Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Planning Ahead

I started listening to video blogs. I did this because I wanted to make some of my own. I want to make videos for my work. So, the best way to motivate yourself is to watch how others do it. So, this is how I met the guy from Alcohol Mastery. I can’t think of his name extemporaneously. Oh, I know, it's Kevin O'Hara.

But, I started listening to many of his videos. They are meant for alcoholics. Actually, he doesn’t like the term alcoholic. He says that makes it look like a disease. And, he says, it’s not a disease. It’s a bad habit. You choose to put the alcohol to your lips. You choose to do this over and over and over until you get drunk. Well, that’s usually the goal.

So, I thought it would be neat to follow his plan. That wasn’t the intent, but his videos were so inspiring, I thought I would try them out. I don't necessarily want to quit forever. But, who knows. Maybe I'll enjoy being sober every day so much I'll keep doing it. But, for now, the goal is 2 months. 

So, today, August 1, I set as my start date. I set my start date for September 7.

Today’s video was pretty neat. It was called “How to make the decision to quit drinking alcohol stick.” It was a fitting video for day #1. I didn’t plan on listening to it today. It just popped up in my feed. And I did listen to it before. In the Video, he says you have to pick a motivation. Why is it that you want to quit drinking. What is it that will motivate you more than anything else.

What is the one thing that will motivate you in the direction you want to go? You must look forward. You must look forward toward what you are moving into. You don’t have to sacrifice the present for the future. No guarantee you will get tomorrow. But, you have to live your life like there is tomorrow. This is one way to get yourself to quit drinking.

Look into the future and see who you want to become. If you want to alter your own destiny, you can. Your past decisions made you who you are today. Those decisions plus the ones you make today will make you who you will be in some future point. That’s how he explained it.

You have to push yourself forward into something that you think is worthwhile. You’ve got to build a love for the things you are replacing alcohol with. What do you want to replace it with? When you eat junk food, when is it? When you drink alcohol, when is it?

You must find something else to do during those weak moments. I think it was Dr. Phil who talked about that once. You must plan ahead. You must decide what you are going to do instead of drinking alcohol, or whatever you want to quit.

I tried this last week. I know I usually drink after working my three day weekend. I work all day Sunday. It’s a 12-hour shift. I always work 12-hour shifts. When I’m done I’m exhausted. Drinking a cold beer sounds so good. I go to the store. I buy beer. I drink one. But, you can’t drink just one. So you crack open a second and a third. You know how it goes from there. Then all of a sudden you’re waking up the next day knowing you drank too much.

So, instead of doing that, I planned on going to a movie after work. I texted Callie if she wanted to go with me. We had a great time. She was very happy. She told me that. And it made me happy. So, I learned that day that my children can be a great motivator without them even knowing it. I could have stayed home by myself and got drunk. But, instead, I made a huge impact on my daughter.

So, I think, my children are a great motivator for me. I spend more time already than 99% of dads do with their kids. But, I can do even better. I can spend even more time. But, to do that, I have to quit drinking. So, here we go.

No comments:

Post a Comment