Hi, I’m Kevin O’Hara for alcohol mastery.com.
Today’s video asks, have you got a genetic inheritance to alcohol?
Do you have a gene inside you that says you’re more susceptible to getting hooked on alcohol than somebody else?
Genetic inheritance means that something has been passed down from your grandparents, great-grandparents and great-great grandparents.
It’s been passed to one of your parents and then to you. Do I believe it? No.
There’s always going to be an argument of nature versus nurture, and this is basically saying that nature is the genetic argument.
It says you are susceptible to this, and it’s something that’s inside of you and you can’t change it.
Nurture on the other hand means that it’s something which is a part of a process that has started from the day you were born, and it’s read into you from your parents, from the siblings in your life, your friends, your parents’ friends, the environment and all that kind of stuff.
I’m more on the nurture side because it just makes so much sense to me.
If you’re brought up in a house with people who smoke, you’re more likely to smoke because you’re used to the smoke.
If you’re brought up in a house where people eat a lot of junk food and don’t get exercise, then you’re more likely to be in that way of thinking as you grow older.
It’s the same thing with the opposite way.
If you grow up in a house where people exercise and eat good food and educate themselves, you’re more likely to have that as a part of your makeup when you get older.
I’m a big believer in taking responsibility, in me being 100% responsible for myself and my actions, in me making a 100% commitment to a decision that I make, thinking about the decision first, making a choice of which decision to take and then taking the decision and following through with that.
Now, as soon as you start believing in the genetic side of this, that you’re genetically predisposed to being an alcoholic, or to having an addictive personality, or having addictive genes, what you’re doing is taking away from your own power.
You’re handing it to something which is completely outside of your control.
Once you do that, then you’re starting from a place of lowered strength immediately.
You want to start off from a place with as high a strength as possible, as much power that you can give yourself as you possibly can.
There’s nothing you can do about your genetic inheritance.
People are flocking to plastic surgeons day after day, billions of pounds are being poured into an industry that is trying to change certain things about themselves.
People have got big noses, big ears, they’re bald, they have small boobs, too big boobs, there’s something wring with themselves that they see as a flaw, and it’s part of their genetics.
It’s something you’re born with.
If you don’t like that, what are you going to do? There are plenty of people that will say, ‘yes, there’s a lot you can do. Come and give us lots of money’.
That’s what the alcohol industry is based on.
They’re based around the fact that they want you to believe that there is a genetic flaw in some people, that this is the reason there are so may alcoholics in the world, that they were born with a genetic flaw and it’s not their fault.
It’s something they were born with and they can’t help it.
And this is the reason why some people just can’t handle taking alcohol.
But they’ll never tell you that if this is the case, then these people should be out taking all kinds of drugs.
Their own reasoning behind this is that it takes away the focus from drug that’s in the alcohol and puts it completely and squarely on the individual.
It takes away the individual blame also by saying it’s the fact that it’s a genetic thing that they can’t help.
Most of the other people, the normal drinkers, can help it.
The problem is that alcohol affects everyone in the same way.
It might affect people differently, but it’s a drug, and the drug will affect them in the same way that any other drug would affect them.
There are tolerances associated with drinking alcohol.
There are tolerances with any other drug, as well as with a lot of the foods we eat.
We tend to need to eat more to get the same feeling.
There are so many different aspects of drug taking which happens across the board regardless of what drug you’re taking whether it’s alcohol, nicotine, pharmaceutical drugs that you’re prescribed, or alcohol.
This is a responsibility that you take.
It’s not a responsibility that is forced on you.
It’s just such a much more powerful place to start than saying you’ve got a genetic makeup.
I mean if you’ve got something in your brain, if they ever prove it…It’s just so much of a better place to start your journey forwards.
It allows you to be so much more powerful in whatever you need to do in your life.
Any change that you’re going to make is down to you, down to your thinking and down to what you do in life. It just makes things much more powerful for you. So that’s it for today.
If you have any questions, leave them down below, or come on over to the website and leave it there.
You can also sign up for or Quit Alcohol starter pack, which is just full of courses and videos and a couple of books in there, to give you the best possible start on this new journey.
Come on over there and sign up for that.
Until next time, stay safe and keep the alcohol out of your mouth.
IF YOU DON’T LIKE SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR LIFE, JUST CHANGE IT.
Until next time…
Onwards and Upwards!
You’re thinking around alcohol and addiction so closely ties up with my own. As I said am here in Turkey on holiday with parents. 2 days to go before we fly home. First 6 days I drank and last 5 days haven’t and I tell you what I have felt so amazing and happy on these 5 days! Have been able to enjoy my time again. My food tastes so different. I’ve been able to get much more active and go out on the rented bike and enjoy the countryside. I went to AA first time I got “rock bottoms” with booze and the ethos never sat right with me. Making a list of your defects? Finding a higher power to take the blame away from oneself. Always being sick and always in recovery? Never being recovered. I have heard people say that they’re powerless and went into recovery 20 years previously and they said they know less about everything after 20 years then when they first stopped drinking. A lot of BS. I drank mostly heavily for decades. Drank heavily every day. I’ve just stopped and because “I wanted to stop” the same way that when I stopped smoking 17 years ago it was time and I just stopped! Best thing I ever did and now with drink another milestone. Alcohol has tried to destroy me several times. I’ve allowed it to happen as I wasn’t ready to stop.