Today I found myself wondering what made me an alcoholic and decided that the cause was related to my level of self esteem. Low self-esteem is formed when we receive too little praise or emotional neglect as children. If we are continuously put down by our family and peers then we start to feel worthless.

The crazy thing is that we all have unique,special and admirable qualities which we should be proud of, but we often fail to appreciate these qualities.

Because my self esteem was so low, when I discovered alcohol it served me in two areas firstly it allowed me to block out pain and secondly it made me less inhibited.

Today I am aware of all of my best qualities but also my shortcomings and whenever I feel bad about myself I try to work out how best to deal with my problems. In the past I would turn to drink and blot everything out, but by doing so I’d never progress and would continue to feel bad.

It all comes down to the negative inner voice we have chattering away within us affirming all of the bad things we were told as children. We are worth much more and we all deserve to be happy, we just need to turn the negativity around.

Affirmations are a good way of doing this, I read Susan Jeffer’s book, “Feel the fear and do it anyway” (a must buy) and I learned a few affirmations from it:

  • I trust and let go - Whenever I feel insecure I use this one and and however hard it may be, I trust that everything will be good in my life.
  • I can handle it - Whatever life throws at me I’ll handle, I’m an independent and versatile individual and I’ll do fine with whatever I do.
  • I say yes to the Universe - I accept anything that comes my way, be it opportunity or trouble,whatever happens I’ll be fine.

It’s true I do struggle sometimes, I don’t think I’d be human if I didn’t, but by mentally saying these three affirmations whenever I feel low or insecure, then I do feel a lot better about myself.

Take a look at the reasons why you think that you drink and have a problem with alcohol, I imagine many of you are very similar to me. Try the affirmations I’ve listed, I’m sure that they will help you.

Namaste

Rob :)