The ****it Switch
By Lin L.
C.W. posted: My last relatively lengthy abstinence ended while I was standing in Rite-Aid. Suddenly, I happened to notice the beer display and The Cloud descended over my head. "Why not?" "Who cares?" "What difference does it make?" These were my thoughts.
Ah, the infamous "****it switch". As in, "Aw, ****it, I'll just have one." Or, "Ah, ****it, I need a break." Or, "Ah, ****it, I deserve a reward." In other words, any drinking-related thought that begins "****it" is probably not a good one.
The use of the word, "****" in particular is important. That is a word that has a high emotional load -- grown men have been known to commit assault and sometimes even murder when they hear it. It effectively shuts down rational thought (thus the "tripped-circuit" result) and allows only strong emotions to pass through to consciousness. And, what do we do with strong emotions, boys and girls?
Also, the "****it" portion is usually only the first half of the equation. The second half is usually one of the many excuses we use to drink. "Ah, ****it; I deserve this." "Ah, ****it; I'll show those bastards." "Ah, ****it, being sober never did me any good anyway." So, we disarm our ability to think reasonably in a goal-oriented way, and then the little devil on the shoulder moves in for the kill, with a totally irrational thought that we -- without the verbal land mine we just dropped on ourselves -- would be able to handle in a blink.