How to Quit Alcohol
If you’ve decided that it’s time to quit or cut back on alcohol, i congratulate you. i also know that the search for the most effective strategy can be daunting.
Drinking is largely accepted as a social activity, a way to cope with stress, even a potential remedy for insomnia or anxiety.
Yet alcohol generally doesn’t do much to relieve these concerns long term. It also comes with some significant downsides.
Even drinking moderately can leave you feeling groggy, foggy, or hungover. The more you drink, the more likely you’ll notice other health effects, too, like:
- Disrupted sleep
- Digestive issues
- Memory problems
- Increased anxiety, depression, and irritability
- Disagreements and other conflict with loved ones
Check tips of how to quit alcohol
Find Here Top 12 Tips of How to Quit Alcohol
- Involve Your Loved Ones
Family and friends can provide encouragement and support when you stop drinking.
By opening up about your relationship with alcohol, you might also encourage others to explore their own drinking habits.
Maybe your partner, sibling, or roommate is also thinking about making a change. Changing drinking habits together allows you to support each other while also boosting your motivation and accountability.
2. Talk to Your Doctor Before Attempting Cold Turkey
This is an important one: In some cases alcohol withdrawal can be dangerous, or even fatal. This won’t necessarily be true for you, but a doctor’s advice can go a long way to keeping you safe. Additionally, even if you don’t expect severe withdrawal symptoms, medical counseling can point you toward useful resources that are appropriate for your particular situation.
3. Build a sober social network
If your previous social life revolved around alcohol, you may need to make some new connections. It’s important to have sober friends who will support your recovery. Try taking a class, joining a church or a civic group, volunteering, or attending events in your community.
4. Develop new activities and interests
Find new hobbies, volunteer activities, or work that gives you a sense of meaning and purpose. When you’re doing things you find fulfilling, you’ll feel better about yourself and drinking will hold less appeal.
5. Practice Self-Care Strategies
Some people begin scheduling a long walk into their day. Some start a meditation practice. Others repeat positive affirmations before going to bed. Whichever works for you, try to find a set of rituals that help you stay balanced and mindful.
Changing any persistent habit is difficult. You can expect good days and bad days. It’s best to plan for it, and have some ways of dealing with it. Although this can include talking to a friend or a coach, it also matters what you do on your own time. Be kind to yourself, stay positive, and have some self-care strategies ready.
6. Set Long Term Goals
Start by listing the reasons why you want to cut back or quit. Perhaps you want to be a better parent, you want to feel healthier, or you want to be better at your job. When you first stop drinking, write these goals down and carry them with you as a reminder. Then reward yourself as you make progress. If it’s been a month since your last drink, buy yourself a nice dinner, or a new piece of clothing. Use positive reinforcement and big-picture thinking to guide you forward.
7. Clear your home of alcohol
Over the years you may have collected an array of spirits, wines or beers that have created your own personal mini bar.
You could look to replace these with a selection of non alcoholic wines or even some alcohol free beers!
Think about it if you were about to start a new weight loss diet, you wouldn’t stock your fridge full of cakes, cheese and chocolate. When answering how to quit drinking alcohol everyday one of the easiest things you can do is remove the temptation.
If there are members of your household that are not looking to take charge of their life like you are, it is perfectly reasonable to ask them if you can throw out any beer or wine you have lying around.
8. Keep busy
With all of your new found energy it is time to look at finding a new hobby or perhaps something creative to work on.
Drinking alcohol takes up a lot of your time, now that you are well on your way to stop drinking alcohol start planning ways to keep yourself busy.
There are so many things that you can do with your new found free time and really begin to take back control of your life:
- Start a gym membership
- Learn to play guitar
- Launch a side hustle
- Enroll in a Spartan race
9. Don’t be afraid of change
Take the first step today and change your relationship with alcohol and watch the whole world change around you.
Discover why One Year No Beer is the leading habit changing programme with a 96% success rate helping people answer “how to stop drinking alcohol”
Become the most productive, present and healthiest version of yourself just by making one change today.
10. Don’t Offer An Ultimatum
More often than not, someone with a drinking problem will choose alcohol over any other option they are given, resulting in more stress, frustration and pain. Instead of offering ultimatums, offer advice or options for help. This means doing your research ahead of time and knowing some good programs to refer a loved one to, or being familiar with a professional they can talk to for help.
11. Be ready with concrete examples of why you think there may be a problem
Before seriously confronting someone about their drug or alcohol use, spend some time thinking about the reasons you have for being concerned. Be ready to offer these up as examples when having a conversation with your loved ones. If you say you are concerned but have no solid reasoning, your loved one isn’t likely to take you seriously.
12. Be consistent
At the end of the day we are all human. If you find yourself having a bad day revert back to your list of reasons why you want to stop drinking alcohol. If you are making a conscious effort to cut back how much you drink then you are well on your way to . improving your mental health as well as how you feel physically.
If you do find yourself having one too many beers one night, don’t beat yourself up.
If you are consistently making small positive changes to your lifestyle and your relationship with alcohol that’s what matters most. Going from drinking alcohol on your own every night to giving up for even a month is not easy.
