Quitting Alcohol: Today I Will be Lied To (A Letter)
Cravings must be one of the scariest things when considering quitting alcohol and they bring up many questions. What triggers them? How long do they last? How do I manage them? Whilst there are a whole host of different triggers I want to give you one tool that may help you when you are tootling along minding your own business, and a craving comes and slaps you square in the face! A letter to remind you.
With cravings and triggers it is always definitely useful to remind yourself why you are quitting alcohol, and in fact is one of my top tips. But alcohol is a cunning scumbag and it knows that the person you are in the morning, the ‘I am definitely not drinking tonight kind of guy’ is not the person you will become in the afternoon as thoughts of ‘Oh well maybe just a couple…’ pop in your mind.
Writing a letter when you are the normal morning person as a reminder to the afternoon beer monster is a great way of giving yourself the kick up the arse you need to realise that alcohol is playing with your mind. It is lying to you.
After a recent exchange with a member of my Facebook group I received an example of such a letter, to read in the afternoon/evening to warn yourself as to what will happen. To warn the ‘other’ you, the you that is completely disconnected from the ‘morning, best intentions’ you, the you that becomes completely deceived as to how this will play out if you drink again. I have adapted it to suit our needs (reading this) and it reads as follows:
Dear Darren,
You already know that you become a totally different person in the afternoon, someone else even, as you start to become deceived, about how the nights drinking will in fact be pleasurable, only to realise the exact opposite as you head into, or out of black out. You are now reading this as the ‘other’ you, however at the time of writing by the real you, the ‘morning’ you… You knew the truth about alcohol and the truth about having one or two drinks, and where it would lead. Darren, you are being lied to!
Later Today, I will be lied to!
I am writing to you with sincerity and honesty as an old friend and I have known you for a very long time. I know many of your ways. I say many, as I’m still learning things about you. I know all your secrets, your fears, your inner desires, your ideas, your strengths, and weaknesses.
At some stage later today, usually later in the afternoon, a foreign voice, will start to communicate with you and undermine your reasons for quitting alcohol. Rest assured, it’s not your voice, it’s not even you, it has zero regard for you, or your wellbeing. It wants to trick you like a virus in your brain. The voice is the ‘Demon drink’, the ‘Wine witch, the ‘Alcohol beast’ or the ‘Darkness’. It has many names, and it is certainly not your friend. Friends don’t try and alter your correct thought process’, friends are not out to deceive and destroy you or put falseness in your mind. The lies you hear sound so convincing like “You deserve it”, “You’re never going to stop”, “Think of the buzz that you love”, “Something to look forward to” and the classic “You’ve had a hard day, why not”?
It also has another tool in its bag of tricks. It has no memory whatsoever, that’s why you recognise that it’s not you. You have a memory, yet it alters your good sense. It is a virus that has infected your brain and it will try to erase all bad memories and many accounts of failure, pain, shame, and regret. No memory of the countless promises you made to yourself or of your precious time wasted drinking and then sleeping it off. No account for loss of health, vitality, and a spark for life. No memory of your atrocious behaviour, irritability, bad temper, or depressed state. No memory of your low esteem for days after.
For these reasons, I beg of you, because I know the real you:
It’s not you. You love you, you have respect, this devil does not. Today, you will be lied to. Make no mistake about that. You must recognise this beast, overcome the questions in your mind from this trickery and stop believing the lies.
Today I ask you not to drink… Please!
Why not copy this, adapt it for yourself and use it.
All the best… Darren
