Getting More Acquainted With My My Drinks.

I was never a fan of Alcohol and I certainly don't admire Alcoholics because my father was an alcoholic and there were a few bad experiences that reminds me of the ugly side of heavy alcohol consumption. I dreaded the taste of it, and even the smell of it.

As a University student it is a norm or a culture that you got to love alcohol and got to go out partying every weekend.  So eventually I get to come into interaction with alcohol.My friends usually begged me to drink. They took pleasure in seeing me drink, they would usually go 'Please just one glass' and then once I manage to shove that one glass of alcahol down my throat they would insist on few more glasses until I am in the zone with them, DrUnK^^.....

I never saw drinking as a way to relieve stress, as a matter of fact I never really saw any benefit of drinking. However I did enjoy going out clubbing with my friends without the intention of getting drunk. I was always going for the sake of dancing, I love dancing. I love dancing in the club because the atmosphere is very conducive of acting crazy and dancing our hearts out. Another reason is that most people will be too drunk to remember what happened the previous night or maybe they might be too embarrassed of their own mishaps that they don't really care about how others were acting foolish.

It was just recently that I started experiencing a certain level of comfort and joy in drinking alcohol. Now I gulp the drink down without that yucky and dreadful feeling. I think it was during the end of a week long event that I actually developed this sense of appreciation acceptance towards alcohol. It was a very long and exciting week and I think I would have had a nervous breakdown if I didn't join my friends for a few drinks that night. During that drinking session I found great joy, comfort and happiness while sitting down, chatting and slowly getting intoxicated with every glass that I willingly accepted to drink. Many occasional drinks from then onward, I think I would say I have become tougher with holding my drinks, I don't cringe and make a disgust face now as I used to. However I think it is best to drink moderately in order to derive pleasure and relief from it and I will be very careful not to become an alcoholic. There are 2 things I try my best not to become; a slave to alcohol and a smoker of any kind of substance.

There has been many Epic experiences recently while being intoxicated, like this Birthday Wish I wrote to my friend in the Club. I was anxious about my Semester Results so after wishing my friend Happy Birthday, I asked her to "......Please pray for me!! I wanna graduate". 

Never Ending Troubles and Worries.

Problems for me so far has been like peeling layers off an onion...continuous. After one problem is solved or goes away, another one avails itself.

So yesterday morning I woke up feeling great because one of the biggest uncertainties in my life so far has been addressed and the outcome was very promising and assuring of success. The thing is I am very sure now that I will complete my tertiary education and graduate with a Degree in Economics and Finance soon. So that was just a huge relief and a big burden off my shoulders. Just as I was getting ready to start my day at Uni yesterday with a celebratory mood my cousin confronts me (In a respectful way) with this news that just slapped me in the face and got me off 'Lalah' land. I just stood there looking at her and thinking to myself 'here comes another episode.' I have to admit that for a brief moment I was thinking cant I just have a little break. Nevertheless my reaction to it was calm....well I felt calm. I didnt feel frustrated at all and in my head I was saying.. "yup I can overcome this...I may not know how to overcome it now, but I will...eventually..I will give this problem a kung fu kick and it will disappear.... just like I have done in the past".

I guess I am an expert at facing adversities that nowadays I am more composed and calm at such situations. I do acknowledge that life has its up and downs.I am always greatful for the many blessings in my life. I believe that I am never forsaken because God is watching over me and guiding me. I believe that everything happens for a reason. I have this great spiritual awareness within me that everything is connected. Like somethings were meant to happen in order for this other thing to happen. Like we have to face some adversities in order to experience better things or even greater things. With this belief, I think that is a reason why I have grown to accept and even to some extent love challenges ( But I don't instigate trouble intentionally to entertain myself). On that note I remember watching this TV series called Touch and I was like..."woahh this TV is series is so cool".... because I just started developing this belief and coincidentally I get to be watching a TV series that is all about this new found belief of mine. The belief of being Universally connected and being guided by a superior force that I like to call God.

I love God and honestly I could not go through life without God because he has been a great safety net, a source of comfort and God has always known whats best for me. With this belief in the Godly force I get to sail through my troubles and worries safely no matter how rough the seas are. During those dark and stormy times, God is the belief that I clench tightly too that I will reach ashore safely. But that doesn't mean that I take advantage of Gods blessing and basically sit down and wait for things to happen because I believe it will only happen if we go out into the world and give all our efforts. I remember very well watching J.K Rowlings powerful Harvard Commencement speech on you tube and she says that "It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default." It is through our failures and mistakes that God get to pick us up and make us more taller, wiser and stronger than before.

This is one of the pictures taken from an advocacy campaign that I did in collaboration with local youth group 'Youth Champs 4 Mental Health' earlier this year, a campaign focusing on eliminating stigma attached with Mental Health. I love this picture because of the message "There is always Hope". Its important that we tell ourselves this, no matter how bleak the situation maybe.