Alcohol Was Always My Plan A
During my greatest struggles, using alcohol to cope was always my Plan A.
Relationship issues, tragedy, and in parenting, not only was it my go-to, it was often the first thing people recommended or encouraged. Drink through the divorce, drink through the hard day with the kids.
When my father died, one of my best friends said she went to three different gift basket companies before she could find a bereavement basket that didn’t include wine in it.
But the science doesn’t lie.
Alcohol is not an effective treatment of anxiety and/or depression, and orgs like the American Addiction Centers show the science of how to two are even linked.
Author Laura McKowan refers to alcohol as “pouring gasoline on your anxiety” and I saw it first hand.
My anxiety got so bad, I began having panic attacks and even anxieties around things that never bothered me before.
Let’s stop normalizing drinking as a healthy coping mechanism when life gets hard. We know better, and for someone who struggles with anxiety, it will only make things worse. It's science.