Take off those blinders!

I have to vent/rant. I posted this on a sober living community I'm a part of  (http://www.livingsober.org.nz/) but I felt this is a good place for it as well. 

I’ve found being sober can really open your eyes. If there is anything more frustrating it’s the deceit that television delivers in regards to alcohol. I’ve been getting good with letting it roll off & almost laughing at it all but last night it had me worked up.

I was watching House of Cards. I love the actors, love the characters, love the show. And even though I’m frustrated, I’ll still watch the dang show.

**POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT**
Episode 46. Frank (Kevin Spacey) is recovering from almost dying. Long story short, he ended up having a liver transplant to live. In a matter of an episode he’s back to his sinister ways but towards the end of this episode he gets frustrated, walks away fuming a bit and his wife (Robin Wright) follows him. She asks him to talk to her and during the dialog she is, not shitting you, pouring him a shot of what has been deemed some form of alcohol throughout the show. ALCOHOL – just after a LIVER TRANSPLANT. The ironic thing. I didn’t really catch it at that moment. It took going into Episode 47 when the wife catches Frank smoking a cigarette and scolds him, with something to the effect of “Francis, you really shouldn’t…”. It struck me like a bolt of lightning. Wait, wait, WAIT…you just poured and served him ALCOHOL after a LIVER TRANSPLANT but SMOKING is a no-no!?!?!!? Just WOW. Now I understand it’s a TV show but it’s those exact types of subliminal messages that sneak in and create such madness for many of us unconsciously.

And that is just the subliminal messaging. Here is a commercial by Campbell's Soup that just puts it out there blatantly.

This is exactly what I've read about in Alice Grace's "This Naked Mind Control Alcohol: Find Freedom, Discover Happiness & Change your Life", Allen Carr's "The easy way to control alcohol" and Jason Vale's "Kick the Drink...Easily". We have to change our unconscious & conscious mind due to these very things we see day in and day out. TV, Social Media - let alone just the people, places and things around us! I always thought "Well I live in Wisconsin. We drink here. I got the bad luck of being born here." I felt I was different and doomed because of my location. But then I start reading other's recovery blogs. These are blogs from ALL OVER THE WORLD and everyone describes how much of alcohol is just a part of their culture. Thing is, it's EVERYWHERE. Absolutely fucking EVERYWHERE. We need to make sure to watch out for it and be aware of it so we are not allowed to be seduced back in. Those books I reference have helped extremely in that regard. 

How can we change it ALL OVER THE WORLD though? That seems like such a daunting task that it makes me want to hide my head in the ground. Thing is if they did it for smoking, it can happen for alcohol. It takes people. People like you and I. People one by one to read about it, to talk about it, to share it, to believe in it. I no longer have my blinders on. So maybe my goal is to just get one other person to take theirs off.

And that is how it happens. One by one. Who can you reach?

Have a stupendous day everyone!

love, Codette