Amber Hollingsworth (Put the Shovel Down YouTube channel) uses a personal anecdote about hearing Mitchell Tenpenny's song "Drunk Me" to explain how alcohol and active addiction prevent emotional healing. She argues that substances both block grief (by numbing and suppressing feelings) and paradoxically replay painful memories, keeping them fresh; addiction can create a feedback loop where past hurts are unconsciously preserved as justification for continued use. The video is a brief therapeutic exhortation: getting sober is necessary to heal from past traumas and break the cycle.
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So here's just one more reason to get sober. Have you guys heard that country music song called Drunk Me by Mitchell Tenpenny? Hope I'm saying his name right. Anyways, the other day, I was in my kitchen cooking dinner. And a lot of times when I do that, I like to tell Alexa to play country music. And so I'm just in there cooking, I'm listening to music, and this song comes on, the. The Drunk Me song by Mitchell Timpenny. And he's singing. I'm listening, and I'm just enjoying myself. And then I start really listening to the words. And there's such a great message in that. So. And that's what we're going to cover in this video. For those of you who are new here, welcome to Put the shovel down. This YouTube channel is to help you understand the science and psychology of addiction so that you can stay five steps ahead of it and get your life and your loved ones back on track. Okay, so back to the song. So the song is talking about a breakup, and he's talking about I got sober. And what he's saying is, he gets sober because drunk me can't get over you. Let me tell you, there couldn't be truer words than that. One of the things that addiction can do, and alcohol particularly, it'll keep you stuck in all the past hurts and bad memories and negative things that have ever happened to you. In fact, if you want to ensure that you don't get over past traumas, breakups, heartbreaks, all that stuff, then make sure you keep drinking or using to deal with it. Because to see what happens is, is you can't grieve. The feelings come up, you pour substances on the top, and it shoves them back down. The feelings come up, you pour substances on the top and you shove them back down. You just don't get over those past bad things that have happened to you. Now, drinking in particular is terrible for this, because not only can you not grieve it and get over it because you're pouring a substance on the top, but drinking helps you to relive those bad things that have happened to you. It brings those memories forward. You play it over and over and over in your head, and it keeps it fresh and alive so you don't have any healing from it. Not only that, every time you play it over and over in your head, it's likely getting worse. The story gets worse and worse and worse the more you think about it. So psychologically, you're keeping yourself stuck. Biologically, the Chemicals are keeping yourself stuck. And the other thing that goes on here is that when you are in active addiction, you almost can't let go of past hurt and traumas and bad things that have happened to you. Because you really, on some level, maybe even subconscious level, need to hang on to those as a reason to continue to use the substances. So it's like the substances keep you stuck, keep you from getting over things, and you keep yourself from getting over things as an excuse to continue to make bad choices. I know that that can come across as a little bit harsh. I don't want to minimize or downplay any bad things that have happened to people. Because I know some horrible, horrible things have happened to people. And a lot of that is what precedes having a substance abuse problem. But the main point I'm trying to get across here is that using drugs and alcohol will keep you stuck. It will absolutely prevent you from getting over things. When people come into my office and they're telling me about something bad that happened to them 20 years ago. And they've been drinking over it or using over it, it's like it just happened yesterday. It's just so fresh. You can tell they haven't had any healing process that's happened. You know, in reality, the absolute worst time to drink or use any kind of substances is when you're going through something hard. Because it's during that time when you're using the substances that you're most likely to develop a problem with those substances. Because you start using the substance to medicate the problem. And eventually you do that long enough and you get dependent on the substance, and now you have addiction. So just remember what Mitchell Tenpenny says. Drunk me can't get over you. One more really good reason to get sober.
