Dear Big Alcohol, Shame on You, Little Eyes are Watching Me
Sep 06, 2020
Shame on you Big Alcohol.
How dare you market your poison to Mothers.
You are selling us a carefree afternoon with a crisp chardonnay in the sun.
You are selling us a sip to take the edge off a long day.
You are selling us relief from the high stress of parenting.
You are selling us deeper connections with our spouses.
You are selling us empowerment with each other.
You are selling us glamour, luxury, and a vacation from the daily grind.
These are all the things we desire and none of it comes from alcohol.
You know that.
You know that you are selling lies.
Your lies take away our power and hurt our future generations.
It’s the worst thing you can do.
I don’t know how you sleep at night.
You suggest we need wine to help us parent.
You tell our kids we are drinking because of them.
I was sold, hook, line and sinker on your promises that never delivered.
I was duped.
I drank your wine.
I sucked down that elixir and waited for the magic to happen.
I consumed and then waited for the stress relief to come.
I sat with anticipation for a sense of calm, inner peace and patience to run over me.
I waited and waited and it didn’t come.
What I got was a shame spiral and 3 am panic attacks.
I was delivered embarrassing trips to the emergency room for no reason other than hangxiety.
What wine gave me, was not a parenting tool, but instead a habit I could further hate myself for.
From alcohol I received dependence on a toxic substance that was killing me.
Alcohol threatened to take everything from me.
Including but not limited to, my life.
And all the while, my kids were watching me.
My kids were seeing me and losing heart with every glass I poured.
Every bit of alcohol consumed was a new crack ripped in their spirit.
Every bottle that went into the recycling bin took a bit of their trust and faith too.
My kids didn’t get the cool, easy, breezy mom that you promised.
They got someone they had to worry about.
They got the heaviest load a child could carry.
My daughter’s watched me go down in the quicksand of depression and anxiety.
They watched me break promises to them and myself.
They watched their father, beside himself with worry, about me.
They watched me stumble up the stairs to bed.
They watched me pass out.
One time, they even watched me black out.
They witnessed, as my friends and family, lost respect for me.
And they heard your message, loud and clear.
This was their fault.
Wine! Because parenting.
They saw your wine sold as school supplies.
If kids are e-learning, then Mom has to drink.
It's bad enough that they don’t get to see their friends, but even worse, they can watch Mom day drink.
"This might be vodka" written on her morning coffee mug.
"The most expensive part of having kids is all the wine you have to drink", a quote hanging under the Live, Laugh, Love art.
The message is that wine is required and Mommy drinks because of you.
It says right here on the wine glass…”because kids”
It says right here on the dish towel, “if you combine wine with dinner = winner.”
"Mommy wine time".
It’s so funny.
Except it’s not.
It's time for the joke to end.
High functioning mothers are suffering physically, mentally, financially, and spiritually.
Our children are feeling more like burdens than blessings.
It's tragic. It’s heartbreaking. It’s preventable.
Take your filthy marketing lies somewhere else and leave the Mom's Club alone.
If you are struggling with alcohol, it's not your fault.
Alcohol is doing what alcohol does and that is to get you dependent on it.
The more you drink, the more you need, the more Big Alcohol wins.
You don't have to believe these lies anymore.
You can trust yourself instead.
You can see that wine hurts more than it helps.
It's ok to ask for help to get out of the trap of alcohol.
With the right support, you can ditch the drink.
