by Vicki Phipps

Created on: January 05, 2008

When drinking becomes a habit, your in danger of addiction. Everyone knows it's true, but it's easy to deny the truth. How it becomes a habit is up to you, but to give you a clue if drinking is becoming a habit for you, here's a list of clues.

1. You create ways to celebrate and the cocktail hour lasts longer as the days go by.
2. You say, one dark, cloudy day, "It's five o-clock somewhere." In other words, drinking can become a habit when you use it to deny time.

3. You believe that just one drink will ease your misery. Dishonesty becomes your greatest enemy. Although you'll know deep inside that the alcohol does nothing to correct the issues you have, you'll begin to lie.
4. You convince yourself that a gallon jug can contain, "one drink." The habit can be deceiving, so beware of, "just one drink."
5. You drink all alone in your home.
6. You use social occasions as an excuse to drink. After all, people invite you to everything.
7. After a drink or two, you feel like a new you. You're the life of the party and a social butterfly.
8. When you're running low on cash, you'll skip the bred and buy beer instead.
9. You believe you need a drink while you bathe. "It relaxes me," you'll say.
10. Your friends begin to avoid you after noon. The next thing that will happen is that you won't care. You'll begin to enjoy your solitude and what the drink does for you.

The list could go on and on, but no one will know better than you if drinking is becoming a habit for you. The secret is to try not to deny what you know to be true. Drinking habitually can lead to those things that made you say, "I need a drink," in the first place. Anything that alters the mind can be addicting in time, so if you must drink, keep that in mind. Breaking habits of any kind can take time from your life, so it seems easier to me to leave the drink behind.

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