Cutting Down on Drinking Alcohol

Let’s face it. Australia has a huge drinking culture, with over 44% of the population drinking weekly. We drink to celebrate, we drink to socialize and connect, to avoid feeling lonely and we drink to unwind after a hard day. However, this national pastime can having damaging implications for your physical, financial, psychological and social self.

You don’t need to be drinking half a bottle of whiskey a day to have an issue with drinking. If you often drink more than you planned, have wanted to cut down but find it difficult, crave alcohol, spend lots of time drinking or recovering from drinking, you may have a problem.

If you feel like its time for a change, try out these four tips to reduce your alcohol consumption:

Track your drinking

Often we underestimate how much we are drinking. Without having a solid awareness of the frequently and amount we drink, it will be very difficult to reduce this habit. There are many free discrete apps (e.g. Leaf) that can track this for you. Remember though, be honest when recording your drinking! This is for your eyes only.

Motivation

We all know in an ideal world we wouldn’t procrastinate, eat junk food or drink to excess. We know it’s bad for us. But if we know it’s bad for us, why do we still do it?

A common ‘pro’ of many unhelpful habits is that it is about feeling good now and escapism. Escapism can feel really good. So this is why you may notice you feel ambivalent about change.

It’s important to really think about why and how much you want to change.

Have a think about the following points:

·      What would life be like in five years if things didn’t change at all?

·      How much does that concern you?

·      What if you did change, what would be different?

·      How important is it to change? How confident do you feel you make these changes out of 10?

Reframe the situation

Substance use is often characterized by a thinking style called ‘all or nothing thinking’. Things are seen in black or white. For instance, if you decide to quit drinking on Monday and then having a drink on Wednesday, you may just give up abstaining from drinking all together and go back to your regular drinking style (‘What’s the point, I’ve already messed up. I’ll try again next week’). Sound familiar?

When you are reducing or abstaining from a habit, you will most likely have lapses where you slip up and it can feel like you are back at square one. However, once you start on your journey to reducing your drinking, you will never be back at square one again. So next time when you slip up on Wednesday, instead of giving up, it’s important see it as a momentary lapse, and to try again straight away.

Replace drinking with something else

If you take something away from your life (in this case excessive drinking), you will have a void. If that void is not filled with something constructive and meaningful, there will be a higher chance you will lapse back into old habits.

You can use this as a chance to build the life you desire. Ask yourself: What would I like to be doing this time next year? What new hobbies, social connections, financial goals or career moves would I like to make? What can I start to doing to implement those goals in the next 24 hours?

Changing your relationship with alcohol can be difficult. If you would like support, please book in for practical strategies on reducing your drinking and handling cravings.