Tips to Change Your Thinking About Drinking Alcohol
By Adrienne Kaliszak
A great place to start when you want to quit drinking is to change how you think about drinking. Many people believe alcohol is enjoyable and they can’t have fun without it. Others believe it’s relaxing to drink. Another misconception is it takes away their anxiety.
In order to change the way we think about alcohol and drinking we need to challenge these faulty beliefs.
Begin by writing a list of how you believe alcohol benefits you, for example:
- Takes away my anxiety
- Can’t have fun without alcohol
- How will I celebrate without alcohol
- I can’t relax without alcohol
Now we’ll question and challenge these beliefs
- Takes away my anxiety
Does alcohol really take away my anxiety? I feel relaxed when I have those first couple of beers but the next day it feels like my anxiety is worse and then I need to drink again to get rid of the anxiety. Maybe alcohol doesn’t help my anxiety. Hmmm, I’m going to see what Google says about alcohol and anxiety. Says here at Healthline, “ Alcohol changes levels of serotonin and other neurotransmitters in the brain, which can worsen anxiety. In fact, you may feel more anxious after the alcohol wears off.”
So, I guess alcohol really creates anxiety and doesn’t help it at all.
- Can’t have fun without alcohol
Is this belief true? I can’t have fun without alcohol? Is alcohol really fun?
There are so many fun and enjoyable activities to do that don’t include alcohol and way more fun than wasting precious time by pouring a lethal substance down your throat waiting to slip into oblivion, possibly hurting your friends or family or yourself with your words and actions while drinking.
Here’s a list of 10 activities that are more fun than alcohol:
- Fishing
- Kayaking
- Camping
- Reading
- Walking
- Painting
- Pottery
- Singing
- Cooking
- Crocheting/Knitting
- How will I celebrate without alcohol?
You may think there’s no way to celebrate without alcohol. Is this true though that you can’t have a party or celebrate a special milestone without drinking?
There’s many ways to celebrate a special occasion without alcohol, you just may need to get creative. If you’re having a party at your home you can create a special station for mocktails where you make drinks that taste just like the real deal, but are alcohol free. This will help you feel like you’re not missing out. I know from my own experience that when I brought alcohol free drinks to a special occasion other people became curious and wanted to try too. None of them judged me, some even thought it was cool. We ended up having a great time.
- I can’t relax without alcohol
Is this actually true, it’s not possible to relax unless you’re drinking? No, there are so many ways to find relaxation without imbibing with booze.
- Bubble Baths
- Music
- Reading
- Meditation
- Yoga
- Massage
- Watching a Movie
- Sex
- Observing Nature
- Walking
By challenging your beliefs about alcohol it will give you a new way to think about it and take the power away from alcohol and give it back to you, by creating new choices for yourself. It takes some work to get sober. Make it fun, make it your new mission in life to make healthier choices. Your body, soul, and mind will thank you.
'Your windshield is bigger than your rearview for a reason; the mirror is there to help you glance back at where you’ve been, but if you focus too much on it, you’re going to crash.
We are ALL affected by our past and we are ALL reminded of it now and again, but we cannot live in it unless we want to repeat it over and over again. We need to learn from it, take lessons from it, know what’s good (and not good) for us, and adjust accordingly. Mistakes are only mistakes until we learn from them and then they become lessons.'
Love this from the Your Tango blog, it sums up the need for a forward focused growth mindset in sobriety and life in general.
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Having an amazing time in #Japan and managed to head south out of Tokyo for a few days today to Kamakura by the ocean.
The drinking culture here is totally different to the UK, but all the bars are full, not many AF options either, but I wouldn’t want to visit such an amazing place and spoil it by boozing.
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Just finished recording a piece with @itvnews about the growing number of people quitting alcohol and the sobriety movement as a whole.
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These two inspiring books from leading sobriety coach Simon Chapple are out today!
Read more...Repost @sheldon.press
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