This is the second in the series of dealing with the challenges (or even the seeming hopelessness) of this current economic season. Despite this post being very practical in nature, I must admit to a degree of nervousness in thinking that I’m in a position to “tell people what to do” on the subject of… self-medication (you’re welcome to think “drugs”, but I’ll be focussing in this post on the most socially acceptable drug of all- alcohol).

Be very careful of using alcohol as medication when you're faced with challenging circumstances, when (naturally) there's a much greater temptation to use it as such.  

Over the last 12-24 month period, I’ve dealt with at least three people that fall into three distinct camps, at various points along the same continuum- the first was a business owner who has clearly been a victim of the economic downturn, but from day 1, she was aware of temptation to turn to self-medication as a very temporary “fix”, (like putting a band aid over a cancerous lump…) and as a result, she was very firm in her resolution that it’s ok to drink, but not to drink as a ‘problem solver’.  

The second person began to drink more and more, realising it was an unhealthy attempt at self-medicating, and turned the ship around before any of the wheels came close to falling off (apologies for mixing marine and land-based metaphors).

The third was not so fortunate (or wise). He chose (although scientifically speaking, the issue of “objective choice” quickly diminishes from the second drink onwards (or downwards)) to dive into alcohol as a means to mask economic issues (and as you can imagine, it only exacerbated them).  

I’m not anti-alcohol, far from it. I’m not even anti-drunkenness (although I am far from that, chronologically speaking).

I’m pro-people, and I’m aware from both professional and personal experience, that too much alcohol is not a great solution to economic challenges, hardship, and especially redundancy (when we often have less money to drink, but more time…).

Not sure how close to the line you are to self-medicating? There will be a number of people in your life that can help you to answer that question (best to ask it while you’re sober though).

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