Tag: moderation

5 Key questions to ask when setting your drinking target

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Practical tips

Asking yourself  these 5 key questions before setting a target for your drinking can be really  helpful. As we explained in our last  blog post it is  important  to choose an approach that will work for you as one size does not fit all.

Is it better to stop drinking altogether or simply to reduce your drinking?  These questions will help you decide what’s right for you.

 

5  key questions

  1.  If you find once you start drinking, you cannot stop drinking then maybe giving up drink altogether rather then reducing is easier.
  2. If you always go out to get drunk rather then socialise then maybe giving up drinking is easier.
  3. Pressure from friends can influence our drinking. If you go out with friends who drink heavily it may be easier to not drink. Or the opposite, if you go out with friends who drink a little, drinking a little  could be easier.
  4. If you have frequent blackouts, where you can’t remember parts of the night out then not drinking at all may be easier.
  5. Finally, not drinking at all can be easier to do as it needs less planning than  setting a drinking target. so if you hate planning and organising, not drinking at all might be better for you.

Once you’ve answered these questions you may be able to make your decison. If you’re still unsure, there’s other things you can do which can also  help you make the right decision for you.

 

Talk to a friend

Take a look at your advantages and disadvantages of drinking as this can also help you to decide what’s best for you. Find out more  on this here

Consulting a friend or family member who you trust and will listen to you and will not shame or judge you can be helpful. Be a little careful though, often if people have been hurt by our drinking, they can demand more than we can do at this stage.

 

Decide on your target for a week

It can be easier to set a target for a short time rather than saying I’m giving up drink for ever.

If you simply want to take a break from drinking, then setting a goal of not drinking this week at all might be helpful.

If you’ve been drinking every day for the last 10 years, setting a goal of not drinking one day this week might be good for you.

Don’t forget to check whether you have a physical dependence on alcohol before setting  your drinking target. You can find out more about this  here.

 

Believe in yourself

So there is a wide choice of targets and the choice  is yours. What’s really important is that you believe in your ability to reach your target as this will build your confidence in managing your drinking.

In many ways, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, if you believe you can achieve your target you will and if you believe your target  is not “do able” then you will be more likely to fail.

So if you want to give up drinking entirely, but don’t feel able for this, set a smaller target that you think you can achieve.

As the Chinese say

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”

If you’d like to check the low risk drinking guidelines please click here.

Irvine likes a couple of beers, but can’t live in Ireland as it’s too difficult

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Personal stories, Social Life

Irvine Welsh the celebrity film director of Trainspotting likes a couple of beers. He’s in the news again because he’s just produced a new novel “The Blade Artist” and a sequel to his famous movie Trainspotting.

In an interview with the Sunday Business Post, Irvine recounts his time spent taking a range of drugs and six happy years living in Dublin.  He apparently spent a lot of time flushing drugs down Dublin toilets. Trainspotting fans kept giving him drugs as the film is about drugs! At that stage after three transitions he was no longer taking drugs.

 

 Irvine likes a couple of beers

Irvine is  now into healthy living, he works out and eats well. Except when he’s in Dublin or Scotland. He finds when he’s in Dublin or Scotland he drinks too much. And he gets less work done.

He told the interviewer

“In Chicago when friends say “Let’s go out for a couple”  They mean a couple of beers, as opposed to a couple of days. They mean two beers and then you go home.”

 

Binge drinking is normal in Ireland

Irvine’s views are supported by the research. According to the Health Research Board we have the second highest rate of binge drinking in the world. Over 75% of the alcohol we drink is drunk in a binge drinking session.

 

What can we do to reduce binge drinking?

First, be aware of the number of drinks which are binge drinking. Six  standard drinks or more as you can see in the image below.

couple of beers

 

Second, sit out a round, make every second or third drink a glass of water.

Third, choose drinks which have less alcohol in them.  For example Low alcohol beers or wines with less alcohol.

You can find plenty more tips on reducing alcohol harm in our free online course here.

 

Yeah, I’m happy with my place in life

So Irvine now lives in Chicago, it’s

“… Great for me, because it means I get on with more work and drink less”

And he says he’s happy with his place in life.

“If you’d offered it to me back then, I’d have taken it”

 

We’re losing out

So Ireland loses a great talent because our culture does not accept normal drinking as a “couple of beers”.

Wonder how many other great talents are wasted because we’re drinking too much?

 

You can see the full interview with Irvine here. (Subscription required)

A clear mind a day at a time is working for me

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Personal stories

A clear mind motivates a healthy lifestyle

The world which we encounter nowadays can be for the most part overwhelming. This does not mean that we should allow ourselves to feel overwhelmed and use alcohol to escape. A clear mind is one way to happiness.

 

A cycle develops

Most mornings I wake to a world which motivates and inspires. On occasion the darkness of self-doubt creeps in and when it does it can be immensely difficult to shake. It can feel easier to search for ways in which to numb the strain and stress of life, postpone the complications. The bottle of wine becomes so alluring followed the next morning  by the guilt of drinking the entire bottle.

A perpetual cycle emerges, one which we all  fall into, a seemingly impossible escape.

 

Health includes a positive mental attitude.

When I am healthy, I feel better equipped to face the world, tackling it with positivity, strength and courage. Health can have different meanings to different people, all of which are important. As individuals we are lucky to be entitled to decide what we define as health in relation to our own body and mind. Health is not only a physical attribute but furthermore it encapsulates a positive mental outlook.

