I Need to Stop Drinking

zeusmachine | Jan 28, 2010 |

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There comes a time in the life of nearly every party-animal when they decide that they have had enough. Perhaps you have reached the point where you've said to yourself, "I need to stop drinking." The good news is that it is entirely possible to quit drinking if you are willing to adopt a pretty simple strategy. And that strategy is to learn from others.

Quitting drinking is one of the few achievements in life that aspirants do not want to get advice about. For instance, if you wanted to fly around the world in a supersonic hot air balloon (if such a thing existed), the first thing that you would do was to ask other people who have been on such balloons for advice. And when they told you the steps that you would need to take in order to pilot it, you would probably take notes and then follow those notes to the T. However, people who want to get sober do not seem willing to take that advice unfortunately.

I need to stop drinking!

The fact of the matter is that, for most folks, drinking alcohol loses its luster pretty quickly. There is a large percentage of the population that gets into binge drinking and partying in college and their early twenties. But most folks simply pass through this phase. After a while they stop getting much pleasure from their alcohol consumption and they decide that they want to quit drinking because the consequences and costs began to outweigh the benefits.

But then there are those with a drinking problem

However not everyone is willing to accept that the party is over, that the good times are gone, never to be recaptured. These other folks spend a great deal of time and energy getting drunk or planning how to get drunk. Pretty soon, while most of their friends are getting promoted at work or settling down and starting families, they are alone, drunk on their couch in their underwear at 2AM on a Tuesday. This is no way to live.

The fact of the matter is that if you have a drinking problem or are an alcoholic, you are going to find it very difficult to quit drinking without a plan. This doesn't mean that you are defective or a weak willed person. It just means that you really like to drink and this probably means that your brain is hardwired a little bit different and the sensations and effects of alcoholic drinks will push your brain's buttons. It's hard for you to quit because drinking feels better when you do it. This is nothing to be embarrassed about. However it does mean that you have to approach the problem with a plan and do things a little different than someone for whom drinking was never really that big of a deal.

Everyone who hopes to quit drinking has gone through periods where they have made promises to stop to themselves and those around them. But, despite their best intentions, they have never been able to stop drinking alcohol for any extended period of time. Why is this? The reason is that they continue to think that brain is like that of a normal person and that alcohol has no special value to them. But, most importantly, they continue to think that (no matter how bad their life gets) that they need to quit drinking alone. It is as if the accomplishment would not count if they took advice or accepted help. No, they have to do it alone. All by themselves.

Which does not work (as you are probably aware by now)

Even if you do not think you are an alcoholic, is it possible that you might be able to learn something about quitting from, oh I don't know, people who have actually quit drinking successfully? What a novel idea. And the icing on the cake is that these individuals meet daily in every single city in the world and disperse this information for free. And, not only that, there are thousands of websites devoted to exchanging strategies to stop binge drinking and, wait for it, all the information on these sites is free as well.

Yet for so many people with drinking problems, the years go by why they try to fight the battle alone and then they wake up crying one night and type I need to stop drinking into a search engine looking for answers. The only advice that I have for such people is that they open their ears and start listening as the answer is all around them.