My dad was a warm and wonderful caring person who was loved by many people from all different walks of life. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for anyone who needed help.
He was a generous, loving father but he had a dark secret.
After years of enjoying alcohol socially at parties and work meetings, he had become addicted to the point where he drank to satisfy his body’s cravings to get through the day in secret. Inevitably, the mystery became known by his increasingly unpredictable behavior and his constant need for naps which were him passing out from drinking.
I know my family and doctors supported my dad when he tried to quit drinking but he could not. The damage was already done.
My father died suddenly in his sleep from heart failure due to alcoholism when I was eight years old.
Alcohol can be too much of an escape from life. Once people are in the pattern that they always need a drink, the addiction will take them away from the world when you least expect it.
According to Associate Lifestyle Editor Sarah Rense from Esquire, “The researchers found in 2016 that drinking alcohol led to 2.8 million deaths worldwide. It is the seventh leading cause of early death and disability around the globe, and the leading cause among people 15 to 49 years old, where it was to blame for 10 percent of deaths. It was also more damaging to men, leading to about three times higher health loss than it did for women in 2016.”
Drinking can make you feel good and then make a party even more fun but the more you do it, there is a greater chance of becoming addicted and having it ruin your life, especially hurting the ones you care about.
According to Web and Content Producer Seth Archer for Markets Insider, “Last quarter, the alcoholic-beverage industry spent $421 million on advertising, up 26 percent compared to the same time last year. Beer brands were far and away the biggest spenders ($357 million), followed by winemakers ($11 million), according to Wendy Nicholson, an analyst at Citi.”
Companies will continue to advertise alcohol for its glory in print, television, social media, and sporting events. They want you to think it’s a natural part of our lives to drink. But, I know the truth, and the downside greatly outweighs the momentary fun.
According to Romeo Vitelli, Ph.D. from Psychology Today, “Using Denmark’s Central Population Register as well as the National Fertility Database, Hoeg and her colleagues collected data on more than 1.5 million individuals to identify a final sample of 35,682 men and 33,691 women who had all lost a parent before the age of 18.”
It’s horrible to have a warm, loving father one day, and then no father for the rest of your life. The void is immense, and the impact hurts more people than the loved one who is gone, forever. Alcohol is not worth it.
