely don’t have a problem. it’s even worse when that day turns into a 3 day bender. Unfortunately, this was something I did, I’ve even gone 3 months, thought surely 3 months means I don’t have a problem, and wrote off the next 3-4 days.
While these clues are not absolutely extensive, and there are probably a whole lot more that could be red flags, these are one’s that I can relate to personally.
As always if you have any questions or queries, feel free to get in touch with me personally
or bing me on messenger.
All the best in health,
Stephen Brumwell.
Former drinker, Nutritionist, Biohacking enthusiast, self-experimenter, research fanatic, and self-taught writer, Stephen immerses himself deep into the literature of human optimisation and better understand the nature of addiction. His goal is to help people take control of their addiction, reset their cravings, unscramble their broken brain circuitry and use actionable strategies that work ten times better than anything else.