So…How to Know If You Have Alcohol Addiction
Sometimes the easiest way to answer a question is with another question. So, ask yourself this. What is going on in your life that made you search ‘How to Know If You Have Alcohol Addiction’? You didn’t land on this page by accident while shopping for a new microwave after all. It’s safe to assume something prompted you try to find out how to know if you have alcohol addiction. Let’s rewind a bit. Maybe someone said something to you about your drinking. The possibility that you might have a problem with alcohol may not have occurred to you until someone suggested it because of your behavior. Many people start looking at themselves in a situation very much like that.
How Did I Get Here?
Perhaps there’s been a change in your routine? Your regular drinking is causing you problems it hasn’t before. You’re waking up with a hangover more often. You are seeing alcohol addiction symptoms. Or maybe you’ve broken a promise to yourself or someone else. I won’t drink during the week. Or I won’t drink before 6 pm. Believe it or not, these are also very common ways which we arrive at this crossroads. How you get there isn’t important though. What matters is you did and you’re here. While that may not seem like a positive to you, we’re here to tell you it absolutely is. If you have a drinking problem, it isn’t going to solve itself. Admitting there is a problem, any problem, is the first step towards solving it. That’s why this is a positive development and you should look at it that way. Would you believe that someday you will look back on this point with gratitude and even a modicum of pride?
Here’s How to Know If You Have Alcohol Addiction
Back to the matter at hand. What is alcohol addiction anyway? Sometimes called alcoholism, alcohol addiction is the inability to control your drinking because of a physical and psychological dependence on alcohol. That’s it in a nutshell. So, there’s a few questions right in that definition there that you can ask yourself. That’s a great way how to know if you have alcohol addiction. Here are the questions:
- Do you have an inability to control your drinking?
- Have you tried to cut down or stop, only to start up again or drink the same or more?
- Are you physically dependent on alcohol?
- What happens if you go 24 hours without a drink? 48 hours? 3 days? How about a week? Do you get anxious or grouchy? Trouble sleeping? Maybe worse?
- Are you psychologically dependent on alcohol?
- What’s the first thing you do when you get some bad news? How would you feel about going to a party where you knew there would be no alcohol allowed?
Chances are we don’t even need to give you the answers to the questions above. If you ask yourself all of them and answer honestly, you will know what the answers mean. But there is one really important question you have yet to answer. This is the most important question in this whole article in fact. It’s the only one that really matters.
What Am I Willing to Do About It?
This is the million-dollar question. We’ve explained how to know if you have alcohol addiction. We’ve laid out alcohol addiction symptoms for you above. But knowing you have a problem with alcohol doesn’t change anything. Change doesn’t come from realization. It comes from action. That’s where the rubber meets the road. You know that millions of people have recovered from alcoholism. It’s not a secret after all. Common sense should tell you that lots of those people had harder lives and sadder stories than you, but they still got sober. We’re not saying that to give you a hard time. It’s very much the opposite in fact.
We tell you that because it’s a reason to have hope. Lots and lots of people who others thought would never get sober did. Recovering alcoholics are remarkable people. They defy the odds all the time, in all kinds of ways. Maybe the coolest thing about them is they love nothing more than to help someone who is in the same predicament. That bodes well for you because it means you aren’t alone. You don’t have to do this by yourself. It’s not just you versus the bottle. You have a whole army on your side in this war if you want it.
Conclusion
Overcoming alcohol addiction is absolutely possible. Not only that, but recovery can do much better than just give you your life back. If you follow the directions on the box, recovery will result in you being the best version of you. It goes way beyond just getting the booze out of your life. It will teach you how to be an outstanding human being. You’ll repair damaged relationships, mend fences and bury hatchets. You’ll find happiness and peace of mind you never thought possible. Then you’ll help others do the same. That’s how it works. If you or someone you love is living with alcohol addiction, give Recovery by the Sea a call at (877) 207-5033 or connect to us through our contact page right here.