If you actually read this, you’re definitely in the minority.
“It does not take a majority to prevail … but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.”
― Samuel Adams
I write about drinking.
That’s it.
I could write about a host of other things like success, relationships, or fitness, but I don’t.
There are already a sh*tload of other people who do that.
This is my niche, and I enjoy writing about it.
I’ve been alcohol-conscious for over two years, live a truly enjoyable life because of this decision, and have made it one of my life’s missions to help others recognize that everything they want could be on the other side of stopping drinking.
As Mark Twain said,
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”
To say I was born to tell others about stopping drinking could be a bit too much, but I do feel like from now until the day I leave this earth, I am going to do everything I can to make sure that everyone understands how life can be so much better without alcohol in their life.
To this end, I’ve submitted a few articles to different Medium publications since I’ve started writing on Medium, and I’m always interested in the responses of the ones who reject them.
My writing isn’t the best in the world, but I don’t think it’s the worst either.
I do my best to make sure that all of my stories are backed by factual research, grammatically correct, and offer the occasional anecdote or analogy to drive the point home (this seems to hit on all the major tips from the Medium writer gurus).
From my assessment so far, the running theme that seems to be the consensus among those who reject my articles is that they are “not the type of piece for our publication.”
Now, this could just be a nice way for them to let me know that my writing is sh*t just to not hurt my feelings.
For all medium editors out there, I think most writers would appreciate this feedback if that is the case.
However (and maybe I’m being a bit delusional here about the quality of my work…once again, editors, please correct me on this if I’m wrong), I just don’t feel that is the case.
From my assessment, I’ve come to the conclusion that this is code for they just don’t think most people who read their publications want to read about anything that would cause them to question their drinking.
It’s like Gary John Bishop writes about in Stop Doing That Sh*t: End Self-Sabotage and Demand Your Life Back,
“There’s a reason why so few make it out of the trap of their own mind. The trap all too often seems to be just fine from day to day.”
Instead of focusing on something that they are doing every day or 2–3 times per week that could be keeping them in a sysyphean trap of taking three steps forward and two steps back, they would rather focus on the latest breathing technique or journaling tips that will allow them to “hit all their goals this year.”
It’s funny because what could be a more debilitating and insidious habit than the over-consumption of alcohol and all the consequent negatives habits that come with it?
Then why is it so hard for people to consider it as a problem?
LOOKING AT ONE’S RELATIONSHIP WITH ALCOHOL CAN BE SCARY
Most people would not consider themselves an alcoholic, and therein lies the problem.
Society has created these dichotomies in which you are either considered an alcoholic or someone who is completely okay with drinking, and the reality is that this is just not the case for most people.
In the U.S., 54.9% of the population admits to having drunk alcohol in the last 30 days but only about 7.2% of the population has been diagnosed with alcohol use disorder.
Some quick elementary math will tell us that this leaves a whopping 47.7% of the population that are probably reading articles about “5 Mental Approaches to 2021 That Could Change Everything,” when they instead should be assessing if this one thing is adding to or subtracting from their overall goals in life.
I know this isn’t easy.
It’s why David Hollis wrote in his book, Get Out of Your Own Way: A Skeptics’ Guide to Growth and Fulfillment,
“It is possible to get out of your own way, but it requires deliberate attention and careful coordination of many moving parts.”
And it is almost impossible for people to put in the “attention and careful coordination” of those moving parts if they don’t even consider their alcohol consumption as being one of them.
I wasn’t able to see this for 19 years of my life because of my blind relationship with alcohol.
Alcohol seems fun and appears to help in a number of ways.
It can turn a dull moment into an exciting one and help people “forget” about their problems for the moment.
However, for many, the bad outweighs the good as it relates to the slow way alcohol can turn from something you LIKE doing into something you HAVE to do because of the physiological way it actually changes you.
Couple this with the compounding effect of how alcohol prevents you from having the daily and weekly focus to consistently grind to hit your goals and this could ACTUALLY (no clickbait) be the ONE thing that could make everything better for you in 2021.
The question now is (since you actually got this far, my fellow member of the minority) could this be the answer for you?