quit drinking

Newsflash: Alcohol Is a Drug
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Have you ever been asked if you do drugs? If you drink alcohol, the answer is yes, you do drugs. Think of all the people you know who drink alcohol — yes, they all do drugs too.

This is not a stretch, or a play on words, or semantics; it is a literal, straight-up fact.

Alcohol is a drug. It is one of the most addictive and destructive drugs that there is. It’s right up there with heroin, methamphetamine (meth), and cocaine.

“Alcohol is the most commonly used addictive substance in the U.S. 17.6 million people, or one in every 12 adults, suffer from alcohol abuse or dependence along with several million more who engage in risky drinking patterns that could lead to alcohol problems.”

Did you know that there are 2.5 million alcohol-related deaths worldwide annually? Or that alcohol is a factor in 40% of all violent crimes today?

You might think that alcohol is not a drug because it’s legal; think again, it’s a drug.

Why People Do Drugs

People take “recreational” drugs because they want to escape from the real world, and spend some time in fantasy land. The problem is, as you do this over and over again, it turns into a habit. Then from a habit into an addiction. The addiction becomes a rut that gets deeper and deeper — more and more difficult to get out of. You increase your usage of drugs because you develop a tolerance — you need more to get the high that you’ve become addicted to. Meanwhile, you are completely ruining your body and your mind, and the rut is starting to take on the shape of a grave.

The Reality

Seeing people partying it up in a bar or club on a Saturday night, you’d be forgiven for thinking that drinking is nothing but fun. Everyone’s laughing and joking and flirting with each other — having a great time. What’s the problem?

At some point, they’ll all go to sleep — or, if not exactly to sleep, to some degree of unconsciousness. Eventually, they’ll wake up, and reality will set in: the hangover; the regrets; the shame; the realization of the idiotic things they said and did last night slowly dawning on them; trying to remember where the car is parked, or the name of the stranger lying beside them.

Alcohol Is Not the Answer

While doing drugs can start out seeming like fun, if you keep doing it, gradually increasing your intake, it’s not going to end well. So why start in the first place? Getting drunk to escape your problems is like putting a bag over your head and pretending the real world isn’t happening. Just because you are numbing yourself to reality, does not mean that it isn’t there; it will be there waiting with a vengeance when the drugs wear off.

Forget the Booze

To have any chance of improving your life and effectively dealing with your problems, you need to be sober; to be thinking clear, lucid thoughts. Running away from your problems will not solve them, and getting drunk will only make them much worse. Face your troubles head on; slay them one by one; do something with this amazing gift of life that you’ve been granted.

You can start right now and make a beautiful, alcohol-free life for yourself — the way it was intended.

KTB

Your Hard-Earned Money
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How much of your hard-earned money have you wasted on booze? How much will you waste in the future if you keep drinking? What would you guess you spend per week on alcohol? $20? $50? $100? More?

Think about it — every time you hit the booze: after work, at home, weekends, parties, special occasions, vacations — what does it all cost?

Here are some numbers to give you an idea:

  • At $20 per week you spend $1,040 per year, $10,400 every 10 years
  • At $50 per week you spend $2,600 per year, $26,000 every 10 years
  • At $75 per week you spend $3,900 per year, $39,000 every 10 years
  • At $100 per week you spend $5,200 per year, $52,000 every 10 years

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a pile of money sitting in the bank? Money that you would have spent on booze. “Free” money. Plus great health to have fun with it?

What sense does it make to waste your money on alcohol? Ruining your health in the process? It’s estimated that alcoholism reduces the average life expectancy by 10-12 years. What a thing, to be given the miracle of life, the opportunity to be a human being on planet Earth, top of the food chain, and to choose to poison yourself with booze. It defies all logic.

So here’s an idea: quit drinking, and put your money to good use. If you have debt, use the money to pay it off. Once your debts are paid off, transfer the money you would have spent on booze into a savings account each week, every week, and watch it grow. (You could put cash into a drawer, or a jar, or a piggy bank, but you risk losing it if you were burgled, or in the event of a fire.)

