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Why Is It Important to Clean House before You Quit Drinking?

by | Stop Drinking Alcohol | 4 comments

I want to talk today about why it’s so important to clean house, you know, to get all this stuff out of your house, before you quit drinking.

It’s good to start off with, you know, strength and you know feeling that you are invincible and that you’re going to do this and that’s nothing is going to go wrong.

But you’ve only so much will-power right, you’ve only got a small smidgen, in terms of your overall, energy and capacity and you’ve got to use it wisely. And there’s no point in really trying to tempt fate, you know, by having stuff hanging around and staring you in the face.

No matter how much you think that it’s a good testament to your will-power and how strong your will-power is and how strong you are as a person.

You know, there’s better areas in your life that you can use this will-power.

I say, drinking is, it’s not about, quitting drinking is not about just getting rid of the alcohol out of your body.

It’s about getting rid of the alcohol thinking out of your life, the alcohol life-style.

It’s about making changes in a variety of different areas of your life and it’s in those changes, those widespread changes that you’re going to have to make, that you’re going to need your will power, you know, to keep yourself going.

You know, one of the best ways of overcoming cravings, is just not to see the craving in the first place

It’s to try and avoid the trigger.

And you avoid the trigger through aversion tactics right, you don’t have the stuff hanging around your house, you don’t go to your local pub, you don’t hang around so much with your drinking buddies or if they’re drinking buddies, if your mates are drinking, you just don’t hang around with them at, all in the beginning.

You know, I, from personal experience, I know that the long-term is a different story.

But, you are going to change in the long-term and by the time you get to that stage, if you’re working on the other areas of your life, whether at life-style changes that you need to make, then these drinking buddies are not going to be your buddies for much longer.

It’s a sad thing to think in the moment but, in the long term, it’s a good thing, it’s a good thing for you.

So, avoiding the triggers in the first place, is sort of one of the most effective ways of avoiding the cravings.

Because, every time you go out into the Kitchen you see a bottle of Wine sat on your Counter, right, every time you go out there, it’s going to be on your mind.

If you go out into the Kitchen, every time you open the drawer to get out a spatula for making your eggs, or whatever it is that you’re doing and you see the Corkscrew in there, or every time you open up the cabinet and to take out a normal glass to drink some water out of it, you see your Wine Glasses there.

These are all triggers and they might not be conscious triggers, but they’re going to fire off underneath and they’re going to contribute to the cravings, you know?

And all these things add up, so, if you can, get this stuff out of your house, from the beginning before you even start this, you know, start as you mean to go on.

And, really essentially what you’re trying to do over-all in this thing is to make it harder and so much difficult for you to drink in the first place

And you want to make it easier to go onto your new life.

So, say that your new life involves exercise going to the gym, just say that part of your routine used to be finishing work and going home, right, and having a drink straight away.

And part of your new routine to overcome this is, to go from work to the Gym.

And it is very possible, this is, you might not think it is.

I used to do taekwondo years ago and the only time I could do it was after work

So, when I worked in Ireland, I was working in the Forestry and small Country it was, I was doing a very specialised job of cutting paths through forests, that were reached a certain age, between forty and twenty years old.

And that required me to do a lot of travelling.

So sometimes, I’d travel for an hour and a half, maybe, anything more than an half and a half and I’d stay there overnight.

You know, if it was a big job that I had to do, if it was a one off than obviously, I’d come back.

And my Son, one of the things I did with my Son back then was Taekwondo.

And the classes started at 7 O’clock and so I didn’t really have much chance after a full day’s work, so I’d start in the morning, leave six O’clock, I’d be on the site by eight, start working, I’d finish by four or five O’clock and then drive home and I’d probably eat on the way home and by the time, seven O’clock came for the start, I’d pick up my Son and go straight to the class.

And I’d be knackered sometimes, but once I got in there and I started training, that tiredness just used to disappear and I used to feel great.

I felt more energetic coming out of those classes at 9 O’clock, then I did going into them or I did in the mornings sometimes.

Obviously back then, these were nights when I wouldn’t have a drink, and maybe I’d have a drink afterwards, I’m not really sure, I can’t remember, it was a long time ago since we did those.

But I’m just saying, it is possible to do these things, to fit these things into your life.

What I’m saying is if you have alcohol in your home, you are making it easier for you to switch onto the alcohol, when you’re in a bad mood, when you’ve had a bad day

When you’ve just heard some bad news, or something like that.

If you’ve got alcohol, right next to you, outside in your Fridge.

It’s an easy decision for any quitter to go – that’s it I’m going to drink this alcohol now – and then, whatever, how many days you’ve gone, I’ve sort of, it can give you a bad feeling you know, it’s not a good thing anyway.

But, if you don’t have that in your house, you’ve got to physically get up, go outside, get into your Car, drive to the Off License, come back and all this type of stuff and you’ve got time to think.

