Well you come through those teenage years discovering yourself, what you like and don’t like. All of which, then lays the basis of what you do in those latter teen years – whether it be continuing playing the sport you did during school and taking it more seriously; getting ready to go away to college or university and learning to live on your own or maybe taking those first steps on the road to employment…….the one thing these all have in common (well two at least actually) are drink and relationships – well those two in a way actually merge into one…..
We enter into a life of saying that we will not drink, we can handle the drink and drink doesn’t affect us but actually when you look back, it really does……remember your first dance or kiss, was it fueled by (or in part) alcohol? How many relationships have started by casually meeting someone when you had a drink? Did a relationship start because you had slightly had too much to drink (or enough to make you brave enough to ask them out or if they wanted drink) and that lead to the start of dating? Or, did you go steps too far (as some may say) by both of you being very drunk and waking up next to each other whilst not fully remembering what happened the night before……
These encounters can take one of either two routes – one that can lead to a relationship for many years or even a lifelong commitment to love or partnership/marriage. The other route, is one of bouncing from relationship to relationship without settling down and having the opportunity to make a commitment.
So then, why do we never learn about the effects that drink can cause? And is it just drink related? Actually no it isn’t! Just sit back and think/contemplate what you do in life that mirrors drinking/relationships….
Those drunken episodes where the alcohol fuels us to have courage to speak to that person, is just the same as those endorphin’s that are released giving us a natural high on the first day of our new job…..don’t they sound familiar?
See the similarities? That is because life outside of our working careers actually does mirror each other.
So, sit back, grab a piece of paper and draw a line vertically down the page. Then, starting on the left hand side, sit back and compare where you are now to where you have come from since leaving school. Write down what you have done work wise from leaving secondary school to where you are working today….
Now, on the right hand side of the paper, write down your relationship history starting from school until where you are now…….
Then, the third and final part, down the centre line, write down your holidays too.
Now, leave it, walk away and take a break from what you have just wrote, clear your mind so you can come back with a clear and open mind to concentrate on what you have done.
The next time you pick up the piece of paper, look at where your relationships started or a new job started – what do you remember? Were you on a natural high from what you can recollect? Now if you look at your holidays, did they tie in with a relationship or job starting?
Now, you then sit back and look, where has alcohol been involved? Has it had an impact on any those things you wrote? The start or end of a relationship, the start or end of a job or could it have happened on your holiday? Did alcohol play a major part on any of these events? But why? How do these things happen?
When you look around it seems that our culture and what we do or achieve, does seem to be influenced by alcohol – yet why? Why do we do this? No, I am not advocating stopping drinking but what I am saying is we need look around……..
Looking at other countries, they do not seem to have the drinking culture we have, they do not seem to have issues like we do here and yes whilst economic issues seem to be common place, the common theme seems to be “Broken Britain”……is alcohol behind it…….
So now, stop, think and contemplate where you are wanting to go, what you are wanting to achieve…..
Making your decisions with a clear head and open mind is the key to your future and success. As I know I have made mistakes, but no more, time to start again and this time, for it to be bigger and better than before….
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