How To Stop Drinking Alcohol On Your Own!

The majority of clients that we see in  our office are able to stop drinking   all on their own without having to go  to like big time treatment like 30 60 or   90 day treatment I'm talking about the vast  majority of clients that come to our office   and honestly it's not that complicated and I'm  going to tell you how to do it in this video for those of you who are new here  welcome to put the shovel down   I'm Amber Hollandsworth and this YouTube  channel all about helping you understand   the science and psychology of addiction so  you can get your family and your life back   on track get back out there and  live the life that you want to live I want you to know you are not powerless  you do not have to hit rock bottom and   there are many things you can do to help  an addictive loved one if you want to be   back in control of your life subscribe  to this channel and I'll make sure   you are always five steps ahead of addiction  and don't forget hit the little bell if you want access to the bonus episodes now when it comes to quitting alcohol the  very first thing you need to think about   is whether or not you need like a medical  detox from the alcohol because believe it   or not stopping alcohol cold Turkey is  one of the more dangerous things to stop   so before you implement any of the other  techniques that I'm about to tell you   it really is important to have a good  thorough like assessment medical assessment for can you stop drinking especially if you've  been drinking daily for quite a long time and   you haven't gotten more than a couple of days  sober in a really long time that's when I think   it's important to get one of these evaluations  now I'll link up a video at the end of this video   that talks more on how to know whether you need  that medical detox or whether you can skip it but once you have that  figured out here are the key   pieces to doing this on your own without  going to like big cat daddy treatment   the first thing that I want you to do is I  want you to do everything you can to make   drinking a non option so let's talk about ways  in order to do that what do I mean by non-option I mean make it easier on yourself for  example one really obvious thing is   take the alcohol out of your house now  if someone else in your house drinks I   still say take the alcohol out of your house at  least for the first little while and probably   eventually after you're stopped for quite some  time that's not going to bother you anymore if someone else has a drink every now and then  but in the beginning I want you to remove it   because you just don't need that temptation  you'll be trying to sleep in your bed at night   and you'll hear the beer bottles  in the fridge talking to you and   you sleep and you're going to think it going  crazy so just make it easier and take it out now I know you can always go to the store and  get more cuz a lot of families say well they   can get it if they want it and I say well that's  totally true but in your own home you should be   able to kind of relax and be comfortable and  not have to have your guard up all the time   take it out now the next thing you need to do in  order to take off the option of drinking alcohol   is tell the really important people around  you that you're not gonna be drinking anymore   because that way if you're at a restaurant with  a friend or you're hanging out at a work function   and the temptation is there if  there's someone there that knows that you're not supposed to be drinking then  you're less likely to cave into that pressure   and again it makes it easier now this third  way of taking alcohol off the table is probably   the most effective way and  that is actually to use a   sober link now you may have heard me talk  about Soberlink before for two reasons one because they sponsored this channel and two  because I freaking love Soberlink we have been   using sober links in our office since way  before we had a YouTube channel way before   they sponsored us and I am a huge fan in fact  most of the people that come see me for alcohol   this is one of the big reasons why they're  able to stop without having to go away so you're thinking well what the heck is a  Soberlink a sober Soberlink is an alcohol   monitoring device it's a breathalyzer but not  just any breathalyzer it's a fancy sophisticated   kind of breathalyzer what happens is you  can set up a schedule for when you want to   be tested so for example for clients who come  to my office we decide on a schedule of tests usually they get tested about three times a  day I'm not trying to catch them I'm trying   to prevent them so they know when the tests  are coming usually first thing in the morning   somewhere in the middle and last thing before  bed and when they're supposed to take these   tests they actually get a text message reminder 15  minutes before they're supposed to take the test it says Hey you have a test at  six o'clock or whatever time you   and your support person has come  up with for you to take the test   and then you usually have like an hour window  after that so I know if you're worrying like   what if I'm in a meeting what if I can't  like what if I'm in the middle of something they text you 15 minutes before  and you have a whole hour after   so you really have like an hour and  15 minutes before you're even late so   it's completely doable in fact I've had  a lot of really high level professionals   use Soberlink and the people around them never  even knew it's about the size of your cell phone it comes in a case that kind of looks like fancy  sunglasses case so if you had it like sitting in   your car or something or in your pocketbook no  one's really going to think a lot about it now   let me tell you why I think this is so effective  number one you have these scheduled test number   two it has facial recognition software in it kind  of like your phone won't open without your face when you first get a Soberlink it takes your  picture they call that the master picture   and it matches up makes sure it's you taking it so  you can't sneak around get someone else to take it   do something sneaky by having  some kind of other air source   blowing into it none of that  just forget it I've seen it all it's not going to work so it kind of makes it full  proof now if you miss your test or you're late or   you get a positive your support person can get a  text message show in the case of my clients those   messages usually come to me and sometimes even  to another person like um their sponsor recovery   coach or family member if they so choose you can  set up that accountability however works best now really really the reason why this is so  effective is that it makes drinking a non-option   it doesn't leave room for all those sneaky little  thoughts like well my spouse is gonna be gone from   the house for a couple hours I can drink just  one she'll never know to be out of my system   or um I'm out for a business lunch meeting  you know my it's not gonna hurt anything you know all those little sneaky thoughts it  kind of does away with it because you're not   going to get away with it so why do it people that  use Soberlink is actually a thousand times easier   because you make the decision one time which is  the time when you make the decision you're on the   Soberlink and then the decision's made you don't  have to fight for yourself a thousand times a day   doing this whole back and forth thing where  you feel like you're white-knuckling at it simply makes it a non-option  which is why it makes it a bazillion   times easier so remember do anything you  can to make drinking alcohol a non-option   don't have it around you tell the