This episode was inspired by a dinner conversation I had with my boys and delves into the power of critical thinking and curiosity in understanding and transforming your drinking habits.
I discuss some practical strategies for self-reflection and prayer while emphasizing how these skills can lead to greater freedom and control over your alcohol consumption.
Whether you're looking to reduce, eliminate, or simply better understand your relationship with alcohol, this episode offers valuable insights and tools to support your journey toward a healthier, lifestyle where you can live fully present for each and every moment.
This episode was inspired by a dinner conversation I had with my boys and delves into the power of critical thinking and curiosity in understanding and transforming your drinking habits.
I discuss some practical strategies for self-reflection and prayer while emphasizing how these skills can lead to greater freedom and control over your alcohol consumption.
Whether you're looking to reduce, eliminate, or simply better understand your relationship with alcohol, this episode offers valuable insights and tools to support your journey toward a healthier, lifestyle where you can live fully present for each and every moment.
Welcome to the Catholic sobriety podcast mini-soad. These shorter episodes provide quick tips and information that you can refer back to when you need it most so you can achieve and maintain your desired level of sobriety. I am your sobriety coach and host of this podcast, kristi Walker. Let's get started. Before I get into today's mini-soad, I just have to tell you something that happened at dinner the other night and I promise that it relates to what I'm talking about today, so just stick with me.
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So I was telling my boys a story about a man who walked into a church and I told them that he made a beeline for the priest. And that's when my 10 year old said what's a beeline? Okay, that's a fair question. I guess people don't use that phrase anymore. So I said I mean he walked straight up to the priest. He was probably walking really fast. And then I proceeded with the story. So the guy walked straight over to the priest, pulls out a gun and says give me all you've got.
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That's when one of my 16 year old twins interrupted and said that's dumb. Why would he say that to a priest? They don't have any money. He should have just asked someone else in the church. And I said well, priests do carry money, and I would imagine that there wasn't anyone else there, or why would he even do that? They would probably just call the police or something. Anyway, can I finish? So the guy pulls out a gun and says give me all your money. And the priest was obviously startled and terrified. Another interruption he didn't see or hear him coming over and I said I don't know, maybe.
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So the priest is looking in his pockets and he grabs the only thing he finds, which is a piece of wrapped candy, and the second twin pipes up. See, priests don't make a lot of money. Why would he try to get money from a priest? I said I don't know, maybe the guy thought he had his wallet with credit cards or something. I hardly ever have cash on me and I'm not a priest. Can I please just finish telling you what happened. Anyway. So the priest pulls out the piece of wrapped candy His hand is shaking wildly because he's afraid of what that guy is going to do and says sorry, this is all I have. Wait, no, rosary. Look, I said it was all he had. Just trust me on this one. So the man looks at the candy in the priest's hand and he looks up at the priest and says but father, I can't take that.
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I gave up candy for Lent and my boys all moaned, but they snickered a little bit too. Then I said I was just trying to tell you guys a joke, why did you have to pick it apart? And one of my twins said our teachers are teaching us to pick everything apart and look at it critically. And the other one said yeah, especially in English and theology. So you can blame our teachers. Well, that took away my frustration a little bit and I told them no more picking apart my jokes.
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But seriously, I'm happy that they are learning to think critically and examine everything because, honestly, we live in a culture where people take as gospel truth headlines and the opinions of others before actually looking at the facts. It reminds me of the Fulton Sheen quote there are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church, which, of course, is quite a different thing. And this is because they assume things which we all know, what they say about assuming instead of seeking facts and truth. But that's not what today's Minnesota is about.
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Today I'm going to take that lesson from my children and show you how you can use critical thinking skills to gain clarity around your alcohol consumption. When I take assessments or quizzes, it can be hard to get a real honest picture of what's going on, because I have the inclination to soften things a bit, or maybe I just try to justify what I'm doing or not really look at the whole picture and maybe you do that as well. But I think by really looking at something critically, we can get a much clearer picture of what might be going on. When thinking about something critically, we want to ask who, what, where, why, when and how. Now this is something I dive deeper into in my sacred sobriety lab, and you can learn more about that on my website by going to theathlethecabrietycoachcom. There I go through each question in much more detail, but I'm confident that you'll gain great insight just from what I'm teaching you today if you approach it honestly and by prayerfully inviting the Lord in to help coach you through the process. I'll also link a critical thinking worksheet in my show notes that you can grab for free, so if you are driving or walking or can't find a pen, don't worry, I've got you covered.
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When you are starting to wonder if alcohol is becoming a problem for you, the first thing you are going to ask yourself is who. Who is my drinking affecting? Who benefits or suffers? Who can I talk to about what is going on? Next, ask yourself what you can ask things like what are the pros and cons of continuing to drink the way that I am? What are the obstacles standing in my way and keeping me stuck, and what strengths do I have that can help me get unstuck? What can be done to ensure positive change?
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Now ask where. Where can you get more information? Where can you source assistance from? Where is the greatest need for change? Then ask why? Why does alcohol seem to be a problem? Why is there a need for change? Why would it be good to reduce alcohol?
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Next, ask when.
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When would taking action benefit me?
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When will I make an action plan?
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When will I know it's not a problem anymore?
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And finally ask how?
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How can this change occur?
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How can I maintain my desired level of sobriety once I reach it? How will making this change benefit my life in the future? Now you don't have to ask yourself these exact questions. I just wanted to give you some examples and then you can ask these critical thinking questions who, what, where, why, when and how to gain clarity and determine what needs to happen next to calm the chaos that alcohol might be causing. If you want extra accountability and support, that's what I do as a Catholic sobriety coach. Feel free to grab a spot on my calendar if you want to chat and see if sobriety coaching would be helpful for you. Whether you decide to coach with me or not, I promise you will leave that free call with resources and you will know exactly what you want to do next. Well, that wraps up today's episode of the Catholic sobriety mini-soad. Thank you so much for joining me and please be sure to subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss a thing. And remember I am here for you, I am praying for you. You are not alone.