How to Easily Quit Drinking
Oct 22, 2019
You say you want to easily quit drinking.
What you really want is to be able to drink as much as you want without consequence.
You want to escape all responsibilities, without a care in the world, for a few hours every week or even every day.
I did too.
You want something to help you get out of the intense and constant feelings of anxiety, unworthiness and self criticism.
You do not want to feel the pain of grieving the loss of loved ones and unfulfilled dreams.
You do not want to not question your career, your marriage or your parenting.
You want a cure for boredom.
You are seeking more connection and less conflict with your spiritual self.
I drank wine every night as a magical elixir of freedom, zen and happiness.
The problem was that my disconnect from self, had me waking up with more panic, more self hatred, more pain, and a crippling hangover.
I did not want to jeopardize my career, my health, and my relationships.
I wanted the easy fix for drinking, and I found it.
Here’s the secret: the easiest way to quit drinking is to stop thinking it's going to be easy.
Getting rid of a habit, a behavior and a substance that you have come to rely on is not easy.
When you assume it will be, you fall victim to the first mild craving, that inevitably, will come your way.
If you don’t give into this first urge, you will for sure give into the next craving, that will hit you even harder.
These cravings will take you by surprise, because you thought once you decided to quit, it was going to be easy.
When you discover it is not easy to turn down one drink, you will not want to deal with resisting what you want and you will take that first drink.
You are fooling yourself into thinking that one drink won’t lead to the destructive loop that landed you here, with the desire to quit.
Having one drink, has always eventually led to you wishing you could quit drinking.
One drink will not hurt and you know that. You also know that you will not always stop at one drink. You never have.
To quit drinking, even temporarily, you have to quit drinking.
You have to not have one drink when you want to.
Not having one drink is hard to do.
Your drinking brain is used to getting what it wants and like an urgent toddler, will throw a fit when you deny it what it is demanding.
Once you know this, it makes it easier.
You have to call it out.. “Yes, I hear you Drinking Brain, demanding a drink. This is really hard, but I am not giving in to you. Maybe tomorrow. Not today (Satan).”
That’s it. Rinse and repeat.
I do not mean to oversimplify recovery or addiction, it is complicated and there are many variables.
I do believe the first step on anyone’s path to ditching the drink, however, is to buckle down and set expectations that it will be hard work.
It will be a fight at times, a war within.
You will want a drink so badly, but also not want the consequences of having a drink.
You should expect that when you quit drinking, you will want a drink.
It will help you to get over that desire by reminding yourself although you want a drink, you want your health, relationships, career, and self confidence more than you want a drink.
This is how you are able to deny your drinking brain.
This is how you will move towards the inner peace that you really desire.
To quit drinking the easy way, expect it will not be easy.
Then load yourself up with a sober tool kit, that includes self care, new routines, and people that support and encourage your decision to quit drinking, even for a short time.
If you don’t have people in your life to support you, go find them.
Instagram and Facebook have limitless support groups you can join.
AA and SMART Recovery host meetings in nearly every city.
There are a variety of coaches and therapists waiting to support you.
Knowing that it will be hard, means you know you need to load up support.
Here’s a great link to getting through cravings.
Here’s a link for a 6 week course with daily video lessons, downloadable resources, action steps, and proven results for ditching the drink.
Ditched the Drink Jumpstart Class
Expect quitting drinking to be hard, but not impossible.
You can quit the drink more easily, by knowing it won’t be easy.
Having an urge to drink and resisting while feeling proud of yourself is easier than drinking as much as you want and feeling the pain and shame of alcohol dependence.
You can do it!
