No matter where we live on this small planet of ours, no matter how much we travel or where we move and how often, there is one piece of real estate we can never escape – except through death – and that is our own minds.
There is a laughable idea that one can live too much in your own head
or even worse, that you can think too much. Sadly, anti-intellectualism is still a tool used to keep people pliable to manipulation from advertisers and others who understand that a dumbed-down population is controllable, and good fodder for spending money and time on things that don’t matter, and worse, don’t do you any good. No wonder alcohol addiction is an epidemic.
Inside our heads is where we REALLY live.
You are yourself.
Just as you keep your home comfortable, it pays to keep your real home (the inside of your head), comfortable as well. Not by dwelling on yourself (that way lies depression and isolation), but in understanding how your mind works and what makes it a comfortable place to live in.
Brains are amazing and trans-formative. When you start using your brain effectively, it’s amazing what you can change about your life. But first, you have to get over that cultural inertia that says that people who think deeply are somehow suspect or boring or lacking in fun. We are taught in childhood, sadly, that intellectual pursuits are hard, not practical, or unnecessary.
Well, I spent years through my thirties forgetting how to think by drinking and it feels amazing to have my mind back and my commitment to knowledge back as well. The books I’ve been reading and the people I’ve been interacting with are opening my mind in new ways and that feels great.
Read, write discuss!
Retrain your brain to crave the beautiful complexity of your extraordinary world and not the dull escape of numb.
Posting: The Importance of Studying You
Because my drinking habit, and the behaviors that influenced my drinking, were so embedded within my day, week, month etc, identifying them was hard, really hard. Posting, or writing in a community, helped me finally stop drinking and stay stopped by giving me the opportunity to research and study ME. Not journaling but posting to a community. Sharing my thoughts and fears and daily experience with a supportive group in a safe and private environment.
Putting myself out there.
Making myself vulnerable.
Trusting and reaching back in kind.
Posting was MASSIVELY important and enabled me to become someone who has figured out how to happily stay sober and love life as opposed to being someone who is controlled by the need to drink or by my mourning for the loss of the drink..
What we do here in the BOOM Community is based on posting. It’s the cornerstone of how this radical and new system of self-guided therapy works. It enables you to explore, work out, get out there, discuss and understand your issues and how they have collided with modern life and you to become a drinking problem.
To resolve a problem you need to put it under the spotlight and this takes effort. This is the means to raising awareness of what your problems looks like so you can then deal with it. This method of dealing with it allows you to look at it with ‘curiosity’ rather than anxiety or something very similar which can be thought of as a heightened emotion –
Maybe start here : sign up with an anonymous profile to our private community here and answer these questions
If you can think of one thing that scares you, or scared you most about sobriety what would it be ?
What made you *realize* that you had “crossed the line” and had a very serious alcohol problem?
What do you tell people who ask , “Why aren’t you drinking?”
Look for posts, ad comments, keep the dialogue going, explore and support the resolution of issues by talking and finding out. Comment on a wide range of posts. Ask for advice, guidance, solutions, ask if other people have the same experience as you. Share books, films etc., practices that you discover – they might work for someone else. State your commitment in your posts: If you plan to get through the weekend AF post that plan (it will help).
Post even if you have nothing to say (quite often something you didn’t know you needed to say will pop up).
Post if you don’t want to (not wanting to post, often is the precursor to a breakthrough so posting at this point is even more important – give that post extra thought).
Post for yourself, post for another member of the community, post your way free from the silent isolated place where you hope to never return.
Posting is essential. It’s the cornerstone of getting you out of this mess. Posts related to your drinking and how it makes you feel. Post about how it feels for you, how you get around problems and what has / hasn’t worked. Share your highs and lows – you won’t be judged here (in return we ask you not to judge others).
It works!
Come join us in the Boozemusings Community BOOM! Rethink the Drink. We are talking about what you’re thinking about !
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