The flip side of all of this is that if you continue to abuse alcohol, wasting your money, your health will continue to deteriorate. Down the road you are going to find yourself damaged beyond repair, and up to your neck in medical bills. Alcohol ruins friendships, families, jobs, and lives.

Save your money. Get your health back on track. Do something with your amazing life.

KTB

One Day At a Time
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When it comes to quitting drinking, you don’t have to think long-term — weeks, months, years, the rest of your life — all you need to focus on is today. All we ever really have is today. The past is gone, the future is yet to come — we are never in it. We are only ever in the present, the now, today.

If you can make it through today without drinking, you will have proven that you have what it takes to kick the booze. Get up tomorrow and do it again. And just as with anything you do over and over again, it gets easier — much, much easier. Not only does it get easier, but, as you conquer each day, you’ll get stronger and healthier. You’ll take back control of your life.

Craving will come and go, but it weakens every time you resist it. To resist craving, you take away its power; to take away its power, you stop thinking about it. Whenever the unhealthy thought of drinking comes to mind, you immediately change your thoughts to something healthy.

If you don’t believe that you can change your thoughts, try this exercise the next time you catch yourself thinking about something negative: Close your eyes and picture yourself on a beautiful island, surrounded by palm trees, and blue skies with puffy white clouds; standing barefoot at the water’s edge, in the powder-soft white sand, with the warm tropical water gently lapping at your feet. Imagine yourself in amazing shape, with a clear mind, and a feeling of absolute tranquility.

You can do that. You can choose to have those thoughts — any time you like. If a negative thought enters your head, you don’t have to dwell on it, giving it power; let it go, and choose to think about something positive instead.

If you write down your reasons for quitting alcohol and carry them with you, or have them easily accessible from your smartphone or computer, you can read them any time you get the urge to drink — refocusing your thoughts, and reminding yourself why drinking alcohol is a bad idea. The craving will pass, and you’ll strengthen your willpower, each and every time you do it.

If you did it yesterday, you can do it today.

One day at a time.

KTB

If Not Now Then When?
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I remember when I used to smoke, there were so many reasons to light up: when I was drinking, after a good meal, when I was stressed, when I was happy, to help me think — the list goes on. But I hated the way I felt in the morning, after a night of drinking and smoking. The disgusting taste in my mouth, the filthy smell of smoke on me and my clothes, the coughing and hacking — what a stupid thing to be doing.

I finally quit smoking and another nasty habit that I had picked up: drinking diet coke. With the money I saved from quitting those two bad habits, I purchased a new car. The savings more than covered the car note. In a big way it was like a free car, and I felt a million times better to boot. A bit of a no-brainer, eh?

It’s the same with booze. It is equally disgusting. It is ruining your heart, your liver, your brain, your relationships, your opportunities. If drinking alcohol is having a negative affect on your life, you can, and should, quit. If you’re waking up with hangovers, or waking up with strangers, or missing days from work, or drinking until you’re sick, or drinking and driving — you need to act right now.

If not now then when? After the upcoming party/vacation/wedding/funeral? There are always going to be occasions when people will be drinking.

Now is the time.

Your life is so incredibly precious — don’t ruin it with alcohol. If all of your friends are big party animals then you need to start looking for new friends. You might even inspire some of the old friends to wake up and take back control of their own lives, but if you continue to hang out with them at bars and clubs and parties, you will greatly diminish your chances of success.

You have this mind-blowing opportunity to live as a human being on planet earth, and it goes by in the blink of an eye.

KTB

You Are Your Own Master
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If you have a job right now, you will no doubt have a boss — a supervisor who directs you. Most people have a boss. If you are self-employed, you might not have one direct boss, but you have to answer to all of your clients; in a way, you have many bosses.

