There's a part in the movie Days of Wine and Roses when one character is explaining to another character about the disease of alcoholism.
He explains that it's like someone developing an allergy to strawberries.
You don't know which strawberry it was that cause the allergy and you don't know you have it until it's too late.
According to Alcoholics Anonymous, alcoholism is a twofold disease; an obsession of the mind coupled with an allergy of the body.
Basically, the mind obsesses over the drink and the body eventually becomes allergic to and craves it.
It's no big secret that alcoholics react differently to alcohol physically, but there's also a big difference in the way an alcoholic thinks about alcohol as well.
As a recovering alcoholic, (over 4 years as of writing this article) it seems that I have no idea when or how I actually became an alcoholic.
Much like the reference to the strawberry allergy earlier, the fact is I became one and can never go back.
Once a pickle never a cucumber.
I started drinking in my early teens and would guess that somewhere in my mid to late twenties is probably when I truly became an alcoholic.
Truth is, it doesn't matter.
It's common to think if we go back to some childhood trauma, deal with it, that maybe we will not be alcoholic anymore.
That doesn't work.
The only real way to move past it is to accept it, embrace it, and let it take us where we're supposed to be and not just where we've ended up.
The victim mentality can and does keep us sick.
I'm not a licensed medical professional so I cannot say how exactly someone becomes an alcoholic, heck, I can't even say how I became one other than a lot of drinking.
In my case, I believe that since I began drinking at such an early age, I never truly learned how to deal with my emotions in a healthy manner.
When I got older, it became difficult to hold meaningful intimate relationships with others who were emotionally available and mature.
Quite honestly at some point I just quite trying and pretty much led a solitary life.
Often I would excuse my lone-wolf behavior to ambition or a drive to succeed.
Truth is, I had no idea how to be in a meaningful relationship.
He explains that it's like someone developing an allergy to strawberries.
You don't know which strawberry it was that cause the allergy and you don't know you have it until it's too late.
According to Alcoholics Anonymous, alcoholism is a twofold disease; an obsession of the mind coupled with an allergy of the body.
Basically, the mind obsesses over the drink and the body eventually becomes allergic to and craves it.
It's no big secret that alcoholics react differently to alcohol physically, but there's also a big difference in the way an alcoholic thinks about alcohol as well.
As a recovering alcoholic, (over 4 years as of writing this article) it seems that I have no idea when or how I actually became an alcoholic.
Much like the reference to the strawberry allergy earlier, the fact is I became one and can never go back.
Once a pickle never a cucumber.
I started drinking in my early teens and would guess that somewhere in my mid to late twenties is probably when I truly became an alcoholic.
Truth is, it doesn't matter.
It's common to think if we go back to some childhood trauma, deal with it, that maybe we will not be alcoholic anymore.
That doesn't work.
The only real way to move past it is to accept it, embrace it, and let it take us where we're supposed to be and not just where we've ended up.
The victim mentality can and does keep us sick.
I'm not a licensed medical professional so I cannot say how exactly someone becomes an alcoholic, heck, I can't even say how I became one other than a lot of drinking.
In my case, I believe that since I began drinking at such an early age, I never truly learned how to deal with my emotions in a healthy manner.
When I got older, it became difficult to hold meaningful intimate relationships with others who were emotionally available and mature.
Quite honestly at some point I just quite trying and pretty much led a solitary life.
Often I would excuse my lone-wolf behavior to ambition or a drive to succeed.
Truth is, I had no idea how to be in a meaningful relationship.