Alcoholism: A Disease of Perception — Staying Sober in Bad Times — Talk Sober at YouTube.com

Disclaimer: Marcus is NOT a doctor or a trained addiction counselor. The information in these videos is provided as a resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. Nor is it to be used as a substitute when professional diagnosis and treatment is needed. Please seek professional help when needed. Alcoholism is serious… DON’T mess around! Visit www.TalkSober.com/help or get professional help. 

Have you ever had a time in your life when you’re trying to stay sober and everything seems to be okay, but then some event or person just turns everything upside down and you feel like you have to go drink?  

That’s exactly how I felt many times. This is about staying sober in the face of adversity.  

I’ve learned over the years that perception is everything.  

“The map is not the territory” – Alfred Korzybski 

The map does not accurately describe the terrain. It’s just a representation. In our minds, we have these maps of our reality. We create a perception of what we think life is like and what we think life should be like. These are our expectations, our anticipations, the things we think should happen.  

This map, this representation, this notion of what we think should happen in life, isn’t really what should happen. And it’s certainly not something to drink over.  

When something bad happens at school, teenagers think their life is over. And in that moment, those teenagers believe it. They think the social circumstances in their life means their life is over. And when we get older, nothing really changes. We lose or jobs, or something else happens, and we think our life is over, too. 

All these things in our life are social conditioning. And at some point, we have to wake up from that conditioning.  

You can bounce back from just about anything. There is nothing in your life that makes life over until it’s actually over. Nothing is so bad that you have to drink it away. Drinking only taints your perception and makes things worse.

Life’s going to go on whether you drink or whether you don’t. Your perception is the only thing that’s going to change. Stop believing the lies that everything is as important as you think it is in your mind. Your perception is a map. It’s not the territory. 

You have to change your perception if you want to change the things that you get in life, or change the way that you feel. You have to change your perception if you want to stay sober. And you have to protect your perception. 

Let’s stay sober one day at a time. Together. 

For more, visit www.TalkSober.com.