Alcoholism is extremely common in our society and it affects the lives of very many people. It is insidious and it ruins lives everywhere it presents itself.

Alcohol is one of the only drugs on the market that is legal. Supermarkets sell it off extremely cheaply, with their special offers and year round advertising. We see pictures on the television of the young adults binge drinking every weekend, and alcohol costs the health service, ambulance and police services untold amounts every day.

However, when you are an alcoholic, alcohol is your best friend, your worst enemy, your lover, your parent, and the meaning to your life, all rolled into one. When you are drinking it, you feel normal, safe. When you are not drinking it, you are spending the majority of the time working out how to get to your next drink, how to afford it and so on. When having a conversation with someone about anything, most of the time in the background is running a conversation in your head about drinking alcohol and why you are not, and when you next will be. It is exhausting.

Alcohol raises your testosterone levels, which is why we become belligerent when drunk. It also gets rid of inhibitions, which is why we sleep with people we may not want to when inebriated. It affects the liver, which is where anger resides in the body, so most alcoholics are angry most of the time. Drunk drivers kill innocent victims and themselves when over the limit. It does not leave a pretty trail behind it when you consider, the illness, the broken homes, the violence, the deaths, and the self-harm inflicted by someone who cannot stop drinking.

When you get into recovery from alcohol addiction, you think that your life is over. Other people who do not drink were always there to be laughed at for being so boring. You are convinced you will never laugh again, or have fun, or have a night out with your friends. As alluded to before, you feel like you have lost your mate, best friend and your meaning.

So many things have to change in order for you to be able to give up the drug. You need to change your habits, your belief systems, and your friends. You need to find a program that helps you and people that can support you. You will find why you started drinking, and need to work through that otherwise you will relapse.

Most alcoholics use alcohol to hide from the pain they have inside and to cope with life. Recovery from alcoholism is extremely challenging and takes a lot of courage and support.

After some time, you will be able to look back on your drinking as a thing of the past, and really start to appreciate the fact that now, regardless of what happens in your life, you can know that alcohol will not help to solve your problems. You begin to see that many people do not drink, and that life can be fun without the alcohol. As you begin to laugh again, and this takes as long as it takes, there are no short cuts, you can begin to see that alcohol robs us of our life, and living without it becomes a blessing.

Written by Caroline Nettle

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