The Ripple Effect
There is a well-known adage known as the Butterfly Effect. It states that “A butterfly can flutter its wings over a flower in China and cause a hurricane in the Caribbean.”
Now I don’t know about that, as the number of connections from butterfly to a hurricane halfway across the planet requires an incredible amount of coincidence. But it paints the grandest of pictures in the mind.
Perhaps a better viewpoint is ripples on the water. When a stone is thrown into a calm pool it creates a splash and ripples emanate in all directions. Some come towards you, some reach others on the shore. The more stones that are thrown in by different people, the more splashes and the more ripples. Some may throw only a handful of pebbles. Others may hurl a boulder. The bigger the object, the greater the splash, the more pronounced the ripples, and the longer the time for balance to be reached and calm to return to the pool.
The actions of people are like the casting of stones. The size of the projectile (action) determines the splash (effect) which gives force to the ripples (number of people affected and how much they are affected).
The ripple effect of alcoholism is incredible.
Alcoholism is a sneaky disease, as are most addictions, because the initial effects are fantastic and seemingly harmless, but repeated and increased usage is disastrous and devastating. Alcohol is one of those things where since I survived it the first, second, tenth or even the hundredth time and were able to quit, it must not have any power over me. By the time the drinking is out of control, the hooks are in, and the damage is done. No one can tell a person when the switch will flip. Once it does, it’s a sure bet that a life-changing event of great proportions will need to happen for a recovery to take place. Along the way the collateral damage to the world around the alcoholic is impacted in all directions and to varying and increasing levels.
Alcoholism broadcasts its ripples in many ways.
From a health standpoint, long term drinkers will ultimately face hospital visits, detox stays, malnutrition, organ failures and any number of sicknesses and injuries. All of these things require the rest of society to provide care and facilities to compensate for the alcoholic’s continued survival. If the drinking continues, the problems will increase, and more and more resources will be required to provide temporary fixes for someone hell-bent on destroying themselves. From there factor in the toll these health issues take on the family, friends, workplace and community. The splash made by the abuse generates a series of ripples that affect a great deal of society’s healthcare services, as well as the family and friends that love them and don’t want to lose them.
In looking at the effect of alcoholism socially, it inevitably culminates in isolation and loneliness. Many an alcoholic has attested to being alone while surrounded by their drinking buddies. Many family members can tell their story of losing their loved one in greater degrees until there is no longer any faith or trust in the individual. The person that was doesn’t exist anymore when under the influence. Many close friends become distant and steer clear because it is just too dangerous and unpredictable to associate with a person that is out of control and refuses to do anything about it. Workplace reliability suffers and careers are lost as past performance can’t outweigh the liability of present employment. An alcoholic will drink until they are arrested for any number of crimes against society, their loved ones or themselves. When they are released they will drink again in a cycle that can only end in incarceration. An alcoholic will drink and drive a hundred times before their first DUI arrest, and then get 2 or more inside of 2 years, never pausing the intake for a moment. The splash made by the abuse generates a series of ripples that alienate the alcoholic from nearly every relationship in their lives and creates a solid relationship with the penal system.
The alcoholic will make splash after splash, each greater than the previous, and nearly everyone that becomes awash in it will move farther and farther away until they don’t hear the splashing anymore.
The change from addiction to seeking recovery is a huge splash, almost always generated from circumstances that are insurmountable. Not many are around to feel it or care for it’s impact. The ripples from it crash onto an empty shore. What few remain keep a wary distance and are doubtful of the outcome. They’ve been drowned by hope and trust before.
Recovery is an interesting time because it is almost the opposite of the ripple effect of addiction. Where the impact of the alcoholic behaviors repelled people and forced isolation, slowly but surely the ripples of sobriety and recovery become likable and engaging. It takes time, dedication, patience and help from those that understand the disease, but it does happen.
As each step of realizing, admitting, discovering and change occurs on the recovering addicts path, they become attracted to a better lifestyle and better circumstances of health and socialization. A functional and healthy individual is now a value to themselves and to those around them. By applying thinking and action based on clarity and purpose affects how a recovering person lives and changes their entire dynamic of life. That’s because recovery isn’t just about quitting drinking. It’s about improving oneself in as many ways as possible to become a solid character that no longer desires or needs drinking. The escape mechanism of alcohol no longer has value, or at least not enough value to overcome the present. The reward system comes from a track record of being sober and valuable. A healthy sober minded person can develop new relationships, reestablish relationships that desperately need mending, continue or revamp career paths, allow the body to repair itself, advance their thinking, and become a positive spiritual being. That’s a lot to ask for; it takes patience, perseverance, and support. Yet as the splashes of recovery become more frequent and pronounced, all of these things will naturally have a magnetic attraction back to the sober person. The splash made by sobriety will create ripples that have a positive and attractive influence on the surrounding world.
As always, a caveat here is a return to drinking. What’s known as a relapse is common in alcoholism. In my experience, many times an overconfident sober mind convinces itself that it can now drink and then stop like everyone else. Now that the alcoholic is in control of the effects of the dis-ease, they can control it while under the influence. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Once drinking becomes uncontrollable it will always be uncontrollable. This is instantaneous; after one drink the mind will flip back the switch and unless immediately caught and addressed, the whole process of alcoholism will start right where it left off, and any new attempts at sobriety must start at the beginning of recovery.
It would seem that the terrible splashes of alcoholism have a greater power than those of sobriety. Each has its own nature about it. Alcoholism repels the world around the alcoholic in a selfish and hurtful fashion, whereas sobriety attracts the surrounding world from a giving and peaceful lifestyle. If a person in recovery can put forth as much effort into recovery as they did hiding, stealing, frightening, worrying, and destroying their alcoholic world, recovery is possible permanently for every person that has and ever will succumb to alcoholism.