Well done for developing plan before the cravings hit, thatâs excellent.
I found it helpful to break habits. So before I started cycling to work, I changed the bus I caught from the station, because the stop for that bus wasnât near the supermarket where Iâd go in to buy wine. If Iâm working from home, I mark the end of the working day with an exercise session instead of a glass of wine.
I got more organised and started meal planning and getting groceries delivered, so I always had food in the house and didnât go to the supermarket for a ready meal and âIâll just get wine while Iâm here.â
Saving up the money I wasnât spending on booze and buying myself rewards for milestones.
Cycling to and from work, which in combination with the meal planning means that once Iâm home, Iâm not leaving the flat and thereâs no wine in here but there are food and books and my bed.
Playing the tape forward - yes, itâs a lovely sunny day and a glass of wine sounds nice, but think forward to tomorrow morning when youâve drunk the entire bottle and youâve got a murderous hangover and you canât cycle to work and youâve got to get the Tube, with other people, and you with a hangover. Eurgh.
Going to bed. Nothing like being under the duvet in your pyjamas with your teeth clean for stopping a booze run. When youâre an adult, you can go to bed whenever you like and nobody can stop you.
HALT the BS - am I Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired, Bored, Stressed/Sad? Address those and you may well find youâve addressed the craving, because the craving is a symptom of something else.
I very rarely get cravings these days, and if I do, I just sort of watch it as it crosses my mind and then disappears out of sight. Iâll then consider what brought that on, and usually itâs the ghost of a habit, or an association, like the aforementioned lovely sunny day.
rosamundi
Lucelu2