Quitting alcohol for good can feel tough at the start. It’s a major life decision to completely remove something that you may still enjoy doing and have relied upon for a long period of time. However, if you want to move into a life of sobriety because you have health concerns over drinking, you know that drinking makes you unhappy or unpleasant to be around for your family and friends, or you are fed up with alcohol controlling your life, whatever your reasons, a life of true sobriety from alcohol is possible, but it can require a certain amount self-determination and willpower to get you there.

What is Willpower?

The word ‘willpower’ is something mentioned a lot throughout the sober community, but what actually is it? In short, willpower is using the psychological ability to withhold from something that gives you short-term gratification, along with resisting temptations in return for longer-term positive gains. Every time you say ‘NO’ to alcohol, you are resisting that short term gratification and whilst you may not always feel immediate benefits, over time, this willpower will lead to a positive life of sobriety.

However, saying you need ‘willpower to quit alcohol’ is just words. I want to give you more than that by providing you with tips for how you can gain willpower and use it to stop drinking for good, if that’s what you want for your life moving forward.

It isn’t all about willpower

One of the most important factors that helps people become sober and happy is becoming able to change their mindset. This can make a huge difference to your outlook on a life without alcohol. When we can move to a place where we feel like we ‘don’t want’ a drink, as opposed to feeling like we ‘can’t have’ one we don’t need too much willpower because we already feel motivated and excited about the powerful lifestyle choice to life alcohol-free that we have made for ourselves.

Rid Yourself of Temptation

One of the biggest boosts you can give to your willpower to quit drinking is to remove alcohol from all areas your life. This means not having it in your home or anywhere else where you would normally be able to easily reach for a bottle. When starting your sobriety journey, you may feel excited and committed with no temptation to drink, however, over days or week’s the urges may start to creep back in, this is very often a fantasy about drinking as opposed to true craving. But it can present people with a need to use willpower to get through any strong desire to drink again, if you have alcohol in the house or close to hand you are making life harder for yourself.

Support Network

I cannot stress to you how important my sober community are to me. Since making the life changing commitment of sobriety I have met some fabulous people within the sober movement who have encouraged me and provided real help and support when I have needed it. Seeing other people go through what you are going through really can help to provide motivation and ensure we stay on track. Realising that you are not alone on the journey and that people are out there who will provide help, advice and support when you need it really can provide you with a huge sense of feeling supported. Your sober community really can push you forward to make the right decisions, especially when the going gets tough. Although we can’t go out socially at the moment due to Covid-19, there are some fantastic online support networks and communities that I have recently blogged about, which you can read HERE.

Write a Journal 

One of the greatest motivators to strengthen your willpower is to be able to see how much you are achieving on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. I highly recommend starting a sobriety journal. Having somewhere you can write down your honest thoughts, feelings and emotions is fantastic for the soul. Also, I guarantee you will love being able to read back on your journey over the coming months and years. You can look back at how much you have grown right from the starting point, which will continuously give you a positive boost to keep pushing forward. I have had a journal of my progress from the start which includes what I have achieved, what I am proud of, my future aspirations and what I have struggled with.

Focus on Wellbeing

Let’s face it, when we are drinking, it takes up most of our live and sucks the joy out of just about everything until alcohol feels like it is the only source of happiness available. We often end up either drinking or thinking about drinking or changing our schedules so drinking can be the integral part of an event. Once alcohol has been removed from your life, it’s important you replace this with positive and healthy activities that allow you to meet your needs without turning to addictive substances.

Now, more than ever, looking after and spending time on your wellbeing is critical. It’s time to take a step back and think about what makes you truly happy as you know, this answer is NOT alcohol. Maybe there is a particular activity you want to focus on, or a hobby you thought you never had time for. Make this your priority moving forward and replace the negatives of drinking with the positive of your wellbeing.

A great tip is to think about the activities you used to become immersed in when you were younger and dive back into them with a new level of energy.

Be Honest

My next tip for making life easier for yourself is to be completely honest about your recovery journey. As well as being honest with yourself, practice being totally honest with your family and anyone else that you trust and confide in. If you are struggling, own those feelings and face them. Don’t shy away and lock the emotions up in your head as this will only lead to pain, anguish and likely slipping back into the habit of drinking. When I made the commitment to sobriety, I was honest with my wife and son from the outset. Whilst this is my journey, having them knowing exactly what I am going through resulted in them wanting to help me further. I found their support to be a fantastic tool in aiding my willpower to keep going and not giving in to any temptation to drink that might pop up.

Embrace Sobriety

If you have made the decision to remove alcohol from your life and have a life of sobriety, then my biggest piece of advice is to fully embrace the change for the positive. Immerse yourself in all of the content that’s out there to support you on your journey, from online forums, through to YouTube videos and books. Champion the benefits of an alcohol-free life and by having this major mindset change that alcohol only ever takes away from your life, it will keep you on the right track and aid your willpower to continue a life of sobriety that you can own forever.

Stay focused on what you gain in sobriety, because you don’t lose anything whatsoever.

It’s certainly true to say that stopping drinking requires a certain amount of willpower. After all, alcohol is an addictive drug that has been designed to get people hooked. At the times when it feels challenging it may require your own mental strength to be able to quash the short-term temptation of a ‘quick fix’. It is in these moments you should focus on how you are moving towards a much better life which doesn’t revolve around drinking.

Hopefully the advice and tips on this page will allow you to understand how your mindset can eliminate the need for huge amounts of willpower. But also keep in mind that you can control the urges to drink and the temptation derail your sobriety by digging in deep and learning to stand in the emotional storm until it passes, which it always does. There is a lot of help and advice available online and you have the power of choice and the strength within.

Are there any particular tips that you would love to share for making life easier with quitting alcohol and remaining sober? If so, please leave a comment below as I would love to hear them and they will also help others who might be finding their way on the path to sobriety.