I do enjoy anything lemony fresh

Challenging a Culture of Alcoholism

I don't want to dig too hard on this guy, because I get that not everyone on the outside looking in is going to understand. But I have to say that I actually snorted out loud at the part about lemon essential oil being a good cure for my alcoholism. Reality Check: Alcoholism is a disease of the mind, and no amount of Pine-Sol or massage therapy is going to change that. I have to change the way that my mind thinks, not the way I smell. He also references a book by Allen Carr titled, The Easy Way to Quit Drinking. I haven't read the book, so I can't give an opinion on it. I will say that anything that tells me that there is an 'easy' way to get sober, lose weight, earn money, etc, I tend to be suspicious of. But if someone has read it and found it helpful, that's great. Maybe it's geared more for people that are just heavy drinkers, rather than hard-core alcoholics.  I do disagree completely with these 'studies' that say that the success rate of AA is 90%. I'd like to know what the success rate of diet & exercise is, if we're going to put it in these terms. If you do what you are supposed to do in either of these, you will succeed. In spite of what Jenny Craig says in their ads, people DO fail and they are responsible for their own results. The 90% failure rate is on the person, not on the program.

The author makes some really excellent points about the current culture of America, and how drinking is the mode of entertainment, rather than something that simply accompanies our activities or entertainment. I went to a small Christian college, in a dry Amish town in rural Pennsylvania. All we did on the weekends was drink. There really wasn't much else to do, but I certainly wasn't looking for any other way to spend my time anyway. Binge drinking, via drinking games like Beer Bowling, Power Hours, Quarters, etc., was the norm. I would have been an alcoholic no matter what, but I can see how the culture affects young people who might otherwise not have a problem.