Day 16
“I discovered I always have choices
and sometimes it’s only a choice of attitude.”
-Judith M. Knowlton
Today it is time to explore the traps surrounding that “just one drink thinking.” These are some ways past students have gotten themselves back into drinking too much. Hopefully, you will look ahead for these traps and won’t fall into them.
One common trap is too much confidence. When the craving to get drunk seems to go away, you start to feel like alcohol was not that big of deal. After all, you think, one drink or two would satisfy you now. What harm could there be?
A second trap is feeling sorry for yourself. You find things don’t seem to be going your way. You’re feeling badly and looking for something to give you a lift. You may begin to dwell on your drinking friends and the “fun” times. Suddenly, all of the good memories come back about drinking (none of the bad ones, just the good ones). It seems like having a drink is the answer.
A third trap involves a crisis. Perhaps you have a failed an important exam or maybe a loved one or good friend dies. It is usually some kind of difficult event that causes you to want to feel “good” in the hope that it will somehow ease the pain. You take a drink, though it doesn’t really help you deal with the crisis. You have now gone back to drinking and experience feelings of guilt and more pain which makes things worse than they were.
If you see these traps coming, you can prepare for them and reach your goal. Keep up the good work.