The material presented
here is not Al-Anon Conference Approved Literature. It is a method
to exchange
information, ideas, feelings, problems and solutions on a personal
level.
Just wondering if anyone else gets upset over seeing commercials and advertising for alcohol. It really angers me. We went to visit my son in another state. Every where you looked there was a billboard or a liquor/beer store. Seriously, how can anyone with an alcohol addiction try to move on when every where they look they are reminded of it? I hate alcohol. I hate when I see posts on facebook about people going out to drink, etc. It has caused so much pain over the past 5 years to my family that I despise it.
some folks are addicted to chocolate and I see my addiction all over the place....lots of stuff is "in my face" but I want to heal from my "isms" like binging on chocolate and being a control addict and the ads don't really bother me anymore because I am working my program, focused on getting better, focused on good self care and so it is what it is......I get what you are saying...Alcohol ruined most of my life with the parents on up....but it is what it is and the liquor industry wants that money and they don't care about the ones who get addicted and slowly die from it......I just ignore stuff, turn away from it, if it upsets me but really, I get what you are saying....It sucks to see reminders of your pain....Anymore, I just avoid stuff that is gonna upset me.....on facebook, a friend of mine posted this horrid pic of animal abuse case and she does this regularly and I can't do anything to help the poor animal because it is already dead or rescued so why let myself get triggered??? i just "unfollowed" her because it is her right to post what she wants....my right to NOT have it in my face...so I like her as friend, but I am not following her posts...I dont' want to see that.......so I hear ya.....
hummingbird - when I first got sober, I would 'yell' at the TV! I understand where you are. I had to find my own peace in accepting that I have a disease which includes an allergy to alcohol and other mind altering substances. Other people don't. As with most things, it passed for me and I was able to move on with recovery.
Part of being powerless is I have no control over other people, places and things. I can change channels, change driving routes, change my thinking but can't change anything beyond me.
Keep coming back - it does get better!
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Practice the PAUSE...Pause before judging. Pause before assuming. Pause before accusing. Pause whenever you are about to react harshly and you will avoid doing and saying things you will later regret. ~~~~ Lori Deschene
Hi Hummingbird, I remember feeling exactly the same way. I was triggered by seeing any bottles, labels, coasters, or whatever had beer or wine or liquor advertising on it. I felt angry going into the grocery store and seeing the displays of wine - ironically, the same brand that I'd found my husband had hidden. I was on a rampage to get all of those things out of my house. I narrowly avoided smashing a bunch of wine bottles at home because I was so angry and wanted to lash out.
As I've progressed in Al-Anon and my life has moved on, I no longer feel that way. Somehow those objects have lost their power to enrage me. I know that some people are addicted to alcohol while others can take it or leave it. I'm glad I have the ability to "change the channel" or turn the page.
I think we're entitled to our feelings ... there is a reason we feel that way. But for me, at least, there was light at the end of the tunnel and I am able to feel differently now.
Yes I remember this feeling. I think I posted here as you are doing. I think it is despicable that alcohol is marketed to young people as if its a gateway to happiness and feel sad when I see people I know presenting images of alcoholic misery as if they have achieved something amazing. But overall, I find most people outside of recovery to be willfully ignorant in almost all areas of life so I've had to learn and still am learning/deciding whether I need social relationships and to what extent. I know I'm a person who could easily live alone, I've done it for years over the years, but sometimes I miss banality and along with that comes the norms of our times, which includes force fed marketing. We don't have to like what we accept. I don't like it. I try to have compassion for it, with varying degrees of success. I would go insane without recovery and recovery principles. Keep coming back.
