Originally Posted by
Terminally Unique 
I think everyone wants to 'check out' from reality from time to time, freethinking. The average American does watch more than four hours of television per day, after all.
I trust you know how this works by now. For the Beast, anger is just a well-worn excuse to the bottle. As GerardTwine pointed out, IT ultimately does not care if you are dealing with anger or expressing it — either one makes for a good reason to drink. 'Dr. Beast' will try to convince you that you should never feel angry, you poor thing, and that you need a little drink to cope and deal. Just assign any such ridiculous ideas to the scrap heap known as Addictive Voice.
Remember, you don't drink, and since addictive desire is not you, but the Beast, you don't even want to drink. Then, go about actually dealing with the anger in a constructive way, such as with exercise, if this is what you want to do. For my part, I sometimes just welcome anger, as it eventually passes on its own anyway. While I'm on the topic, though, watch out for words like 'cope' and 'deal' in your thinking, especially in connection with drinking/using. They are a dead AV giveaway.
Yes, yesterday I kept trying to simplify things because I could tell I was complicating everything, which The Beast loves. I did, in fact, keep telling myself that despite whatever was going on in my head (being angry, feeling like i want to escape - that was all fine and dandy, but the simple fact was I just don't drink). I think I felt unnerved yesterday because it seemed that despite what i was telling The Beast, I still felt really unsettled and unsure of myself. Eventually, the feeling passed though.
Thanks for your feedback - very much appreciated.
**I should add that one thing that really resonated is the reminder that The Beast will imply that *I* should never have to feel angry. How ridiculous. I'm going to have my sh*t days just like everyone else. Who says I shouldn't? what makes me think I shouldn't
have to feel angry once in a while?