But even though you have a boss or bosses at work, you are your own master. You have the final say. It is your life. You choose to do the job that you do. You could just as easily choose to not do that job. You might say, I can’t leave my job, I have bills to pay, mouths to feed, and I’m sure that’s true, but you are making that choice — to stick with that job.

Nobody owns you. You are in charge of your own destiny. If you’re in a job that you hate, you need to change it. You need to motivate yourself to do something about your situation. You might think that sounds scary, but it’s actually liberating — taking control of your life.

Think hard about your options. Network. Reach out to friends. Learn some new skills. Read up on the most sought after skills, and see if you can acquire some of the top ones. What’s your passion? Could you turn it into a way to make a living? Think outside the box, you’ll be surprised at what you might come up with.

The same applies to drinking: you are your own master. Nobody has the power over you to make you drink, it is something that you choose to do. And if your drinking is causing problems in your life, then it’s a poor choice. If you’ve had a bad day at work, going to a bar — or home — and getting drunk will solve nothing.

If you’ve been drinking regularly for a long time, you no doubt have developed a very bad habit, where you reach for the booze automatically. I can assure you it’s a habit that you can break, and you are the very one to break it.

As your own master, consider these options:

  • Before you reach for the booze, think about the consequences of what you’re about to do. Drinking will solve NOTHING. Not only will it solve nothing, it will make everything much worse. If you had a bad day at work today, tomorrow will be even worse — guaranteed — with a hangover.
  • Develop new healthy habits to replace the old bad ones. Instead of automatically reaching for the booze, go for a walk, or read something uplifting and inspiring. Or have a drink, but make it a healthy, non-alcoholic one. I now drink a glass of carbonated water (Perrier, for e.g.), with ice and a slice of lemon, when in the past I would have had wine: after a tough day at work, with meals, out with friends. It is working brilliantly. It’s fresh and fun, and I have no hangovers to deal with.
  • Choose your friends carefully. If all of your friends are reckless boozers, it’ll be hard for you to be around them and not go back to your old, unhealthy ways.

You can choose to make the most of your precious life, or to squander it, poisoning yourself with alcohol.

Do you know how lucky you are to have that choice?

KTB

Because Life is So Precious
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Have you ever pondered the odds of your being born a human being? The top of the food chain? On planet Earth? Let’s look at some numbers.

If you go back 40 generations, starting with you, then your parents, then grandparents, great grandparents, and so on, how many people would you guess had to be involved? In 40 generations? Hundreds? Thousands? Try more than 2 trillion. That’s trillion with a “t.” Let’s not even get into the odds of all of those people meeting and having a productive roll in the hay together, nor consider going back another 40 generations, lest our heads explode.

There’s a Buddhist story that if you threw a lifesaver randomly into any of the oceans on the planet (around 140 million square miles of them), and if there was only one turtle in all of the oceans, the odds of you being born would be akin to the turtle surfacing for the first time and poking it’s head through the lifesaver. Which is to say, almost no chance at all.

And what about death? Have you ever considered the chances of dying? Let me grab my calculator… Oh, wait, I don’t need it. Chances of dying: 100%. Guaranteed.

Do you know how precious and fleeting your life is? You were born, against all the odds, not a flee, nor a rat, nor plankton, but the highest of all life forms: a human being.

After the absolute miracle of your being born, how crazy is it to poison yourself and ruin your life with alcohol? I’ll tell you how crazy: 100%.

Wake up! Now is the time! Do something with your mindbogglingly precious life! The past is the past — forget it. The rest of your life begins right now, in this very moment. Do you want to make something of it? Or just continue as you have been? Drinking, unhappy, unhealthy? You know the answer.

This is your shot. Your life. Once you’re gone, you’re gone. You will never have this chance again. Ever.

KTB

Do This and You Won’t Drink
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There’s one simple thing that you can do that will stop you from drinking: THINK.

