by Georgia Foster clinical hypnotherapist and leading specialist in overdrinking behaviour.
Drink Less In 7 Days
When people decide to reduce their drinking before they start they are already telling themselves ‘it’s going to be difficult!’. However, below are some seriously good reasons why this is not true.
Alcohol reduction inspires self-confidence. During your day when a drinking pang comes due to stress, boredom or anxiety instead of thinking about rushing home to get to the fridge, put your favourite happy song on that calms you down and makes you feel good about you. At the same time marry these feelings with an image of seeing yourself drinking slowly and saying ‘no’ to that last drink. Repeat this each time you have that ‘driven to drink’ moment. Your mind will be learning that drinking less is a positive thing to do.
Don’t drink to please others. If your partner, best friend or work colleague try to coerce you into drinking feign illness, a big meeting the next day or say you have a cracking hangover and couldn’t fathom a drink! Keep the stories going with your drinking buddies until they become familiar with you drinking less. Remember, it’s about you looking after you not about looking after others.
Keep a big glass of water with you when you drink. For each sip of beer, wine, gin and tonic that you drink, measure the same amount with water. It will water your drinking down, hydrate you and your liver will thank you too!
Plan an alcohol free day (AFD) with something fun to do. Many people make the mistake of deciding that their alcohol free day will be when they clear their wardrobe or do their tax return. The mind needs to become familiar with alcohol free days being fun and liberating rather than being a drudge. So make a date with yourself to have that massage, go to a yoga class or watch a funny movie that inspires and motivates you.
Start a holiday fund from each drink you don’t drink. For each glass of wine put aside $2. If you reduce your wine by two glasses a night that is $1568 over a year towards a seriously good holiday to a far flung destination!
Georgia Foster’s book Drink Less in Seven Days is published by RedDoor Books, £14.99 paperback, £7.99 eBook http://amzn.to/2EJnwu3
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