If you’ve decided to take a break from alcohol for the month of January, congratulations. There’s no time like now to take charge of your health. Who knows, maybe you’ll continue into February? There’s much to read on how to change habits and one page of content can’t touch it all. Some highlights which I found helpful in my alcohol-free journey and I share with my clients I was asked to share with you. Please reach out if I can support you in any way to reach your health goals. www.purepotential.health or Colleen@purepotential.health
- Why do you choose to drink? Write down all your reasons why. What do you get from it? Identify your beliefs around alcohol. Get into this. Does it relax you? Make you more social? You like the buzz? The taste? Etc.
- Write down reasons why you don’t want to drink. Tired of hangovers? Not getting good sleep? Waking up at 3:00 a.m. with hangxiety? Trying to lose weight but can’t? All the money you spend on alcohol? Saying or doing things you apologize for later? You’ve been drinking and driving. Your family is asking you to slow down. Etc. Don’t go easy on yourself here.
- Dealing with discomfort. There are trade offs with change. You’ve created an addictive habit you’ve come to enjoy and rely on. Remove the substance and you will feel uncomfortable when the urge to drink hits and it most likely will. Be prepared. Alcohol takes about a week to be removed from your system, so after that, your body craves it. This is when you look at your why’s. Carry the paper with you. You are going to have to balance whether the craving is worth your why and make a choice. Stick with your plan of change, or not feel the discomfort and drink.
- Distract yourself – when the craving hits – listen to it, acknowledge it, and move on. Go for a walk, eat a snack to level your blood sugar, call a friend, play your guitar, whatever works for you to move past the craving. It won’t last forever. And you’ll be so proud when you get past it. It gets easier each time you have success.
If you give into your craving, acknowledge that too. Just because you have a drink doesn’t mean your challenge is completely over and you throw in the towel. Notice why you drank. Try to do better with-it next time. Reach out for support in a community of people with the same goals. Or email me — I am here to help.
Gretchen Rubin, author of “Better Than Before,” has some great habit insights I want to share too. Here are my top 6:
- What we do everyday matters more than what we do once in a while.
- By giving up something, we may gain.
- We should make sure the things we do to feel better don’t make us feel worse.
- We manage what we monitor.
- Things often get harder before they get easier.
- Once we’re ready to begin, begin now.
