My Biggest Misconception About Alcohol Abuse
Alcoholism isn’t just about how much you drink.
I got sober near the very end of 2016. Before that, I spent quite a few years asking myself the same question: “Am I an alcoholic?”
During those years, I was fixated primarily on the amount I drank. I paid close attention to how many beers I went through and I used that number to judge the severity of my drinking problem.
I knew that at roughly six beers a day, I had well exceeded the CDC guidelines. They define “heavy drinking” for men as 15 drinks or more per week, and “binge drinking” for men as 5 or more drinks on one occasion. I soared past both of these standards.
On the other hand, I told myself that my numbers weren’t bad compared with “real” alcoholics. I had met and read about addicts who drank so much that my daily six-pack looked like child’s play.
In fact, when I was younger, I used to drink essentially all day long. I could finish an entire case of beers in my early twenties. Six beers was actually a big step down from my drinking peak.
Eventually, I was able to admit to myself that I had a problem with drinking, but even then, my obsession with the number of beers I drank continued.
