EPISODE 8: The Real Reason You Keep Reaching for a Drink - It's Not What You Think - Dry July, No Drama

Dry July, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol EPISODE 8: The Real Reason You Keep Reaching for a Drink - It's Not What You Think - Dry July, No Drama You have heard of fight, flight and freeze - the nervous system safety responses. There is a fourth: fawning - or masking. And alcohol is the biggest mask of them all. The body and brain very quickly learn that drinking allows us to mask and pretend to be the human that society told us we should be - rather than the human we actually are. This is one of the most overlooked reasons people struggle to cut back on drinking. I hear this from clients all the time: I don't know why I drink. I know it's hurting me but I just keep choosing it. Like children, people do well when they can. When they feel safe to. These are not moral failings. They are very valid reasons for reaching for a drink: Not feeling confident socially without the bravado barrier of wine An inner critic that makes being with yourself feel unbearable Needing to push through exhaustion and overwhelm Drinking as the only way to give yourself permission to stop and rest This is grey area drinking at its core - and it is far more common than anyone talks about. The job here is not to solve any of this tonight. It is simply to notice - and to hold yourself with the same compassion you would give a scared child. That is where the freedom begins. This episode is part of Dry July, No Drama - a daily MidlifeAF podcast mini series with tips for cutting back on alcohol without willpower, labels or forever. My Grounding Audio will help you identify the unmet need underneath the craving before it reaches for a drink. See links below:  FREE TOOLS - four beautiful resources to help you drink less and feel fabulous:  1. 7 Steps to Take Back Control of Alcohol - the exact steps I took when I started out on this journey nearly five years ago. hoperisingcoaching.com/7-steps 2. Awareness Worksheets - if you do nothing else, working through the answers to these questions will change your relationship with alcohol for the better. hoperisingcoaching.com/awareness-worksheets-opt-in 3. Your North Star Visualisation - stops your brain freaking out about doing something unfamiliar. hoperisingcoaching.com/northstarvisualisation 4. Grounding Meditation - you know that feeling when you have a drink and the body goes "aaaaaaaahhhhhhh" and everything seems to relax? What the body really needs is to ground - to come back home to self, and for self to feel lovely. That is what we work on in my live programs. We start every session with a grounding and connect with ourselves to find out what our body really needs when it thinks it wants to drink. hoperisingcoaching.com/grounding READY TO GO DEEPER?  Ready to make alcohol a non-issue? Watch my free one-hour masterclass: 5 Surprising Ways Taking a Break from Booze Can Be Effortless and Change Your Life. One hour. Five shifts. Your take it or leave it relationship with alcohol starts here. WATCH NOW FOR FREE: hoperisingcoaching.com/masterclass Are you tired of the mental back-and-forth about drinking? I am running a FREE 3-Day Alcohol Reset on 23, 24 and 25 June, 7pm Melb/Syd (replays available). No willpower talk. No abstinence pressure. You can even drink while you do it. A judgement-free space to learn the tools to step into a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol. REGISTER FREE: hoperisingcoaching.com/3-day-reset Want a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol? Want to stop all the "will I, won't I" internal conflict around wine? I am running the Great Aussie Alcohol Experiment LIVE from Wednesday 1 July. 30 days. Small group coaching. Only 25 spots. Small, intimate and private. Rewire your brain and nervous system so you no longer have to reach for a glass to quieten your busy brain, calm your overwhelmed soul or socialise when your social battery is spent. Early bird pricing open now - $500 off the full price, plus two 1:1 counselling sessions with me and 3 webinars included (worth +$1,000). We won't run this live again until October. YOUR NEXT RIGHT MOVE STARTS HERE: hoperisingcoaching.com/the_great_aussie_alcohol_experiment Change happens in a moment, my friends - the preparation for change takes a little bit of time. Take the time. You will be amazed at the difference it makes.