AF Daily, Friday, Dec. 5
Keeta, just wanted to throw in another vote of confidence for you! You are doing a great job. For me it has taken some mental exercise (and writing!) to work through that "I don't get to...." feeling and truly turn that around where it's "I choose not to." The first recommended exercise in the SMART recovery program is something called a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA). You basically write down your perceptions today in the following 4 categories:
Benefits of drinking alcohol.
Costs of drinking alcohol.
Benefits of NOT drinking alcohol.
Costs of NOT drinking alcohol.
Initially I went into this thinking "well, certainly there are no benefits to drinking alcohol - that must be a trick question!" But...the feeling of "I don't get to to drink..." is a percieved disadvantage to NOT drinking alcohol - at least as of right now.
This summer I found the very first CBA I wrote out back in July '07. I started updating it, and try to at minimum update it on my monthly anniversaries. (haven't done that 100%!) It's very interesting because over time you discover more, and over time you will also probably be calling yourself out on some AL fiction in there! If you would like to read mine as an example (not a particularly great example, but an example) I posted it in this thread - post #148 This becomes a good exercise to occupy time when AL is calling your name, and also a wonderful reference when I need a reminder of why I choose not to drink.
I hope you made it through the evening and enjoyed your movies and chips! (I'm jealous of the chips!)
Onward and forward!
DG
Keeta, just wanted to throw in another vote of confidence for you! You are doing a great job. For me it has taken some mental exercise (and writing!) to work through that "I don't get to...." feeling and truly turn that around where it's "I choose not to." The first recommended exercise in the SMART recovery program is something called a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA). You basically write down your perceptions today in the following 4 categories:
Benefits of drinking alcohol.
Costs of drinking alcohol.
Benefits of NOT drinking alcohol.
Costs of NOT drinking alcohol.
Initially I went into this thinking "well, certainly there are no benefits to drinking alcohol - that must be a trick question!" But...the feeling of "I don't get to to drink..." is a percieved disadvantage to NOT drinking alcohol - at least as of right now.
This summer I found the very first CBA I wrote out back in July '07. I started updating it, and try to at minimum update it on my monthly anniversaries. (haven't done that 100%!) It's very interesting because over time you discover more, and over time you will also probably be calling yourself out on some AL fiction in there! If you would like to read mine as an example (not a particularly great example, but an example) I posted it in this thread - post #148 This becomes a good exercise to occupy time when AL is calling your name, and also a wonderful reference when I need a reminder of why I choose not to drink.
I hope you made it through the evening and enjoyed your movies and chips! (I'm jealous of the chips!)
Onward and forward!
DG
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