In today's episode I will be sharing the 5 lies that everyone tells you about quitting drinking alcohol. If you're on your journey to sobriety than podcast is a must listen! https://www.soberclear.com/dark-control-now/
🎥 100% FREE SHORT MOVIE: How To Make Controlling Alcohol 🍺 Feel Like A Flick Of A Switch In Your Brain: https://www.soberclear.com/dark-control-now/
🎭 SOBERCLEAR PROGRAM: See if our REFRAMING method is the right thing for you! (Spots are limited): https://www.soberclear.com/soberclearmethod/
#sober #stopdrinking #alcoholfree
In today's episode I will be sharing the 5 lies that everyone tells you about quitting drinking alcohol. If you're on your journey to sobriety than podcast is a must listen! https://www.soberclear.com/dark-control-now/
🎥 100% FREE SHORT MOVIE: How To Make Controlling Alcohol 🍺 Feel Like A Flick Of A Switch In Your Brain: https://www.soberclear.com/dark-control-now/
🎭 SOBERCLEAR PROGRAM: See if our REFRAMING method is the right thing for you! (Spots are limited): https://www.soberclear.com/soberclearmethod/
#sober #stopdrinking #alcoholfree
Welcome to the Stop Drinking podcast, where we help you make stopping drinking a simple, logical and easy decision. We help you with tips, tools and strategies to start living your best life when alcohol-free. If you want to learn more about stop drinking coaching, then head over to wwwsoberclearcom. When it comes to stopping drinking, there are lies that people want you to buy into and there are lies that, if you believe stopping drinking is going to be 10 times more difficult and I'm not exaggerating it literally can be the difference between you succeeding on this endeavor and you failing. And the five lies that I'm going to break down for you in this video today are the most dangerous of all. I'm not trying to be a conspiracy theorist by making this video. I'm not trying to say that there are hidden agendas out there. But who'd argue with me to say that there aren't hidden agendas out there? I mean, at the end of the day, this is big money and I've explained this before. But because the seller of the drug is so far removed from the end consumer and the damage that it does, unlike a street-cracked cocaine dealer, everybody just kind of lets it slide. On that point, I can guarantee that if a owner of an alcohol company had to serve alcohol in a bar to somebody who had wrecked their life from drinking, they'd probably think, hmm, should I really be doing this? But these companies, they're so far removed from the sales process in the end consumer that it just doesn't matter. It's numbers on a spreadsheet. But anyway, we're going to get into these lies today because I don't want you to fall for them by the end of this video. I want you to be able to separate fact from fiction. I want you to be able to separate the signal from the noise. So that's exactly what we're going to do together.
Speaker 1:So the first lie is that you're an alcoholic, you've got a disease, you're born this way, you're going to die this way and there's no known cure for your drinking. Now, I'm not saying that people who believe this or who might push this upon you or suggest it in any kind of way, have ill intentions. The other four lies well, we'll get into that in a minute, but this one, I'm not being critical of people who do buy into this idea. So my mum believes she is this way. She believes that she's an alcoholic, she got sober with AA, she did 12 steps and she thinks that that's it. But once she bought into this idea fully and applied that program, it worked for her. So if you truly believe that and you met somebody else who showed similar patterns they were struggling to not drink, you know they were causing chaos in their life and you got sober this way then of course you're going to think that they're the same as you.
Speaker 1:The problem is is that this idea of being an alcoholic and having some disease and it being, you know, some part of your genetic makeup or something like that? Well, firstly, this idea is not a medical diagnosis. It's a self-help term that comes from 12 steps. And the second thing is that there's no other drug on the planet that gives you this label. If you can't stop drinking coffee, if you can't stop smoking cigarettes, you're not a coffeeaholic for the rest of your life. You just stop the drug and get on with things, and no medical doctor will ever diagnose you as an alcoholic. They'll never say you have a disease with no known cure. They will label it correctly as alcohol use disorder.
