Kick the Drink Easily! Page 3

  However, there is so much brainwashing and conditioning to be removed before we reach that stage and in order for you to find your way out of the alcohol trap that you need to do a few things:

  Read this book with a very open mind.

  Read the whole book through; don’t just dip in.

  Follow my ‘Steps to Freedom.’

  The first step is to continue drinking until you have finished reading this book. Now do let me make myself clear here. I don’t mean get plastered every time you read the book! It just means do not attempt to stop drinking until all the brainwashing has been completely removed. If you had already stopped drinking before you picked up this book but don’t feel free or still miss drinking and feel deprived, it will enable you to get truly free. However, if you have stopped already for a length of time then do not – I repeat – DO NOT start drinking again. Read the book with an open mind and your mental cravings will gradually be destroyed as you make your way through the chapters. If you are still drinking, then continue as normal until you have finished the book.

  As you read, there may well be several points that make you see the light but please do not stop until you have completely finished as you need to have a full understanding of all the possible pitfalls. For this reason, perhaps the most important step of all is actually to finish the book. Do not let fear prevent you from completing it as it is time to break through your fears and find your freedom. Read at least a chapter a day to keep the momentum. It is so easy to start a book, but over 80 per cent of people who buy a ‘self-help’ book don’t finish it.

  Every point I make is for a reason to make absolutely certain that you succeed permanently. Success means freedom and freedom means not pining for a drink, not feeling deprived, not opting out of life and not getting angry or upset that you are not drinking ever again. If you read this book with your mind as open as the universe and follow my Steps to Freedom you will achieve what I have achieved:

  TRUE FREEDOM FROM HAVING TO DRINK ALCOHOL.

  You will find that some of the points in the book are repeated. I make no apologies for this at all. The message is very simple. Understanding the alcohol trap is simplicity itself but, in order for it to gel fully in your mind, some of the key fundamental points are repeated throughout the book almost as a form of hypnosis and they are repeated on purpose. We have a lot to get through so let’s get started right away by removing a huge chunk of the brainwashing: the belief that if people are not alcoholics, then they are in control of their drinking. So, the first question that people ask themselves when they think they can no longer control their drinking is …

  Am I an Alcoholic?

  The simple answer is no, you are not; never have been and never will be. The reason I know this is because, as mentioned already, there is no such thing as an alcoholic, as society understands it, and there is no such illness as alcoholism.

  I realise that is a pretty bold and probably controversial statement to make but I assure you that it is an accurate one. In fact it’s organisations like AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) that create the myth that there is a disease called alcoholism. I am more than aware that such a bold statement will make many of your hackles rise but please do not misread what I am saying. AA have without question saved the lives of thousands, if not millions, of people. The commitment, help and support they give to alcohol addicts around the world, around the clock, is beyond admirable. I also believe there will always be a need for organisations like AA as no one single approach works for everyone and not everyone will be in a position to take in fully the concept outlined in this book. So if you have been to AA or are still going, please, please do not misunderstand what I am saying. There will always be a need for such organisations and they will always save lives. No, the bone of contention I have with organisations like AA is that, however well intentioned their motives, they suggest that there is no cure for the disease known as alcoholism. By its own admission, AA has never cured a single alcoholic.

  Try thinking of yourself as an alcoholic. You need help. So where do you go? Well, first of all you need to know for certain if you have the disease called alcoholism. The first thing you do is consult your doctor. Your physician cannot tell you if you are an alcoholic but may refer you to AA, Drinkline, Alcohol Concern or whatever specialist organisation happens to be at hand. Next, you phone one of these organisations to find out if you have the disease. The problem is that nobody can tell you if you are an alcoholic. AA, for example, simply states the following in one of their official booklets:

  ‘If you repeatedly drink more than you intend or want to, or if you get into trouble when you drink, you may be an alcoholic. Only you can decide. No one in AA will tell you whether you are or not.’

