Sober October 2022!
If you are committing to taking a month-long break from alcohol, recognize how rebellious an act that is, especially in a country where 85% of its population drinks. You are a rebel and a badass. Own it!
Now- and this is not meant to be discouraging- depending on how ingrained alcohol is in your daily habits and behaviors, this month might be a breeze or one helluva challenge. My goal is to guide you and alleviate lingering anxiety or self-doubt.
My weekly posts until November will be focused on helping you thrive in your Sober October challenge! We will focus on the mindset, the science, and the tactics to help begin a shift in your thinking around drinking.
No shame.
Let’s normalize breaking free from a highly toxic and addictive substance and living fully. Before October even starts, I want you to know that there is absolutely ZERO shame in taking a break from alcohol. It doesn’t mean you are broken; you are simply choosing another path.
Questioning alcohol’s role in your life doesn’t mean you are an alcoholic either. So, let’s dispense with labels.
The DSM-5 manual, used by clinicians to diagnose and classify disorders, no longer even uses the term ‘alcoholic.’ Instead, Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is used because there is a large spectrum of use, and people can be anywhere on it.
Prepare thy self.
Now is a great time to begin your mental preparation for the next month. Giving yourself a week or two of contemplation will allow your mental/emotional body to grasp the situation and cement the commitment in your mind.
Envision what October will look and feel like. See the triggers and mental barriers. See yourself navigating right through them. Run these scenarios and encapsulate them with positive feelings of success.
View it as an experiment.
I like to picture a part of me as a scientist with his white lab coat and clipboard taking notes. He calculates and tabulates incoming data from external circumstances and the resulting thoughts, feelings, and actions.
He is objective and doesn’t make any of the information mean anything about who I am or who I will be. For the scientist, it is all about uncovering the truth about myself and moving forward.
In this experiment, you are giving your body a break from alcohol and allowing yourself the opportunity to explore the areas in your life where alcohol has been a stop-gap: boredom, stress relief, fitting in, numbing, etc.
Some of your most valuable tools will be curiosity, awareness, honesty, and self-compassion for what you will uncover. Next week we will discuss a little more about these tools.
You got this!
Sober October is a great way to ring in the autumn season, and I want to be here to cheer you on in your endeavor! I look forward to the coming weeks.
P.S.
If you feel that getting coaching around reducing alcohol’s role in your life is right for you, I would be happy to offer you a free 30-minute call. You can schedule a time that works for you by clicking here. Let’s get started making alcohol an insignificant part of your life!
