1. Empower Yourself: Despite what 12-step programs teach, you are NOT powerless before alcohol - alcohol is powerless before you. Do not let anyone tell you that you are powerless before your addiction, because this is learned helplessness, and will only lead you to a lifelong struggle against alcoholism. Recognize the fact that you have the power to decide what does or does not enter your body. Avoid 12-step programs that empower the addiction, while weakening you - because self-empowerment is the foundation for all of your future success.
2. Recognize Your Weaknesses: There are many different kinds of alcohol, and many different circumstances under which we will drink it. Over the years you have probably gravitated toward one or two specific types of alcohol, and tend to drink it most often in one or two specific environments. Learn from your own experiences, and attack the part that is giving you the most trouble first. For instance, if during the week you drink a glass of wine with your dinner, but on the weekends you're getting drunk with your friends, then you know where the problem lies, don't you? How can you change your behavior around your friends so that you do not get drunk? Do you need to meet them in a different environment? Or earlier or later in the evening? Or, maybe it's the TYPE of alcohol you're drinking? Perhaps a glass of wine doesn't cause you any problems, but you're getting carried away with beer or hard liquor on the weekends? Analyze the what, why and where of your drinking, and you'll have a better understanding of your own weaknesses, and you'll take a big step toward overcoming them.
3. Remember the Bad Times: Sometimes you may feel an urge to drink because you're remembering a happy time involving alcohol. When you catch yourself thinking like this, immediately re-focus your thoughts to ponder the negative experiences you've had involving alcohol. (I am sure that there are many!) What negative experiences got you to the point of saying "enough is enough!" How many times did you get sick? How many times did you hate yourself for getting drunk? The key is: DON'T hate yourself any longer - hate the ALCOHOL and remember how much anguish it has caused in your life.
4. Know Why to Quit: There are dozens and dozens of great reasons to quit or cut back drinking alcohol, from your physical health to your financial outlook, from relationships and your love life, to your mental and spiritual life. Make a list and study it twice, and then come up with more reasons. The MORE reasons you come up with the EASIER it will be to get over your alcohol addiction. As has been said many times "knowledge is power", and the more you study alcohol abuse the more knowledgeable you will become about what it is doing to YOU.
5. Outer Talk: Be very aware of how you speak to others about alcohol. Avoid statements like "I am trying to stop drinking", or "I could go for a drink." Instead, focus on positive self-empowering statements, such as "I don't drink alcohol because I want to be healthy" or "I have more money now that I don't drink." The power of your own voice in your own ears reaffirms your commitment to change your life for the better. In fact, our own words have a MUCH more powerful impact on our beliefs and actions than you might suspect. Whether you realize it or not, your own voice in your own ears is more important and influential to you than anyone else's voice in your life. DO NOT be afraid to tell people that you no longer drink alcohol! By telling others you are reinforcing your own resolve, and you will feel even more committed to your health.
6. Inner Talk: Be aware of your "self talk" ... those little statements you say to yourself a thousand times a day. Maybe no one else hears what you say to yourself, but YOU do. Make them positive, life-affirming statements that guide you in the best direction for your future. Constantly remind yourself WHY you no longer drink alcohol, and how HEALTHY you are feeling, and how BRIGHT of a future you have.
7. Have a Dirty Mind: Use your mind to picture disgusting images of alcohol. For instance, when you think of a glass of beer, imagine it as really being a glass of urine, with a thousand germs floating around in it. Sounds sick, huh? Exactly. The idea is to be repulsed by the idea of drinking, and the more dirty, disgusting images of alcohol you can muster up, the more repulsed you will be. Oh, and that glass of wine over there? That looks like tainted blood to me, mixed in with saliva!
8. See the Healthy You: Visualize your future, sans alcohol, and how successful, happy, healthy and loved you are. Your future begins at the very second you decide that alcohol will no longer dominate your day-to-day actions. When you make the decision to quit or cut back on your alcohol intake, the VERY SECOND you make that decision is when you start to become healthier.
9. Day to Day Actions: Do things differently than you used to when you were addicted to alcohol. Don't drive by that local pub on the way home from work. Don't keep alcohol at home or at work. Do substitute healthier activities during the hours you would normally be drinking. Most alcoholics will drink alcohol instead of eating food, so make a point to eat 3 or 4 small meals throughout the day. Insanity has often been described as "doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results." This means that your life simply will NOT change - no matter how much you want it to - as long as you continue to do the same things over and over. As soon as you begin to DO things differently, your life WILL BE different.
10. The Company You Keep: Remember when you were a kid and your mom would lecture you about something, and inevitably she'd say "Well, if your friends all jumped off a cliff, would you?!" Well, mom was right. You may love your friends dearly ... but if they revolve their lives around alcohol then it is in your best interest to either see them when they're NOT drinking, or find new friends who are on the same healthy road as you are. If you find it difficult to not see your friends when they are drinking, make a point to see them a little later than usual, or after you've enjoyed a good, healthy meal. Eventually you'll find yourself WANTING to be in situations that are healthy for you. When you genuinely strive to be around healthy people and in a positive environment, you'll find that quitting or cutting back on your alcohol intake simply becomes part of your nature.