You want to cut back on your drinking….. but your brain will say all kinds of things that you may think are true…..
– It’s not possible.
– You don’t really want to.
– You can start tomorrow.
– I do want to cut back but it will be so hard.
– I am fine; I don’t really need to.
– What will my friends think?
I believed these stories my brain told me for a long time too. When I wanted to cut back on my drinking, I didn’t really know how to go about it. Things I read told me it had to be all or nothing. For everyone. If I cut back, how much should I cut back on each week? I didn’t really know. And I felt frustrated because I wasn’t sure if it was going to work. I asked myself “How long will this take?” and “When will I feel the freedom and lack of over-desire?” and then wondered why I didn’t feel motivated to drink less. I was making cutting back a big chore, and it was depressing me every step of the way during my first few attempts.
The change of mindset sounds great. You are all in. You are on board with the new facts, the new thoughts you are thinking, but what happens? You hit the behavior that you are suppose to change and you realize you don’t want to change. Why? Because you REALLY DO want to change. The reason you don’t make the behavior change is that it is hard. It takes time to learn a new habit, skill, or way of being and you prefer easy, quick, and painless. The brain likes quick, easy, and painless. Nothing worthy in life is without struggle. Grade school, learning to drive, college, childbirth, work, buying a car, buying a house, and so on. If you want easy, you won’t accomplish your best life. You will remain stuck. And disappointed in yourself. The choice is always yours.
