Step 1: Care about yourself
Step 2: Suck it up and do what you know you need to do
Step 3: Pride! You did it! Good job!
[quote]tyrfryer wrote:
FWIW, it killed my Dad at 42. Cirrhosis (sp?) of the liver. Sounds to me like you’re doing it out of depression (at least at first), more than anything else. Best thing for you, IMHO, is go ahead and take one of those jobs that “aren’t worth a damn”, MAKE it worth a damn by the way you do it, look at yourself in the mirror and convince yourself that you’re better than this. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have come on here looking for advice. Brother, if life kicks you in the teeth, kick it the fuck back! Different programs may help or may not, but at the end of the day, the only cat that can help you, is YOU. Bring your ass back in here on a regular basis, read what all these impressive MFers are doing (that’s helping me), let us all know how you’re doing and move forward. Good luck![/quote]
X2
BTW your unemployed and buying a 12-pack of beer a day…
Work 2 jobs that aren’t worth a damn so then your to tired/busy too drink! And it will save you money as well.
[quote]strangemeadow wrote:
I know a little about drinking. It runs rampant in my family. Parents, grandparents, uncles, siblings…dude, they never think they have a problem. I didn’t either until I was honest with myself. So quite being a pussy and cut that shit out. Period. You’ll be better at everything in your life. Other than the anecdotal benefits of booze, there aren’t any. Booze doesn’t make ya smart, attractive, jacked/ripped, rich or creative. Or anything positive. Sure it makes you feel good, but it’s not real. You bought that “feeling” in a bottle and after your liver processes it, it’s gone. Maybe it’s like making love to your wife as opposed to bangin’ a whore…the bottle is the whore(moment of bought happiness) Wife is real happiness (hopefully).
[/quote]
All drinking does is mask the problem (of caring) and make you NUMB!
[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:
(anything more than a beer with dinner or something to that effect) is really not good.
[/quote]
but, who gets to make the determination as to the cutoff point? this is subjective. Social conventions say that if you have 2 beers per day, then you are an alcoholic - this is a misnomer. what about binge drinking as opposed to daily drinking? who decides?
all of the arguments that have been made here are valid, and if someone has a problem, they need to seek help - I agree. But also as someone who’s family leans heavily on Alcohol, I have issue with an outside person helping me designate when an ‘issue’ becomes a ‘problem’.
there are times in our lives, grasshopper, where we ‘hang in there’. if a substance makes you feel better, and is legal - who gets to decide?
the American ‘puritan ethic’ tells us that alcohol is bad - stay away. but other cultures are rife with this form of self-medicating. And these cultures have thrived throughout history.
lol at the batman reference - so random!
[quote]Edgy wrote:
[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:
(anything more than a beer with dinner or something to that effect) is really not good.
[/quote]
but, who gets to make the determination as to the cutoff point? this is subjective. Social conventions say that if you have 2 beers per day, then you are an alcoholic - this is a misnomer. what about binge drinking as opposed to daily drinking? who decides?
all of the arguments that have been made here are valid, and if someone has a problem, they need to seek help - I agree. But also as someone who’s family leans heavily on Alcohol, I have issue with an outside person helping me designate when an ‘issue’ becomes a ‘problem’.
there are times in our lives, grasshopper, where we ‘hang in there’. if a substance makes you feel better, and is legal - who gets to decide?
the American ‘puritan ethic’ tells us that alcohol is bad - stay away. but other cultures are rife with this form of self-medicating. And these cultures have thrived throughout history.
lol at the batman reference - so random![/quote]
So Self medication is fine through Justification?
And I think the Batman reference was to that commercial “I’m Batman!” a couple of years ago.
[quote]FISCHER613 wrote:
So Self medication is fine through Justification?
[/quote]
my question is ‘why not’?
would it be better to have the Doc prescribe Zanax instead?
and would the Doc help a person through tough times through medication?
Don’t you know more about what you need than some Doctor who sees 50 patients a day?
[quote]Edgy wrote:
[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:
(anything more than a beer with dinner or something to that effect) is really not good.
[/quote]
but, who gets to make the determination as to the cutoff point? this is subjective. Social conventions say that if you have 2 beers per day, then you are an alcoholic - this is a misnomer. what about binge drinking as opposed to daily drinking? who decides?
all of the arguments that have been made here are valid, and if someone has a problem, they need to seek help - I agree. But also as someone who’s family leans heavily on Alcohol, I have issue with an outside person helping me designate when an ‘issue’ becomes a ‘problem’.
there are times in our lives, grasshopper, where we ‘hang in there’. if a substance makes you feel better, and is legal - who gets to decide?
the American ‘puritan ethic’ tells us that alcohol is bad - stay away. but other cultures are rife with this form of self-medicating. And these cultures have thrived throughout history.
lol at the batman reference - so random![/quote]
My people (Scottish-Irish-Canadian) frown upon it because it brings out the ugly in people, it destroys healthy bodies, amplifies depression and misery and makes growing old miserable.
