5 Creative Ways to Quit Drinking Alcohol
If you have drinking problems, the struggle to quit alcohol can be overwhelming. The first step to quit is to recognize and accept that you have an addiction to alcohol. Simple as it may seem, this is usually that hardest part. People with drinking problems are more often on a denial that they have alcohol problems. The denial becomes even deeper when family and friends recommend that you undergo alcohol rehab centers. Alcoholics often brush it off as a ridiculous idea. They would often explain that they have full control of themselves and are just having a drink to enjoy themselves or momentarily feel good. Persuading an alcoholic to undergo treatment is one of the most difficult things to do unless the concerned person finally commits a major accident and the courts of law would force them to go for rehab. Before that happens, there are creative ways to help quit drinking alcohol.
Get Support for Yourself
Getting support for yourself means sticking to the people around you who have been convincing you that you have a drinking problem and are taking you into getting into an alcohol rehab center. These are the people who truly care and may include your family i.e. parents, siblings, and friends. In short, this means heeding their call for you to get help and getting it from them. This can be done in creative ways such as by always visiting them and having meaningful talks with them. Conversation with the people who are about your condition will help enlighten you better about your problem. You will realize that as a person, you are not only who you think you are. What others see in you and think about you also forms an integral component of your whole personality.
Talking with people who care about you also helps builds character for our own personal growth, which often than not fades away when you’re drunk. Contrary to the thought that alcohol removes inhibitions for a more in-depth and honest talk, alcohol actually prevents meaningful exchange because some people who you talk to might see you terrifying or out of your mind.
Conversations with the people who loves you and gives you support also allow you to reclaim lost time with them. In this way, you get to understand them better and build better, stronger and deeper relationships with them.
Getting support for yourself from your family and friends will, in turn, help you get support from with yourself. If you finally get support from the people who care, you will gain strength to help yourself as well.
In contrast, people who have drinking problems usually feel alienated from their families and loved ones. Some families become fed up and just give up on the alcoholic person that they abandon them. And as the alcoholic becomes more distant from his or her natural social support, he or she delves deeper into the problem of alcoholism.
Stay Away from your former drinking buddies
In getting closer to the people who are against your drinking, it goes without saying that you should simultaneously avoid the people or your friends who tolerated your drinking or have pushed you down to your current condition. Although this is easier said than done because your circle of friends is where your life usually revolves around, it is nevertheless a tough decision to do else you will end up in the gutter. It is not creative, but it is a necessity nonetheless.
Your drinking buddies actually constitute your friends with whom you share the common goal of getting crazy drunk together. While some of them may also be alcoholics or not, it is better to avoid them. You will recognize these drinking buddies who still force you to drink even if you have already said “no” to them. Your true friend would recognize that you have a drinking problem and would know your limits and tell you when to stop or advise you to get into an alcohol rehab center.
Find support networks from other organizations
After you have lost your friends, you should not isolate yourself and succumb to loneliness. Nor should you limit yourself to only talking to family or friends who support against your alcoholism. If you don’t want to find a peer in alcohol rehab centers, you can opt to find a support network by doing volunteer work or joining clubs or organizations where you can build new friends. For instance, you can join animal rescue shelters. You can get into the office by helping with general administrative assistance or you have even got yourself a pet like a dog or a cat, with which you can have as a companion in your struggle against alcohol addiction. The good thing with animals as a companion is that they are loyal and always by your side no matter what.
Another place to form your new circle of friends is by joining clubs with environmental advocacy such as national park cleaners, habitat for humanity, tree planning. These are activities or volunteer work where you can find great people to be friends with because of their noble advocacies.
Depending on your preference or predilections in life, you can opt to join different clubs or organizations to find social support for your struggle. If you have an innate love for books, you can volunteer in the local library and pursue your love for book reading. In case you have a knack for the arts, you can join an art museum and be a tour guide or simply be knowledgeable about arts. Finally, another area to craft a new circle of friends is by joining political campaigns. You help distribute fliers, answer calls or be part of organizing events. Public service is an area where you can get to meet a lot of people who may need your help.
Engage in Healthy Activities
One creative way to quit alcohol is to engage in healthy activities to make yourself physically fit. One’s physical wellbeing affects one’s psychological health. This can be done by performing regular exercises or joining hiking clubs. It must be noted that doing physical activities is very difficult in the beginning. You can start by simply getting up every morning and taking a short morning walk. And as it becomes your normal routine, you can now progress to jogging longer and engaging in workouts. In time, you can also enroll in a gym class and get serious with workouts. Physical activity is a program that is usually a component of alcohol rehab centers.
Another healthy activity that you can enjoy is cooking. Cooking is an art and a skill which you can easily learn simply by watching YouTube. Instead of relying on someone to cook or depending on fast food, you can instead make it a part of your life to prepare meals for you or your family. Learning how to cook is an important skill which can, in fact, open you to a new career or help you open up a new business endeavor. In case you want to go further, you can opt to enroll in a culinary arts school and become an expert cook or chef. As a person with a drinking problem, it will not only allow you to follow a nutritious diet which is an important way to overcome an unhealthy lifestyle, but it will help you quit drinking.
Get yourself a productive hobby
One of the biggest problems of people with drinking problems is finding a resource that will keep their mind busy. An idle mind is a devil’s playground. Hence, a person who is not busy especially an alcoholic will spend his time and energy into thinking of getting a drink. To prevent this, you should keep yourself busy by engaging in productive hobbies.
Gardening is one hobby that will keep yourself busy. While some people may have been gifted with a green thumb, not having one should not preclude you from planting or gardening. Gardening involves simple skills that can be learned or self-taught via the internet. Aside from making yourself busy, the beauty of gardening is it allows you to be a creator. You are able to create life, which is rather fulfilling. Moreover, your garden not only keeps yourself busy, makes your place more beautiful and appealing but it also helps society as your green plants help absorb carbon emissions to make your community fresh, green and more environmentally friendly.
If you are into visual arts, you can engage in a hobby like photography or painting. This allows you to see the beauty of the environment as well as artificial creations which in turn can help you see the beauty inside you that alcohol can damage or destroy. There are also clubs involved in photography which you can join and where you can build friends. Photography and painting are also ways for you to express yourself including your inner repressed thoughts.
Finally, another productive hobby is writing. Writing allows you to express yourself and document your journey to quit alcohol and become sober. In fact, many alcohol rehab centers use writing or diary making as part of their program to help people with drinking problems cope with their conditions and their problems. You can write a personal diary for your own viewing or start an online blog to document your struggle and journey. Who knows you are also helping others who are suffering from alcoholism to combat their own demons.
