16d • General discussion
Is Alcohol Holding You Back?
Is Alcohol Holding You Back?(It’s Not Always Clear… But in My Case, It Was.)
Alcohol has this way of slipping into your life like a friend who “means well” but always seems to leave chaos in their wake. For some people, the warning signs are subtle — missed moments, a little fogginess in the morning, promises broken quietly.For others, like me, it wasn’t subtle at all. It was obvious. Loud. Repetitive. And eventually impossible to ignore.
But here’s the real truth:Alcohol is cunning. Alcohol is baffling. Alcohol is powerful.And most of us underestimate all three.
Cunning: A Subtle Foe
Alcohol doesn’t usually show up on Day 1 and blow up your life. it whispers. It bargains. It co-signs your bullshit.
“Just one drink… you’ve earned it.”“You deserve to take the edge off.”“You’re fine. You have it under control.”
That’s how cunning it is — it convinces you the problem isn’t a problem. it tells you you’re the exception it tells you you’re fine right up until you’re not.
I used to think alcohol was helping me relax, helping me socialize, helping me escape stress.Looking back, all it really did was help me avoid my own life.
Baffling: I Can’t Believe I Did It Again
There are few things more humbling than waking up the morning after saying, “I’m done,” and realizing… nope. you did it again.
The baffling part isn’t the drinking itself — it’s how a grown adult, with responsibilities and goals and a whole life to protect, can be fully aware of the consequences… and still pick up.
It makes no logical sense.And that’s the point — it’s not logical.
Alcohol hijacks your brain’s reward system it convinces you that relief is one drink away, even if that drink is the very thing destroying your peace, your relationships, your confidence, your health.
You can be smart, disciplined, driven — and still get caught in the cycle.And if you’re anything like me, you’ve had moments of shaking your head thinking,“How the hell am I here again?”
Powerful: The Famous Last Words — “Fuck It.”
This is where the power hits.
That moment — you know it — when the day has been long, or the stress stacks up, or the loneliness creeps in, or you’re feeling just a little too much of something…
And the words slip out:
“Fuck it.”
That tiny phrase has taken more people down than anything else I know its the rallying cry of surrender — not surrender to help, but surrender to the same old cycle
.
Every time I said “fuck it,” I wasn’t choosing pleasure.I wasn’t choosing fun.I was choosing escape.I was choosing the comfortable agony I already knew.
Alcohol is powerful not just because of what it does to your body, but because of what it does to your mind: it gives you a shortcut out of facing your feelings — even when that shortcut leads straight into a wall.
Is It Holding You Back?
You don’t need to lose everything for alcohol to be holding you back. You don’t need to hit some dramatic rock bottom.Sometimes the signs are quieter:
- You’re tired of breaking promises to yourself.
- You feel stuck, foggy, or unmotivated.
- Your relationships feel strained.
- You’re anxious in the morning and can’t figure out why.
- You’re not showing up as the best version of yourself.
- You feel that little internal tug that says, “Something’s not right.”
If you’re reading this and something in you is nodding… pay attention.
Alcohol doesn’t just steal time it steals clarity, momentum, self-respect, and possibility.
The Good News
The moment you see alcohol for what it really is — cunning, baffling, and powerful — you also unlock something else:
Your own power.
The power to pause.The power to choose differently.The power to reset at any moment.The power to write a new story.The power to get your life back — one day at a time.
If alcohol is holding you back, here’s the truth:You don’t have to stay stuck. You don’t have to fight alone.And you don’t have to wait for things to get worse.
Sometimes the most powerful thing you can say isn’t “fuck it.”It’s:
“Not today Satan.”
And that’s where everything starts to change. Welcome to "SoberCurious"
Mike
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Is Alcohol Holding You Back?
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