  So even AA, which claims to be the world’s leading expert on coping with alcoholism, cannot tell you if you have a disease that they appear to have invented. So who can? Well, nobody apparently. Only you can decide. Now that does not exactly inspire me with confidence from the start. Only I can decide if I have this disease? ‘They,’ the people who created this ‘alcoholism’ disease, cannot tell me? So, if we do have to decide for ourselves, what guidelines do we have to go on? Well, according to AA if you regularly drink more than you intend or want to, or if you get into trouble when you are drunk, then you may be an alcoholic. Are they kidding? There isn’t one person I know who drinks alcohol who doesn’t repeatedly drink more than they intend. It’s the nature of the drug. And as for getting into trouble when you have been drinking, hasn’t everybody who drinks got into trouble at some point in their lives because of drink? Of course they have! So according to AA’s official booklet, if we take their guidelines, everybody who drinks alcohol may be an alcoholic. That would mean that 80 per cent of the population the UK was born with a disease for which there is no known cure. I have only one thing to say to that.

  BULLSHIT!

  Did you know that alcoholism is now included in the same category as cancer and heart disease? Some claim it is inherited, that it’s in your genes and there is nothing you can do about it. There are even people who claim they can tell if somebody is an alcoholic by the time they are TWO. Some people believe there are alcoholics who have never even touched a drop of alcohol in their lives. Yes, they actually believe there are people who have never drunk alcohol who have this disease. What I want you to do while reading this book is question this kind of rubbish. We end up believing it because we have been conditioned to accept it unquestioningly but, once you start to question, it just doesn’t make sense. Do you believe that heroin addicts have a disease called heroinism or that they are heroinoholics? It’s nothing to do with the drug, you understand, they were born with a disease called heroinism and can do nothing about it. Do you honestly believe that there are heroin addicts out there who have never taken heroin in their lives? Can you believe for a second that there are smokers who have never had a cigarette? Do you think you can tell whether someone will take crack cocaine by the time they are two years old? Do you honestly believe that you inherit these addictions or that they are in your genes? Do you believe that people who are addicted to chocolate were born with a disease which meant that they would have to eat chocolate all their lives and could do nothing about it? When you were two did you say, ‘Thank God I can communicate properly as, now I can talk, I can ask for a drink. I’ve been gagging for one for two years’?

  All I ask of you while you read this book is that you use your common sense and question this nonsense. I know that we have heard this stuff for years but just because it is put across by ‘experts’ does not make it the truth. Open your mind and use your own judgement to come to an intelligent conclusion. If you have been labelled an alcoholic yourself and it has become part of who you are, then I urge you to open your mind and ask how there can be any such thing as an alcoholic? It is time to see the truth. The word ‘alcoholic’ is just a name attached to people who realise they are hooked. It is time to get rid of this ridiculous label, because that is all
it is – a label.

  The fact is, regardless of what you may have been told, you are not an alcoholic, because there is no such thing. However, if the thought of being without alcohol fills you with fear, then you are an alcohol addict and you are hooked. So what’s the difference? The difference is that there is an easy, straightforward cure for alcohol addiction and you’re reading about it whereas, according to alcoholism’s creators, there is no known cure for their disease.

  In reality, people who drink alcohol regularly and fear being without it are in exactly the same position. They are all hooked. It doesn’t matter if they only drink at weekends or whether they drink all day and every day. They are hooked and addicted to a drug called alcohol. It is easy to understand this addiction with other drugs. If somebody takes heroin, they are a heroin addict; if someone takes crack cocaine, they are a ‘crackhead’; if somebody smokes, they are a nicotine addict. Would you change your view if the person taking heroin said: ‘I’m not addicted to heroin; I’m in full control. I don’t need it all the time. I can do without it. It’s not like I take it all the time. I’ll prove I don’t have a problem with heroin. I only take it at weekends, on special occasions and if I’m feeling a bit stressed out. What’s more, I cannot be addicted because I don’t take heroin in the morning’? If you heard someone saying this would you think they were clearly not addicted and in full control of their heroin intake? Would you believe that they could take heroin whenever they liked without getting hooked? Or would you know for certain that they were already addicted and simply trying to justify the small quantities of the drug they were already taking?

