Alcohol Awareness Classes Can Help Free You From Addiction

What is great about being American? What do we have that people all over the world, including here in the good old USA cherish? In one word, the answer is freedom! As a counselor for both in class and online alcohol awareness classes I often discuss this concept with my students. Of course, many of them are in class due to an arrest from an alcohol related offense like driving under the influence (DUI) or minor in possession (MIP). All of us need to realize the great God-given gift all of us share here in America – the gift of freedom! Not to look at extremes, but there are places in the world without enough water, without enough food, without the freedom to pursue your dreams or practice your religion. In America we have access to all of the above. Impediments Like Hollywood movies, human life is filled with impediments to success. Life is rife with stress and conflict. But here in American, many of the political and cultural impediments to our basic success have been cleared. As a recovering alcoholic, one of my greatest impediments has been alcohol, drugs and the myriad of other addictions I seem to have been afflicted with. From shoplifting to booze, if a little is good, more feels better! The purpose of this article is to illustrate how alcohol and other drugs are impediments, not only to our personal life-long success, but to the freedom our country grants us. Addictions are Freedom Killers I am of the age where I remember the “freedom” a pager offered my father. Soon enough, we all realized that this “freedom” really was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It meant he could be contacted 24 hours a day, seven days a week. While his pager certainly was not an addiction, current times dictate that we always are connected – via email, phone, text, etc… This too, in itself is an addiction. But the need to feel connected is not the purpose of this article. The purpose, is to show how addiction to drugs and or alcohol eviscerate your freedom! A Guaranteed Need What is an addiction? An addiction is a guaranteed need. It is a responsibility that must be considered and administered too both subconsciously and consciously. Think about that for a moment. Basically, once you are addicted to something, be it a television program or chemical substance, you lose the essence of your freedom! Once you feel the need to drink or do drugs every day or every time a certain occasion occurs, your freedom is gone! If you are an addict, you know how much of your time is spent on your addiction. You know you think about everything involving said addiction – from obtaining access to it to the freedom to enjoy it without disturbance or retribution. It most definitely occupies your mind and your time, and thus, sucks away your freedom to live a fruitful life. Please, remember that alcohol is both a drug and a poison. If you or someone you love has a drug or alcohol problem, please seek help immediately. If you prefer to maintain total anonymity, there are drug and alcohol classes as well.