Starting To Change My Alcohol Bad Habits

Another one of the 30 day challenge pieces of homework was to identify triggers for bad habits and look for new ways of dealing with them. Here’s what I wrote.

Triggers For Drinking

Often I drink when I feel stressed… life feels overwhelming and I need an escape and to numb out… I need to quickly calm myself so I calm down and stop caring about whatever it is that I am stressing about.

Drink is also a reward for my hard work….

I use alcohol to relieve the tedium of routine.. to rebel against housewifery, overwhelm and boredom…. the drink I pour when I start cooking dinner is all about that. It’s about knocking the edges off my daily resentment too.

What is the Reward?

The reward I want is to calm down, numb out, destress… and alcohol is SO QUICK.  Also something pleasant to taste…. a flavour treat.

Why is it just not an option for things to stay as they are?

I feel so upset, sad and stressed… and also angry… and tired.  I have a great life and I really want to feel as great as my life genuinely is.

What could a new routine look like?

I need a more structured way to destress, like doing a meditation… or sitting in the garden for a while… or reading a book … or numbing out watching TV… need to get into the habit of these alternatives instead of pouring a glass of wine.

I need to get into the habit of noticing low level stress and being vigilant about not letting it get too bad.

Keeping the useful routine…. I can have the routine of still sitting down with a nice and interesting drink… just a non-alcoholic one…. aha, revelation!

How To Celebrate Success

  • Buy some good alcohol-free drinks, spend as much as I did on wine etc
  • A meal out with friends…
  • Buy a new cossie or some clothes
  • Go for a coffee at a nice café AS A REWARD, ie time off as a reward!!

It all sounds so simple when you put it like that!

Buy Going Under

In Australia: Going Under is available in bookshops and online stores in Australia and on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com.au/Going-Under-memoir-secrets-addiction/dp/0645497231/

In the USA: https://www.amazon.com/Going-Under-memoir-secrets-addiction/dp/0645497231/

In the UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Going-Under-memoir-secrets-addiction/dp/0645497231/

Going Under Audiobook: Going Under on Audible, narrated by Seana Smith, click here.

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