this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2023
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Someone doesn’t need to know you to know how self-medicating anxiety (what you’re describing) with alcohol fucks people up long term
They did manage to be a dick about it, but yea the more someone feels like they can’t stop those thoughts, the deeper the need is for something sustainable (a practice, a hobby, a life change, a med, etc.) that can help them do that
Even at its best, if someone sidesteps all the side effects of alcohol, it still just delays someone from learning how to master those thought patterns in themselves
The point being discussed is the false idea that alcohol creates relaxation for someone who lacks a setting to be able to relax without it
It just doesn’t work that way. Top level comment is spitting truth
Being healthy gives you that time. Alcohol makes you tired the next day, then you come home and drink again because you feel like garbage so on and so forth. You also lose time to the extra sleep your body needs to filter the poison out.
I'm not about to say that it's easy. I've done a ton of after work drinking in my day. If you're able, going a week or two without a drink really helps to sharpen the difference when you go back. For me that's what put it all into perspective.
I'm the healthiest person I know and it's not even close. I don't have time because I work 9-10 hours a day, then have to exercise, feed myself, clean up, do whatever other shit needs doing, prepare for the next day, and sleep for 7-8 hours. This leaves ~1-1.5 hours to "relax". That's not enough time to clear my head let alone actually do something relaxing.
I know how to break out of those thought patterns. The problem is, like I already said, it takes longer to do than I have time for. It's not like there's a switch I can flip off.
I'm going to be fucked long term regardless of what I do anyway because the society we've constructed is fucked and built around continuously making everything worse.