What the hell are you medicating? Are you sure you’re actually medicating or making things worse? I bet you a dozen beer you’re not fixing your symptoms :PPPP
I fucking love cake and DAMN it makes me happy for a moment as it melts on my lips but no way am I going to try and convince myself it’s medication. But I like this idea…hmmmm
[quote]Edgy wrote:
[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:
(anything more than a beer with dinner or something to that effect) is really not good.
[/quote]
but, who gets to make the determination as to the cutoff point? this is subjective. Social conventions say that if you have 2 beers per day, then you are an alcoholic - this is a misnomer. what about binge drinking as opposed to daily drinking? who decides?
all of the arguments that have been made here are valid, and if someone has a problem, they need to seek help - I agree. But also as someone who’s family leans heavily on Alcohol, I have issue with an outside person helping me designate when an ‘issue’ becomes a ‘problem’.
there are times in our lives, grasshopper, where we ‘hang in there’. if a substance makes you feel better, and is legal - who gets to decide?
the American ‘puritan ethic’ tells us that alcohol is bad - stay away. but other cultures are rife with this form of self-medicating. And these cultures have thrived throughout history.
lol at the batman reference - so random![/quote]
Edgy, we know each other, so if his post had said something to the effect of being happy and life is great but you know I drink a 12 pack a day is that bad. I would not have responded that way, however this man in my opinion is hurting and posted this for help and support. That is the line my friend.
<----------Blacked out 3 times during recent cruise so not a puritan
[quote]Edgy wrote:
there are times in our lives, grasshopper, where we ‘hang in there’. if a substance makes you feel better, and is legal - who gets to decide?
the American ‘puritan ethic’ tells us that alcohol is bad - stay away. but other cultures are rife with this form of self-medicating. And these cultures have thrived throughout history.
lol at the batman reference - so random![/quote]
You know, I actually don’t have a great response to this. Everyone is going to self-medicate in some way (whether it’s through introducing a substance into the body or not). I just don’t think alcohol is reasonable to self-medicate with on a daily basis for those who seriously care about working out. We’re each entitled to our own opinion though.
[quote]Edgy wrote:
[quote]FISCHER613 wrote:
So Self medication is fine through Justification?
[/quote]
my question is ‘why not’?
would it be better to have the Doc prescribe Zanax instead?
and would the Doc help a person through tough times through medication?
Don’t you know more about what you need than some Doctor who sees 50 patients a day?
[/quote]
Because your running from or covering up a problem. Your not seeing the Forest because of the Trees…
No.
I would seek a guidance from either a Relative/Priest/Pyscholgist someone you can trust and respect.
I am not a Puritan by no means but I know when I am in a rut to go seek help.
Answered your questions line by line.
A good friend of mine said to me, “quantity doesn’t matter, if you think you have a problem, you have a problem.” I was really terrified not to quit, but to fail. The whole idea that, if I decide not to drink and then do sometime in the future, that this would mean (to me) that I am a card-carrying alcoholic, made me scared to just not drink period.
My father is an alcoholic (card carrying 
) and while he was extremely functional, I see things in hindsight that I realize now were fucked up. I don’t want to be that.
It’s definitely a downward spiral. You drink every night, it becomes normal, you’re tired (nah, this isn’t a hangover!) in the mornings, the day stresses you out, you drink that night…
It was really bad for me when I was unemployed. It has been not as bad, but still worse than I like to acknowledge in the past couple of years.
The first few days after I stopped drinking daily, I had too much time and didn’t know what to do with myself. Then I started doing the laundry that had been piling up, chores around the house, stuff that used to wait until weekends between 12-2 (end of hangover, before any drinks that day).
I don’t think people who drink as much as you, or I, can just “cut down” on a particular day. If I have one drink, I want more. You might be able to reserve it to just one particular day, or you might need to stop altogether. I don’t think you can stop by tapering like with smoking…I think it’s all or nothing.
[quote]Edgy wrote:
[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:
(anything more than a beer with dinner or something to that effect) is really not good.
