Spirits or Sirens?

The harsh taste of liquor in my mouth, a mouth as dry and rough as sandpaper, was the first thing I woke to every Saturday morning. A quick trip through hot and piercing sunlight and into the comfort of my air conditioned car usually brought me to my senses, as I would work on piecing together what had happened the previous night. Over the next few hours, the headache and regret over my Friday night would fade, and another night of drinking would call to me just like the mythological Sirens, drawing my body and soul just a little closer to death.

Many people jokingly offer alcohol up as an easy solution to life's problems. Even I used to lightheartedly spout nonsense like "Rubbing alcohol is for outside wounds, drinking alcohol is for inside ones," never once imagining that the lifestyle I laughed about would someday become so attractive to me. When asked seriously, most people share the opinion that that alcohol is never a solution to major life problems. I would disagree. Alcohol is actually an incredibly easy solution, never failing to drive away problems till the next morning. Unfortunately, it is also one of the worst solutions for your health and mental well-being, and while pushing away problems will reduce their effects or even solve them in the short term, everything you're fleeing will eventually catch up to you, with a vengeance.

The Sirens, infamous sea creatures from Greek myth, drew countless sailors to watery graves with their beautiful songs and female forms. However, despite the Siren's initial appeal, sailors who ended up in their grasp would slowly waste away to a watery death. This appeal, an escape from the difficult life aboard a Greek ship to the seemingly beautiful sanctuary of the Sirens, parallels the escape many people search for from their hardships. While typically not slaving away on ships, people in the 21st century have similar struggles: high-stress jobs, difficulties providing for themselves and their families, and in my case, poor relationships with people they care about. If a night filled with drinking can help people forget these struggles, then why is alcohol rarely considered a good solution to one's problems? This depends on how one defines a "solution."
I would argue that any respite from the problems one faces can be seen as a solution, and alcohol easily provides this. With the heavy blanket of alcohol pulled over my mind, poor relationships and other stressors lost their urgency and seemed to fade away, replaced with an overwhelming feeling of euphoria. Without the complications of a fully functioning mind, socializing and meeting new people became a cakewalk, and as the nights progressed, caution and inhibition seemed like relics from an inferior, sober past.

An opposing view would interpret a solution as a permanent fix to a problem, which clearly drinking will not provide. Alcohol does little to remedy one's problems, serving better to push them away. This is an excessively stringent and limiting view of a "solution," and, depending on the problems one is facing, not always attainable. Just like prescription antidepressants, which have numerous unhealthy side effects and typically only work on a limited basis to treat problems such as depression, alcohol can work as a temporary solution to one's problems. I would reconcile these two definitions by adding that although a permanent fix to a problem is the ideal solution, a temporary relief from one's problems, such as drinking or swimming towards the enticing song of the Sirens, shouldn't be disregarded for its value as an easier and subpar solution.

An alcoholic with a bottle and a Greek sailor nearing the Sirens are faced with two options. They can give in to temptation, push away their problems another night, deteriorate further, and move even closer to a miserable death, or seek help, look into practicing some self-reflection, and get to a safe place. Odysseus's encounter with the Sirens is one example of the latter approach. Not strong enough to fight the Siren's song on his own, he asked his crew to tie him up and ensure he not get loose. As their ship sailed past the Sirens, he heard their song and begged to be released, using every tool in his arsenal to convince his crew to untie him. However, by leaning on those who cared about him, Odysseus and the ship made through the passage; and, once they were a safe distance away, he claimed to have learned a lot about himself by going through such a trying experience with such a loyal and supportive group. My own decision to improve my life and stop drinking was much less dramatic, inspired by slipping grades and my realization that after a particularly difficult week, I had no memories that weren't tainted with drinking from the last dozen nights. The complete inability to distinguish what had actually happened from what I had just imagined was incredibly unsettling, and drove me to my decision to quit. Relying on a crew of my closest friends, I managed to right my capsizing high school experience and get to a better place in my life.

With all these experiences in mind, it may be difficult to see how I could view the haunting call of alcohol as a solution to anything. Removing my decision to pursue sobriety, however, allows me to see how amazingly entertaining and distracting drinking can be, a euphoria and escape similar to the song of the Sirens that takes precedence over all other desires and makes significant problems insignificant. While most people would rightfully bring up the dangers of binge drinking and alcoholism, there is little to no doubt in my mind that while unsafe for those with addictive personalities, alcohol works a temporary solution to the stress and unhappiness of many people's everyday lives.

In ancient mythology, the Sirens were destined to die when someone heard their call but resisted its attractive effects. When Odysseus safely passed by their isles, the Sirens flung themselves into the sea and perished. Similarly, having made it past the metaphorical Sirens in my own life, I now know the dangers of drinking, especially at a young age, and have no urge to go back to that lifestyle. While the sway that drinking had over my life has since disappeared, I have no doubt of alcohol's value as a distraction from and solution to other people's problems, an essential role I expect it to fulfill in many people for decades to come.