If you are a dedicated heavy drinker, you have trained yourself to believe that alcohol has special benefits and that it is necessary for various purposes, such as celebration, relaxation, courage, and coping abilities. These are ideas in your head, not facts, but you devoutly believe them. The truth is that alcohol can sedate you and interfere with your thinking and coordination, and that’s about it. You have given it much more power—placebo power—than it truly has. If you never drink another drop of alcohol, you won’t miss much. You can obtain good feelings and develop social skills without alcohol (or other chemicals).