This is great, thank you for sharing! I just watched the first half. I was intrigued by the discussion on the high functioning aspect. My thought about being a "high functioning alcoholic", as someone who has had a successful corporate leadership career, is that when you are in that role/environment drinking is an expected part of the culture. So, I think it would be harder for me to have been successful in the corporate world without drinking, despite the fact that drinking makes it harder to get work done. I drank a lot at work events even when I didn't want to drink, because there is a real pressure to participate in that way. The next morning, everyone is hungover, not just you. The culture accommodates time spent drinking and the effects, though there is definitely an expectation that you "power through" the hangover at the 8:00 AM meeting the morning after a night of drinking with your colleagues. I could not handle that physically, so would try to "sneak out" of the bar/party early after I felt I had put in enough time. I don't think the prevalence of alcohol among high income folks is because they have more access to health care, or more access to services like housekeeping, I think the culture demands it (I'd have to speculate as to why, but I feel that life has a real emptiness to it that leaves people unfulfilled and the gap is filled with alcohol)
Yeah, I get that. My hunch is the same as yours, and backed up only by anecdote so far. "Life has a real emptiness to it that leaves people unfulfilled and the gap is filled with alcohol". I am starting to see how the gap can be filled by meaningful and fulfilling relationships, being able to take responsibility, spirituality, and engaging with the wonders of the non-human world too (can't work out what word to use in lieu of 'nature' which is a bit muddled. Ecology?) There's lots of research to back this up, all of which was at first just hunch and anecdote. We know so much, but nobody will listen without quantitative data. I understand why, but it's part of our problem maybe? Or maybe I'm just feeling especially witchy today...
Yes - we have become skeptical of anything that isn't backed up by data (which I am very guilty of) even while we see the limits of science and how scientific knowledge changes continuously with new discoveries. I find myself getting more comfortable with believing in things that haven't been "proven" empirically, and trusting the things that have been known among some people for ages, but which we are inclined to regard as quaint or silly through our modern perspective...
This is great, thank you for sharing! I just watched the first half. I was intrigued by the discussion on the high functioning aspect. My thought about being a "high functioning alcoholic", as someone who has had a successful corporate leadership career, is that when you are in that role/environment drinking is an expected part of the culture. So, I think it would be harder for me to have been successful in the corporate world without drinking, despite the fact that drinking makes it harder to get work done. I drank a lot at work events even when I didn't want to drink, because there is a real pressure to participate in that way. The next morning, everyone is hungover, not just you. The culture accommodates time spent drinking and the effects, though there is definitely an expectation that you "power through" the hangover at the 8:00 AM meeting the morning after a night of drinking with your colleagues. I could not handle that physically, so would try to "sneak out" of the bar/party early after I felt I had put in enough time. I don't think the prevalence of alcohol among high income folks is because they have more access to health care, or more access to services like housekeeping, I think the culture demands it (I'd have to speculate as to why, but I feel that life has a real emptiness to it that leaves people unfulfilled and the gap is filled with alcohol)
Yeah, I get that. My hunch is the same as yours, and backed up only by anecdote so far. "Life has a real emptiness to it that leaves people unfulfilled and the gap is filled with alcohol". I am starting to see how the gap can be filled by meaningful and fulfilling relationships, being able to take responsibility, spirituality, and engaging with the wonders of the non-human world too (can't work out what word to use in lieu of 'nature' which is a bit muddled. Ecology?) There's lots of research to back this up, all of which was at first just hunch and anecdote. We know so much, but nobody will listen without quantitative data. I understand why, but it's part of our problem maybe? Or maybe I'm just feeling especially witchy today...
Yes - we have become skeptical of anything that isn't backed up by data (which I am very guilty of) even while we see the limits of science and how scientific knowledge changes continuously with new discoveries. I find myself getting more comfortable with believing in things that haven't been "proven" empirically, and trusting the things that have been known among some people for ages, but which we are inclined to regard as quaint or silly through our modern perspective...