  I am not saying that everyone who drinks any amount of alcohol is hooked because clearly that is not the case. What I am saying, and I need this to be clear, is that anyone who fears life without alcohol and drinks on a regular basis is hooked. My definition of how to know if you are addicted to something or not is this:

  If the thought of never doing ‘IT’ again (whatever the IT is for you, in this case alcohol) fills you with fear, you are hooked; if it doesn’t you aren’t.

  I like strawberries, no, I LOVE them but, if for whatever reason I had to stop eating them, it wouldn’t fill me with fear. I would be disappointed but I wouldn’t think I couldn’t cope or enjoy life without them. That’s the difference between ‘I choose to’ and ‘I have to.’

  It is so obvious with drugs like heroin and nicotine so why is it not the case with the drug alcohol? Why can’t people see that they are addicted to alcohol? The reason why it isn’t that evident is because almost 80 per cent of the UK population drinks alcohol according to the Insititute of Alcohol Studies. However, when it comes to any drug addition it is almost impossible to get the true figure as many people are, let’s say, economical with the truth! I don’t know about you, but my own research tells me the figure is probably over 90 per cent. However, even by their figures, if 80 per cent of the population took heroin if it were legal and we had always been conditioned to believe that shooting up was a natural social pastime, then it’s possible that heroin taking would not be seen as drug addiction either. It is possible that we might actually believe that using heroin was normal. At the same time we need to remember that most people who offer advice on alcohol addiction take the drug themselves. They are the alcohol addicts and it is they who form the biggest sales force for the alcohol industry. After all, it was only the influence of other drinkers that got us into drinking in the first place. The illusions that alcohol creates simply confirm what we have been conditioned to believe by other drinkers.

  So the poor drinker, even if he or she thinks s/he is drinking too much and has started to become conscious that s/he is not actually in control and wants to quit, is immediately labelled an ‘alcoholic.’ If you are not an alcoholic, what possible reason could you have for even wanting to stop? The drinker is then left in what they see as a no-win situation; either tell the world that they are not in control or lie about their intake and carry on drinking with their heads in the sand. The problem is that, unlike smoking where people can openly express a desire to stop, the drinker has to put up a front and lie, otherwise declare himself an alcoholic. What a choice. It is the only drug in the world that is differentiated in this way, depending on just how much of the drug is taken. What is the difference between normal drinking and alcoholism and at what point do you become an alcoholic? How much do you need to drink in a day to qualify for the title? How much heroin does a person have to take before they are hooked? When do you progress from heroin user to heroinoholic? How much cocaine do you need to take before you get the disease cocaineism? How many cigarettes do you need to smoke each day before you go from a normal or occasional smoker to smokeaholic?

  People feel ashamed to admit that they have realised they are no longer in control and would like to stop drinking. They are seen as the problem and not the drug. With all other drug addictions it’s the other way around. Many smokers say they want to stop yet they are never branded with an extraordinary title like nicotineaholic. The main problem is that, if you sense you are in trouble with alcohol, it is seen as your weakness rather than a result of the drug itself.

  When I was growing up I remember seeing an advertisement featuring a heroin addict lying on a floor in a darkened room saying ‘I can handle it.’ It was on television all the time, ‘I can handle it.’ I remember thinking how pathetic that heroin addict looked and how ridiculous the remark sounded, yet I kept repeating the same nonsense when I was hooked on alcohol. It seemed normal to me. We have been brainwashed into believing that, either you are out of control with alcohol (which means that you are either a weak-willed jellyfish or probably an alcoholic), or you are in full control of what you are doing. What would you choose? I know which option I would rather choose. It’s the one I chose for years. After all, who wants to admit they are out of control? This is the nonsense most drinkers spout: ‘I can control my drinking. I might drink a bit too much on occasion but I am of course in control.’ You see, apparently that is the difference between alcoholics and ‘normal drinkers.’ Alcoholics have lost control, whereas normal drinkers are in control.