Speaker 1:But the problem I have with this idea of me being an alcoholic and me being the problem is that it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. What I mean by this is. I don't know if I've told you this story before, but it's horrible to talk about. But when I went to the meetings in the past, there was a guy there I think I've told this story before, but there was a guy that I met at the meetings who sadly later died from a heroin overdose, got found in a public toilet resting in peace. Heartbreaking young man as well. But when I met him at a meeting, it was at an NA meeting, right 12-step meeting. He was making a coffee and he put three spoons of coffee in the coffee and I'm like dude, what are you doing? And he looked at me and he said Leon, I'm an addict, I want to get caffeinated. I was a bit like, oh right, I see, okay, so well, I guess I'm one as well, and you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:It can start becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. So, if God forbid, maybe somebody identifies with being an alcoholic. And then they do have a slip-up, they do have a couple of drinks six months down the road, but then there's all this conditioning of, hmm, I'm an alcoholic, I'm an alcoholic, I'm an alcoholic. What do you think is going to happen? Do you think they'll stop at one or two and go. Hmm, do you know what? That probably wasn't a good idea. I don't know. It's hard to say right.
Speaker 1:And again, I don't want to criticize that program. Right, it's, at the end of the day, it saved my mum's life and, as a result of saving my mum's life, it saved my life. I had a better upbringing, you know, there wasn't chaos, there was stability at home. That program, at the end of the day, changed my life in such a great way. But when I came to stop drinking it didn't work for me. So I just wanted to clear that up. I wanted to go over that. I know it might not resonate with everybody out there, but at the end of the day, I can only share what worked for me and what's worked for the people that I've personally worked with. And we know that this idea you don't need to buy into it to actually stop drinking. It's totally not necessary.
Speaker 1:Now the second lie, and I don't know where this comes from, but it's this idea that moderation is the key. We've heard it. All good things in moderation, right, I get this comment on my videos quite regularly. People will leave a comment going yeah, but it's not like everybody's out of control, like you. Moderation is the key to things in life, and I always read it and I think to myself why do non-drinkers never write this? Why do they never write? Well, I don't drink alcohol, but I guess the key in life is moderation. Usually it's a drinker justifying or rationalizing their decision to drink, and it's this idea that moderation is the key. That's what you're missing out on.
Speaker 1:So a lot of people out there, myself included, is we have this idea that one day we can be in control of drinking, one day we can moderate. So when we stop drinking, we've got this ideal of one or two drinks calling it a night. But this is an idea that's pushed upon us by other drinkers, and all they're doing is rationalizing drug addiction. Just because one person is more severely addicted than another person doesn't change the nature of what's going on. It's all drug addiction, right?
Speaker 1:People don't say that we should read books in moderation or eat apples in moderation, but with alcohol, with this drug is, it should be enjoyed in moderation. Number one is there's nothing enjoyable about drinking it. And number two, this idea that drinking a small amount of poison is okay is ludicrous. We don't say that drinking a little bit of bleach in moderation is okay, do we? And listen, I'm not trying to say that people who are saying this to you are bad people. I'm not saying that they want to see you fail. They want to see you drink. But when we hear this idea, we need to know where it's coming from, and it's not coming from a place of trying to help you. It is always rationalization. It's always somebody saying that my way is okay, my way of consuming this drug is okay. Here's my justification and therefore you should follow my way as well. Moderation is not the key. The key is changing your beliefs, is changing your ideas, is reframing alcohol and getting rid of it. That's the key to a good life.
Speaker 1:Now this third idea is this idea of drinking responsibly. Do you know who loves this idea? Alcohol companies Drink responsibly. What does that even mean Exactly? We don't know. There's no definition of drinking responsibly. What does that mean? If I go out and drink eight beers and get smashed, then I shouldn't drive my car and I should get a taxi. Was that responsible? Are they happy with that? Or would they be happy if I just drink one or two? What do they mean? Drink responsibly? We don't know.
Speaker 1:It's such a vague recommendation and this idea that drinking is responsible in the first place. I mean, come on, it's nonsense, right? Think about responsibility. What is that? Well, it's having the correct response to things. And if somebody offered you like I was using the example before if somebody offered you a 5% diluted bleach drink with a little bit of Coca-Cola, what would a responsible person do? Well, would they drink it responsibly? Or would they respond get out of my face, what are you doing? Someone that's set in an example to their children? What would they do? Would they drink responsibly? It makes no sense, but it's a term that gets pushed upon us again and again and again.
