I was at an event recently where one of the speakers said something that I’ve been thinking about ever since.
She said, “If you choose the easy path, life will end up being hard for you. If you choose the hard path, life will wind up easy.”
I can’t stop thinking about how perfectly this sums up the choice to drink, or not.
Drinking seems like the easy choice when you’re pouring that first glass, but it’s actually the hard, tough choice.
If you’re feeling tempted to drink tonight, watch this first:
Drinking is the hard, difficult choice
Cracking open a bottle might seem easy in the moment, but feeling hungover is also hard. Feeling disappointed in yourself is hard. Letting other people down is hard. Not being able to participate in your life fully is hard. Never having the energy or headspace to change your life? Well, that’s also hard.
Sobriety gets a bad rap
Culturally we have this story about sobriety being very hard indeed. (Just consider how many people get sponsored to stop for a month!) The truth is that sobriety is hard in the beginning. It does require work to do something different, change a pattern, let a craving pass, figure out another way to meet your needs. All of that requires effort, of course. But it’s not like that forever.
A sober life is an easy life
When I look back on my drinking days, I can see now how hard I made things for myself! I don’t think I’m cut out for that anymore. Kudos to you if you are drinking and still keeping life going and your head above water – that takes some work. If you can figure out how to do that, you can absolutely figure out how to quit.
Next time you’re tempted to drink…
Ask yourself: “Do I want this hard glass of wine?” Or the hard 24 hours that begin as soon as you open the bottle? Are you really up for that? We have to break this association between wine and self-care, wine and looking after yourself. Drinking is the hard, painful choice.
Focus on this instead:
Why is sobriety the easy choice? Start writing a list of reasons. The chances are, you spend a lot of time thinking about why alcohol-free living is hard, but not much time talking up the other side of this and telling that story. Scroll down and let me know in the comments – why is alcohol-free living the EASY choice in the long term? Let’s get a great list going here!
Ready to create an alcohol-free life you love? Click here to learn more about my Getting Unstuck course.
The post Drinking Is Hard – It’s Not The Easy Option appeared first on The Sober School.
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