If you want to know how to quit drinking, you’re in the right place. First, let me commend you for taking on such an admirable and rewarding challenge. Whether your goal is to end a vicious cycle of alcohol abuse or recover from years of crippling alcoholism, it all begins with a simple step – a single choice. And while the weeks, months and years to come will be challenging – and you may falter or lose your footing from time to time – I want you to remember this initial decision. I want you to honor that desire to learn how to quit drinking and let it be a light in whatever darkness you’re currently experiencing.
And I promise, if you can stay the course and weather the storm, that light will expand and you will begin to discover your true self. In the end, you will be stronger, smarter and happier because you will have conquered your drinking problem through pure will and determination. You will begin to truly know yourself and in that self-knowledge, all that which is not you – the guilt, the shame, the craving, the anguish – will fade away. It all begins with a single step. And with the right tools and knowledge of how to quit drinking, sobriety and lasting peace of mind can be yours.
How to Quit Drinking: Speaking With Your Doctor and Preparing for Your Journey
As a disclaimer and warning, it’s imperative that you speak with your doctor about your plans to quit drinking and any physical or medical conflicts that may result from quitting. For instance, if you have been drinking heavily for a long period of time, you have the potential to experience alcohol withdrawal when you stop drinking. In some cases, these withdrawals can lead to delirium tremens, which can be deadly if untreated. So, a visit to your doctor or health provider is absolutely necessary to determine whether you will require medical assistance be safely detoxed from alcohol under the care of trained professionals.
Next, adopting the right mindset is essential to stopping alcohol abuse and ceasing drinking completely. You have to really want it, even more than you want anything else. At the very least, your desire to find out how to quit drinking alcohol has to be substantially greater than your desire to continue consuming it. To help weigh the odds in your favor, you may need to recondition yourself to your perception of alcohol and its supposed “benefits.” The best way to start this process is through simple self-observation. For instance, when you start to get a craving or the desire to have a drink enters your head, simply observe it. Don’t immediately claim ownership of that thought and seek to fulfill it as you normally would. Instead, stay with it and be present. Ask yourself if that beer or glass of wine or shot of hard liquor is really worth it? What value, if any, will it bring to your life?
More importantly, ask yourself what that drink will lead to? How quickly until one drink becomes ten drinks? How long until your memory of the night is gone and you wake up in a strange place, alone, dehydrated and disoriented again? By asking brutally honest questions like these to yourself, you can light a fire under your desire to learn how to quit drinking.
Also, instead of seeing your favorite drink as a way out or temporary anesthetic, see it for what it really is. See it for the havoc it can wreak, the friendships it can shatter, the debilitating hangover it causes and the horrifying blackouts it produces. Believe me, there’s a reason why they call alcohol “spirits.” A drinking problem can be a very insidious thing, and if left unchecked, can be an absolute monster. But, the good news is, if you stop feeding the monster, it will eventually die. And then, the new you can emerge.
How to Quit Drinking: Keeping a List and Setting a Quit Date
If it helps, take a moment and write down all the things you dislike about drinking and the reasons why you wanted to know how to quit drinking. Put the list somewhere where you can access it whenever doubt creeps in or that little voice starts whispering in your ear. Next, you should set a quit date for yourself. Again, it may be best if you determine this date with your doctor in case you have trouble with any withdrawals or require medical supervision. Once your quit date is set, you can begin taking measures to phase alcohol out of your life once for all. If you have drinking buddies that held no value to you other than being somebody to get drunk with, it is advised that you stay away from them, especially during the beginning of the quitting process.
Next, go through your home and remove all the alcohol and hard liquor. If you don’t want to pour the liquor down the drain, give it away to a friend or family member. Just get it out of your house. If you think it will help, go attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and share your story and learn from other people who are struggling with how to quit drinking. Just do whatever it takes for you to not drink today. Again, dissociating alcohol as a reward or release in your own mind can work wonders, so be sure to keep up with the self-observation throughout all of this.
How to Quit Drinking and Stay Quit
In the weeks and months that follow your quit date, make abstinence from alcohol your number one priority. Always be on the lookout for thoughts and behavior which attempts to undermine your sobriety. Remember the pain that alcohol created in your life whenever you think that taking a drink might be a good idea, pull out your list and read it closely. Show yourself that you are stronger than a putrid cup of poison. You don’t need it, you don’t want it and it does nothing for you. Adopt this statement as your mantra or create your own. Do whatever works for you. As long as it doesn’t involve drinking or rebounding with some other mood altering substance.
Then, as you begin to live a healthier and more fulfilled life, don’t be afraid to pick up new activities and go on new adventures. This is the first big leap in knowing how to quit drinking. If you can make it this far, why not keep going a little further? I mean, you know where drinking will take you, but where will sobriety take you? Embrace the unknown. Find peace in the vulnerability for every day you refrain from drinking, your confidence and spirit will expand exponentially. In closing, I hope you can use these steps to start the quitting process and leave alcohol behind once and for all. In the meantime, I will look forward to bringing you more detailed articles on how to quit drinking in the very near future.