When giving up alcohol, its always best to put some strategies in place so you can deal with situations like family functions and how best to deal with them. Here are six strategies that really helped me.

Strategy 1 -  Escape

Family parties in function rooms or House parties are a typical example here. This is of course through personal experience. I have learned that situations involving being surrounded by alcohol, and people drinking alcohol is lethal in terms of my possible using. I have found myself in this situation before and found it very very uncomfortable. However it is essential that you make an exit immediately.

Strategy 2 - Avoidance

Prevention is always better than the cure, so I will Try to avoid certain situations in the first place. Example, avoid  family functions altogether, at least in the early stages of sobriety. My trigger for an urge is when I’m on my own, and my family are not around me. Avoiding situations like this limits the chance of relapse. keeping in touch with people that don't drink like AA groups is a really good way of dealing with this, or visiting a good friend who understands your predicament. Avoiding old drinking pals and family functions can only be good for me and my family’s well being.

Strategy 3 – Distraction

Reading for me is a very good way of distraction at things like family functions, or talking to people who do not drink. If there are children around then playing and entertaining them is a good and proven exercise for me. I would go in another room if there's a television and watch that. giving up alcohol is tough enough so it is essential you don't put yourself in awkward situations.

Strategy 4 – Keeping things in perspective

I've blown things out of proportion when I lost my job. As soon as it happened I went on a bender. In my mind I was about to lose everything, my family, my job, my pride all in one fell sweep. Things got out of hand in my head and couldn't think straight. My brain went into some kind of sod everything mode. With that I tried to drink myself into oblivion, and succeeded. But the problems were still waiting for me when I sobered up. If anything they were worse, much worse. My head seemed to go into total melt down. It felt as though my life was over. This usually happens when you know your at your lowest (this was my turning point). I knew I had to stop drinking. The best strategy you can practice is to sober yourself up and think of the people that you have hurt. Alcohol has a lot to answer to.


Strategy 5 – Thought Stopping

I had thoughts every time I finished work after using, and when I had more than I should have at home like hiding extra cans, and they were all guilty thoughts. I started to hate myself for all the lies I was dishing out to my family. I hated myself for putting all those people on my bus at risk of injury or even death because of my selfish act. I felt guilty after every wet bed, yes alcohol had that to answer to as well. It made me lose total control of my bladder. I’ve let a lot of good decent people down in my time, people that love or loved me. So the strategy I used was to find a bit of me time and look in the mirror. yeah that's right, go look in the mirror at yourself. Talk to yourself, tell yourself what you see in that mirror. How would you describe that person looking back at you? I know It sounds a really crazy thing to do, but there's nobody there with you so let yourself go and chat to the person staring back at you, chances are the person looking back at you needs help. Think of all those thoughts that you used to think that made you feel low, and turn them thoughts around into something positive. I was really trying to quit alcohol and felt really proud of myself, so thinking back to how I used to feel gave me a really good sense of achievement.



Strategy 6 – Staying honest with yourself & self monitoring

I feel it is extremely necessary especially now to be honest with yourself as well as others. If your not going to be honest with yourself about urges, then how can you deal with them in the correct manner. Hiding your urges will make things 100 times worse. Telling other people is equally important. If my urge was strong I would contact a D.E.A.P group member, someone who's familiar with alcohol dependence. One strategy I used was to keep a diary, you can do this. Write your diary at the end of every single day describing how you felt today, what events have activated and how these activating events have made you feel, and finish off by writing what you have learned from how you reacted from these events. I feel by doing this, I'l be more honest with myself and others. Also, I feel by self monitoring in this way my urges will become more easily managed. You will find that developing a pattern of honesty in your life will give you a good sense of well being, and that is a   crucial element for our recovery. I for one have never been more honest in my life than I am today, and guess what, it FEELS BLOODY GOOD!!! here's to giving up alcohol, love ya Mum x.