Letter #2: Obsession of the mind, compulsion in the body
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In letter 2 Marcus talks about how alcoholism is an obsession of the mind and a compulsion of the body no matter who you are. He begins by explaining how when he was younger he very strong spiritual beliefs. He was very active in his spiritual community. It was something that he felt would never change. But as his circumstances changed, he met a young lady that he connected with, he drifted away from his spiritual community as they did not approve of his actions. He didn’t realize that his situation was changing the way he felt, the way he thought, and his emotions. He changed as a person due to a situation that he had no control over.
He goes on to explain that an alcoholic and alcoholism is a lot like this.
When you become an alcoholic, the alcohol changes the way you think and act. It changes your emotions, your perspective, your way of dealing with things. At first alcohol is fun. You have some drinks with some friends, and your problems disappear, or at least you don’t worry about your problems for a short while. You get to just have some fun with some friends. It works, alcohol is good. You may begin to want that feeling of escape more often. Or you may want a deeper feeling of escape, so you just drink more and more. As alcohol dependency, or maybe it isn’t even dependency at this point, maybe it’s just a deep craving for that feeling that alcohol produces, your mind starts to obsess. Your mind starts to make alcohol a top priority. At the same time, your mind shields itself from even knowing that you may have become dependent on the alcohol. Additionally, your mind will justify the alcohol. Alcohol has hijacked your mind. Alcohol is controlling your thoughts, feelings, desires, and behavior. But you don’t see it! You may know that there is a problem, you may even suspect that alcohol is the problem, but that obsession of the mind and the compulsion of the body will eventually lead to a drink or 20. It doesn’t matter how strong you think you are. If you are an alcoholic, alcohol WILL WIN, unless you know the way out.
Marcus explains what is really happening with alcohol and the alcoholic. Years of drinking has proven that alcohol can help with any problem. It helped with the fears, the anxiety, it made you feel pretty good. But over time alcohol didn’t work as well, you needed more to achieve that feeling. You may have tried to moderate but it didn’t work because you couldn’t achieve that wonderful feeling. Eventually you had to drink. Not because you wanted to, but because you had to. This is where the alcoholic can only receive that comfortable feeling for just a short time if even at all. The rest of the time the alcoholic is restless, angry, jittery, feels like crap constantly. So, the alcoholic goes back to a drink trying to chase that comfort. An alcoholic may want to stop at this point, but he can’t find a way out.
Marcus tells us that there is a better way, a new way to live life. A way of life that isn’t just about reacting. A way of life where you are in control, not alcohol, not the racing thoughts. You can be in control by being in the moment, allowing those feelings to happen and just letting them be. You can live life where alcohol is just not an issue. You don’t need to fight it or crave it or need it. You just don’t want it.
You may feel you have a lot of things that need to be done. You’re busy, you’re important. There’s a lot that perhaps you’ve screwed up and you need to fix. It can be overwhelming, but you need to pause, step back, and don’t drink no matter what.
Marcus mentions that he understands. Every time you try to pause and let go of the problems, someone drags you back in. It never stops, it never goes away! Marcus personally knows what it’s like to be haunted by thoughts, obsessions, worries, and stress. That’s what addiction does to you. It’s an obsession of the mind and a compulsion of the body. Maybe you’ve been told you have OCD or Obsessive-compulsive behavior. Maybe people have said things to you or about you that bring you down. Maybe you’ve started to believe these things about yourself. For most of us, our situation, our circumstance, our family, and society has trained us what we should think about and what we should not think about. Then these thoughts just spin around, and we begin to feel like crap. We believe these thoughts, anxiety begins to control us. We find that the only way to control these thoughts is to drink, but eventually this doesn’t work. In fact, it actually makes things worse.
Marcus proposes; how about instead of fighting these thoughts we just let them happen and look at them for what they are…. thoughts. We are not the sum of our thoughts. What you think about is not who you are. You are more then your thoughts, more then your mind, more then your brain.
In Marcus’ letters he is going to show you how to manage the unwanted thoughts, desires, obsessions, and feelings. You will learn what caused these thoughts and how to just accept them. You will learn how to forgive yourself and have more understanding of yourself. You will learn how to be yourself and that it’s OK. You will learn how to not overthink things.
We will show you how to experience “the 2-foot drop”. You can live a sober and more importantly a happy life without alcohol. Just don’t drink today, that’s it! Don’t worry about tomorrow. Carry these letters with you, read them if you start to crave alcohol. It may not be easy but staying sober can be done.
In the next letter Marcus will discuss how to retrain the reptile brain.