5 Shocking Traits of Being an Alcoholic

The word alcoholic is a pretty scary word , but does it mean that you need to be waking up in the morning and opening a can of beer or , as soon as you open your eyes , drinking a shot and pouring vodka on your cornflakes ? No , it doesn't .

And today I want to break down five shocking traits of an alcoholic , because when I drank for 10 years , I used to wonder am I an alcoholic ? Is that why I can't stop drinking ?

Well , I'm going to give you a message in this video today that you might not expect , but you definitely want to watch all five signs , because I'm going to be sharing personal things that happened in my own life , because I don't want you to feel like you're alone in this .

But if you notice any of these signs , it might be time for you to start questioning your own relationship with alcohol

. So , before we get into the five shocking traits , I want to make one thing very , very clear the term alcoholic is a made-up self-help term . It comes from Alcoholics Anonymous . No credible doctor will sit you down and say you're an alcoholic . It will never happen . It's not the correct medical diagnosis . We now call it alcohol use disorder .

So I know I'm going to talk about the five shocking traits of an alcoholic , but despite me having a drinking problem for 10 years and despite me going to Alcoholics Anonymous thinking I was an alcoholic , I found a path to stop drinking alcohol without giving myself this label .

So while the title of the video said alcoholic , I really wanted to give you a tiny bit of education on this term and why I don't recommend using it . So when we tell ourselves that we're alcoholics , we're giving ourselves this label that has no known cure . We have it for the rest of our life and we have it whether we drink or we don't .

And in fact , there's even people that think that we're alcoholics before we even drink alcohol , which is absurd . And the problem with giving yourself this label is that if you were to ever relapse and you buy into this idea that you are an alcoholic , what do you think happens ?

Well , I'll tell you in my own life , when I thought I was an alcoholic and I ended up drinking again . I went nuts See nowadays . Since stopping drinking just under seven years ago , I gave myself no labels . I stopped seeing myself as the problem and I started seeing alcohol as the problem . So I fixed my perception of alcohol and then that was it .

I moved on with my life . Don't get me wrong . I'm not saying I didn't have a drinking problem . In society's eyes , they'd probably call me an alcoholic , which is why I still wanted to make this video to unpack these five shocking traits .

So , whilst the title of this video said alcoholic , let's call it somebody with an alcohol problem , not somebody who is an alcoholic , somebody with a problem with alcohol . Let's break the two apart . Let's not see ourselves as the problem . Let's see the drug as the problem . But anyway , let's get into the first shocking trait .

The first shocking trait is how we can often prioritize drinking over other activities . And as well as drinking , we could also group hangovers into there , because I know for me a big one was skipping the gym . I'd wake up with a hangover and I'd be like not a chance , I'm going to go and lift weights today , but this one is huge .

People that drink a little bit you know these normal drinkers . They don't prioritise drinking over other activities . But I was a nightmare at this . People might invite me to a place to do something and I wasn't thinking about whether or not I'd have a good time . I was thinking how am I going to be able to drink ?

When I was studying for my degree , I would often go out instead of doing my work . And sure you could argue that I was a student , but I was an older student . I went to university a lot later and my drinking was just nuts . But maybe for you , you're also prioritizing drinking over other activities .

Maybe you're skipping sporting events with the children , maybe you're skipping workouts , but when we start to prioritize drinking over other things , it is a sign that

we probably have a problem . The second one and this is huge is that I'd always , almost always , drink more than I intended to , and when I say almost always , I mean eight , nine times out of ten . See , most times that I drank , I would always tell myself right , I'm only going to have a few tonight and see how it goes . I never intended to get drunk .

It was so rare that I said , right , tonight I'm sending it . I never would go and buy like a bottle of vodka or anything like that . I'd buy like two beers in a bar and then that would be it . It would be like I'm out of here , I'm getting smashed , and this happened to me all the time .

I always intended to drink a little bit and then I'd always drink more , and that usually means you're pretty deep in addiction . I'm not saying you're an alcoholic , I'm just saying you're probably further along in your addiction than everybody else . And if you're doing this regularly , it is a sign that things aren't going to get better .

Listen , I'm not trying to criticize you or upset you , but it's very rare that somebody drinks less over time . So if you're doing this regularly , guess where it's going . Well , it's not going to look pretty because it's kind of like this exponential thing .

You know , in our 20s we can kind of have it under control , and then in our 30s it goes up , and 40s it goes up until we get to a place of like , whoa , how did I start drinking this much ? I've spoke to dozens of retired people who are about to retire .

They're drinking and they're like wait a minute , I'm going to be retired and still drinking this crap . I have it all the time . So just know that if you're drinking more than you want to regularly , it's a sign . It's a sign that you should probably do something about it .

