A lot of people sort of come into this, just like I came into, it was just not a real clue about where to start, and how to step over into that first day of not of not having any alcohol in your life anymore.

And I thought I’d do a few tips. So, tip number one is to remember that it’s always your choice. You know, whether you drink or you don’t drink, it’s always going to be your choice. That’s the thing that people sort of try and fuss around, is they think like, “I’ll do it tomorrow.” That’s a choice, right? And another one, “I can’t do this.” That’s another choice. Any choice that you make, whether it’s pushing yourself forward, or pulling yourself backwards, it’s your choice to do the thing, it’s your choice to either think up the reasons why you can do it, or the reasons why you can’t do it. It’s your choice to think up the excuses why you can’t do it, or to get up off your ass and inspire yourself, find things that are going to inspire you and make sure that you’re inspired all the time. That’s always going to be your choice. So that’s my first tip is, this whole journey is about you and your choices.

Tip number two is never look at this like it’s out of your control. Like there’s a faulty gene inside you, there’s a disease that you’ve acquired over many years.. But no you haven’t, it’s a habit,  there might be a certain proclivity for people to become more addicted to certain things. It’s easy for them to go down the easy route, to look for instant gratification, but I think that 99.9% of that is learned, you learn how to do this either from very early in your life. Or you learn how to do it as you’re going along.

So, tip number three is that cravings are also in your control, and you can stop them within a couple of minutes. They’re very momentary, they will move away if you get up and do something else and don’t focus and dwell on the on the craving.

Tip number four is to compare the discomfort that you’re feeling. Now, if you quit drinking, the discomfort, the cravings, the discomfort of not being able to sleep really, the discomfort of being a bit shaky and out of your comfort zone to that discomfort that you have been feeling for drunks years, with all the hangovers, all the damage that is starting to be caused to your body. You’ll compare those two discomforts and which is the worst.

Number five is that your drinking matters or why you drank matters. And if you still like drinking, that matters. Why? Because it’s going to keep pulling you back to the alcohol, to the drinking behavior. And that’s what you really want to try and get away from, you’ve got to understand why you like drinking, what is it about drinking that gives you the balls, not talking about the drunkenness but the feeling that you want to drink, right? You have to understand that about yourself.

That sort of leads me to tip number six, which is to change that thinking, right? To you understand why you like to drink, what is it that’s drawing you into the booze. Once you understand that, then to change it to how to reject alcohol in your life. You know, learn how to reject the alcohol thinking. Learn how to reject the alcohol rituals. Learn how to reject the alcohol behavior, and ultimately, learn how to reject the alcohol habit.

Tip number seven is to find alternatives for everything that you rely on alcohol for, You know, for socializing, for sleeping, for relaxing, for problem solving, and there are many alternatives. Don’t forget that when when you were a kid, right, you can find many solutions to the same problem right? When you don’t drink, when you’re involved in your life outside of alcohol. There are many different solutions that you come to but because we drink alcohol, we tend to focus in on the one thing more and more and more.

Tip number eight is that you need to reward non drinking behavior, that’s pulling you away from alcohol and you need to correct any behavior that’s pulling you towards alcohol, right? So as I was saying earlier on the drinking thinking, you’ve got to reject that drinking thinking. And the only way you can do that is by noticing every time it comes up in your head and correcting it. Every time you feel that pull toward any aspect of alcohol drinking, the behavior, like I say, it’s not just the alcohol. It is the whole thing. You’ve got to gradually correct this behavior as you go along and it’s not going to happen overnight. It’s not going to happen within days or weeks.