I’ve gone through periods when alcohol was my main addiction. I used it for a variety of reasons. one was to lose inhibitions in order to find it easier to talk to women. But also an anti-social phase, when I just wanted to numb the brain cells each night to stop that damned chatter in my head usually about those “awful” people at work and how dare they treat me so bad.
But as you say the vicious cycle goes into gear.. Hangover, struggle to get out of bed. Get hungry, eat take away food. No nutritional awareness. Burgers and chips being the staple. So naturally increased waistline. Lethargy, no exercise, more negative self-talk and slowly but surely erosion of self-esteem to zero and anxiety levels going through the roof. I bet if someone did a graph to show correlation between high anxiety and low self-esteem , it would be quite revealing. Like the economist’s demand and supply curve?
But alcohol is just another addiction. Well it was for me anyway. I was a serious gambler, a 40 pack a day smoker, 10 hour a day mah-jong player,a daily tramadol user. Not heavy drugs on that list I’m relieved to say but overall not a list to be proud of.
Addictions are a part of life. Just make sure you have a relatively healthy one such as exercise or religion. Moderation is also another alternative which I have managed with alcohol now.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by jock.