The holidays seem to be synonymous with alcohol for many people. The northeast, where I live, is especially big on drinking. While I’m not against drinking, I don’t think it’s healthy when people drink regularly, excessively, or to self-medicate. The effects of alcohol can be even more complicated for people who have anxiety.

This blog is not intended to identify alcoholism or shame anyone who drinks. The purpose of this blog is to have a conversation about how alcohol affects anxiety. I’ll also talk about how to drink with boundaries that keep you safe.

Alcohol can make it feel like you’re taking the edge off of anxiety. The momentary relief from anxiety can feel like a break, but it’s not a long-term solution. While the occasional drink isn’t necessarily bad, drinking alcohol regularly can slow down or even halt your healing journey.

My Experience

To heal anxiety, I’ve had to dissect my thoughts and feelings around alcohol. I’ve vacillated between having a glass of wine every night, to not drinking at all, to where I am now, having a drink maybe once every few months.

When my anxiety was at its worst, having that glass of wine at night helped to temporarily relieve my anxiety, but I could see how it could become addicting for this reason alone. That brief reprieve from anxiety by itself is very addicting, even if it is just one glass of wine every night. I did this for about six months.

However, I was self-aware enough to see that while my anxiety was temporarily numb, so were the rest of my emotions. I did not feel fully engaged with my family in the evenings. Ultimately, I stopped having that nightly glass of wine because of my love for my husband and kids. I wanted to be fully present with them even if it meant I felt anxiety. I didn’t want to miss a moment with my kids, since they’re only young once.

It was also my love for myself that made me stop. I started implementing the Medical Medium’s (Anthony William’s) nutrition information to heal anxiety. Even though mainstream research suggested that drinking wine was good for your health, particularly your heart health, my new nutrition information suggested otherwise.

When I chose to stop drinking that glass of wine every night, I simultaneously chose to stop running from anxiety. In fact, I chose to step into my anxiety, which I needed to do to heal. Drinking regularly was just one more thing that was keeping me outside of myself instead of strongly rooted in myself, which is necessary to heal.

My relationship with alcohol has changed over the years, giving me a deeper understanding of how alcohol affects anxiety. In addition to the physical effects, there are emotional and spiritual implications. Below I’ll explain how drinking alcohol regularly affects anxiety physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Physical Effects

Alcohol is hard on the liver and is dehydrating. It weakens your immune system and can slow down and even halt healing. Alcohol is also a depressant, which is why it temporarily takes the edge off anxiety. However, most people who have anxiety also have some varying degree of depression as well. Since anxiety is so uncomfortable, it usually takes front and center stage, and many people don’t see that depression piece. If there’s any depression, alcohol can trigger it, making you feel worse. Healing anxiety does require you to address any depression, but it will happen naturally as you’re healing anxiety. Regular drinking can bring up these feelings of depression before you’re ready to process them. If you have already identified any depression, alcohol can intensify these feelings.

Emotional Effects

Alcohol does numb anxiety, but, in doing so, it also numbs all your emotions. As I was healing my anxiety and learning to trust myself, I had the realization that most of my emotions are strong: my fun emotions and my more difficult emotions. When I feel anger and sadness, it can feel intense. On the flip side, when I feel joy and peace, I also feel it strongly and it feels great. This insight into my emotions allowed me to see that I wanted to be fully present in every emotion. I no longer wanted to numb or lessen any of my emotions. Experiencing the full spectrum of them (and intensity of them) is the richness of my life and yours.  

Spiritual Effects

When people drink alcohol, they’re energetically open. What this means is that without spiritual protection in place, the energy of other people or things can enter you. As you already know, alcohol lowers your inhibition. Not only does this cause people to act more recklessly compared to when they aren’t drinking, but it also makes them more vulnerable. At the risk of sounding too esoteric, there’s a reason why another name for alcohol is “spirits.” Excessive drinking, recreational drug use, or taking any other mind-altering substances opens us up to unknown energy and perhaps even spirits.

Mindless Drinking

While I’m not opposed to the occasional drink, mindless drinking has become a pet peeve of mine. Mindless drinking is when people drink just because they’re in a social situation. They’re on autopilot. I’ve definitely been guilty of this in the past. I would show up to a social get-together and automatically get a glass of wine. I did it to fit in. I did it to settle my nerves. It also seemed like a very adult and mature thing to do (another societal narrative). I drank that glass of wine without questioning if that’s what I really wanted.

When I stopped drinking entirely, I became the oddball because I wasn’t drinking in social situations. My goal was not to draw attention to myself by not drinking, but I definitely did. Initially it felt uncomfortable, and I was often left out because I didn’t drink, but over time I began to take pride in my decision. I felt empowered by my decision not to drink and as a result, I also started enjoying myself more at social gatherings. My decision to do things differently also helped me to sit back and observe more of the social dynamics taking place.

From my new perspective, I saw how many people drink without checking in with themselves to see if they really want that drink. Most people drink in social situations for social acceptance. For many people, social gatherings automatically equate to drinking. The social narratives (which are always shifting) also advertise drinking as fun and trendy. But it is possible to have fun without drinking. More fun, in fact.

Choosing to drink needs to be given thought and attention. Before you drink, check in with yourself and ask yourself these questions:

·         Do you really want to drink?

·         Do you feel pressured to drink in order to fit in?

·         Do you feel like you need to drink to feel more confident?

Absolutes

While drinking regularly was keeping me outside of myself, so was the absolute of never drinking alcohol again. Absolutes and anything rigid don’t work for me. An example of this is a running streak I did for more than a year. I committed to running at least a mile a day, every day. In theory, this was good, but in reality, such a blanketed commitment kept me outside of myself. I didn’t check in with myself and gauging how I felt each day to see if a run was, in fact, a good choice for exercise. I tuned out myself and, at times, forced myself to run when I probably shouldn’t have. Along those lines, rather than never drinking alcohol (I understand that some people have to be absolute about not ever drinking), there are times when one drink every few months sounds good and works for me. I only have a drink now when it’s something I want, rather than what’s expected, and I do it with boundaries intact.

Boundaries

If you’re going to have the occasional drink, you’ve got to protect yourself physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Make sure you’re in a safe place, preferably somewhere where you won’t have to drive afterwards. Ensure you’re around safe people. Remember, alcohol makes you energetically vulnerable, so don’t drink around toxic people or in toxic environments. If I have a drink, I add Rescue Remedy to it and I pray to Archangel Michael and the protection angels for protection as I drink. If I choose to drink, I also limit myself to just one.

To drink or not to drink alcohol is a personal choice. When deciding whether or not to drink, ask yourself the questions above. If you still want to drink, make sure you’re safe and protected.

Happy holidays!

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My book Bold Trust – 6 Steps to Unravel the Long-Term Effects of Gaslighting, Unapologetically Trust Yourself, and Heal Anxiety is now available for purchase here.