No one starts out drinking with the intention of becoming addicted
Most of us start wanting what everyone wants, to be comfortable and have some fun.
Only it doesn’t work out that way.
Does it?
What starts out as fun becomes less rewarding as time goes by.
Its actually nature’s way of trying to keep balance and keep you from harm.
Your first drink floods your system with a rush of dopamine, maybe 2x to 10x the normal amount which makes you feel great.
But the body shuts down the dopamine produced to try to maintain balance. You end up getting less and less effect.
But your brain remembers that feeling and says
“I can cut straight to the good feeling with this simple little thing.”
How many times have you boarded this train?
Some simple math is frightening.
Say you’ve been drinking for just 5 years,
many have been drinking longer!
Perhaps you drink 350 times a year x 5= 1750 times over 5 years.
That’s 3,500 times over a decade that you have boarded this train.
The actual pleasure linked with the behavior gets less and less, BUT
The memory of the desired effect and the need to recreate it, the wanting or craving persists.
Those 1,000s of lessons you have given your brain is the track you keep following
Until you create a new track.
You need to rewire your brain, or to use jargon, you need to create new pathways.
You do the simple math and figure out how many times you have given this lesson to your brain.
The pleasure is long gone, but the craving is still there.
This is the BIG MONSTER Allen Carr refers to that has to be battled with.
The good news is that it’s not forever.
It’s no wonder you get onto this train and why you can’t “just stop drinking”
You are addicted to a very addictive substance, surprise, surprise it’s become a problem.
It’s not surprising at all, is it?
Your brain wants to jump on the addiction train.
What we don’t realize, until it’s too late, is that is that we have boarded a train that will not let us off!!
Step 1 of the 7 Easy Steps to Sobriety (see the Free Resources Library if you don’t have a copy yet) is REALISATION
When you say to yourself
“I have to stop getting on this damn train”
This is the time to reach out to get some help and support.
Each time you refuse to get on that train you get stronger.
You lay a new track/pathway and that takes time.
I got off this train in October 2021
You’ve got questions
I’ve got answers
Your life will become richer and will change in so many ways that the ride on that train will become meaningless.
Inspired by “We Are the Luckiest” by Laura McKowen
