The Problem With ‘Being Good’ Monday To Thursday #health #holistic

I used to try really hard to ‘be good’ and stay sober from Monday to Thursday.

(I could get my head around staying alcohol free during the working week. But a sober Friday, Saturday and Sunday? That didn’t seem possible.)

Because I wasn’t ready to quit completely, being good during the week seemed like the next best thing. 

But what I didn’t realise is that there’s a huge problem with Monday to Thursday sobriety – and that’s what I’m talking about in this video. 

Key points

You’re repeating the hardest part over and over

The early days of not drinking are some of the toughest. When you only stop for four days at a time, you force yourself to experience them again and again and again. In a four-day window of sobriety, you barely get alcohol out of your system. And because it’s such a short window, you don’t get enough time to form new habits or have any breakthroughs. 

Without realising it, you only ever experience the difficult bit and never reach the good days, because you don’t stick with it long enough. When I look back on my own struggle with alcohol, I can see what an unhelpful pattern I was in. No wonder sobriety felt miserable and unsustainable!

You’re teaching your brain that sobriety only works on “boring” days

If you’re only ever sober during the working week, you subconsciously teach yourself that alcohol-free living is only possible when you’re in a routine, at work and not doing anything fun. You’re treating sobriety like a strict diet – i.e. deprive yourself for a few days, then have a blowout at the weekend.

Long-term, successful sobriety happens when you realise you can live a full and happy life without alcohol, no matter what day it is. But in order for that breakthrough to happen, you do have to be willing to practise being alcohol-free at the weekend too.

You don’t get time to do the real work

When I was repeatedly stopping for a few days at a time, I never had time to work on my sobriety. All I could really do is cross my fingers and hope for the best! It was sheer willpower and a sense of “I really should do this” that got me through wine o’clock without drinking.

When you’re in this pattern, you don’t have time to get clear on why you’ve been drinking in the first place. You can’t tackle root causes, find new healthy coping mechanisms, work on your mindset or educate yourself about how alcohol affects your mind and body. There simply isn’t time.

So – is this pattern actually working for you?

When you’re in the thick of it, you don’t always get a moment to step back and ask yourself this question. I invite you to do this today. If you’re genuinely happy “being good” during the week and then drinking through every weekend, no problem. But if you’re not happy, it might be time to change things up by taking a longer break from drinking. 

If that’s intimidating right now, it’s ok. But consider this: what if you weren’t doing this alone? What if you had support to handle things sober? This is what I help women with at The Sober School. What if you could actually feel so good on your not-drinking days that you genuinely wanted more of them? I promise this is possible for you – if it wasn’t, no one would choose to stay alcohol free! 

Ready to create an alcohol-free life you love? Click here to learn more about my Getting Unstuck course.

The post The Problem With ‘Being Good’ Monday To Thursday appeared first on The Sober School.

from The Sober School https://ift.tt/7NJvdCT
via IFTTT