Hi all,

It’s been a year now since I quit drinking and one strategy that was has worked well for me during times of really wanting a drink or trigger situations is to turn the tables on the craving and immerse myself in the experience of it. Rather than let the anxiety and stress continue to build I would immerse myself in the moment and treat it as a test and re-frame my perception of what was happening as a positive and necessary challenge that was instrumental in my healing. I can remember many times thinking to myself “Well, this is an interesting feeling” or “Thank goodness this is happening so I can get past it and move onto the next test”. I’ve written about it in my previous posts and how we need to treat cravings, urges, and stressful trigger situations as tests and embrace them as such and crush them under our heals so we can move on to the next one. The sooner the better. They are supposed to happen and necessary. As I’ve read and researched and been directed to the topic by mcaodha’s post on her own experience the subject I’ve realized that this idea is essentially mindfulness practice. Mindfulness practice isn’t new and has been around for ages. Mindfulness is….

“The practice requires that one intentionally directs focus away from states of mind that would otherwise occupy them, such as frightening or worrisome thoughts, and instead observe and accept the present situation and all it has to offer, regardless of whether that is good or bad. Mindfulness approaches include mindfulness based cognitive therapy….”

Problem drinking is a learned habit that is used to manage all sorts of stress and fear based situations and preceptions in our lives. Yes, I know, it never starts that way but it sure ends that way. The positive note here is, because it is learned, we can re-learn new ways to deal with it and over-come it and mindfulness is valuable technique to do just that. Why? Because it gives us the space to live outside of the chaos of the urge to drink and allows us to realize alcohol is not in control. We are in control. And we are definitely not powerless. Since drinking is often a response to control fear and anxiety is it any wonder the continued stress of a craving amplifies the urge to drink? Just as important though, turning the tables on the craving builds new pathways in our brain away from the problem ones that have become habitual and driven the drinking and, over time, reduces and eliminates the problem by passing control back into your hands (new habits of self-control). I know this works because I’ve been doing it from very early on in the process and it’s been an invaluable strategy\ tool. Try it. A drinking problem develops in a very natural way because of the way humans are wired to learn and evolves into a very unnatural problem. You are not broken or deceased in any way because of this challenge. With conscious effort, patience, and support you will heal and over-come this challenge. Give it try, research it so we can evolve the topic, and please do share your thoughts.