Consciously Creating One's Disease

          Throughout my life I have always known that alcohol taking in excess is horrible for you, and I am fortunate to have known such. For there are many people out there who seem to overlook the fact the alcoholism is essentially a purposefully accumulated disease. Two guest speakers recently came in to speak to us about the "ism" so easily forgotten in "alcoholism".
           The two speakers were from "Alcohol Anonymous", or A.A. Given that they are from an anonymous group I will not refer to them by their names but merely give you some background on their stories. Basically both of them started drinking early in their youth and got to the point where they could not control it - hence becoming an alcoholic. They were both driven to the ground in different ways, losing their friends and themselves. Finally they grew desperate enough and did one sensible thing, going to an A.A. meeting and cleaning up their act.
          However, as one of the speakers mentioned, alcoholism is not something that can simply be cured and left in the past. Years later alcoholics are still working to stay sober. For alcoholism is a disease left within the core of oneself, regardless of whether or not they are sober. There will always be the mission of staying sober for them, and though it grows easier they will have to continue to put in the work. A.A. meetings are consistently attended and service work such as what the two provided to us (speaking) is performed, all to keep in the right mindset of staying sober.
          What we can take away from the experiences of these speakers and from alcoholics all over the world, is to never put yourself in the position to become an alcoholic or addict of any kind. The harm it causes is permanent, whether or not the symptoms are still visible down the road. Yet the more hopeful message we received was that it is absolutely possible to achieve a better state of mind and to fight the alcoholic inside oneself after it has developed. It was a great reminder that the mental health of oneself is malleable, and no matter what disease you face - depression, anxiety, substance abuse - there is a way to change.