How To Quit Drinking

If you’re reading this you’re probably thinking about how to quit drinking and whether it’s something you’ll ever actually achieve. The thought of quitting drinking probably seems quite daunting.

This may be your first attempt at quitting, you may have tried before and even been sober for a little while before losing your way, or sobriety may have been something you achieved for a lengthy period before relapsing again.

So whatever your situation, I want to give you some ideas that will help you stop drinking alcohol permanently. You can beat alcoholism and addiction. But you have to be prepared to put some effort in and make some changes. Because as the saying goes – if nothing changes, nothing changes ...

Understand What You’re Dealing With

First and foremost you need to understand alcoholism and the nature of addiction. And if you’re not sure yet whether you fall into the addiction category, check out these ten warning signs of alcoholism and take this alcoholism test.

Then you need to understand the alcoholism as a disease correlation and that simple will power will almost always never be enough to quit drinking permanently.

But most crucially – if you hope to leave a life of alcohol dependence behind you for good – you need to realise that all addictions, including alcoholism, are ultimately spiritual problems and need to be treated accordingly if you hope to find freedom from alcohol or drugs.

Andrew Weil (MD) in his book Natural Health, Natural Medicine describes addiction brilliantly by saying that addiction is not a psychological or pharmacological problem and so cannot be solved using these methods. He goes onto say that addiction at its core is a spiritual problem because it represents a misdirected attempt to achieve wholeness ...

So if you want to quit drinking and develop more than just dry drunk syndrome, you need to try build your life on a spiritual foundation. Now there are many different ways you can do that.

Many people use religion, personally the only method I use that also complements all religious practices irrespective of religious denomination, is meditation.

Scientific studies are also now showing that meditation can actually reverse the imbalances in your brain that cause addiction. Pretty powerful stuff! Only problem is many people think meditation is too difficult and too much of an effort, which as someone who has meditated for many years now I can relate to.

About a year ago though I came across an amazingly powerful resource called Holosync that I now use exclusively to meditate with. All I now have to do is sit and listen to a specially designed CD with headphones and it does my meditation for me. No more having to worry about my mind running wild, I will be taken into deep meditative states whether I try or not.

The changes I’ve experienced have been phenomenal and many people I know of have managed to quit drinking exclusively thanks to using this tool consistently. Now I don’t necessarily recommend only doing one thing exclusively to stop drinking – the more tools you have in your toolbox the better – so let’s also look at what other steps you should take.

Make The Decision To Quit Drinking

All major achievements in life start with a decision. And make no mistake, to quit drinking successfully is a major achievement. Making that decision though is often the hardest part.

Often the fear of loss is more powerful than the vision of what you will gain if you quit drinking. How will you cope? What will happen to your social life? What if you don’t make it? You’ll likely experience a million different thoughts that make you hesitant to want to make the decision to quit.

So you need to find a motivator – positive or negative. A positive motivator will drive you with the hope of a better life. Maybe a vision of the person you know you can be if alcohol didn’t always get in the way, repairing relationships broken due to alcohol, making a success of your life in whatever format, it could literally be anything.

Negative motivators are often even more powerful, especially in the beginning, because the fear of loss can often motivate more powerfully than the hope of gain.

So what will happen if you don’t quit drinking? What will you lose? Here the list is almost endless – health, dignity, relationships, family, job, money – you can literally end up losing everything due to alcohol.

You need to find a motivator that really resonates with you – imagine it, feel it – and then use that to make your decision to quit.

Get The Help You Need

No worthwhile achievement in life is achieved alone. And like I already said to you, to stop drinking is a worthwhile achievement.

So this is where you need to put your ego in your pocket and get help. This can be done in various ways – and depending on how advanced your alcoholism is – will effect what you should do. Knowing the alcoholism stages will be helpful here.

Alcohol withdrawal can be life threatening if not done properly so a proper supervised detox is almost always the place to start.

Then depending how bad your dependence to alcohol is – a drug and alcohol rehab can help you not only detox successfully, but provide you with the specialist treatment and care you need. Know what your alcoholism treatment options are to help you make the best decision for you.

Follow a Proven Recovery Program

A 12 step program like AA forms the foundation for many people to not only quit drinking successfully, but to also maintain their sobriety into the future. Remember to quit drinking is only the first part – successfully recovery is something you need to work at for the rest of your life.

AA is essentially a spiritual program and that’s why it works. But it certainly isn’t for everyone. Now if you haven’t tried it – I recommend you do before deciding whether it’s for you or not. AA has helped millions of people around the world not only quit drinking successfully, but stay sober by providing a proven program that helps you maintain your sobriety.

Or if you prefer something more personal – Recovery Coaching might be something worth trying. Having a Coach or Mentor who can help you develop your own program to ensure you quit drinking permanently is an approach that many people are turning to today.

Addiction Uncovered is one of the books on alcoholism and drug addiction I certainly suggest you also take a look at because it provides comprehensive steps and strategies as to what you need to do stop drinking successfully and provides you with a proven blueprint to follow to make the whole process a lot easier for you.