When I was in the tenth grade in high school, I took a substance abuse class. At that time period, I did not realize that alcohol abuse in reality was a sub category of drug abuse. While taking this class and learning more about drug and alcohol abuse and especially about alcohol side effects, I read a lot about Alcoholic Anonymous, their meetings, how their programs have twelve steps, and how successful the Alcoholics Anonymous recovery program has been for people all over the world. I also learned a lot about alcohol rehabilitation and the different alcohol rehab clinics that are regularly available to individuals who engage in heavy drinking.
Dangerous Outcomes That are Related to Alcohol Addiction and Alcohol Abuse
Some of the negative effects linked to alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class without a doubt frightened me. The ruined lives and countless problems experienced by most alcohol dependent individuals made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. In short, I did not want to face the damage and devastation that alcohol addicted individuals almost always experience.
Reflect on this for a moment. What fifteen-year-old teenager wants to face premature death due to his or her drinking behavior? What young person wants to become so out-of-control regarding his or her drinking that ingesting alcohol becomes the object of one’s life? What teenager wants to go to one of the local alcoholic rehabilitation centers to deal with alcohol-related difficulties before he or she becomes twenty-one?
What young person wants to deal with alcohol withdrawal symptoms when he or she tries to quit drinking? Why would an individual engage in drinking to such an extent that it would cause serious issues in every area of his or her life? Drinking later in life after an individual has a career, a family, and develops personal responsibilities makes sense. But why would an adolescent want to sacrifice his or her education, employment, finances, and relationships for a life that centers on abusive drinking?
These issues were so meaningful that I talked about some of them in class during the school year. What was completely unbelievable to me was the number of students who openly didn’t care about the harmful outcomes of hazardous drinking that I talked about. It was almost as if they couldn’t be bothered with reality and how these effects can demolish their lives. For the first time in my life I started to understand something that my grandfather used to articulate all through my younger years: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t force it to drink.
It’s Important, Beneficial, and Enlivening to Remove Yourself From the Unhealthy and Debilitating Outcomes of Alcohol and Drug Abuse
And even at my young age, I also began to realize how important, liberating, and beneficial it is in life to keep away from the debilitating and unhealthy end results of drug and alcohol abuse.