The “Glass is Half-Full” Theory of Life (Part II) -- by Anne Shier

(Inspired by the website http://www.ehow.com/facts_5127032_alcohol-abuse.html.)

After years of continuous drinking, and perhaps trying to withdraw from its powerful pull, a die-hard alcoholic like my uncle Walt had, by this time, become obsessed with drinking to the exclusion of everything and everyone else. I’m sure it was the first thing he thought about upon waking and the last thing upon going to sleep.

        My Uncle Walt had developed a severe drinking problem over a period of years. He became a distant relative whom I did not know well in my adult years. In his youth, he had been a very good-looking young man, with short, dark-brown, wavy hair, a good muscular build, and a drop-dead gorgeous smile. For some unknown reason, he had started drinking as a relatively young man in his teens and did not stop, putting his health, ultimately, at great risk.

Not only that, everyone around him had to know that there was a major problem with his drinking. His physical and mental well-being would have seriously deteriorated, and this fact would have been obvious to those who knew him best. Alcohol would have begun to seriously damage his vital organ systems because his body could no longer handle large amounts of alcohol in the bloodstream. This meant that his physical resistance was lowered and he had become more vulnerable to disease and illness. Alcohol had taken over, and its availability was the only important thing to him. Nothing and nobody else mattered.

Mounting relationship and social problems would have started to occur over time, as well as mounting financial and legal problems associated with prolonged and continuous drinking of alcohol. As far as I knew about Uncle Walt, he did not have any sustainable relationships or friendships, except possibly with other alcoholics.

Walt’s liver function would have been damaged, in particular, further limiting the conversion of nutrients into a usable form that his body could assimilate. His damaged liver cells would not be receiving the needed nutrients; they’d be unable to repair themselves and the damage to his liver would continue to worsen.

Many things can cause the death of an alcoholic: if one continues to drink, alcohol would be the most likely cause of his death in one way or another. From suicide, accidents and related injuries to direct damage to the body’s organ systems, death would most likely be the final outcome of end stage alcoholism. I believe that Walt died eventually of cirrhosis of the liver, a disease that damages and eventually destroys liver tissue. As we all know, one cannot live without a healthy liver.

Although I have not known many alcoholics, I have known a few habitual drinkers who preferred to see themselves as “social” drinkers. These fully-grown adults intentionally drove while drunk, lost their driver’s licences for a year or more, got involved in potentially serious car accidents and could have died or killed someone else as a result of driving while under the influence (DUI). Were they thinking of the damage they could do to themselves and others? I doubt it.

Anyone who has been drinking at a party or some other social gathering should without a doubt have their car keys taken away. There is no way they should be allowed to drive. It would be far better for the alcoholic to “sleep it off” wherever he or she is than to be allowed to drive home in his or her drunken state. When my son was still a fairly young adult and liked having his male and female friends over to party at our place on a particular weekend night, my policy was to let them all sleep it off at our place and go home only after waking up the next day. It made for a lot of young bodies lying around our place that night, but the alternative made it worth it. They would all thank me the next day and were grateful that they’d had a place to sleep it off. I don’t think any of them really wanted to drive home under the influence. In this way, they all stayed safe and I had a clear conscience.
You might be thinking, “What does any of this have to do with my own personal philosophy of life (the glass is half-full)?” I’ll tell you. The fact that I am a positive person helps me to deal with life’s trials and tribulations better. Since I have a better attitude in life, I am not as interested in running away from my responsibilities in life as I am in solving my problems and making my life better as a result. Over time, I have learned to deal with life’s challenges—not seeing them as obstacles or problems, but as challenges that need to be met. With every problem successfully solved, I become a stronger person and am, thus, more able to deal with life’s challenges. It becomes a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy—one that has greatly benefited my life. For certain, if it’s been a benefit to me, then the same will be a benefit to you as well, and make your life better, not damage and perhaps destroy it.

copyright - Anne Shier, 2013, all rights reserved, published by Authorhouse, Bloomington, Indiana, USA