What Will This Look Like in 10 Years?
A few years ago, as a woman in my mid-40s, I naturally started taking inventory of my life. I started asking myself questions about where I was and where I wanted to be. I was exactly where I wanted to be in many areas of life. One area I was not happy with was my drinking. The questions that kept popping into my head were “What will this look like in 10 years? In 20 years? In 30 years?” “What will this do to my health? My brain? My relationships?” “Where am I going with this?” And the answer that I knew deep down inside was “Nowhere good”. Here are a few thoughts on the question that saved my life.
Progression, habits + what you're used to
Alcohol addiction is progressive 📈
Alcohol is an addictive substance. “Drinking too much regularly for an extended period or binge drinking regularly can lead to alcohol-related problems or alcohol use disorder.” (mayoclinic.org) And before you say, “I'm not addicted”, the definition of addiction is continued use despite harm. Addiction is a spectrum - it's shades of gray. Has being hungover caused you to miss out on an event you wanted/needed to go to (like work, an outing with your kids, or a party)? Has drinking too much caused you to say something you wish you could take back? I thought about what my drinking looked like, added thoughts of addiction + progression, and decided I didn't want to find out what it would look like down the road. That being said, I didn't stop drinking that day, or even that year. But that's a topic for another newsletter 😉
Habits are unconscious 🤔
If you attach an alcoholic drink to a certain time of day (coming home from work, starting dinner, putting the kids to bed), that's a habit. Our brain likes habits because they require us to use less mental energy - we're on autopilot. If you're habitually/unconsciously pouring yourself a drink at the same time each day, watch yourself. Has that drink gotten bigger? Has it become 2, 3, or 4? Even if your habit stays at 1 drink a day, this episode from Dr. Andrew Huberman's podcast will explain what that does to your brain and body. Looking at my drinking through the lens of progression and habit, I was able to decide it was a habit I wanted to break.
What you're used to
Life gets busy and sometimes we're just trying to make it through the day, the week, or the year. Habits are formed and we live on auto-pilot. You might pour a drink each night because that's what you do. You might get together with friends on the weekend and drink so much you're hungover the next day because that's what you do. Being hungover might lead to an argument with your partner or yelling at your kids because that's what happens. Sometimes it's hard to step outside of what we're used to and see life as it is, or as it could be. A break from alcohol is a good opportunity to do just that.
