"The way it promises relief and delivers it just enough, just long enough. What it doesn't mention is the cost. For me, that cost included hurting myself on the nights when the alcohol stopped working and the feelings became too big to contain."
"Feelings that have been numbed for years don't arrive gently. They arrive all at once, at night, when you're alone and there's nothing left to hide behind. They are loud and frightening and completely real."
"But it has done something important. It has made me stop running long enough to start looking at what I've been running from. That's not a cure. But it feels like a beginning."
Alcohol initially offers a sense of relief from anxiety and depression, but its long-term effects can worsen emotional struggles. The experience of feeling overwhelmed by suppressed emotions is common. Stopping drinking alone and confronting feelings directly is challenging but necessary for healing. This journey does not promise immediate solutions but encourages self-exploration and facing underlying issues. Acknowledging the complexity of emotions and the difficulty of change is part of the process toward recovery and understanding oneself better.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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