8 Signs You’re Drinking Too Much Alcohol

Before we break down these eight signs , I just wanted to let you know the reason why I'm making this video is because it's the conversation I wish somebody had with me six and a half years ago when I was still drinking .

It's going to be very challenging and awkward for your friends , your family , your loved ones to sit down and just spell it out for you , but all of these eight signs that we're breaking down today are things that happened in my own life . I ignored these signs until it was too late and I had to change .

Now the good thing is is that you won't need to wait until it's too late , because you're actually watching this video , because this video should give you that final wake-up call that you're looking for .

So back to number one , and it's your tolerance levels increasing , and this is when you're starting to need more drinks to get the same level of drunk as you used to . Maybe at the beginning it was half a bottle of wine and that hit the spot for you . But over time it slowly started increasing , and this happens to pretty much everybody .

I've never met anyone that drinks less . The longer that they drink , everybody needs more and more and more , because that's the nature of a drug . You get a tolerance . You need to drink more to get the same effects as before . See , a funny pattern that would happen in my life is I'd stop drinking for a couple of weeks or something like that .

Then I'd have no tolerance , I'd get super drunk . But we think that because our tolerance is low , that we'll end up drinking less . But what actually ended up happening is because I'd stopped drinking for like a few weeks and I was just using willpower . I wanted to drink more and then often I'd have this rebound effect where I just drink even more than before .

But if you're seeing a higher tolerance and need for more drinks , this is a warning sign , because if you need to drink more , then all you're doing is increasing your risk of cirrhosis of the liver , of cancer , of addiction . It's not a good sign . The second sign is in memory lapses or blackouts .

Some of you might just have short periods of nights where you just forget what happened . You might look at your phone and not remember sending a text or making a phone call , and for others you just completely blackout . Now , blackouts have happened to me many times and they are absolutely terrifying .

When I think back to a blackout now that I've not drank for six and a half years , I shudder . I think , geez , like seriously . I've blacked out in cities that are known for fighting and violence , like Cardiff , like Medellín , colombia . These were pretty rough places and imagine blacking out there . You're just a total liability .

Now , I'm not saying that's everybody , but if you're starting to forget things , you're starting to black out , and it's only happening when you're drunk . That is a massive warning sign . But then also for a lot of people is they find that their memory's getting worse the longer that they drink .

So it's not just happening when they're drinking , it's also happening when they're sober . Your brain takes a massive beating from alcohol and if you want to learn more about how alcohol affects your brain , I've made a video talking about this .

You can click the link in the description or click the link up here and it's going to show you how alcohol destroys your brain . So if you're worried about this , definitely check out that video . The third sign is you're starting to use alcohol to cope with things . So what I mean by this is you feel some kind of emotion , maybe stress , maybe fear .

Something happens where you feel something and you immediately turn to alcohol to cope with that feeling . You're starting to use it as a form of escapism .

And , again , this can be a very dangerous cycle because then , when you finally say I'm going to stop , you start to get afraid of how am I going to deal with life without this crutch , without this friend of mine , this thing that's been by my side helping me out . And that's a really dangerous association to make , because I'm not going to sugarcoat things .

I'm not saying that when you stop drinking , life's going to be less stressful , especially if you're a responsible person where other people are relying on you , you work , you have a family . No , you're going to have stressful times , but when you stop drinking the stress becomes a lot lower and it becomes a lot easier to manage with .

But it does take some time to actually get used to dealing with things instead of escaping with alcohol . The fourth sign is you're starting to prioritize drinking over other activities . You might be canceling plans , you might be missing obligations , you might be choosing very specific places and things to do where you know alcohol will be there .

And this is so , so common when I was drinking . If I had a friend that said , oh , leon , I'm going to do this hobby , this activity , right , I'm going to I don't know go for a walk or whatever , if a friend invited me to do something , I'd have to kind of weigh it up . I'd be like , do I really want to go ?

But then if a friend called me and said , leon , I'm going to the bar down the end of the road , instant no , thought about it . And what started happening to me is when I thought about drinking . There was no friction . I was just like , all right , I'll do it . And then all my hobbies just disappeared . I don't think I had any hobbies when I drank .

My hobby , my priority , was drinking , and that's not a hobby , that is damn drug addiction . So if this is happening for you , this is a massive warning sign . See , it got so bad for me that I designed my entire life around drinking .

