Sometimes, when you’re trying to quit drinking, the voice in your head can get really loud. So I send out free one minute audio messages of encouragement (and ass-kicking) to anyone who wants them. This is a transcript of One Minute Message #016.
016. Patience
One of the reasons we drink
is because we are looking for an Off button.
We have busy brains,
we run ourselves ragged
we get overwhelmed,
we want to find some way to make it stop.
The problem with using an anesthetic
which is what alcohol is—
the problem with using an anesthetic to make things stop
is that you make everything stop
both the good and the bad.
It shuts down happiness
as well as sadness.
You might think it’s smoothing over grief or shame
but in fact, it smooths over pride and self-esteem.
In searching for an Off button,
to reach for alcohol
creates another problem.
It’s not that we don’t need an Off button,
it’s that we’re reaching for the wrong tool.
What you’re doing now is you are learning new ways
of finding an Off button.
And, you’re being patient with yourself
While you figure it out
*listen to the free one minute messages (there are 200+), by logging into your gumroad library here. if you haven’t signed up for the one minute messages before, you can do that here (you only need to sign up once and then you get access to all of the OMMs).