Alcohol Addiction – How much is too much?
Have you found this blog because you are concerned about your level of drinking or you have concerns that someone close to you is displaying signs of an addiction to alcohol? If so, then you are certainly not alone. Alcohol addiction is a massive problem not just in the UK but throughout the world. It personally impacted me for decades where my drinking had been out of control for way too long before I took proactive steps to remove alcohol from my life altogether. However, I did know long before quitting alcohol for good that I had a real problem with my consumption of wine, both frequency and volume. I want to share with you in this blog some of the clear signs looking back that were a warning that my drinking was too much and was in fact an addiction.
# Your own thoughts
I know for me and for a lot of people that I speak to about addiction is that they know deep down that their consumption of alcohol is too much before action is taken. If you have a niggle in the back of your mind that you wish you didn’t drink but find yourself drinking, or you know that it never just ends as having one drink, then these are clear warning signs that this is too much and out of control. Do you feel in control with alcohol? Or, do you find that when you are not drinking alcohol, you are thinking about drinking alcohol? Intrusive thoughts about alcohol are another sign of an addiction.
# Frequency vs volume
The stereotypical idea of an alcoholic who drinks to excess 24hrs day is not the correct view on alcohol addiction. It might be that you don’t get blindly drunk every day, but you both physically and mentally depend on having at least one drink. You don’t need to get drunk every night to have an addiction to alcohol. A clear warning sign of an addiction is an impulse to start drinking which you can’t stop. You might have said to yourself that you are going to go dry for a few days, only to find yourself having a drink the very same day. It’s the inability to keep alcohol out of your life which shows a worrying sign that even a small amount can be too much.
# How you feel
For me, at my drinking worst I had really started to notice the negative impact both physically and mentally that drinking had caused. I had learnt to accept my high-levels of anxiety due to believing it is something that can’t be fixed. However, having now stopped drinking, I realise just how much my anxiety was made worse by my drinking. I also had a terrible mood which could switch as quick as a flash, usually if I wasn’t near or couldn’t get my hands on a drink when I wanted one. Physically, I always felt bloated and I had even noticed my hands starting to shake when I was withdrawing from alcohol. This for me was one of the most worrying things as I could literally see the damage I was causing to my body and I knew I had gone too far for too long.
# Other people’s comments
Have you started to notice other people commenting on your alcohol consumption or your tendency to drink frequently? When you are in the grips of an addiction, if you are in denial about the extent to which you are addicted, then other people’s comments about your drinking will most likely not be welcome. However, this can be an unrealised god send. If you have noticed that other people are noticing your drinking habits, then this could be a sign that your drinking has become too much. It’s never nice to feel like you are being criticised or judged, but if the people closest to you have genuine concerns, then I would urge you to look into this deeper to understand if their concerns are valid or not.
So, in summary, the short answer is, it is impossible to answer how much is too much for you as everyone is different. What might seem like a small amount of alcohol on frequent basis may be trivial for one person, but for another it is an addiction that they can’t stop having a certain level of alcohol. You have to be open and honest with yourself. Do you feel in control or does alcohol win every time? I started off my sobriety journey by becoming sober curious. I really started to look at my level of drinking along with my physical and mental health and it didn’t take me long to put 2 and 2 together.
The great news is that there is so much support out there available to you. Whether you want to live an alcohol-free life or you are trying to support someone close to you with an addition. I really found YouTube, sober support groups and books around addiction to be a great help for gaining knowledge around addiction and how best to start and continue a life where I am in control and not the booze. As such, I have also created my own support tools which you can access below which I hope really do help you:
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