 

Alcohol can be part of a healthy lifestyle

Alcohol, of course can be part of a healthy lifestyle, in moderation. Yet moderation can be  difficult to achieve. At times, I  feel overwhelmed. There is never a simple solution. But  with strength and support,   I can minimise negative effects.  promoting a more positive relationship with myself  and in turn my  decisions regarding alcohol.

 

Slowly I realise waking up in the morning with a clear head helps

Mornings when I wake, fresh with a clear mind, I feel enabled  to look ahead towards my day with a smile on my face. Positivity seems within my reach, it’s attainable.  Immediately it feels as though I have started my day with control and optimism. The world feels more accessible, less daunting, a world where I can make a success of my day.

 

All it takes is one good day

This slowly leads to the idea that if I can succeed and triumph within a single day,  that in turn can gradually lead to a week, a month, a year, or  dare I say, a lifetime of happiness.

The beauty of this is that all it takes is one good day. One morning, where the benefit of putting my health first, putting myself  first creates a world where I am  developing positivity. I can withstand moments of overwhelm, it becomes a world where I  can flourish.

clear mind

Editor’s Note

If you would like to find out whether alcohol is preventing you from living your best life, you’ll find our free  Sofun course helpful.

I still enjoy a nice chilled Gin & Tonic with lots of ice and a slice of cucumber

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Personal stories

A few small changes made all the difference & I still enjoy a nice chilled Gin & Tonic.

 

Know the one that’s one too many

Do you remember that campaign – ‘Know the one that’s one too many’? That was made for me. Too often a great night out with one too many Gin & Tonics would turn into a terrible next day. Days wasted to hangovers because I had gone the extra mile instead of quitting whilst I was ahead.

 

My weekends were too precious to spend in bed

I’m afraid to say that it was only age that finally helped the penny to drop for me, ultimately I felt my weekends were too precious to be lying in bed feeling sorry for myself so I made a conscious decision to limit myself to three drinks a night – if I’m staying at home it’s only two. I also decided that I would drink only at the weekend, maximum two or three nights a week.

 

I enjoy a nice chilled Gin & Tonic

Now on a Friday night I enjoy a nice chilled G &T, in a nice glass, with lots of ice, maybe a slice of cucumber if I really want to push the boat out and pretend I’m in a fancy bar.

 

Without making any sacrifices, it really has made a difference

Without making any sacrifices, it really has made a difference. I have so much more energy now at the weekends than before. If my children drag me out of bed at 7.00am it’s not as hard as it was when I was drinking more, sure I’m tired, but it passes and I can enjoy the day.

 

The big difference is in my moods

The main difference though is in my moods. I was often very irritable the day after drinking, combined with the low moods that could also accompany a binge – not fun for anyone.  Not to mention the fact that alcohol is expensive; now that I’m drinking less I have a few extra euro in the bank to treat myself to something more long lasting – clothes, make up, books.

I’m not missing out at all

So the way I see it I’m not missing out at all – making a few small changes have all added up to a big improvement in how I enjoy my life, no sacrifices required.

 

Editor’s Note

If you’re trying to cut back on your drinking, you might find our top tips  useful.

Can I moderate drinking ?

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Mental health, Personal stories

Sense of Shame

I’m incredibly passionate about living a clean existence – more so because I can still recall (with great clarity) the polar opposite: the hangovers, the awful sense of shame on particular mornings, and the secrecy, the double life I seemed to be leading sometimes. I especially remember the kernel of dread that I’d wake up with, a knot of fear in my stomach that I desperately wanted rid of but which routinely took days or even weeks to leave me.

Major blow out

I often read on Soberistas (frequently on Monday mornings) blogs that describe feelings of shame. The people who write them have typically picked up a drink over the weekend, truly believing that they will be able to stop after just a couple (haven’t we all done that?), but who have then gone on to have a major blowout. This, in turn, leads to a variety of catastrophic consequences – an angry argument, a regrettable sexual encounter, passing out in front of the kids – many of which aren’t unfamiliar to me.

One does hurt

Here’s the truth: if a person who cannot moderate comes to recognise the fact that if he or she has A drink it will inevitably lead to LOTS of drinks, then things become a whole lot easier. When that time arises, happy days – it becomes less of a struggle to stay away from booze, knowing that the stuff is likely to bring about the eruption of a sequence of disastrous events (as Robert Downey Junior once said, “I don’t drink these days. I am allergic to alcohol and narcotics. I break out in handcuffs”). The problem comes about before this epiphany occurs, when a little voice is perpetually whispering, ‘one won’t hurt’ and ‘everyone has a few too many at some point or another’.

Some people can’t moderate

A desire to drink in moderation is simply not enough for some people to actually be able to drink in moderation. And for those people, once the first drink goes down, all self-control is lost. At that stage, a person is stripped of the ability to exercise caution or good sense in whatever it is they are doing. It becomes a lottery situation, a Russian roulette of life – how bad things end up is just a matter of potluck. This is how it always was with me, never knowing where the drink would take me, almost crossing my fingers at the beginning of a night out as I prayed things wouldn’t descend too low.

Talk to others

A good starting point for reaching this point of acceptance is to talk to others who have also experienced difficulties when drinking. Whether this is at a real-life meeting or with an online group such as Soberistas, airing your thoughts and feelings about your drinking habits is a really helpful thing to do for contextualising, understanding and, finally, for beginning to resolve an alcohol dependency.

Editors Note

You might find our short audio or mini course helpful in making your decision whether to drink in moderation  or stop drinking.