On Day 19 of Dry July, if you have coasted along with no serious sense of deprivation, with no slips or slides, CONGRATULATIONS! That is great! But if you are struggling to stay alcohol-free today consider how over-inflated the importance of alcohol is in our culture. Why do we give so much power to alcohol? We give so much power to the rotten grape, to the rotten grain. I was doing some research today and it became clear what a large role history plays in alcohol’s ongoing importance.
Thousands of years ago, humans started to drink alcohol. But things really took off in the 18th century. Cheap spirits flooded the market after the British parliament passed a law encouraging the use of grain to distill spirits. At the time, England was at war with France, and thus had embargoes on French wine and spirits. Gin consumption soared and alcoholism became widespread by the mid-18th century.
By 1751, it was full mayhem. The Tippling Act was passed in 1751 as an attempt to regulate the production, but it was pretty fruitless. This time you could produce gin with £5. You had to sell it off-premises (big deal, right?) There was opposition that it wasn’t enough. William Hogarth published ‘gin lane’ and ‘beer street’ to campaign against The Tippling Act.
And guess what? Big surprise, alcohol’s role in our society carried on being a shit show and still is.
Our bodies are molecules that form an organism mostly made of water. We need certain things to survive. Rotten fruit and grain is not one of them.
We get to choose what we put into our bodies. Not be pulled under the rug of some 300-year-old law that seemed to suit at the time.
Did you know that Alcohol Related Deaths are up 100% in Twenty years in the United States? That statistic came out before the first Covid lockdown. Alcohol was then deemed essential and sales of booze skyrocked in many places from the United States to the United Kingdom to Australia. Is Alcohol Essential or Have you Had Enough? If you are doing Dry July all you have to think about is today! Just for today give yourself the importance, give yourself the power, not alcohol.
Here are 55 great reasons to stay alcohol-free today This is the Ultimate Inspiration and Resource Post for You with lots of inspiring posts linked in to keep you motivated.
The Spirit is not in the Bottle it’s in You …
Rethink the Drink
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Online Community Support to Stop Drinking – BOOM!
If you’re “sober curious” …If you are drinking too much too often and want to stop or take a break… Talk to Us.
We are an independent, anonymous and private community who share resources, support and talk it through every day. It helps to have a community behind you in a world where alcohol is the only addictive drug that people will question you for NOT using
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