Drinking again, how to stop? Annie Grace answers.

Life was going great - it was six months alcohol free and something happened. Now I've started drinking again and I don’t know how to stop! Visit https://thisnakedmind.com to start reading This Naked Mind free!

Started Drinking Again?

If you’ve started drinking again, remember it's not a one and done experience. Initially, it feels magical. It feels like a switch has turned on when you read the book and your mind has been changed you look at alcohol and it has no allure for you. That is amazing! It's so easy to say “Okay, well great and on with my life!” Just leave it all behind but the truth is that if you're not on your guard going forward about everything surrounding you that's kind of giving you these messages that alcohol is important. Especially in your social scene! Then it can start to sound like a good idea to have a drink. When the memories of how miserable a hangover feels have faded, suddenly it doesn't seem like such a bad thing!

People drink all the time! People talk about how great drinking is all the time! It doesn't seem like such a bad thing once your personal memories have faded.

How Do You Feel?

Once you find you’ve started drinking again be really aware the next time you drink. What is this doing for me? How is this good? How is this making me feel? Am I happy the next day?

Don't be afraid of your feelings and most importantly don't get yourself into a shame spiral.

Don’t start to think you're not good enough, you're not important enough or you're not strong enough. It’s easy to think you've done something wrong - all of that is false! As soon as you start to judge yourself you start to think you're not deserving of a better, freer, peaceful happier alcohol-free life and that is one of the biggest tricks of addiction!

It tells you you're not worthy of anything better and you are!

The guilt, the shame you're feeling hit hard when you’ve started drinking again. Ask yourself is this true? Is this true? Guilt and shame but especially shame are counterproductive.

Write It Down

Journaling can be a great way to get to the bottom of why you’ve started drinking again.

Write down what is most important to you in your life. Use it as a reminder of why you don’t want to drink anymore. Why are you doing this and what is really important to you?

Stopped Drinking Again

Whether you have six months alcohol free or more you probably thought you were never going to drink again. Suddenly you've started drinking again and you don't know what to do!

Recommit. Look at it very honestly and really just remember this as part of the journey.

This is okay. You are okay and there's nothing to be ashamed about.