Alcohol

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Welcome to the Catholic sobriety podcast mini-soad . These shorter episodes provide quick tips and information that you can refer back to when you need it most so you can achieve and maintain your desired level of sobriety . I am your sobriety coach and host of this podcast , kristi Walker . Let's get started . Hello and welcome back .

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So if you listen to my last mini-soad , you heard me mention a game show that my husband and my son have started watching . They like to watch and it's called Snake Oil and the premise for those of you who don't know is that there are two different products and they make like these fake marketing commercials and then they have people who it's kind of like Shark Tank . They stand up there with their product and the contestants throw a bunch of questions at them , trying to see if they'll mess up or give a hint that maybe what their product is is actually Snake Oil . So I mentioned it in my last mini-soad and then after that I made a graphic for social media explaining five ways that alcohol is Snake Oil . I was comparing alcohol to Snake Oil , so I wanted to talk about that on the podcast today and before I do that , I just wanted to give you a quick overview about the origination of Snake Oil , because I love history , and if you love history then you might like this too . So this is just going to be very brief . If you want to learn more , I highly suggest looking it up , because I've been watching lots of videos and reading lots of stuff , just because I think it's so fun and interesting .

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Snake Oil actually started out as a legitimate medicine , so it was made from the oil of the Chinese Water Snake . Now , the Chinese Water Snake is actually rich in omega-3 acids and they help reduce inflammation . What happened was in the 1800s , when the Transcontinental Railroad was being constructed . The Chinese workers that came over brought this oil with them and they began , you know , sharing it with their American co-workers , and their American counterparts were like , oh my gosh , this is amazing . So word spread quickly about this Snake Oil . So how did something that was legitimate come to be this like symbol of , like the ultimate sham ? Well , what happened was a lot of people got word about this oil and they wanted to cash in on it , and so they began making their old Snake Oil . They made it out of rattlesnakes , they made it using rattlesnakes . Well , rattlesnakes do not have the same properties as the Chinese Water Snake , so it didn't have the same medicinal effects that the original Snake Oil had . But they didn't care about that . They just kept making it and selling it , and the claims of what it could do and what it could cure just got bigger and bigger and bigger .

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Pretty soon the makers of this fake Snake Oil began adding alcohol and opium to it , so of course people were even more thrilled to have this snake oil , because now they were getting addicted . So the most famous entrepreneur of snake oil was Clark Stanley . He was actually known as the Rattlesnake King and he claimed that he had learned about the healing power not powder , the healing power of rattlesnake oil from a Hopi medicine man , and he created a huge stir at the 1893 Worlds Exposition in Chicago . What he did was he had a big vat of oil and he took a live snake , sliced it open and threw it into the vat of oil . What people didn't know is by that time he actually had it . He had stopped using real snakes in his fake snake oil . Because it was fake snake oil by that time , because there wasn't even really any snakes in it , it just had the alcohol and other things that were addictive .

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Snake oil became this thing . That was everywhere . So it was in all kinds of print ads it was in . They were putting it in like Farmer's Almanacs . They were putting it everywhere , just making all of these claims how it could help chronic pain , headaches , kidney troubles , even female complaints , just all of these cures began to be associated with this snake oil . Eventually , people got wind of this , or they kind of got wise to it , and they started testing these things out , realizing that what the snake oil was actually doing was causing addiction , overdoses and deaths . And that's when the food and drug administration , I guess , was created . So that's some history on that . Now , that's not an exhaustive history and please excuse me if I got any of the facts incorrect , but I again have been so enamored by this story and the comparison that I want to make today because it just all of a sudden was just like oh my gosh , this is so , so true .

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So five alcohol lies that prove that it is snake oil . So there's many , many other of these . I'm just gonna list five For the sake of time . I may do a . I probably will do a longer episode one of these days , but I wanted to get this one out .

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So number one , the first lie of alcohol is I'll calm you down . So creating a habit of relying on alcohol to cope with difficulties prevents us from discovering healthier ways to manage stress . So waking up with shame and guilt does nothing for your mental health . Now , while alcohol may calm you down for a little bit , it's like pouring gasoline on a fire . So the second lie is I'll help you sleep . Now , while alcohol is a sedative and it is designed to slowly sedate you , but when you consume alcohol , you cannot achieve the quality of sleep that you need for nightly restoration . So night time wakeings and insomnia are very , very common with alcohol use . Number three is I make everything better . So alcohol dulls our senses , and this means that it numbs us to the bad and the good . And when we take off our beer goggles or whatever alcohol goggles we're wearing , things just become more clear and more enjoyable , and then you don't have to worry about what you said or did or how much you drank the night before .

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Number five is you are nothing without me . Now , this is a big lie that so many people believe . I hear this I can't even tell you how many times I hear it , so often it's this fear that people won't be able to connect in the way that they have been able to with either their spouse or their friends . They're afraid they're going to miss out . Maybe they think they're not as funny or all of these things . But if you look at alcohol commercials , that is just showing you Look at what you could have , look how much fun it is , but don't believe that lie . So as a woman who has been sober for 26 years and who has been to many , many events where I've seen people that I know when they are sober and I know when they are intoxicated and not even drunk just a few extra drinks , I can promise you that you are more interesting , you are more fun , you are more more articulate and attractive and charismatic when you are not intoxicated and I know this because I see both sides and when you have consumed alcohol , you're only seeing things from that cloudy vision .

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Number five I am the solution . Here's where it really really just aligns with snake oil . So it's like I'll help you do this , I'll help you do that , I'll help you cope , I'll do all these things . But alcohol use is never a solution . It is a symptom of a deeper issue , it is a tool , it is a crutch , but it is never , ever the solution .

Alcohol and the Void

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Alcohol cannot heal or fill the void . Okay , it may momentarily fill that void , but it's just gonna melt out like snow on a sunny day , okay . So the only other thing that can actually fill the void , the only who that can fill that void , is an encounter with Christ . Alcohol is not going to fill those voids or heal those wounds . Now , there is so much more to be said on this topic . I could make so many strong comparisons against the way that snake oil was marketed and the way that alcohol is marketed today , but again , I'm going to leave that for another longer episode in the future and I can't wait to discuss this with you more . So that wraps up today's episode of the Catholic Subriety Mini-Sode . Thank you so much for joining me and please be sure to subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss a thing . And remember I am here for you , I am praying for you , you are not alone .