Welcome to the Stop Drinking Podcast , where we help you make stopping drinking a simple , logical and easy decision . We help you with tips , tools and strategies to start living your best life when alcohol-free . If you want to learn more about stop drinking coaching , then head over to wwwsoberclearcom .
There's a voice in your head and if you listen to this voice , you will never quit drinking alcohol ever . I ain't kidding here , I mean it . If you listen to the voice in your head , you will never stop drinking . And even if you do , that voice is going to get louder and louder and louder and it will bring you back to drinking .
And this voice is there before you quit drinking . It's there after you quit drinking , and it can even be there if you relapse . And if you don't fix this , you will keep making the same mistakes forever .
But today , in this video , I'm going to show you exactly what that voice says and how you can combat that voice , beat it and stay sober without wanting to drink . Listen , this isn't going to be difficult for you to do , provided that you watch this video in full . But trust me , whether you've stopped already , this is going to be helpful for you .
And if you are drinking , this video is going to be even more impactful . So the way that this voice works is it keeps you stuck in a cycle of this pre-quitting phase , then it goes into this after quitting phase , then it goes into the relapse . So let's break down the pre-quitting phase first .
So when we're in that pre-quitting phase , we know that alcohol is doing damage . Right , we want to change . There's a part of us that has some motivation to wanting to fix our life , and that's when the voice just pops up out of nowhere . And this is where we start to feel this sense of fear . And the voice will say you know what ?
We're not ready just yet . We've got that wedding coming up . We've got that holiday coming up . Oh , we've got this really stressful period of work right now . We can't stop yet . Or the voice might pop up and just start being afraid of the withdrawal . Oh , you can't go through the withdrawal , it could kill you . Oh , you're going to be in bed for three days .
You're going to be miserable to be around your kids , your wife . They're not going to want to be around you . You're going to upset them even more if you stop drinking . Or then the voice might pop up and just say that life's not going to be as good without drinking . What's the point of giving it up ? You're going to be bored . How are you going to relax ?
How are you going to be fun ? And I'm sure you can relate to some of these voices , these words , these things that you kind of start saying to yourself , because I've said all these things to myself as well . You can do this later , leon . You don't need to do it now .
There's going to be a better time soon , and they're like these little lies that we tell ourselves . But there's part of us that knows it's a lie , but then there's another part of us that wants to believe it , and it's like these two selves are at war with each other . But let's say you stop . Let's just say you know what .
You ignore those voices and you manage to just say I'm doing it , got these new ideas . Well , why don't you just have one drink ? One drink's never hurt anybody , right ? Oh boy , oh boy . We know that's wrong , but the voice comes up . The voice might come up and say this time it's going to be different , it's not going to be the same as last time .
You've had a period of you know , you've been not drunk for a few weeks now you can easily go back and drink like a normal person , and that is another one of the things that comes up is thinking that you can be a normal drinker . Maybe the voice ends up comparing you to somebody that you admire that drinks alcohol . That certainly happened to me .
I had a friend , super successful , you know , real estate investor , just crushing life , likable , charismatic , but he drank and he used to think well , if he does it , why can't I ? I mean , why not ? It's that voice . It's that voice dragging me back into drinking .
Maybe the voice comes up when you're stressed and it's like just have a drink , it'll all melt away , you'll feel better . Or maybe the voice is quiet for a long time and then you walk past a bar and you smell beer and then the voice just pops up and goes oh beer , wouldn't that be good . I mean , that's happened to me . Right , we all have this voice .
Whether we listen to it or not is another topic , but everybody gets this voice and one of the worst things that can happen is the voice wins . We end up drinking again and then , after a few weeks of drinking and we've relapsed , and then we're back trying to stop and start again .
The voice can chirp up and say well , I'll just get back on track again , let's drink for a little while , let's keep it under control . Let's have two this week , let's have three the next week , let's have four the next week . Hey , we've got this under wraps . This week , let's get drunk . Look how easy it is to stay on track . We can keep drinking .
This is great . And then what happens is we go back to that pre-quitting phase , because we end up getting to a place where alcohol puts us in a place of pain . We want to change and the cycle repeats . And this was the cycle I went through for 10 years .
10 years I did this , stopping and starting , stopping and starting war in the mind , blah , blah , blah , blah , blah . All day , every day . Drink , drink , drink , drink , drink . And it sucked . But I want to tell you something Until you're able to recognize that voice and have more empowering beliefs than the voice itself , you will never escape the cycle .
See , I told you a second ago that the voice popped up for me recently . And actually it wasn't recently , it's not happened for a long , but about a year ago . I remember that my girlfriend and I were in Dubai . We were walking down the beach and the area is called JBR .
So we were living in this tower and then we walked outside and we were right at the beach . It was really cool and we walked down the thing and then I looked to the right and it said Stella Artois , and that's what I used to drink . And I saw it and I was like , and this is after not drinking for five years , it stop drinking .
I saw the sign and I went oh beer . And then I clicked out of it . But the difference is that when I thought , oh beer , there was a moment where it seemed like a good idea , but then immediately my stronger beliefs that I hold just flooded it out and within a second I walked away like it was nothing . And what am I talking about , these other beliefs ?
Well , in my eyes , to drink alcohol would be almost committing suicide . It would destroy everything that I've built . Maybe it wouldn't happen straight away , but time and time again when I've drank alcohol , I have destroyed my life .
So I knew that if I was to even flirt with this idea , I'm making a decision that's just going to ruin everything and it would have all been my own fault . And I know that might not have been the nicest use of language , but effectively it's a very similar thing . It's suicide .
You're literally putting a poison in your body and you are the person that is picking up the drink . Every time you do it , you're just damaging yourself , damaging yourself and damaging yourself . You know when I got that thought ? That's what I think is I think , why would I want to drink ? That I mean , it sucks . And this is what I do in my program .
I help people shift their beliefs to see alcohol as a highly addictive , dangerous drug that does nothing for you at all , because once you see it that way , then the voice no longer wins . You're able to drown it out with these more empowering beliefs , because I promise you that there is nothing to gain from drinking that drug at all .
It's just the worst drug ever made . And those thoughts that you have , what you need to do is not follow them right , you might get them . I'm not saying that you're not going to think about drinking . No way . It happens to everybody that stops drinking . It's the world that we live in . You're going to get reminded .
You're going to watch a TV show , right , your favorite character's going to drink in a movie . A friend's going to invite you to a bar . You'll sit in a restaurant . In a restaurant , everybody's drinking . It's going nowhere and you will be reminded of it and that voice will pop up . But it's just a thought . It's just a voice , you don't need to follow it .
Thanks for checking out the Stop Drinking Podcast by Sober Clear . If you want to learn more about how we work with people to help them stop drinking effortlessly , then make sure to visit wwwsoberclearcom .