people  that are important to you and close to   you that you're not drinking and even  go to the links of getting a Soberlink I'm telling you without the Soberlink  so many of my clients would've ended   up having to go away to the treatment  they would've to take off time from work   miss school be away from family all that  stuff and because of that cuz they've   done these things that I'm telling  you they're able to do it on their now another piece to this idea of how to  quit drinking alcohol all on your own is   you have to stop trying to convince  yourself that you can drink differently   what I mean by that well if you're like an old  school you're ever into 12 steps or something then   what you would say here is it's not manageable it's unmanageable when you start drinking  it doesn't end so stop trying to convince   yourself that you can somehow do it differently  as you can just drink beer and not hard liquor   or you can just drink on the weekends or you can  just drink on special occasions like vacations   or you won't drink more than  three or four or whatever it is how many times have you done that already  a lot I know you're not watching this video   without having done all that already  right you've got to this point you've   tried to cut it back you've tried to  manage it I'm certain of it it's just   not gonna work now I'm not telling  you it will never work ever at all not even one time yeah you may be  able to manage it a time or two   but eventually, what happens it  always gets back outta control   so you have got to rid yourself of the sneaky  thought of trying to do it manageably trying   to keep it into your life but not have all the  problems it just flat out ain't going to happen that is the biggest reason why most people have a  hard time stopping alcohol not because they can't   stop but because they kind of like convince  themselves this time will be different and   it pretty much always ends the same how many  of you have tried to manage it cut it back   do all those things I call it bargaining how many of you have tried that  what have you tried has it worked   let me know in the comments because maybe  someone else reading those comments you   can help them avoid the pain and mistake  of making the ones you've already made   moving on our list you have figured out whether  or not you need a detox you have taken alcohol out of the equation, it is now a non-option you  have decided for sure that you are not going to   convince yourself that you can just drink  a little because you've tried that and it   hasn't worked now the next thing I want you  to do is I want you to change your habits   now this one may seem kind of like simple and  silly but this one is actually super helpful if you always stop and buy alcohol at the  store on the way home from work go a different   way home from work doesn't stop at the  gas station where you always stopped and   got it or the liquor store or wherever it  was if you always sat down on after work   watch basketball and drink don't come home  from work and sit down and watch basketball if there's a high-risk time where you normally  would drink make sure you plan an activity for   during that time the reason is that it's become  such a habit and we have all experienced this   before we don't even mean to be drinking  but we get into this sort of set routine   where we're kind of like an autopilot and the  next thing you know we're just back doing it not because we wanted to because like literally  we just did it on autopilot and we completely   blanked out and then you're like what the heck am  I doing another way this is helpful is by changing   all those little day-to-day habits you actually  are less likely to trigger cravings because when   you do all the things you used to do that were  associated with alcohol it triggers more cravings so then again changing all this makes  it easier let me tell you this story   about how this has worked for a client of just  here recently so this client who came in um   I'm going to say like a little bit over a year ago  and he had really kind of hit the wall with his   wife I mean it was kind of like either you get it  under control and you stop this mess or you're out so he knew he had reached the point of some  decision-making by the time he came to my   office he was like you know what I have to  stop doing this is silly I'm going to lose my   whole family what can I do and I talked to him  about doing these exact things I'm telling you   now in his case we determined that he probably  didn't need detox cuz he was already like four or   five days sober before he came in to see me which  told me he was kind of outta that detox window but what he did do is he decided okay I will  do all the other things that you're telling me   to do I'll change my routines and habits I'll  get a sober link I'll let people around me know   that I'm not going to drink  anymore and you know what   that person has not had a drink  since they stepped foot in my office they've literally just celebrated their one  year and everything in their life is better   their relationship's better their work is better  their relationship with their kids is better   they feel about a thousand times better  they have more energy and motivation   they're looking forward to things  they get excited about things their whole life is different and the biggest  reason is is that this person was willing to   make these changes and they're not even that huge  of changes but if you're willing to do these small   things the chances that you're gonna have success  go way way up now the last thing I wanna tell you   about how to get sober and stay sober all on your  own is that I want you to stay focused on what you   do want because you're sobriety and don't let  your mind go into the deep dark rabbit hole of what you can't have or what other people are  doing let me tell you what alcohol is a poison   and it doesn't serve anyone well I promise  you and if you put it in your body long enough   it's going to cause you problems it is  literally poisoning your body so don't   allow yourself to have this thought of like  why me or why can everybody else do this and I can't instead of thinking about what  you can't have it's much more effective to   think about what you want instead you want to feel  better when you wake up you want to have a better   relationship with someone in your life you want  your career to take off maybe you want to lose   a little weight or something but focus on what  you want from this decision not what you don't   want and not only what make it a lot easier but  you'll feel a lot happier in the process as always I'm going to put links in the description  for you for additional resources including   Soberlink if you want to check that  out and up I'm going to put this   video up here for you about do you  need detox or you don't need detox   not only that but the entire playlist focus  on alcohol I'd like to send a big heart bet thanks to all of you who help support this  channel your likes shares and donations are   helping us spread the message of recovery  and without you, this wouldn't be possible   now this next video has been  hand-selected to go right along with   this one and don't forget to check the  description for additional resources

Channel: Put The Shovel Down

Views: 247,991

Keywords: put the shovel down, hope for families recovery consultants, amber hollingsworth, addiction, addiction recovery, family recovery, put down the shovel, amber Hollingsworth videos, how to stop drinking, how to stop drinking alcohol, stop drinking alcohol

Id: UCrNLs5zbXA

Length: 13min 41sec (821 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 06 2022