Alcohol Is Stealing Genuine Joy From Your Life #health #holistic

It’s so sneaky, the way it happens.

You start thinking about opening a bottle of wine (or perhaps you’re already staring into an empty glass, wondering whether to have another…)

You’re distracted… so you don’t notice that a robbery is taking place.

Alcohol is quietly stealing genuine joy from you… but you might not even realise you’ve been robbed until much later on, because initially everything seems fine. 

But alcohol is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, as I explain in this video. 

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Key points

How the robbery works

When you become convinced that alcohol brings with it genuine joy, you develop tunnel vision. You become less interested in other activities, because your primary focus is your next glass and whether you’ll be able to have as much as you want to. Without even realising it, you push aside other opportunities for happiness.

The next day, you feel hungover and remorseful. When you’re beating yourself up and feeling ill, the chances of experiencing spontaneous, organic joy are severely diminished. Plus, regular heavy drinking can disrupt the brain’s reward system, so the other things in life that should naturally bring you joy may not register in quite the same way. Suddenly, alcohol seems like the only bright light in the day. 

You deserve genuine happiness

Can you see the trap here? When you turn to alcohol to feel good, you end up overlooking many of the other things in life that bring you genuine joy. Over time, repeated drinking can alter dopamine signalling and dull the brain’s response to everyday rewards, so those things won’t feel as satisfying as they once did.

Life needs to be about more than the liquid that is or isn’t in your glass. That cannot be the one thing you look forward to all day or the thing that your world revolves around. Because the more you do that, the smaller life gets.

When life is tough

I know there’ll be someone reading this who thinks: “But there genuinely is no joy in my life right now! If you had my life you’d want to drink through it too!” I understand that line of thinking, but the harsh reality is that drinking is keeping you stuck. 

While you’re drinking, the thoughts you’re having about your challenging situation will be very hard to change. You probably won’t feel like taking any positive action or trying to figure out how to handle your life in another way… and so the cycle continues. 

Fed up with alcohol stealing joy from your life? For help and support to break out of the alcohol trap, click here to find out more about Getting Unstuck, my online coaching programme. 

The post Alcohol Is Stealing Genuine Joy From Your Life appeared first on The Sober School.

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You’re Not Missing Out: Sober Holiday Myths #health #holistic

At this time of year, I often hear from people who are worried they’re going to miss out if they stay sober on holiday.

They can’t imagine skipping cocktails by the pool or saying no to wine with their evening meal. 

When you’re feeling this way, it’s so easy to talk yourself into giving up on your sober goals (or sticking them on the back burner for a while).

I want to help you reframe the fear of missing out and see things in a different light.

Key points

Decide what really matters before you go

Just think about this: when you get back home and people ask how your holiday went, are you going to give them a rundown of everything you had to drink? I doubt it. Instead you’ll talk about how much rest you got, what you saw, and what the area was like. That’s the stuff that really matters.

Drinking alcohol will jeopardise your ability to come back rested and having done the things you planned to. So… if you’ve not experienced a sober holiday before, isn’t it about time you tried one? Why not change the script this year and stop missing out on the kind of break you deserve? 

Drop the idea that sober holidays = missing out

The truth is that everyone is missing out on something all of the time. It doesn’t matter whether they drink or not. It’s always helped me to remember that everyone is missing out on something – because it’s impossible to have a full or complete experience of anything. 

When you go away somewhere new, every single day is full of decisions about what you do and don’t do. Will you sunbathe or sightsee? Stay put or explore the area? Which restaurant will you go to? What will you order? You can’t do it all. No one can! 

Decide what you’re happy to skip

Once you really get your head around the idea that everyone is missing out on something, your focus can shift from “Am I going to miss out?” to “Ok, what is it I’m happy to miss out on?” 

Personally, I’m really happy to miss out on hangovers while on holiday. I’m also happy to miss out on the obsession that comes with trying to control alcohol at a time when I want to be relaxing. I don’t want to come home needing another holiday to get over the first one!

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

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