Think Drink

You will be thinking about drinking quite a lot over the first few weeks but it is what you think that makes the difference. I remember on one of my many attempts to abstain for a week, all I could think about was drink and the day I could start drinking again. I felt miserable and deprived and had a mental tantrum all week. Thinking about drinking was not the problem; it was how I was thinking. When I did finally stop completely I also thought about drinking but did so from a new perspective . I did not have a mental tantrum and was not staying in and complaining. Every time I thought about drinking I was elated to be free and couldn’t wait to go out and prove, not only to myself but to the world, that I did not need alcohol.

A very common mistake that people make when attempting to kick the drink is trying not to think of alcohol or worrying about it if they are. Have you ever tried to do that? Have you ever tried not to think of something? It is impossible. The fact that you are trying not to means that you are thinking about it. Let me try an experiment. Try not to think of Michael Jackson. What are you thinking about right now? The point I’m making is that you will think about alcohol after you stop but it really is only what you think that makes the difference. Do you believe that Nelson Mandela never thought about the prison he was in for twenty-seven years after he was released? Of course he did. In fact he

probably thought about it a lot more during the first few weeks after his release but does it mean that if he thought about it he must have secretly missed it? Of course not. Do you believe he ever thought, ‘Oh I’d love to go back there, just for my birthday; what a shame I can’t’? You must be joking! Especially if he knew that, if he did, it would be to spend the rest of his life there. Every time he thought about prison it must have been ‘Isn’t it wonderful, I’m free’ and sheer relief to know that he was no longer being controlled but in control.

That is exactly how I think about alcohol now and I think about alcohol a lot, as you can imagine. It’s the nature of what I do and it is my mission to cure the world of this disease but I never think I’m missing out, therefore I never have a problem. I am just so grateful that I saw it when I did and that I am now in control every day. To think that I am missing out now, I would have to lie to myself and convince myself that I was being deprived. That would be impossible because I understand the con and, once you know how any trick works, you will never be able to believe the illusion again. Nobody could ever convince me otherwise as, once you know the truth, you cannot be fooled.

As I explained in the chapter on advertising, it would be almost impossible to forget alcohol. It is the most advertised and accepted drug in the world and at the moment around 80 per cent of people in the UK alone are hooked. It is the attitude towards drinking that is the key to success in giving it up. Seeing it for what

it actually is acts as a wonderful reminder of just how relieved you will feel to be free.

If you think about alcohol over the first few weeks, does it matter? You were thinking about alcohol a lot more than you realised anyway. I will repeat this a thousand times. Alcohol addicts, whether consciously or not, have to exercise willpower, discipline and some degree of control most of the time. It is only certain restrictions that prevent them from increasing their intake and making their descent to the bottom slightly slower. The rate of descent will vary from one drinker to the next because of the restrictions they impose and their body’s ability to cope with the poisonous drug. However , they are all going in one direction … down.

I think about heroin sometimes as it is frequently mentioned in the news. I simply think what a shame it is for those poor addicts. That is exactly how I think about alcohol now. I feel even sadder when I realise that most people are unaware of the fact that they are sinking and when I think about alcohol now it’s ‘How come I didn’t see it earlier as it is all so obvious?’ Alcohol is a drug like any other and, once you see it for what it is and are relieved to be free, it would not matter if you thought about alcohol twenty-four hours a day as you would still be happy.

Another big mistake people make when they stop drinking is that they try to avoid …