You’ve got time to put it off. You know, you might think, well I’m in a bad mood, but I can’t be arsed going out.

So, this is all going to stop you from doing that.

But don’t think, that just because you feel now – “Well I’m in a good humour about this – I’m feeling strong about this and I know that when, if any of those urges strike – if I do get into a bad mood then I’m not going to give in.”

Because you don’t think the same way, when you are in a good mood, as you do in a bad mood.

When, you know, when you think about your future in a good mood you think it’s bright and rosy and everyone’s around you is lovely.

When you’re in a bad mood, you think that everyone is a bastard and that the future is not that great, and that your stuck in a hole and you know all these bad things and thoughts and stuff like that.

So, you know, don’t count on the mood that you’re in now to decide for the mood that you’re in, going to be in later on, if that makes any sense.

So what I’m saying is, it’s important to get rid of all the triggers, all the triggers that are going to fire off your cravings as quickly as possible, before you even start.

This is, it’s a tactic right. It’s not the be all and end all.

You’re going to be in rooms with alcohol, right?

You’re going to be in rooms with alcohol when you’re in a bad mood.

And those times you’re going to have to rely on your inner strength, right, on your will power.

But if you don’t have to rely on your will power, then what’s the point.

Don’t do it.

That’s the topic for today anyway.

If you have any questions at all, any comments, leave them down below.

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So, until next time.

Keep the Alcohol out of your Mouth.

Keep it out of your life as much as you possibly can.

Out of your home, out of your workplace.

Keep the alcohol paraphernalia as well, all the reminders that are going to remind you of alcohol out of your life.

Sometimes, you’re not going to be able to do this because you have somebody in your house that drinks as well right.

And it’s not their responsibility to look after you.

You can ask them to do it, if you want and if they want to do it – fair enough.

But it’s two people’s houses, you know, two people are living in the house, so.

So, anyway, you can do what you can, that’s all we can do.

“It is easier to avoid temptation than to resist it”

Until next time…
Take Care
Good Luck
Onwards and Upwards!

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4 Comments

  1. Mick

    Great advice, I used this tactic plus the others from one of your books to kick start my alcohol free life. In my office a guy used to put wine in the fridge, going into the fridge and seeing it there was not helping me. So in the end I thought fuck him and moved it out the fridge so I didn’t have to keep having it shoved in my face every day. It did feel a bit like I was at some level accepting it bothered me, which i didn’t like. I do think he did it deliberately, I don’t know if he did. At home my wife only drinks very rarely so she was very supportive. We do have alcohol in the house now and I don’t actually even see it. Its just there.

    On reflection, I wouldn’t be happy if I had racks with heroin in the house, all illegal drugs combined kills 250,000 a year Alcohol 3.5 million, So I was being sensible shifting the guys wine/alcohol/drug. why should we be happy with people keeping an addictive drug in our house, maybe im too soft ha ha.

    Reply
  2. Mick

    Great advice, I used this tactic plus the others from one of your books to kick start my alcohol free life. In my office a guy used to put wine in the fridge, going into the fridge and seeing it there was not helping me. So in the end I thought fuck him and moved it out the fridge so I didn’t have to keep having it shoved in my face every day. It did feel a bit like I was at some level accepting it bothered me, which i didn’t like. I do think he did it deliberately, I don’t know if he did. At home my wife only drinks very rarely so she was very supportive. We do have alcohol in the house now and I don’t actually even see it. Its just there.

    On reflection, I wouldn’t be happy if I had racks with heroin in the house, all illegal drugs combined kills 250,000 a year Alcohol 3.5 million, So I was being sensible shifting the guys wine/alcohol/drug. Why should we be happy with people keeping an addictive drug in our house or office, maybe I’m too soft and I should tell them to store there drugs else where ha ha. Sounds harsh but shows the power this drug has to normalize itself. Its not normal, it is an addictive bastard of a drug. My alcohol free and proud stance does make some people feel uncomfortable drinking and that pleases me. I have drifted apart from some friends because I don’t drink, but I now have a couple of new mates who don’t drink. So fuck em ha ha.

    Reply
  3. Mick

    I am working at home today so I Just checked 3 bottles of wine in kitchen wine rack. 4 bottles of champagne and case of beer in the big fridge, none in the kitchen fridge. They will sit there for weeks, my wife very rarely drinks. But I had stopped noticing them, which is odd in a good way! It shows just how far I have come on my Alcohol free and proud journey in a relatively short time of about 5 months. If your doubting you can do this, trust me set your stall out and go for it, its the most liberating thing I have ever done and its actually not that hard once you go about it the right way. People may disagree and I would have for the first 2 or 3 months, just ride out any lows and they pass. ( I had failed many times before, its important to educate yourself about alcohol and see it for what it is)

    Reply
  4. Robert

    ??

    Reply

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