One of the problems that people face when they first quit drinking is that they sometimes forget that they don’t drink anymore and it can happen at any time, either as a thought or as an action.
You walk into a Pub or Restaurant, sit down with your friends and the Waiter comes around to the Table. There is a lot of habitual stuff in this situation. It is probably the same Waiter that’s served you before; maybe you’ve sat at the same table before; maybe you’ve sat in the same Restaurant before.
You will find sometimes that when the Waiter asks what would you like to drink that the response that is locked and loaded in your mind, ready to fire off is … a glass of Red Wine please, or a bottle of Beer or a Pint of Guinness – which is what I used to ask for.
So just because that is happening and because it is loaded in your mind – it doesn’t mean anything. It just means that its part of the habitual behaviour that was already there and that it’s trying to reassert itself.
I talked about this in a Video I did a couple of years ago. It was about how out of the blue a memory just pops up of something. You could be talking to somebody or be in a certain situation or position and then all of a sudden an overwhelming desire to have a drink will pop up in your head. And its basically the same idea as that.
The habit is there and it’s priming itself in the background. All the little triggers are happening, well before the conscious trigger comes to your mind and it’s there ready to push forward and to push you into that behaviour. That’s what a habit is. That’s what a habit does. So, drinking thinking is the same sort of thing, just thinking about boozing and forgetting that you don’t drink any more is part of the system.
I remember years ago, when I was in Germany with my Brother, we were working doing Summer jobs. I think I was twenty, nineteen or twenty. Anyway, I was a young lad and my Nan, my Mum’s Mother had died a couple of years before. We met a girl who asked where we came from and stuff like that, and I remember feeling really ashamed because I was telling her about my family and then she asked about Grandparents and I said, ‘Yeah, my Nan, lives in London and stuff’ and I was talking about her like she was still alive. I felt really bad about it, but it’s just a fact of life.
Sometimes you forget things. You’re preoccupied with something else. At the time, it was a girl that I fancied and that was taking my attention. I actually said to her a couple of minutes later, you know what, I’m actually telling you about my Gran but she died a couple of years ago.
Don’t worry about drinking thinking, don’t worry about forgetting that you don’t drink any more. Accept the thought, go yeah, that’s it, that happened. Move on and just get on with your life. Don’t give it any more thought than that. Certainly, don’t be saying to yourself, yeah it sort of proves that I’m an Alcoholic, I can’t do this. It doesn’t prove anything it just proves that your mind is working as it should be.
Keep that in mind as you are going forward. Don’t be embarrassed. Don’t be ashamed. Don’t think anything more into it than forgetting that you’re not a drinker. It was just a thought, makes no difference, move on.
Stay safe, keep the alcohol out of your mouth. Good luck and Take Care …
“Habit is habit and can’t be flung out the window by any man, but coaxed down stairs a step at a time”
Until next time…
Onwards and Upwards!
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