April is Alcohol Awareness Month in the United States and that makes this month a great time to consider changing your relationship with alcohol. If you’ve decided to stop drinking try to think of stopping as a new beginning. A renewal. A rebirth. A time to walk away from the drama and the shame that too much alcohol can create and revel in the endless possibility of living life free!
Most of us have had a long relationship with alcohol when we decide to stop drinking. It takes time to build up to committing to Day One Sober so it should be no surprise if stopping drinking does not stick on the first try. Don’t be sold an “easy wear one-size-fits-all” solution to this complex problem. It’s NOT easy to stop drinking but it is worth it.
Give your unique situation consideration.
Ask yourself how your drinking has impacted you. Reflect on what you thought drinking was giving you and compare it to what alcohol has taken away from your life. How did you feel about alcohol in your 20s? If you’re no longer in your 20’s how you feel about alcohol now? Gain awareness from your past to control your present which could change your future.
In my 20’s I was oblivious to the negative aspects of drinking. I had just obtained my “legal” status to drink and damned if I wasn’t going to explore it to the fullest! Everything revolved around the next party for me in my 20s. I was sucked in, hook, line, and sinker by our drinking culture. Every ad on TV, every MTV spring break broadcast, everything seemed to be showing young, healthy people, living life to the fullest… with a drink in hand.
Do these thoughts resonate with you?
I could not fathom anyone who didn’t drink. Surely they were boring, prudish people who were “missing the boat” of life??
So I drank, over drank on many an occasion, but really didn’t think otherwise of it. You see, my 20-year-old body was young and strong and able to metabolize the poison I was putting into it. Only on the very heaviest drinking nights was I having a lasting hangover.
This relationship with alcohol carried over for me into my 30s. Sure, there would be times by then when I was recovering from last night’s binge a bit slower, but it was never enough to consider stopping. I convinced myself I just “overdid it” a bit that night and plodded on. After all, this is what being an adult was all about, right?
We took a poll in our online community asking –
What Age Range Were You When You Decided You Needed to Change Your Relationship With Alcohol?
According to the poll, 64% of us decided in our 40’s and over, that we needed to change our relationship with alcohol. I would warrant to say that for many of us, it was because our physical bodies were telling us “enough!”
People who are trying to stop drinking often wonder how many “day ones” are too many. Can a person keep starting over alcohol-free? When is it time to stop trying? Give up? Sink into the shame?
Lasting Change is a Dance Not a Light Switch
I think it’s important to remember all of the years that we glorified drinking. It takes time to change that course. I began to notice physical changes in my late 30’s. Why am I heavier than I’ve ever been? How come my blood pressure reads high every time I visit the doctor? Why is this hangover so debilitating? Can it be because I’m drinking too much??
According to our poll, 64% of us decided in our 40’s and over, that we needed to change our relationship with alcohol. I would warrant to say that for many of us, it was because our physical bodies were telling us “enough!”
When I set up my alcohol-free app, it asked me how many hours a day I drank. I typed in four. It was sometimes more, sometimes less, but I figured that was the average. By the numbers, that means I will have spent two months each year completely under the influence of alcohol! Two months out of each year that was wasted by being wasted!!! That number doesn’t even begin to cover hangover and recovery time either. While I can’t get that time back, I can do something to change it for the last third of my life.
Our bodies are remarkably resilient and able to heal a great deal if we just give them the chance. It’s not easy to stop drinking but if you want to try to stop drinking, then you should try. Period. It does not matter how many times you have tried and failed before. How many relapses. How many quits you have attempted. It is time we start listening to our bodies! They’re begging us to stop ingesting this poison!! It’s not too late. It’s NEVER too late.
I remember reading once that drinking is a young man’s sport. As I near that 60 milestone, I believe that to be true. As I near 60, by all reasonable accounts, I’ve already lived two-thirds of my life. If I can make it to 90 I will have lived a very full life.
When you’re trying to stay sober, if you do not succeed with your first vow to never drink again, the cognitive dissonance you feel with each day-one can be daunting. Stopping drinking is not easy but it is worth trying as often as you need to make it stick. Reflect on the days you have left on this planet and how you would like to live them out. The time for change is now. Let today be the spring that follows winter’s storms.
Here are some musings on Alcohol Awareness from members of our online community
All the things alcohol can do for you
Booze Equations or Why I Subtracted Wine from My Time.
WHO ARE WE?
Online Community Support to Stop Drinking – BOOM!
If these thoughts on Cognitive Dissonance resonate with you join us in Boom and feel free to join the conversation starting with this post – here
April is Alcohol Awareness Month so I’m going to focus every day on offering our shared keys to Freedom
We can share
The Truth About How Alcohol Damages Your Brain
and warn
But in the end, it’s all about being aware of how great life can be alcohol-free !
Is Sobriety a Drag or is it the Ultimate Freedom?
Alcohol-Free is a Truly Amazing Way to Live
You can do this. Join us this April for Alcohol Awareness Month. We’ll turn it upside down and make it all about awareness of loving living alcohol-free!
Lasting Change is a Dance Not a Light Switch
If you’re “sober curious” …If you are drinking too much too often and want to stop or take a break… Talk to Us.
We are an independent, anonymous and private community who share resources, support and talk it through every day. It helps to have a community behind you in a world where alcohol is the only addictive drug that people will question you for NOT using
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