Molly Tessum
Off the Bench
How to Talk to People About Their Alcohol or Drug Use
Guidelines for safe interaction.
Posted Apr 30, 2021
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Reviewed by Devon Frye
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Source: Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
If you need help with your drinking or drug use, here are some useful tips to follow.
1. Be optimistic. The recent epidemic of COVID is making it more difficult to find professionals who will take on the issue. Keep in mind that it’s early in the pandemic and resources are limited.
2. Find professional help. There is no quick fix available for drinking or using drugs. You can’t just call your local doctor. For alcohol abuse treatment centers to be staffed by trained professionals, consider calling your local Alcohol and Other Use Disorder (Alcohol) clinic. They will be staffed up for the next scheduled walk.
3. Know there is no cure for drinking or drug use and no quick fix available. Constantly checking in with your doctor is a good place to start. Always inquire about medical conditions, including if you have a recent heart attack, stroke, or diabetes. They can point you toward the appropriate treatment options.
4. Hang on a few months. If you can hang on for a few months, you’ll be less likely to give drinking or other activities a try. Tenaciousness is amazing and the ones who persist in treating alcoholism require lots of patience and perseverance. They may be able to quit for a few months, but'easily relapse once they give up. Constantly reminding yourself that you’re “clearing house” is a good way to build some fresh momentum.
5. Be aggressive. Because of all the work being done, and because of the ripple effect I mentioned above, some people are hung over from last week’s alcohol use or drug use. They may have “cleared” their internalized negative image or have come to accept that what they’ve been drinking is definitely not something they want to continue. Be sure to mention in your description of the task that you are fully capable of doing.
6. Be persistent. After you have been doing your active skills for a while, it may be time to switch gears. You are actively engaged in task initiation and are forcing yourself to be more and more productive. You mention in passing that you are feeling “stressed out” and having a harder time starting the tasks that are essential to achieving your desired outcome.
7. Do what inspires you. If you’re not quite there yet, and you are in fact still too new to know what inspires you, then it may be time to seek out some professional guidance. A great array of paths and courses are available to help you with this (many of which I fully endorse, in full disclosure I was part of the course that led me to these posts).
8. Bounce back from mistakes and burnout. When you have been trying to do something for a while and you’re having a huge meltdown, it is very likely that you’re not going to come back with a clean and whole environment. In my case, I had made a mental note to myself to come back to fixing the things that I was unable to do because of my alcohol or drug use. I would then be open to taking responsibility and changing the paths I chose to take.
9. Be proactive and intentional. A final piece of advice from a podcast I had with a good friend who is a great communicator and a great listener is to make sure that you are always engaged, even when the whole world is going on “breaking news” highways. Keeping abreast of the news, on all the networks and everything possible to hide from the rest of the world is key. I made my daily bulletins digest the most relevant and actionable ones available. I would then be intentional about making my time to find relevant information of any kind, seeking out relevant topics, and reading everything in my area of expertise.
If a story is too juicy and needs elaboration, I will write it down as it is underlined and then leave it for others to judge. They will judge and assess me if I am able to keep mum. It is hard because I want to forward and be clear, but I don’t want to start making waves with this. If I am able to keep mum, then I can think and communicate more and make my ideas known.