It's been a while since I've posted about alcohol and my effort to reduce how much I'm consuming. I am still drinking more than I think I should. I'm trying out a couple techniques. The first is to not moralize my drinking. I should not feel bad for drinking, essentially. I don't drink a lot. Maybe 12-18 a week. Most of that occurring on the weekends. About once a week I'll drink during the week.
My first step to not moralizing my choices was to try and make drinking alcohol normal. That means when I feel like drinking, I should have some. Try not making alcohol the forbidden fruit. I'm still drinking the same amount. I am still moralizing my purchases of beer. So this technique is to be determined. That's the other thing I've realized and I'm trying to remember. This will take time. It took me several years to truly quit smoking. I scaled back very slowly over a long time period to finally quitting. I feel that approach was effective because I've had cigarettes with people since and the urge or desire to pick the habit up again hasn't reared it's ugly head.
The other technique I'm trying is to reward myself when I don't pick up a pack. I have a list of things I want that aren't essentially to my lively head. They're nice to have items. Every time I have the urge to purchase alcohol, but decide not to, I tally that. I give myself $10 for every situation like that. I've done that four times so far and purchased myself Overwatch loot boxes during the most recent special event. I have other things on the list ranging from $20 to $70. I feel like this gives me a choice between spending the night drinking or saving for something else that will bring enjoyment to my life. I've only been doing it for a few weeks now but it is helping.
I'll update when I feel I've made some progress. I'm trying to approach this as a troubleshooting exercise. See what works and what doesn't. Adjust as necessary. I think the hardest part at this point is seeing my successes and remembering that this will take time. When I purchase alcohol I'm buying things with less ABV. I'm kicking myself less when I wake up the night after drinking 6+ beers. That's a win in my view.