Augie and Merissa have been dating one another for five-and-a-half years. They met while taking the same constitutional law class at a medium size, rural, Church affiliated liberal arts college located in the Northern part of the U.S. While they were only good buddies at first, they finally started dating when they were in their third year of college.
Due to the fact both of them came from very conventional backgrounds, neither one of them drank very much beyond the testing stage when they first started to date. As the time advanced, however, they began to go to more sorority and fraternity parties, keg parties, happy hours, and football bashes. As a consequence, they gradually began to drink increasingly more the more they dated.
Their Social Life Frequently Consisted of Going to Professional Sporting Events, Going to Parties With Their Friends, Going to Happy Hour With Their Friends, Going to Restaurants Three or Four Nights Per Week, and Going With Their Friends to the Local Club on the Weekends
After they graduated, they both got jobs in a medium size city that was located roughly sixty-five miles from their undergraduate college. Then they finally made up their mind to move into the same apartment together.
Due to the fact they were far removed from the college drinking scene, then again, their social life generally consisted of going to professional sporting events, going to restaurants three or four nights per week, going to parties with their friends, going to happy hour with their friends, and going to the local watering hole with their pals on the weekends. Stated another way, Augie and Merissa began drinking in an irresponsible and hazardous manner.
Now that were living with one another and starting to get more committed to their relationship, nevertheless, they started to think about having children, becoming more responsible, buying a house, and getting married.
With any significant adjustment in a person’s life there is frequently a trigger the specific change in question. For Augie and Merissa the thought of buying a new house and having children was this “mechanism of change.” Stated more explicitly, for the first time in their lives, Augie and Merissa began to reflect on their hazardous and irresponsible drinking and the long term effects of alcohol on their lives.
How Would Their Abusive and Excessive Drinking Affect Their Finances, Their Ability to Have Children, Their Relationship With One Another, Their Mental Health, and Their Relationship With Their Parents?
Would their abusive and irresponsible drinking negatively affect their ability to have children? How would they be able to continue spending so much money on drinking if they were to begin saving for a new house? How accountable would they be if they had children and continued to drink in an irresponsible and excessive manner? How would they be able to face their parents and tell them about their long term hopes, dreams, and aspirations while they still drank in an irresponsible and excessive manner while having fun as they did when they were in college? What would their excessive and abusive drinking do to their relationship? How would their heavy drinking affect their mental health?
From a different slant on things, although neither one of them ever suffered from alcohol poisoning, received a DUI, or experienced alcohol withdrawals, they realized that their abusive and excessive drinking was becoming a thorny issue that they could not disregard any longer.
After Giving Their Circumstances Some Serious Thought, Merissa and Augie Finally Understood That Their Plans, Hopes, and Dreams Would not be Made Real if They Continued Their Heavy and Hazardous Drinking
All of these questions clearly led to the same conclusion: Merissa and Augie needed to realize more fully that they couldn’t continue their hazardous and heavy drinking if their hopes, dreams, and plans were to be fulfilled.
Once they arrived at this conclusion, they advised their drinking buddies about their goal of buying or building a new house, about their marital plans, and about their plans to start a family. They also told their drinking buddies that they still wanted to associate with them but that they would be drinking in strict moderation from this moment forward so that they could start to realize their future aspirations, dreams, and goals.
Unexpectedly, all of their friends expressed relief because they too had been contemplating their lives and concluded that their life-styles were too focused on drinking. They also felt that they would have to change significantly if they were to become more responsible and exhibit more respect for their plans, their careers, and for their health in the next five or ten years.
After their frank discussion with their buddies about their hopes, dreams, and aspirations, Augie and Merissa actually started to have more meaningful relationships with all of their pals. The fundamental reason for this was the fact that all of them had the same way of thinking regarding their abusive and excessive drinking and their short and long-term aspirations, goals, and plans.
