I have, I think, a pretty healthy relationship with alcohol.

And I think that a very big part of that is because I have a very hard rule that I don't drink unless I'm already in a good place mentally. If I'm angry, sad, anxious, etc. or even just bored I don't drink.

Alcohol is a depressant, at best all it's doing is emotionally numbing you so you're not processing those negative emotions well.

And at worst, you're conditioning yourself to associate those negative emotions with the reward of alcohol. Your brain will end up sabotaging yourself to give you an excuse to have a drink.

A very good friend of mine is a recovering alcoholic. It was a huge breakthrough when he figured that out about himself. He describes it as "a lethal case of the fuck-its." His brain would lead him down all kinds of dark places because it was looking for an excuse to drink.

And look, after I've had a shitty day, I like to have a drink sometimes. There is a very important mental shift that happens there though. I'm not drinking because I'm having a shitty day. I'm having a drink because I have switched gears, the shitty part of my day is behind me, and I'm onto the good part of my day.

And this is important, it's not the good part of my day because I get to drink. Drinking is not an activity to look forward to by itself. It is a bonus add-on to whatever else you're doing. It's like popcorn at the movies. You don't get excited by the prospect of going out to eat popcorn, you get excited by going out to see a movie, and the fact that there's popcorn to snack on while you watch it just makes the experience better.

If the whole activity was to just go sit in the dark by yourself eating popcorn, that sounds pretty damn depressing, doesn't it? Same with having a beer. Drinking is an add-on to hanging out with your friends, or having dinner, or going to a sports game, etc.