What Works Best for You? Making a Personal Plan to Quit Drinking
From The Recovery Self Help Project
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There is no one assured way to stop drinking, even though there are plenty "experts" who will tell you that in order to quit drinking you must follow the course they lay out. This is true not only for drinking but for most health issues. To a large degree we turn our personal power and our knowledge of ourselves to those who presumably have more knowledge and experience than we do. However, in order to overcome your drinking problem, or your addiction to alcohol (or drugs) you have to have a plan that fits you and you alone. It may be a plan that incorporates a number of methods and techniques, or it may be your preference is to select that method that you know will work best for you.
In devising and determining a plan that works for you it is absolutely essential that you start out with being ruthlessly honest with yourself. Naturally, you have to first admit you have a problem. But once you have done that you then have to take a ruthless inventory of yourself. Your personal inventory begins with a series of questions. The answers to those questions will result in a new-found self knowledge. The big question is, 'How do you get honest answers to your questions?' The answer: Go within and ask your inner self the questions. This may seem simplistic but it works. It's the only way you will get answers that aren't tainted with denial, delusion, fear, opportunism, and doubt. How do you go within to ask the questions? Step outside of yourself. This may sound contradictory but when you do it you will understand why it works. Whether you are walking, sitting, running,driving or performing any activity you can step outside of yourself and ask question. Here's how: Just imagine yourself stepping outside of yourself and looking at yourself. For example: You're driving your car, and as you drive you imagine yourself floating outside of your body and then hovering above you looking down. You have just stepped outside of yourself. When you do so ask a question. You will get an answer, although you may not get it immediately. But you will get it if you remain open and allowing the answer to come through. Don't force an answer and don't listen to the answers that will come from the self you identify with. Those will present themselves as voices, and you will know, if you remain in the witnessing mode of watching and listening to yourself, that those are false voices that do not have your well-being in mind, but their own dysfunctional survival. This remarkably simple exercise is profound. It will make an honest man or woman of you.
Here are the questions to ask yourself: (Add others that fit you situation.)
- Why do I drink?
- When did I start drinking and why?
- What payoff do I get from drinking?
- What triggers my desire to drink?
- Is this the right time in my life to stop drinking?
- What are the emotional reasons why I drink?
- When do I think about drinking?
- When is drinking unimportant to me, or not on my mind?
- What keeps me from drinking?
- What is the first step I must take to stop drinking?
- Is my drinking harming me. Physically. emotionally, spiritually, Economically?
- Why do I drink the particular type of alcohol that I drink?
- Why do I drink at the times of day and night that I drink?
- What will it take for me to quit drinking?
- You have numerous parts that make up your total self. There's the self that acts a certain way at work, there's the self that is a spouse, a parent. There are also selves that have a particular function in your life, such as, your protector self that wants to protect you from harm, but may in fact, be harming you. There is the childlike self. And so forth. There are too many parts within all of us to detail them here. If you want to know more about your various selves refer to: Voice Dialogue, an eye-opening book written by Hal and Sidra Stone. For your purposes, go inside an begin to get to know your different selves. Introduce yourself. And ask each part, one at a time, the questions above. Wait for an answer. Carry on a dialogue with your selves. You will be astonished to hear what they have to say.
When you have asked all the above questions, and any others you add, and found your answers, then it will automatically occur to you the specific stop-=drinking plan that will work for you. (One warning: You will not get honest, authentic answers to these questions if you are under the spell of alcohol because alcohol will discombobulate your inner knowing and inner perceptions.)
