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 .
So , for those of you that know my story , I have tried to stop drinking alcohol a countless number of times , and the reason why I make these videos is really to show you the mistakes that I made for such a long time that kept me in that same cycle of just binge drinking , daily drinking , stopping starting .
That's why I make these videos so you don't go and make the exact same mistakes that I spent 10 years making . But today , in this video , I'm going to break down a little bit of a controversial one , and for some of you it might not even be helpful , it might hurt , but if you're able to be real with yourself , it will make sense .
If you're able to stop lying and saying that it's all going to be okay and you're going to work it out , and you're able to sorry to say it , but put your ego aside for a second and listen to somebody else , this video could save your life and maybe , just maybe , you don't make this mistake that I spent such a long time making . That's what I want .
Let's get into it . So how many times have you told yourself that I'm going to try and stop drinking alcohol for a week , for 24 hours , for a month , for a year , for a set period of time ? Or also , how many times have you told yourself that you're going to be juice-short drinking ?
You're going to have a couple of drinks instead of eight or nine , you're going to drink once a week instead of five times a week ? How many times have you told yourself that I don't know a single drinker on the planet who has never made these vows to themselves , even the people that don't drink that much ?
Now let's say we've got somebody that says okay , do you know what I've been drinking for 10 years ? I'm just going to stop for 30 days to prove to myself that I can stop . Or they might say I'm going to stop for 30 days just to you know , get back to the gym , do some bits and pieces . I don't feel that great , I just want to feel a bit better .
So they embark on a journey of not drinking for 30 days . They get through that 30 days .
They feel awesome , right , and for some people , just going a prolonged period of time without drinking can be an amazing experience , because what then happens is that when they go back to drinking , it can be this point of reference of like , okay , well , hang on for 10 years , I felt terrible .
I stopped for that 30 day period or that six month period or whatever , and I felt great . I felt like a machine , I was kicking ass . And now that I've gone back to drinking , you know , is it really all it's made out to be ? It can be a great thing to do , but if you're anything like me , I have done that all my days so many times .
I've stopped for nine months . I've stopped for a month . I've stopped for a week . Listen , for me it wasn't a daily thing for like 10 , 20 , 30 years . Maybe it is for you . That just wasn't my experience . But the issue lies still in the individual's mindset .
What they're telling themselves is that , well , I've been doing this thing , I don't feel great , but I'm going to give alcohol up , I'm going to stop doing it , I'm going to quit this thing , and the whole idea is to give myself a bit of a reset and then go back to drinking again Go back to being a normal drinker , go back to drinking less .
Very rarely does somebody that's drank a lot and then stop for 30 days and say , right , as soon as it's day 30 , I'm going exactly back to two bottles of wine a night . No , so this is the problem .
They know that there are negatives happening in their life , but they still like the alcohol In their mind , they still enjoy it , they still see it as a good thing . So this is the issue . They stop for that period of time , or they reduce their drinking or whatever .
And every day that goes by and they resist , they get through another hard day without drinking . Alcohol goes on a pedestal and in that individual's mind , alcohol becomes more and more and more attractive . See , this is the issue .
When they do finally get that drink with all these great intentions of drinking less , because alcohol has been building up in their mind for such a long time , can become this rebound effect where the drinking becomes even worse than it was before . They did that 30 day period . Now listen , I'm not trying to knock you .
If you want to do 30 days without drinking , the less you drink , the better for everybody , including you , including me , including your family . Everybody benefits if you don't drink less . But I just want you to approach this with the right mindset , which is why I'm breaking it down .
I'm not trying to knock you down , but when somebody uses willpower to stop drinking alcohol or to drink less , the longer they go without a drink , or if they're not getting their usual fix of alcohol , the more they want to drink , and that's a tragedy . That is a tragedy that breaks my heart . I hate to hear this .
It can be helpful , like I was saying , but it can also be damaging . So what should you do ? Instead ? People need to stop using willpower to not drink alcohol . If you're using your will to get through 30 days to drink less , it still means that you see a benefit of drinking alcohol , which means that you have to resist alcohol and use your willpower .
So when you can finally drink , it just becomes a disaster again . The only solution to this is reframing how you view alcohol so you see it for what it is , so the idea of drinking again becomes insane to you . That's where you need to be . And then we don't try and stop drinking for 30 days . We choose to not drink because we don't want to drink .
So sure , maybe you get to 30 days and you're feeling good . But if you saw alcohol as a highly addictive , poisonous drug that you don't want to consume , you'd get to 30 days and say why would I want to put that back into my body , instead of thinking , hooray , at last I can finally drink alcohol again ?
And this is why I always talk about building a great life without alcohol . It's why I always say that we should have a vision for our life , we should have goals , we should have things that we want to do and work towards that .
So then , at least at the end of that month , you run into 5k , you're five pounds down , you've been on some date nights with your partner , you're spending more time with the kids and you start being in alignment with the person that you want to be and you're aligned with that best version of yourself . Then that point of contrast is another level .
So then , instead of getting back on the roller coaster going up and down again , you just keep going . Thanks for checking out the Stop Drinking podcast by soberclear . If you want to learn more about how we work with people to help them stop drinking effortlessly , then make sure to visit wwwsoberclearcom .