Benefits of giving up alcohol for a month.
The liver calms down, the mind clears and family and friends become warmly supportive. But all this is to no avail when the drinking resumes.
There’s no point in giving up alcohol unless it is causing damage. But if alcohol consumption is causing damage, it is vital to give it up, and work the Twelve Step programme of Alcoholics Anonymous as a continuing prevention against relapse.
Giving it up for medical reasons may be sensible – but probably for ever rather than for just a month.
When people say they are giving up drinking for a month, they are usually trying to prove to themselves and to others that they can.
But what does it prove? Nothing. Certainly not that they’re not alcoholic. Any alcoholic or addict of any kind can give up for a day, a week, a month, a year or more. That’s not the point. What matters is not determination and willpower but the capacity to give up and stay cool, calm and collected. That can be done only with continuing commitment to working the Twelve Step programme of Alcoholics Anonymous.