  … who wants to admit they are out of control?

  RUBBISH!

  Have you ever seen anybody who is drunk being in control of their actions? It is a contradiction in terms. And what is meant by ‘normal drinker’? If I kept saying to you that I was in full control of my banana intake, that I only have them a few times week, I can take them or leave them, I have more at weekends but then, doesn’t everybody? If I said that I can even go two complete days without bananas, wouldn’t you immediately know that I had a problem with my bananas? Doesn’t the mere fact that I am trying to justify how few I eat prove that the bananas are indeed controlling me? Doesn’t it really mean that I have to exercise discipline to try and keep control of my intake? What I am saying is that, if I said this about my banana intake, I would have a problem and you would know it.

  There are some experts who do not use the term ‘alcoholic’ and say that people who are not in control of their drinking have ‘Alcohol Dependency Syndrome’ or ADS but doesn’t everybody who drinks alcohol regularly have Alcohol Dependency Syndrome? Don’t all heroin addicts have ‘Heroin Dependency Syndrome’ or smokers ‘Nicotine Dependency Syndrome’? What I mean is that anyone who drinks alcohol depends on it and feels they need it at certain times in order to cope, or enjoy themselves. Clearly, a dependency is there and that is why there is such a fear of stopping altogether. If people didn’t feel dependent, then everybody would find it easy to stop drinking whenever they wanted but you and I know that even going on the wagon can be hell. Whereas experts say that if you are not in control, you have ‘Dependency Syndrome,’ I am stating categorically that the vast majority of drinkers are never in total control of their intake and therefore must have Alcohol Dependency Syndrome. It is not a choice for the drinker, it is necessity.

  ‘EITHER THE DRINK GOES OR I GO.’

  Some people w
ill say this as a way of, hopefully, getting their partners to quit drinking. This rarely, if ever, works as the drinker will choose the drink over their partner. It’s not because they choose to drink nor is it because they do not love their partner; it is because the decision is being made for them. Their judgement and rational thinking is always ‘under the influence’ of alcohol.

  The first thing I need you to realise is that most people who regularly drink alcohol are not in control of their drinking. They are hooked. Just because they believe they are in full control, does not make it the case. It is never possible to be in real control of any drug as the drug will always control its victim, whether they realise it or not. The biggest advantage to stopping drinking is freeing yourself from the constant battle of trying to keep control (I will explain more later). It is this conditioning that has caused people to feel ashamed if they have had to seek help to quit alcohol. In fact, while you are reading this book you may be hiding the cover, or not telling people about your intentions. The irony is that they are probably drinkers caught in the same trap themselves.

  There is such stigma attached to admitting you are hooked and this must be changed. On the whole people just don’t realise they are addicted. In fact many drinkers have lived and died without ever realising it. For many years people had no idea they were hooked on cigarettes and it was only when smoking became antisocial and was banned in public places that smokers became aware of their addiction. They soon realised that they were not choosing to smoke but had to smoke. Most drinkers, however, are unaware of this. They believe that if they are managing to control their intake, they are in charge. However, what happened with prohibition, when all alcohol was banned? It resulted in organised crime because it soon became clear that people were not choosing to drink, they had to drink. Would the same thing have happened if they had banned bananas? The brainwashing, conditioning and illusions created by alcohol have caused people to believe they cannot live without it. I used to believe that I was actually choosing to drink and could stop whenever I wanted. I never really thought that I was hooked. But if that really was the case, why did I find it hard to stop for more than a week and why did the thought of stopping drinking for good fill me with fear?