How Much is Too Much?

When I decided to quit drinking 48 years ago in September there was no question, I was drinking too much. I was blacking out almost every time and waking up to people I didn’t know in places I’d never been not knowing how I got there or what I did. Usually, it wasn’t good. I suffered some very bad consequences. Fortunately avoided killing anyone by driving drunk!

But after I started drinking 10 years later because…well you know…Jesus turned water into wine for a wedding so it must be OK to drink right? It was all downhill from there. I should have had a clue after that first glass of hard apple cider.. I wasn’t satisfied until the bottle was gone. And so it went for another 10 years,going from the glass of wine to the bottle, to the small box, to the big box. But you didn’t drink wine with fish fry…that came with a pitcher of beer, and when you mowed the lawn and went fishing, so it went from a 6 pack to a case of beer too. Different occasions called for different beverages. Or eventually, whatever was available.

By the time I finished my master’s degree and was a full-fledged counselor, I had also become a pretty full-fledged alcoholic. It was one of my clients and a couple of colleagues that challenged me to consider whether I was drinking too much. I rationalized that because I hadn’t lost my job, I didn’t drink in the morning, I hadn’t ended up in jail that I was in control. These are some of the questions that I had to ask myself…. I didn’t like the answers, so in March of 1996, I quit, again. In April I went to Florida on vacation, and of course you can’t go on vacation with friends who drink and not drink, so once again made a fool of myself and that was it. My last drink was April 6, 1996.

One thing that troubled me greatly was looking at what 1 drink was. New research had indicated that anything more than one of these drink amounts in a day or more than 7 in a week (not on the same day) puts us at risk for mental and physical deterioration and lands us in the “moderate drinker” category. The older we get, the greater the risk.

After looking at this I decided to do the checklist and figure out if I actually had a problem!

  1. Have you used this to escape dealing with feelings?

  2. Have you felt that you should cut down?

  3. Is it causing problems with family, friends or work?

  4. Have you gotten annoyed when people express concern about it?

  5. Did you feel guilty after doing this behavior?

  6. Did you sneak it or do it in private so no one would find out?

  7. Is this costing you money or time you don’t have to waste?

  8. Are you at risk of getting in legal trouble for doing it?

  9. Is it causing you health problems?

  10. Does it make you feel separated from God- your higher power, when you are doing it?

If you have checked any of these then you are not alone and you are in the right place. I have been a counselor now for over 35 years and I am happy to do an initial assessment and give you some feedback on some next steps. You can set up at a free appointment on the Why Coaching link or download my Survival Guide on How to Stay Sober for 7 Days.