The third one and this one showed up in my life pretty much all the time is that any social event that I went to , I would always consider how am I going to drink

? And I'd consider who else was there that I could drink with . If somebody that I knew invited me to something and I knew they didn't drink and it was social , I'd just be thinking why would I want to hang out with you ? And that's really sad looking back , but I'd often prioritize my relationships with people that drank over those that didn't drink .

So , even though I went to the gym when I was drinking alcohol , if I met somebody that was really healthy and really into that lifestyle and like Leon , do you want to train with me ? I might go once or twice and then realize , mate , this guy doesn't go out . What am I going to do with him on a Friday night ? I don't really want to be his friend .

It's sad , and actually think back to the relationships that I could have built when I drank . There were probably a lot of good people that I just disregarded because I knew I couldn't drink with them . And I do this all the time I think are we going to drink ? Where are we going to go ?

Are we going to go to this restaurant that serves alcohol , are we not ? And I'd always be considering it , and it was this constant battle in my head of how am I going to drink . And I'm so happy now that I've not drank for almost seven years that those thoughts don't go into my head ever .

And these days I build relationships with people based on who they are and mutual interests instead of mutual drug addiction that we both shared . So if you're regularly thinking about socializing and then thinking how is alcohol going to be there , then I'm sorry , but it's another sign . Now the fourth trait , which is another massive one .

In fact they're all big ones . But the fourth thing is that you're regularly having failed attempts to stop

drinking . So what I mean is that you really tell yourself , right , I'm going to stop , and then you don't , and then you drink again . And there's two kind of areas here . There's one area is when you really commit to actually stopping forever and then you fail .

But then there's the other area of saying you're going to stop for a month and then only managing three or four days , or a week or two weeks . You basically make a promise to yourself and then break it . And why is this a problem ?

Well , if I told you right now that you could only eat oranges after one month , what's the chance of you succeeding at that ? It's pretty much 100% . But we need to remember that alcohol is a drug . It's a highly addictive drug and the reason why we fail at these commitments is because we're addicted to a drug .

If I said you couldn't go in a swimming pool for a month , would you be bothered ? Absolutely not . But alcohol is a different beast , it's a drug . So if you're regularly failing to stop drinking alcohol , guess what ? I hate to break it to you , but there is some level of addiction there .

I made a decision I don't know when I made this decision , but it's in my heart that I'll never smoke crack cocaine . And I've stuck with that decision up until this point and I'm going to stick with it for the rest of my life . And the reason why I'm able to stick with that decision is because I'm not addicted to crack cocaine .

So when we're making these commitments to ourselves and we're failing probably means we have a problem , which leads me to the fifth and the most important trait of all .

The contrast between sobriety and drinking are extreme . See , if you stop drinking alcohol and you go a month and your life is so much better . You're feeling better , your energy is better , your relationships are better , you're getting ideas , you're getting clarity , you're like , oh my gosh , I can take over the world .

If you feel that way after not drinking for a period of time , oh my gosh , that is a sign , because it's just evidence that alcohol is slowing you down and holding you back . I've got some clients in my program that are incredibly successful $100 million companies and they say to me they say , Leon , when I'm drinking I'm a different beast .

I'm making all this money , I'm raising money , I'm hiring people , and then when I drink , it's not the same . I feel like a completely different person . I do feel better today , at 42 , than I ever have in my entire life , and that includes my 20s .

I can think so much faster and more clearly to get things done efficiently , so I can take on so much more , got a lot of focus . I think I've added five or six new people into the business . Nice , prioritize my family , my mom , and it was honestly top five best things I've done in my life , without a doubt . I wouldn't go back and do anything else .

The results that I've seen just in life physical , mentally yeah , it's been fantastic . So I started following the program eight days total , from start to finish , and I was done . Now my life is completely different . I feel like a completely different person . Now that that is gone , I have no problem .

Projects are going way faster , a lot less mistakes , better relationships with the clients . It's just flourishing man , because this one , this idea , this fifth and final trait it doesn't matter how successful you are If you can see that severe contrast probably means you have a drinking problem . But you want to know the honest truth .

Most people will feel this way . Almost all people that drink alcohol will feel this way , because drinking alcohol gives you absolutely nothing . All it does is hurt and take things away from you .

So literally any person that doesn't drink alcohol is going to have a better quality of life , regardless of whether they drink one glass of wine a night or two bottles of wine a night . But if you want to perform at your peak and be at your best , drinking alcohol is the dumbest

thing ever . Thanks for checking out the Stop Drinking Podcast by Sober Clear . If you want to learn more about how we work with people to help them stop drinking effortlessly , then make sure to visit wwwsoberclearcom .