With Christmas and New Year celebrations upon us it is a good time to give thought to your drinking behaviour at party celebrations. Alcohol is a feature of a good majority of social occasions; it causes people to become relaxed and lower their inhibitions so that you can ‘let your hair down’ as it were. At the end of a long year, we are generally feeling a little tired, tense, disgruntled and ready to have a good time.
After the first couple of drinks you feel happy, more relaxed and have less concentration and slower reflexes. However it is early in the evening and parties generally go well into the night. The alcohol is on tap and your friends encourage you to have another drink.
This is the critical moment.
You see, a few more drinks and your inhibitions are lowered, confidence heightens, you are less co-ordinated, speech begins to slur and your moods are more intense. You will feel intensely happy or conversely sad or even mad. Your judgement becomes increasingly impaired as you continue to drink throughout the night. People are happy and having fun – but there can come a point where someone, maybe you, behaves inappropriately and out of character. That’s the effect alcohol has on us.
Disagreements become fights, sexual harassment is all too common, while physical and sexual assault is also a common feature of alcohol-fuelled parties. At best you can lose your licence as consequence of failing to organise alternate transport. At worst, you can find yourself charged for an action that you can’t even remember happening. If you think it couldn’t happen to you, I urge you to think again.
So at this year’s Christmas party, try some of these strategies to slow down your drinking:
If you want to talk to someone about your drinking behaviour and/or would like support to change your behaviour, here’s what you need to do: Contact Colleen on 0434 337 245 or Duncan on 0434 331 243 for a FREE 10 minute consultation on how we can best help you or book online now.
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