[March 25, 2024] Alcohol is a clever drug. It gets into the brain and slowly changes what is good and free and beautiful into something evil, enslaved, and ugly. Why, then, do people use alcohol? If you use alcohol, the answer is obvious. Using alcohol is fun, socially encouraged, and exciting, and it makes us feel good.
I will write about many ways to be a better young man in my new series. This new series means I’ll be giving advice, but not the finger-pointing kind of advice that we all have seen teachers give us whenever we did something wrong. My advice is simple. Do those things that make you better. Avoid those behaviors that destroy you. Ah, simple but hard. You might not believe this advice will help you because I’m somehow a prude, old-fashioned, or a killjoy. But it does work and works spectacularly.
Here are some crushing facts. In half of all violence in America, one or the other person is drunk. Half of all murders, rapes, assaults, and home invasions are done by someone high on alcohol. Ten percent of us are alcohol addicts and cannot stop having just one more drink. Alcohol destroys, and no amount of it is safe. To know this is just the beginning.
Alcohol makes us feel great. It strips away our inhibitions and makes us think we are wonderful in the eyes of others. And anyone who says that we can just quit is delusional. Without a substitute for alcohol, most of us cannot quit. That means we could use another drug substitute (which might help in the short term) but will fail.
The problem with alcohol use is the negative consequences. Its use is terrible for your health, and if pregnant, bad for the physical and mental development of the unborn child. Alcohol destroys you on every front, beginning with hangovers, failed relationships, lost jobs, and bad grades in school, destroys motivation and increases the risk of certain cancers and liver disease. And your life will be cut short.
To quit alcohol means finding a great substitute. Be honest to yourself and others about the downside to its use. Look at what you will become if you continue using alcohol. That future is bleak. What is better? What is a substitute for alcohol? The answer is to find an adventure in your life that you can look forward to, and that makes you want to avoid drinking. Replace alcohol with something more adventurous that serves you better, and then the choice not to drink will be easier.
I look forward to this series, and I hope you will give me suggestions in the comments section.
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Listen to the song that topped the iTunes chart. Link here.
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Please read my books:
Proverbs 20:1 Strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” King Solomon, the wisest person who ever lived, said this about drinking in Ecclesiastes 3:13, “And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God.
Yes! A very wise man.
Proverbs 31:6-7 NKJV
Give strong drink to him who is perishing, And wine to those who are bitter of heart. Let him drink and forget his poverty, And remember his misery no more.
Thank u sir
I’ll say that if you have to start somewhere, alcohol is a good place. Don’t drink alcohol. Alas,for alcoholics that is a near impossibility.
“To quit alcohol means finding a great substitute. Be honest to yourself and others about the downside to its use. Look at what you will become if you continue using alcohol. That future is bleak. What is better? What is a substitute for alcohol? The answer is to find an adventure in your life that you can look forward to, and that makes you want to avoid drinking. Replace alcohol with something more adventurous that serves you better, and then the choice not to drink will be easier. – Gen. Doug Satterfield.
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This is the heart of this article and an excellent point.
Get with the problem to improve your health and improve the lives of those around you.
You won’t be disappointed when you quit drinking alcohol if you find a replacement adventure.
Thank you ableist mas.
❤ Love the article, Gen. Satterfield. ❤
Let’s keep this series front and center.
Also, please write another one of your letters to your granddaughter.
Loving your website too.
Liz
I agree with you. I will be writing a blog for Gen on why young people have problem with faith. If you don’t reach out to get them now that world will eat them alive.
Proverbs says train up child while they are young when they get older not depart.
The reasons to stop drinking alcohol (and stopping other destructive behaviors) will not be easy. If you enjoy drinking, be it a glass of red wine with dinner or a tumbler of your favorite spirits poolside, you might have experienced the urge to keep pouring after a long day. But serious health problems can develop from drinking too much, including liver disease, heart disease, depression, stroke, stomach bleeding and certain types of cancer, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). And even moderate drinking is associated with increased risks of injury from violence, falls and car crashes.
The US Army had a big drinking problem and they still do but they put a big dent into the problem. You can too.
That’s for sure. 🥹
GREAT start to your new series for young men. Thank you General Doug Satterfield. 👍👍👍👍👍
How to Stop Drinking: Making a Plan That Works for You
https://www.healthline.com/health/alcohol/how-to-stop-drinking
To stop drinking alcohol, you first need to understand your relationship with drinking. From there, you may need social support, consistent self-care, and new routines that can help redirect your mind.
Whatever your reason to quit drinking, know that you’re doing yourself a favor. Alcohol impacts our sleep, relationships, weight, risk for serious chronic conditions and more. “Increasingly, I’m hearing from a lot of people who don’t necessarily have alcohol use disorder but who realize that they feel better when they drink less or stop drinking altogether,” says addiction psychiatrist David Streem, MD.
Gen. Satterfield sure knows how to get to one of the biggest problems facing America and the West.
Gen. Satterfield, you make a lot of sense here. As your first in this future series, I hope you continue to give advice. i see your advice taking a couple of different directions. First, just list those things to avoid and those things to accomplish like certain useful skills, and second, a more philosophical approach. Maybe you can have both, which I recommend, much like your “55 Rules for a Good Life” book that was so popular. Keep up the great works you are doing, Gen. Satterfield. Soon, I’ll make some suggestions.
Yep! Just as I was thinking too.
Yes! Good Dog makes a lot of sense.
It is not just America but others too.
Don’t drink alcohol. But that will not happen with alcohol being not just socially acceptable but required. Else you are seen as a “pussy” “unmanly” “uptight” or just plain “sissy man.” We need to move away from those stereotypes and encourage young men not to drink and show them how to be strong and independent. Alcohol serves no one but those who make money from it.
Well said, max foster and here in Texas the culture of drinking is strong. I’ve seen too many young men lose their lives and futures from too much to drink.
I think there are a number of movements that are encouraging everyone to stop drinking but these don’t provide an alternative. An alternative is necessary, just as Gen. Satterfield has written. True! 😊
Great points here. Thanks for the spot-on comments. 😊