Take boozy breath warning as wake-up call

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This article was published 17/07/2019 (2608 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I’m someone who may have a drinking problem. I hold down a sales job, but I find every excuse to drink at lunch with customers, and I like my happy hour to start as early as possible. I also drink in the evenings.

I hide it well in the daytime as I smoke and chew a lot of gum, but the other day I was in the office and someone at work said they could smell the alcohol on my breath.

I’m so paranoid now!

I suspect I need help, but I hope not, because I love drinking. I never thought much of it before, coming from a family who like their booze, but no one has ever had to quit.

When I got that harsh comment, everything just hit me like a freight train. I never thought of myself as a drunk before. If people can smell it on me, it must mean I’m exuding it from my pores and everything. What do you think?

— Scared I’m Alcoholic, Broadway

Dear Scared: This co-worker told you they could smell it on your breath; it wasn’t through your pores, but right there on your tongue, so it was consumed not long before.

Look, in my beloved media business there have have been a lot of drinkers over the years — from tipplers to heavy daily drinkers — but not so much in the past 10 years or so.

You get to know the smell of liquor on a person’s body and clothing — particularly jackets that get worn many times between cleanings. Most people don’t mention it to the wearer, unless they are warning you.

Your best bet is to head down to the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba and find out how far down the drinking road you are.

Liquor is not worth losing anything over — your job, your work friends, close pals, sex drive or potential love mates. Lots of people fall in love with the bottle, but that’s a lonely pairing. You have had a wake-up call, so be glad about that. Do something in response, so you don’t lose your job and the rest of the things that mean a lot to you.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I’m in a university program that garners a lot of respect, and I feel like that’s the only reason I’m in it. My parents did basically everything, save for forcing me to take this program. I know it would lead to a comfortable life, but I don’t want it, and actually hate it. So much!

I just don’t want to let the parents down. They’ve already paid for the first few years, and I know they’d be terribly upset and would lose the money already paid out. I just don’t want to be stuck in a career I hate. Help!

— Ungrateful Son, Downtown

Dear Ungrateful: Many of us have changed paths in the middle of the road — myself included — and I can tell you it’s a shock to the parents who helped with the first years of education. And they’re entitled to grumble, unless you’re paying it all back.

But, after you forge ahead and get into something you really like — and they see how much happier you are on the new path you’ve chosen — they’ll probably heave a sigh and climb on the Happy Train.

It’s definitely worth hassling them and getting into a career path you want and then sharing some of the perks.

I think the first time my own mom Cynthia was happy I’d gone from teaching to media was the day I entered us both in the radio-station charity mother-and-daughter look-alike contest and people from media were snapping photos of both of us, and she was also in the limelight.

The former schooling most often doesn’t totally go to waste. The Miss Lonelyhearts column and seminars surrounding it require teaching, so it all worked out for me. You hate the career you’re in, so there’s only one thing to do — look for your way out by identifying your true heart’s desire and going after it.

Please send your questions and comments to lovecoach@hotmail.com or Miss Lonelyhearts c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6.

Maureen Scurfield
Advice columnist

Maureen Scurfield writes the Miss Lonelyhearts advice column.

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