How Can I Stop Drinking?

If you are asking this question, a part of you has already decided it’s time for life to change. Once you have made the decision that the negative effects of your drinking have affected your life, where do you go from there? The basic foundations of the process can work for everyone and the first step is to recognize that you are not alone.

Focus on the problem, not the symptoms

The people, places, and things in your life have all been contributing factors and identifying your triggers will help you to formulate a plan that can empower you to change. Understanding why you drink and what it accomplishes is often the first step to the self-awareness needed to evoke this change.

Identify triggers

Do you drink because you are angry, lonely, sad, or self-conscious? Do you drink because this has been the way to connect with your friends or spouse and when did this become the norm? Do you drink because your family members did? Or, do you drink because you battle with emotional pain or mental illness that has been haunting you for as long as you can remember?

Become Self-Aware

The shame, guilt, and disappointment you see in yourself and others over time becomes unmanageable and the realization that you are “sick and tired of being sick and tired” propels you to do something different.

Maybe you have come to a realization that you are deserving and worthy of happiness and peace in your life, or some event has occurred to inspire and motivate change. Regardless of the reason, the solution is the same: Connecting with the recovery community and seek professional help.

Connect With a Supportive Community

Being involved in the recovery community allows you to meet and interact with others that suffer from and understand your pain. The lifelong support received is then reciprocated when you begin to help others. Seeking the support and guidance from Addictions Counsellors and Therapists helps you to sort out the underlying issues you have been struggling with, or are often not aware of, and offer you a safe place to explore the emotional pain.

Only One Thing Is Required

Whether you choose Residential Treatment or Outpatient Services, a commitment to yourself to want something different is ALL that is required.

Embracing and loving yourself, exactly as you are, and doing the best that you can at the time, allows you to accept your flaws and the flaws of others to begin the journey of forgiveness.

Recovery can start at any moment of your life. The key is to remember that Recovery never stops. Your journey to reclaim yourself, your hopes and dreams, continues each and every day and your message of hope will be shared with others in the process.

Article written by Brenda Dilello, Supervisor of Residential Treatment at Aurora Recovery Centre, and originally appeared on aurorarecoverycentre.com.