[/quote]
but, who gets to make the determination as to the cutoff point? this is subjective. Social conventions say that if you have 2 beers per day, then you are an alcoholic - this is a misnomer. what about binge drinking as opposed to daily drinking? who decides?
all of the arguments that have been made here are valid, and if someone has a problem, they need to seek help - I agree. But also as someone who’s family leans heavily on Alcohol, I have issue with an outside person helping me designate when an ‘issue’ becomes a ‘problem’.
there are times in our lives, grasshopper, where we ‘hang in there’. if a substance makes you feel better, and is legal - who gets to decide?
the American ‘puritan ethic’ tells us that alcohol is bad - stay away. but other cultures are rife with this form of self-medicating. And these cultures have thrived throughout history.
lol at the batman reference - so random![/quote]
I don’t think you can assign a number of drinks a day to be “heavy but not problem” or “alcoholic” or “social”. It’s individual. If you are honest with yourself you know when you have problem. If you can’t get through the day with out drinking, or you can make it until the weekend, then have a crazy ass booze blow out, you have a problem. I used to work with a chef who was a hopeless alcoholic, by any one’s standards. He would quit drink for one month every year to prove he didn’t have a problem. He did. It’s called “white knuckling it”.
BTW, he always quit for February. It’s the shortest month!
[quote]Edgy wrote:
[quote]FISCHER613 wrote:
So Self medication is fine through Justification?
[/quote]
my question is ‘why not’?
would it be better to have the Doc prescribe Zanax instead?
and would the Doc help a person through tough times through medication?
Don’t you know more about what you need than some Doctor who sees 50 patients a day?
[/quote]
Well, if the Xanax fixes a hormonal imbalance that causes depression, yeah, that is probably better than self-medicating without any medical supervision with a depressant that is ultimately toxic and numbs pain rather than (at least attempting to) fix the underlying dysfunction.
imho. I’ve tried many routes.
i think you have a problem and you should consider seeking help. you can go to open AA meetings for free. you are unemployed and you still drink a 12 pack a day? i think that’s a problem. i have been to AA before, from my experience, it is full of people who are there to do nothing but help you. it teaches you a lot.
Calling total BS on the American “puritan” justification. I don’t even believe there is such a thing as “sex addiction”; only rich people like Tiger and Charlie have sex addictions. Go fuck all the women you want, and call it what you will.
Alcohol in bulk quantities destroys your liver. That’s science. Turn around from the corner of the wall, and face Reality.
And don’t forget this is a lifting forum most of all. Let’s see some pictures at the very least so we can see that, at least on the surface, there are no real effects except the titillation of our puritan sensibilities because we’re old fucks.
The shit that’s being tossed out in this thread…
[quote]Derek542 wrote:
however this man in my opinion is hurting and posted this for help and support. That is the line my friend.
[/quote]
But how is that the line, and who gets to decide? I have been there, I am sure that you have also, and someday, our youngsters will deal with the issues of life. It brings you down. you reach for what makes you feel better. we can discuss this all we want, but you know it’s the truth.
you and I have life going pretty well, we’ve done alot of work to make it that way, but you also know that if there is a road bump, like wife shagging the neighbor, and you reach for something that helps to get you through the night.
it happens. I’ve been there.
when you are dealing with shit, sometimes you need something to make you feel better.
batman~
[quote]debraD wrote:
My people (Scottish-Irish-Canadian) frown upon it because it brings out the ugly in people, it destroys healthy bodies, amplifies depression and misery and makes growing old miserable.
What the hell are you medicating? Are you sure you’re actually medicating or making things worse? I bet you a dozen beer you’re not fixing your symptoms :PPPP
I fucking love cake and DAMN it makes me happy for a moment as it melts on my lips but no way am I going to try and convince myself it’s medication. But I like this idea…hmmmm[/quote]
My people (Ginger Vikings), have used Alcohol to plunder your peoples for generations~
Cake can be medication - 'specially if you do it right.
[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:
You know, I actually don’t have a great response to this. Everyone is going to self-medicate in some way (whether it’s through introducing a substance into the body or not). I just don’t think alcohol is reasonable to self-medicate with on a daily basis for those who seriously care about working out. We’re each entitled to our own opinion though.[/quote]
some people use training as thier self medication - It makes you feel better. but you cant train every day and have a balanced life either.
[quote]FISCHER613 wrote:
I would seek a guidance from either a Relative/Priest/Pyscholgist someone you can trust and respect.
[/quote]
srsly - how can a relative give you good advice, if you’re surrounded by those like yourself?
don’t get me started on priests!!
there are worthless psychologists also, for instance, when me and my first wife were splitting up, I went to a marriage psychologist, and she pushed for the divorce!! how many do you go thru, and how many sessions do you need to sit thru to find a good one?
endless -
[quote]punnyguy wrote:
Alcohol in bulk quantities destroys your liver. That’s science. Turn around from the corner of the wall, and face Reality.
[/quote]
this is tru - however I do know two people who’ve suffered from liver issues, and they did not drink, and were tea-totalling church go’ers. some livers are not adept at processing alcohol, and there are physical issues that manifest themselves in some persons faster than others.
I also know barflys that have been drinking for 40 years, and still have no problems with their livers. it is individual.