People often rely on alcohol to cope with stress and bring down anxiety. In most countries, drinking is accepted as a regular social activity. But alcohol consumption, especially in excess, comes with significant issues for the long term. Even moderate drinking can leave a person feeling disoriented.
If you’re looking to overcome your alcohol dependence, there are a few tips you can follow to get better results. In this article, we look at five such tips. Keep reading to find out.
Discuss It
As with many areas of life, it always helps to have support from others when trying to deal with alcohol dependence. Encouragement and help from your friends and family can go a long way in helping you manage your drinking habits. With other people on board, you’ll hold yourself accountable to them and that can help you stick to your decisions. You’ll also find it easier to avoid alcohol during gatherings if the people around you know that you’re abstaining from drinking (and are sensitive to that). Not to mention, by discussing this with others, you might encourage them to reflect on their drinking behaviors too.
But if you can’t rely on your friends or family regarding this, it’s always best to get professional help—ideally, look for professional treatment centers that understand how to best approach alcohol withdrawal.
What’s Your Reason for Drinking?
It’s essential that you sit down with yourself, dive deep, and confront the real reasons that push you to drink. It’s one thing to consume alcohol to relax during social gatherings, but if you struggle to navigate such situations with alcohol, then there may be a problem. It’s not uncommon for people to intoxicate themselves to avoid emotional turmoil. But avoiding challenges like this doesn’t mean it has been sorted, and there are bound to be adverse effects sooner or later.
Knowing clearly why you drink will give you clarity about yourself and better equip you to overcome this dependency.
Set an Appropriate Goal
If you’re aware of your drinking patterns, you’ll be able to set more relevant goals for yourself when it comes to alcohol consumption. You need to be mindful of how often you drink, how much you drink, and in what situations you find yourself craving alcohol.
With this understanding, you need to set appropriate drinking goals. Giving up alcohol entirely is not the only option you have. You can instead focus on moderating your drinking habits if you’re not keen on abstaining from alcohol forever.
To start with, gauge where you are currently in terms of your alcohol dependence. If you need a drink every day, start abstaining on alternate days and gradually lower the frequency of consumption. If you drink every weekend, then decrease the frequency by drinking once every two or three weeks.
Switch Up Your Surroundings
Out of sight, out of mind—yes, this will help if you’re frequently in situations that give you access to alcohol. When you have easy access to alcohol, you’re likely to consume a lot more of it. You don’t necessarily have to make drastic lifestyle changes, like switching cities or homes, but you certainly have to alter your surroundings.
Having liquor at home can make it difficult for you to hold yourself back. But if you know you have to go out to drink or buy a drink, it could put you off. Instead, you could have non-alcoholic drinks at home, and it goes without saying, you’ll want to pick something that you enjoy drinking. You could experiment with a bunch of different juices or health drinks to find one that hits all the right spots.
If you share your living space with others, you could request them to keep their liquor out of your sight so that it’s easier for you to kick your drinking habit. If you’ve noticed yourself craving alcohol at specific times of the day, try to set something up to keep yourself engaged.
Also, if you find yourself drinking more when you’re eating out, you might want to visit a restaurant that doesn’t serve alcohol. If you’re on a budget, cooking at home is an excellent way to keep yourself occupied and save money.
Pursue Physical and Creative Activities
Often, people tend to drink to avoid feeling bored. To quit drinking or reduce your dependency on alcohol, you need to adjust your lifestyle so that you don’t need substances to feel pleasant. A terrific way to do this is to indulge in physical or creative pursuits that will fill your body with feel-good hormones and elevate your mood.
It could be anything that makes you feel pleasant—from making music and writing to playing foosball and swimming. A fulfilling activity will help keep alcohol off your mind and help you unwind and relax. If there are hobbies you’re curious about, this is an excellent time to try them.