speaking my mind/speaking out

It seems like years ago I was deep in my party and drinking days with no fear or care in the world. As life went on, I realized how my behavior was unhealthy. It took a near death experience for me to fully understand what I was doing to myself, realize that my actions did have consequences, whether that be immediate or down the line.

So here I am, looking at my past in the situation of others. Let me go back a little. I used to drink and drink heavy. I don't think a lot of my friends now know the extent to how much I used to drink. Sure they have heard stories but to be around during that part of my life, to actually see how bad things were is another thing. Sure people have seen me drink, even get drunk at parties but that was nothing. During my work week, my day ended with me having at least a tall glass of Baracdi Gold and orange juice. My day offs would begin with a drink and normally would end with me driving home drunk. I was very functional and many times people didn't know that I had had a drink or three (why have 2 when clearly I could handle another?). I started drinking at work (ok working with kids is very stressful and I don't smoke, give me a break) and didn't see a problem with what I was doing. I wasn't hurting anyone. I totaled my car but blamed the weather on my accident and not the 5 drinks I had at the club that night. I didn't have a problem at all, because when you partied with me the party was where ever I was, yes, there was always a bottle in my car. Where were my friends telling me to slow down or I may have a problem? Normally, they were right next to me. Should someone have said something to me about my $120 a week habit, warned me about the long term effects? I'll let you answer that question, by posing this one, if it was crack wouldn't you expect a friend to check you?

With that being said, I see some friends going down that road that I was once driving down. Claiming to be a social drinker but still drinking alone when there was no one looking. So instead of sitting around not doing anything, ignoring the pink elephant in the room, I will say something. Tell my friend to slow it down. I'm not saying you need to stop completely, hell, I'm not even saying you can't get drunk at a party once in awhile, but I will say is this:

1. Know why you are drinking? Drinking to avoid your problems only enhances your problems and most of the time creates more problems.

2. Drinking can become an expensive habit.

3. Not remembering what you did the night before is not cool, its stupid.

4. You are no longer a social drinker when you begin drinking alone.

5. Finding social events so you can drink, does mean you have a problem.

6. Life is short, but that doesn't mean you have to make it shorter.

Well I'm done for now, blogging from my phone is killing my eyes.