Inevitably, the first point that has to be made is the HUGE problem with alcoholism in Ireland. I have yet to meet an Irish family that doesn't have an alcoholic amidst them. Sometimes this 'trouble-maker' is largely ignored and allowed to live their destructive life in solitude as long as they stay out of everyone's hair. But we all know that's not true, their drinking lifestyle always affects someone, be it their mother, their sister, their child....there is always an unfortunate soul who tries to help them when they're in trouble and who predominately tries to cover up their drinking. These people are the Enablers. Controversial as it may be, these people are not helping themselves or their loved one in any way and they often step in to save the day when the alcoholic should be left in their misery to hit rock bottom and realise the error of their ways. It's absolutely heartbreaking to watch someone you love slowly killing themselves and worst of all, the collateral damage that they cause to everyone around them.But, alas, they will never change for us so, why bother drowning with them? People who drink too much aren't simply party people. No, they are drowning their unresolved issues in pool full of liquor. They are using it to numb their thoughts or emotions and it is the self-absorbed nature of the disease that permits they to turn a blind eye to the havoc they are causing. Our desperate need to keep up appearances is doing us no favours and I think Ireland should be ready to lift the carpet and sweep out the demons that lay beneath.
I want to draw from the point that there is, in fact, a reason as to why people become alcoholics. If you truly know a drinker, maybe you know what dirty skeletons lie in their closet and understand their problems. We may pity them for their troubled past but do we allow it dismiss their selfish lifestyle? In my opinion, there are few souls on this earth who can say they've never had anything bad happen to them. The difference is that the rest of us learn to cope with them or maybe, we see them manifest in other ways in our life such as our relationships, our love-lives or career. Issues essentially become fears so they can hold you back in many different ways in life. So then we all have problems? Yes. So if you are using alcohol as a way of coping with your problems, you are walking down a very slippery slope my friend. You may not even realise that you're doing it in the midst of the madness which is the most dangerous part of it all. Fortunately for some, hindsight may grant you some revelation as to why that weekend on the tear was a bigger fiasco then the rest. Were you feeling bad before you went drinking? I don't know about men but women are such elaborately emotional creatures that drinking when you feel angry or sad is usually disastrous. My point is that if you're sad about something, maybe you should reconsider going out and leaving your inhibitions at home. Instead, just stay on the couch, buy a disgusting amount of chocolate and nibbles and have a depression session with Adele. Or maybe invite a friend over, that'd probably be a better idea.
I absolutely, 100% love going out, socialising, drinking....I love it all. What I hate about myself is when I do things that I know I will regret in the morning and are completely out of character for me. Have you ever woken up and thought "Why did I say that? That was a complete, utter lie."? Many a time, I've blurted out things that have been real in a sober state of mind which I can get over because at least it's true. But when I say things that aren't even true?? What is that about? Or have you ever got off with someone that you find utterly vile on a normal day? The next day, you're drowning in regret, shame and worry questioning "What on earth possessed you to do something like that?" I don't really know why we do these foolish things but we all know that we only do things like that when we are mindlessly drunk so how about we all lay off the Jagerbombs just a tad and be a little more concious of how much we are drinking while we're out. Unfortunately, there are nights when we can't explain how we've got so hammered but I detest hearing "My drink was spiked". I would like a blood test to prove that because I know you only ate a few Taytos before you went out and I saw you drinking that 'Slippery Nipple'. You may kindly stop pointing fingers and please refrain from faulting your friend's attention to your uber-illogical tomfoolery.
All these points lead us to the path of understanding as to how disgusting our drink culture is. We can't seem to go out and have a few drinks while socialising with our friends. We all purposefully go out to get drunk. This was the biggest difference I noticed between Spain and Ireland. The Spaniards go out for hours on end and arrive home in that lovely tipsy, merry state. They don't understand what 'the fear' is because they have never been that hungover. They drink so slowly that their glass is half full but it's horribly watery because the ice has melted while they've been nursing it. It's a norm to have a drink at any time of the day, including the morning. I wanted to projectile when I saw a man crack open a can of ice cold Cruzcampo at 8 am before heading off to work, but they don't see it as we do. They can drink one 330ml can and leave it at that. Could anybody do that in Ireland? They would drink a glass of wine with their meal while we easily drink the whole bottle, if not two. They drink the glass of beer/wine/gin/whiskey to enjoy the taste while relaxing with friends and family whereas we don't even realise what it tastes like as we slug it back our throat as fast as humanly possible. Have we normalised alcoholism so much that we are all arriving in drunken oblivion every weekend, unaware of the repercussions? All I know is that this isn't normal, we've just made it normal. Unfortunately our own government has proved that no matter what the cost, we'll drink anyway.
