I did a podcast not long ago and the question posed was something to the effect of how did I think drinking was becoming more embedded in our culture?
For starters, you can’t go anywhere anymore without alcohol being shoved in your face. Want to get your nails done? Now some salons serve wine. Want to do some yoga? Now it’s yoga and wine and yoga and pizza! I can’t think of anything that begs to be divorced from yoga more than pizza and wine. Like you can’t have a marriage with three people in the picture, the same is true with the practice of yoga.
Ladies, have you seen the purses that have spouts? Now you never have to worry again about where to get that drink because you can take it with you wherever you go and never ever be without some liquid courage. But you’re a social drinker right?
Everyone laughs and thinks this is funny and cool, when in fact it looks exactly like alcoholism to me. Instead, women should be asking themselves “What am I trying to put in myself that isn’t already there?” There is no amount of alcohol, sex, or drugs that will fill the hole in the soul.
Living Well is an Inside Job.
Living well is an inside job, but instead of working to become a better person, women are hanging out in kitchens, decks and bars, drinking themselves half to death—is it any wonder they feel so dissatisfied with their lives and their relationships?
So much of life is based on coping skills. Can you cope in healthy ways with all the stuff life throws at us, or are you someone who copes by screaming, yelling, drinking, or taking pills? How can we learn healthy coping skills when even our own families throw alcohol and pills at the problem? Everyone is looking for a drink to take the “edge” off. Wow, what happened to learning how to feel and process those difficult emotions? We can learn to cope without the adjunct of alcohol and pills. There’s a sign hanging in one 12-step room and it says, “There’s nothing so bad that a drink won’t make worse.” This is true. Our rational minds take a hiatus when we imbibe. If you’re always walking around with a drink in hand, your natural state of mind is unnatural. We can’t make good decisions when we’re constantly under the influence. You don’t have to be falling down drunk to make poor decisions. Alcohol clouds the mind and skews ones perspective.
Can the Bar Get Any Lower?
Our culture continues to lower the bar as far as drinking is concerned. A glass of wine used to be four ounces—today, any size fish bowl will do. The questions we need to ask ourselves:
- Do I often drink too much?
- What feeling do I have that I would rather not feel?
- What shame do I feel that I can’t face?
Women that feel good about themselves don’t need to hide behind a wine glass. In all cases, the wine will eventually quit working, and the day will come when you will have a choice to face the truth—that you’ve been running from your own life, or continue living a half-lived life where the sky is never quite blue, the love you have will never be enough, and the pain never fully goes away.