Beat Alcoholism with Positive Thinking
Focussing on negative thoughts as opposed to positive ones leaves you feeling depressed and unmotivated.
If you concentrate on how many mistakes you’ve made, or how you haven’t managed to stop drinking like you wanted to, maybe how you’ve ‘failed’ yourself and those around you, then of course you won’t feel good about yourself. Notice when you’re thinking these thoughts, and take control of them. Here’s where you need to make a choice to -
Concentrate on positive thoughts instead :
- What will improve in your life when you’ve cut down or stopped drinking?
- How much better will you feel?
- What improvements have you already made?
- Have you managed some slight reductions already?
- If so, what benefits have you started to notice because of that?
- Are you still essentially a good person, even though you’ve made mistakes?
The theory of ‘negative suggestion’ warns that if you focus on NOT doing something, it’s more likely that you’ll end up doing it, than if you were focussing on something else entirely. So if you find yourself thinking, “I must not drink, I must not drink” it’s a warning sign that you need to start concentrating on something else instead - distract yourself with another task, something absorbing. Just telling yourself “I mustn’t think about not drinking” is clearly still in that loop.
Likewise if you need to quit for a while, but you’re thinking, “Oh no, I’ll never be able to drink again“, then that will undoubtedly keep you focussed on the negative. Maybe you can drink again in the future; you don’t need to decide that now, focus on the present moment, and how good you feel about not drinking today.
I am in a similar situation Trina and feel that I must conquer this on my own and just hope that I have the courage and strength to carry this thru!
I agree to a certain point. I gave up habitual, excuse finding drinking for a while. I was given a glass of wine at a christmas do and given my previous abstinent attitude I drank it and I am back to drinking 1 month later and for the past 7 months I drink 1/2 to 1 bottles of vodka every 3 days. Please tell me what you can do for me that I cant
Hi im Trina i have been drinking on and off since 17 years old im 34 now going on 35. for the past few years i have been binge drinking and can no longer control myself when i drink. Half of the time i feel conscious of what im doing and the other half i dont know what ive done or feel like i dont care what i do. Its like something inside me is forcing me to destroy myself with alcohol or behavior. I have gone to rehab but as soon as i feel better i get this incredible urge to drink. This time i will beat it. i have been sober for 11 days now and im doing it on my own. For me its more empowering i believe. I think it helps to look at alcohol like its a disease or an entity that is trying to get you in any way. Trying to make its way back into your life to rear its ugly head. If i look at it like that im competitive so i will win. I also pray for help and strength from God during the time i feel so helpless and so triggered to drink. I know i will be able to drink normally again. but for now i have to go over the bringing down my tolerance and dependence and deal with issues that im hiding from sober. Because lets face it people Everyone drinks to alter their feelings some for good feelings, some to hide bad feelings, and some to escape from themselves. I do like this site and hope people will continue to share we all suffer from a disease that we will all beat. COME ON LETS DO THIS LETS BEAT IT. ARENT WE TIRED OF THE UGLY GUILTY, SAD, FEELINGS THE NEXT DAY YET. I AM