Speaker 1:Truly responsible people are able to respond to these ideas and think for themselves and say no. Is it possible to drink one or two drinks for some people and them to be responsible, with alcohol, of course? Of course it's a possibility. But at the same time, if you buy into this idea, then what do you do? Well, I guess consuming this very, very addictive drug could be okay. If I do it responsibly, it's still a drug. The whole idea is to get you hooked on the drug. The whole idea is that you become a customer for life, not that you stop drinking. Why don't they say stop drinking responsibly? No, keep drinking responsibly, keep taking the drug, because the longer that you drink responsibly, the more it hooks you, the more it grips onto you, the more it holds onto you. So don't buy into this lie.
Speaker 1:Now the fourth lie, and this comes from governments. Right, this is pretty sad, but I actually remember it was when I first heard somebody say this. I was working in a kitchen porter. I was washing pots in a restaurant when I was like 16. It was my first ever job. They actually ended up firing me later on for being too slow, but anyway, whatever, it was my first job and I remember this chef there. He said he once went to the doctor and the doctor was saying, like how much do you drink? And I think he it was a heavy drinker, he was only a young man. And he came back and he said something like oh, the doctor said you know, I drink 10 times the recommended daily allowance. And that was the first time I remember thinking, oh, there's a recommended daily allowance. And it's almost like this idea is getting put into your mind that there's a recommended daily allowance. Just think about that term Recommended daily allowance.
Speaker 1:The terminology isn't the maximum dosage before serious consequences, right, but they're going to have some warning like that on a packet of painkillers, right? They're not going to recommend a certain daily allowance of a highly addictive painkiller, are they? Okay, maybe in some situations they will, but you get the point. Alcohol isn't a painkiller. Alcohol is an addictive drug that does nothing. It provides no benefits. But here we are recommending a certain amount and it's almost like it's a positive thing If we only drink the recommended amount, then surely, if the government's saying there's surely good things are going to happen. The safe amount of alcohol to drink is zero, the same way that the safe amount of crack cocaine to smoke is zero. The safe amount of morphine to shoot up into your veins is zero. Recommended daily allowance. How do they come up with this stuff? Again, I'm not trying to be a conspiracy theorist, but if I owned a drug company and I could persuade a government to say this that's a great marketing message, right? Don't buy into it. It's nonsense. There's no recommended daily allowance and listen, that's a hypothetical situation but there's no recommended daily allowance for alcohol. It's nonsense.
Speaker 1:Now the fifth idea is a little bit controversial, but it's this idea that quitting alcohol is dangerous. Are there scenarios where that is true 100%? Yes, I am not downplaying that in any way. And see, the thing is is even by me saying this to you, I have to give you a warning. So it's almost like I'm adding to the problem because I don't want to give the wrong information. But is it a risk for some people? Yes. Is it a risk for most people? No. If you think it is a risk, then you should go and find medical help.
Speaker 1:But it's almost like there's this idea that spread across society that it could be dangerous to stop drinking. I mean, I've had people that have booked phone calls with me that drink two or three drinks a day. They still want to stop drinking. And even they told me should I go to the doctor? Should I get some medication? I'm scared and I think to myself dude, you drink like two or three drinks a day. You're not drinking a liter of vodka and waking up in the middle of the night with drawing having to take a shot, but you still bought into this idea that it could be dangerous.
Speaker 1:How bizarre is this? Quitting a drug that is destroying your life is dangerous, could it be? Yes, but it's the drug that's dangerous. Don't you understand why don't they say quitting alcohol is dangerous, but not as dangerous as drinking in the first place? No, this idea that quitting is dangerous is pushed upon us again and again. For most of the population, it isn't dangerous. Could it be uncomfortable? Yeah. Could it create some discomfort? Well, yeah, for most of us it's not a problem. I mean, I have worked with 400 people now and it's a rare occasion when it is a problem for somebody, and that's usually when they're drinking a tremendous amount of alcohol. Like I said, if you've got that worry, just go and see a doctor, but don't let it scare you away from actually taking action. Thanks for checking out the Stop Drinking podcast by SoberClear. If you want to learn more about how we work with people to help them stop drinking effortlessly, then make sure to visit wwwsoberclearcom.