The real price of alcohol

I recently posted a status on Facebook about my view on alcohol. It went a little something like this:

“I really want to get something out that has been on my mind for a while now. Please for the sake of your friends, your family, and yourself… Stop drinking alcohol. While it is legal for those over 21, it really should not be. It does nothing but ruin lives and escalate problems beyond anything I can control. There are other ways to have fun, there are other ways to deal with issues, and there are other ways to waste your money. DUI’s are not a joke, blackouts are not a joke, and death from intoxication is not a joke. I can’t keep watching people ruin their lives and the lives of those closest to them by alcoholism. Please please please reconsider the decision to drink.”

I just recently turned 21 and unlike many people in college, I wasn’t all that excited about this milestone. While I did go out and purchase my first bottle of wine I did it more for the ceremonial picture at 12:01 a.m. I’m not really a drinker anymore, not after my freshman year at Radford University.

I learned so early in my college career that alcohol (or more specifically alcoholism) has the ability to ruin your grades, your dreams and your relationships.

When you’re addicted to alcohol, who wants to go to class when your friends are day drinking with a fraternity on a Wednesday? When you’re addicted to alcohol, who wants to focus on grades when you’re invited to a pregame and someone bought you a bottle? When you’re addicted to alcohol, who wants to go to a movie with their friend who doesn’t drink on a Friday night?

It may seem like just a part of your college experience, drinking heavily on the weekends and occasionally during the week, but this pattern can trap you and lead you to even more destruction once you graduate.

You continue using alcohol to have a good time, you drink to be more social and outgoing, and then alcohol becomes a crutch; You bore yourself when you’re sober so much that you need a drink or two everyday. This is not a statement of fiction because it is something I have seen happen around me. This is a possible side effect of the drinking culture in our society and I do not want to be a part of it any longer.

I hope anyone who drinks can see the truth in this and start to reconsider every sip. There are endless ways it will benefit you if you do. More money to go out and experience the world, more energy and less puking, stronger relationships and less memory loss are just a few I can think of, and just these few are enough for me to seriously reevaluate if I ever want to drink again.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED FOR THE TARTAN