Fifty ways to change your drinking
Free, practical help if alcohol is getting in the way of your life. Written by Georgia Powell, an accredited counsellor who spent years working in alcohol services, from what people she worked with found actually helped.
Start anywhere on the trail
Each number is one way to change your drinking. Pick one that looks doable today.
- Way 1: Decide your goal: stop or cut down
- Way 2: Set goals you can reach
- Way 3: Find your own reasons to change
- Way 4: Keep a drinking diary
- Way 5: Write down how you feel
- Way 6: Tell your story to yourself
- Way 7: Look honestly at your relationships
- Way 8: Notice where you don't drink
- Way 9: Work out what drinking costs you
- Way 10: Eat well
- Way 11: Reward yourself for not drinking
- Way 12: Look after your own needs
- Way 13: Get moving
- Way 14: Sort out your sleep
- Way 15: Try meditation
- Way 16: Get professional help
- Way 17: Detox safely
- Way 18: Ask about medication
- Way 19: Be careful with herbal remedies
- Way 20: Know what complementary therapies can and can't do
- Way 21: Find out what rehab involves
- Way 22: Have a health check
- Way 23: Let friends and family help
- Way 24: Check how alcohol mixes with your medicines
- Way 25: Find other ways to handle stress
- Way 26: Try a support group
- Way 27: Read some self-help
- Way 28: Don't isolate yourself
- Way 29: Choose lower-strength drinks
- Way 30: Change how you drink
- Way 31: Start later in the day
- Way 32: Drink slowly
- Way 33: Don't buy in bulk
- Way 34: Measure every drink
- Way 35: Use pub tactics
- Way 36: Drop the denial
- Way 37: Take responsibility
- Way 38: Practise saying no
- Way 39: Think flexibly
- Way 40: Take back control
- Way 41: Keep busy
- Way 42: Do more of what makes you happy
- Way 43: List your good points
- Way 44: Move on from guilt
- Way 45: Appreciate your life
- Way 46: Let go of the 'addictive personality' label
- Way 47: Treat a relapse as a lesson
- Way 48: Ride out cravings
- Way 49: Don't fear being boring
- Way 50: Ask yourself the miracle question
- Facing the problem (1 to 9)
- Getting ready (10 to 15)
- Help and treatment (16 to 28)
- Cutting down (29 to 35)
- Thinking differently (36 to 50)
Where are you right now?
- I think I might be drinking too muchUnits, warning signs and an honest look at your drinking
- I want to cut downSeven practical ways to drink less, starting tonight
- I want to stop completelyHow to tell if it's safe to stop, and how to get support
- I've stopped and I'm finding it hardCravings, slips and staying on track
- I'm worried about someone elseHow to help them, and how to look after yourself
Before you stop: is it safe?
If you drink every day, or you get shaky, sweaty, sick or anxious when you go without a drink, do not stop suddenly. Alcohol withdrawal can cause fits and can be life-threatening. Talk to your GP or local alcohol service first. They can help you cut down or stop safely.
Why do I drink?
It's a simple question with complicated answers. Alcohol works, at first. It relaxes you, takes the edge off worry, makes you feel more sociable or more yourself. That's exactly why it becomes a habit: you feel stressed, bored or anxious, you reach for a drink, and it helps for a while.
But the relief doesn't last. Over time you need more to get the same effect, and drinking starts causing the very problems it once helped you forget: poor sleep, low mood, arguments, money worries, feeling ill. Many heavy drinkers find alcohol has become the cause of their problems, while they still see the problems as the reason to drink.
Am I an alcoholic?
That label isn't much use, and most people don't want it. Some people in Alcoholics Anonymous use it to mean their drinking has become unmanageable. Others are what's sometimes called a "functioning" drinker: still working and paying the bills, but dependent on alcohol to get through the day.
What matters more is whether drinking is causing you problems, and whether you'd like things to change. Only you can decide that. It's often the moment you realise you're tired of feeling low, ill and unproductive, and that this now outweighs what you get from a drink.
There is a way out
Lots of people change their drinking. Some stop completely; some cut down. Their sleep, health, relationships and hope for the future improve. It isn't easy, and stopping is often the easy bit compared with staying stopped. But with a goal, a plan and some support, your chances are much better.
This site gives you fifty ways to start. You don't need all of them. Find two or three that fit your life, and begin.