Television actor Vivek Dahiya, known for his roles in Yeh Hai Mohabbatein, Qayamat Ki Raat, Kavach, and Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, recently shared his struggle with alcohol addiction during the lockdown. Speaking on a podcast with Shardul Pandit, Vivek candidly revealed that he got addicted to alcohol during lockdown, which disrupted his routine and led to growing frustration in his life.
Speaking about battling alcohol addiction, Vivek shared, "I started drinking during lockdown, I was never a heavy drinker, very casual party kind of person. I would never sit down with a glass and be somber and like duniya mein bahot dukh hai chalo daaru peete hain, I was never like that. I was a very occasional party drinker. My father is also somewhat like that but he likes to have a comfortable and luxurious life. He likes sophistication. He once told me that whenever you make your house, you should have a good bar. He meant I travel extensively so I should collect drinks. I started doing that and Divyanka and I are quite avid travellers. We used to collect limited edition bottles or other stuff. Karte karte bar accha ban gaya but we never engaged."
He further added, "During lockdown I suddenly felt if something happens to me what will happen to these bottles. Of course some of it will go to my father and rest to my father-in-law, but they won’t be able to consume it all. So I started drinking because I was very concerned about it. Every night I used to sit with a glass and watch content, I would not do anything stupid, it became a lifestyle."
He spoke about how the addiction gradually began affecting his overall lifestyle, pushing him to make a conscious decision to bring about a change. He said, "When I started doing it regularly my lifestyle went for a toss and it disrupted a lot of things like sleep, metabolism. Next day, I was not able to workout and exercising is my life, I can’t live without it. Slowly, frustration started crawling in and then I started witnessing a pattern and realised this is not something I would like to continue doing. Lockdown will eventually get over and I don’t want to find myself to be an alcoholic by the end of it all. When things suddenly become normal and everyone is excited to be going back to work, here I’m stuck with a belly, no hair, dark circles. That’s when I decided this needs to go."
To overcome the negative effects of his alcohol addiction, Vivek turned to therapy. He shared how the sessions helped him regain control of his life, "In order to rectify that I took a couple of therapy sessions and the part of that therapy was to be with yourself, meditate, breathing exercises, concentration of things you want to achieve and not look back. I feel glad I did that because now I’m a much stronger and disciplined person than I ever was," he concluded.
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