Alcohol affects no two people in the same way. Look around at a group of drinkers, and you’ll notice they all react differently to it even though they consume the same substance. Some people become happy, others sad. Some are sleepy; others are aggressive.
It’s a powerful substance that complexly changes our moods and perceptions. It doesn’t fundamentally change who we are as people, but it removes our ability to regulate our emotions and suppresses our sensitivity to others’ feelings.
Some of those feelings, such as confidence and relaxation, can be useful, but as we change our drinking, we learn new ways of accessing those positive emotions.
Over time, you’ll discover that:
- if you rely on drinking to make you feel confident in social situations, the confidence is in you, not the glass. Alcohol is simply numbing wariness, a natural instinct.
- if you rely on drinking to relax at the end of the day, the feelings of calm are yours, not alcohols. A drink has simply become a marker for transitioning from a time of responsibility to a time to wind down
- if you rely on alcohol to cheer you up, remember it’s impossible to bottle happiness. Alcohol is merely numbing uncomfortable thoughts
And this is also true of less positive feelings. Yes, stopping drinking will make you more aware of problems in your life, but without alcohol, you’ll be able to deal with them better.