Do you feel some type of way when you drink less?
Think about a situation where you skipped drinking or drank moderately for a day or two.
How did it feel?
I bet that you thought about how much better you felt the next day.
However, that wasn’t the question. I want you to think about how it felt WHILE you were drinking less. This is where you’ll find the problem and the solution.
Does celebrating ‘drinking less’ lead to behavior change?
Celebrating the benefits of drinking less is fine, but it doesn’t lead to behavior change.
What you need to do instead is get clear on the feelings that occur before and while you’re drinking, and understand how those affect whether you drink a little or a lot.
Pay attention. You may notice that it feels fine to not drink or only drink a little. That’s great, you just need to get rid of the bogus story that has you believing drinking more is better. Or you may notice that it’s NOT comfortable to only drink a little.
If that’s the case, then you need to understand why:
- What are the feelings you experience?
- What do they feel like in your body?
- How intense are they?
- Are they really a big deal?
When you figure out these things, then you can solve them.
In one of my previous sessions with a client, already he was drinking less. He said this:
Awareness is the crucial aspect of it.
He’s right. When you start to pay attention to yourself, you change. The discussion above is meant to help you increase your awareness, by giving you specific useful things to pay attention to.