When I'd finished university , finished college , I moved to London and immediately got a career in a place that was known for alcohol abuse , for drugs , for late nights . And I did it because I knew that I could work in an industry that prioritised this party culture . And guess what happened ? It ended in a damn disaster .

I should have seen the warning signs going into it . No , I ignored them . And that's what I'm hoping you don't do , because nobody really warned me . Nobody said play it out , leon .

What do you think is going to happen if you go and work in recruitment , thinking you're Mr Big Balls in a flipping office in London where everybody's drinking and Thursday night is where the whole team goes out and gets slaughtered ? What do you think is going to happen ? Well , I ignored the signs . Anyway , number five are failed attempts to cut back .

So I'm not saying you're necessarily stopping drinking and you're failing with that , but you're telling yourself maybe tonight I'm just going to have a couple and then you drink more . Or maybe you promise yourself you're not going to drink for 30 days and then you only go two weeks .

See , when you make these promises , you don't often make a big deal out of it . You don't tell your friends and your family , but maybe at nighttime you're not feeling great , you've got a bit of a hangover and you promise yourself that you're going to cut back , you're going to drink less , and these promises that you break to yourself suck .

When this started happening to me , I knew I had an issue . The problem with this is it spills into other areas of your life . You break that commitment with alcohol , then you break that commitment with your workout routine , with your nutrition plan , with your business , and it becomes this chain reaction .

Now the good news is is that when you do stop and you keep that promise to yourself and you stay with it , that spills into other areas of your life . It did for me . My confidence started growing , not just for stopping drinking .

That's like the start of it , all right , but I was able to commit in a relationship , I was able to commit to a business , right To this YouTube channel , to permitting , to showing up every day . So just know that once you fix this , I'm telling you , self-confidence is going to grow in ways you just can't imagine .

The sixth sign is in morning shakes and increased levels of anxiety . You might have had it the infamous hangxiety and for me , the older I got and the more that I drank , the worse this was getting . I'd wake up some days with this crippling anxiety .

I'd go and talk to somebody , my body would be sweating just like and my mind would be just all over the place for no reason at all . I also remember the first time that I had the shakes , and I think I was only about 19 . I was drinking every single day . I was drinking I don't know four to six cans of beer a day .

It'd been going on for a few weeks and I just remember one day getting home , it was about 4pm , I was working this was during my bad days , right and I was living in a flipping hostel . Man , that was a crazy time . I've not thought about this for ages . I've just got the memory and the flashback of living in a hostel what the heck .

And I remember going to the fridge and I could see my hand like this before I was going to get the beer . That was pretty scary . And if you're seeing increased levels of anxiety , physical tremors , man , that's a big warning sign . But it goes and it goes away quickly .

I thought I used to suffer with anxiety and I started realizing that I didn't suffer with anxiety . I had a drug problem . I was addicted to alcohol , which was causing the anxiety . I'm not saying anxiety is going to just completely disappear the moment that you stop drinking .

There can be other causes of this , but it is by far one of the biggest culprits in modern society . The seventh sign is your relationships are starting to strain . Maybe friends and family they're starting to express concerns about your drinking . Maybe you're having an argument here and there about your alcohol use . You're getting defensive .

Your wife might say why don't you stop ? Why don't you drink less ? Oh , it's not like I drink a lot , and you can feel almost this anger coming out and building up , or maybe the opposite . Maybe they're expressing concern and you feel sad . You feel like I just wish I could change . I've worked with clients and it's

their kids that are getting upset . You might have broken promises to your children , to your wife , to your husband . I broke promises in relationships all the time , promised my family I wasn't going to drink and then I'm ignoring the calls because I'm too drunk to answer and I feel a little bit deflated making this video .

So I apologize because I don't want you to feel this way , but I just want to be real with you . When I think about how selfish I used to be when I drank , it makes me feel sick , but the biggest relationship of all that will suffer is not the relationship with external people , it's the one with yourself .

Drinking alcohol is doing nothing for you and the final warning sign is that you're continuing despite consequences . If you know it's impacting your health , it's impacting your finances , your relationship with your family . If it's causing problems maybe legal problems , financial problems if that's you right now , it might be time to get help .

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 .