by Gabriele Conrad, Goonellabah, Australia
It wasn’t that I truly ever thought drinking alcohol was okay, but everybody was doing it and I wanted to fit in.
Not drinking did make sense to me. What I noticed though, was that everybody seemed to be drinking a lot of coffee, and that some people who had stopped drinking because they were alcoholics, actually smoked a lot of cigarettes. A lesser evil so to speak, because drinking heaps of coffee and smoking did not lead to violence and family breakups: but were people just swapping one addiction for a lesser one and exchanging one prop for another?
One day, upon opening a new bottle, which I would then usually nurse along over two or three evenings, and whilst keenly feeling the anticipation, the relief the glass of wine would bring me any moment and that sense of having deserved it, I thought: “What kind of life am I leading; what are my working days really like when I can’t wait to get this glass of wine into me?”
Well, that was the end of that – no New Year’s resolutions, no planning ahead of how I would manage to not drink, nothing at all – just the insight of the fact that there must be something wrong with my life to have to drink wine in the evening after work, and be looking forward to it so much.
So my life was the problem, and the alcohol just a Band-Aid.
Not drinking was therefore extremely easy and quite natural. I just did not drink anymore and started attending to my life, my working life, my relationships and my choices, the whole lot. I started taking responsibility for how I was feeling during the day, paying attention to when I felt drained and questioning and gradually changing all those things that I had accepted as normal, but which were in fact depleting me to the point that I could hardly wait to get that numbing sugar hit in the evening.
The Truth about Universal Medicine 
When everything is clearly defined, it feels bizarre to continue doing some things in the name of reward. Absolute honesty in this case, paves the loving way and it’s in our hands, thus making some choices is as easy as being truthful, as harm is harm and love is love. No contradiction, no fight, but the opportunity of surrendering to the evidence and then, instantly decide another way.
When we understand that it is not so much ‘giving up’ something but enriching our lives then there is so much more to appreciate.
Although I stopped drinking alcohol years ago .. really easily and a joy to do, what came to me after reading this blog and what I have been feeling the last few days is how am I in life? As I can feel I am still holding back and not bringing all of me in every moment. Love this awareness and honesty though and it is with both of these I can bring the change that is needed.
What kind of day are we having when we are looking forward to a contrived better place, time to rest, time to eat, time out or time to relax in front of a screen? If we are focusing on our day, with us being present with what we are ‘doing,’ this can take away the looking-looking-looking-forward to those things we are ‘addicted-to- and the events that may not take place! So our whole day would become more enjoyable because we are not indulging in the future but are present with ourselves as we are go about our day.
Being present with ourselves as we go about our day is a wise choice.
Starting to attend to our lives, what a great way to put what it is to have a true relationship with us and hence our lives.
It can be quite difficult to accept that it’s the way we lead our life that’s the problem and not the band-aids that we use. But if we are honest with ourselves and get to the root of it, life-changes are plain and simple.
How we live our lives is more important than propping it up with band-aids, ‘So my life was the problem, and the alcohol just a Band-Aid.’