  • Think about how bad you’re going to feel with that hangover tomorrow if you drink today.
  • Think about the fact that you’ll be poisoning your precious body if you choose to drink, destroying your liver, your heart, and your brain, among many other things.
  • Think about the money that you’ll be wasting, money that you could be saving and putting towards a new car, or a great vacation, or setting aside for a rainy day.
  • Think about the stupid things that you’ve done under the influence of alcohol — do you want to repeat those?
  • Think about the promises made but not kept, and all the things you’ve said under the influence of booze that you’d like to take back.
  • Think about the fact that all of your worldly troubles will be waiting for you with a vengeance when you awake.
  • Think about all the things that need to be done tomorrow that won’t get done if you drink.

And then think about the benefits of choosing not to drink:

  • Think: you won’t wake up with a hangover tomorrow, filled with regret and berating yourself.
  • Think: you won’t be poisoning your precious body (it will appreciate it more than you could know).
  • Think: you’ll be saving your hard-earned money for something so much better.
  • Think: you won’t be tempted to do those stupid things that booze would have you do.
  • Think: you’ll be better able to cope with any problems that you might be dealing with. We all have problems in life; drinking does not solve any of them.
  • Think: you’ll have much more energy tomorrow, and you’ll be able to think clearly, allowing you to attack the day and get things done.

There’s a moment when we make a final decision — it’s a split second — like a light switch. It’s on or it’s off; I choose to drink, or I choose not to drink. The next time you’re getting ready to flick that switch, think about the guaranteed consequences of the choice that you’re about to make:

  • Drink and you will suffer.
  • Don’t drink and you’ll be a better, smarter, stronger person.

It should be a pretty easy decision, right?

Just think.

KTB

Cut Yourself Some Slack
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If you swore that you’d never have another drink — maybe you promised yourself that “this time, I mean it” — but you succumbed to the urge and drank, don’t be too hard on yourself. There are literally millions of people fighting the very same battle that you are.

Cut yourself some slack — you are human — and do all that you can to treat the hangover.

It can take days to fully recover from a night of boozing, but with each day you will get progressively better. It might help if you write down just how awful a hangover makes you feel, and refer back to those notes the next time you are considering drinking. Somehow, we seem to quickly forget how bad the effects of alcohol can be.

Start Over

If we break our promises, we have to get up, dust ourselves off, and start over. Try to be aware of the situations that tempt you to drink, and then try to avoid or change those situations. If you’ve had a terrible day at work, and the norm is for you to hit the booze, do something healthy instead. Go for a walk, read something inspiring, remind yourself that by choosing to not drink, you are making yourself a better and stronger person.

You have to break the bad habits, and create new, good habits. I recently purchased some new glasses because my old ones made me think of wine. A small change with a big effect.

You can do this.

KTB

What To Do with All This Energy!
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This time last week I had a horrible hangover. I decided it was time to kick the booze. I spent half the day in bed, the other half figuring out how to get this blog up and running.

A week has passed, and I’ve had no alcohol at all.

Sometimes, the old me would drink during the week, maybe after a particularly stressful day, but it was guaranteed that I would unwind on a Friday after work.

A typical routine was to pick up some take-out and drink wine. Initially it would seem fun and relaxing. Then I would go to bed, fall asleep for a while, and wake up in the middle of the night, feeling awful, and unable to get back to sleep again. Tossing and turning for the rest of the night — berating myself, and feeling guilty.

Last night (Friday night), I skipped the wine, and just made a nice meal at home. It was a stressful week at work, and I definitely could have used a drink. But I chose not to.

And today I’m so glad that I did! Because I got a good night’s sleep, woke up and had some coffee, and now I have so much energy! Whereas last Saturday I got next to nothing done, today I’ll do laundry, pay the bills, and get out for a bike ride. And that’s just this morning!

If you’re suffering with a hangover right now, I feel for you. And you’re not alone. Here’s an article that might help you through the day.

Just remember, it’s never too late to kick the booze. You could choose to start right now if you want to.

KTB