10 Effective Ways to Deal With Alcohol Cravings

Trying to figure out how to regulate cravings might be frustrating when you are trying to change your drug or alcohol use. Despite your best efforts to abstain from drug use and alcohol consumption, you still have desires or cravings for these substances. However, not all is lost. There are numerous techniques for controlling and lessening urges or cravings.

• You are not your thoughts.

It’s critical to understand that, even if you don’t consider yourself to be addicted, your addictive voice is speaking whenever a notion enters your thoughts. You may feel really uncomfortable as the conversation begins due to your addictive voice, which is also referred to as the wine witch or the beer monster.

Don’t listen to the wine witch, and don’t try to explain, rationalise, or debate with her; otherwise, you’ll be caught up in an internal conflict that will wear you out and make you want to give up. She will make an effort to put you down, try to win you over, or even be rude to you.

Avoid listening. Tell her where to go as strongly, meaningfully, and passionately as you can. She will eventually stop talking, and the more you maintain your composure, the weaker she will become and the more powerful you will become.

• Activate your body!

When you are engaged in something, it is much simpler to divert your attention from your thoughts. Do not sit on the couch idly. If you can, take a stroll, and exercise.

Additionally, exercise releases endorphins, the body’s feel-good hormones that will offer you a tremendous boost of optimism. Whatever you do, as long as you move, doesn’t really matter. To clear your thoughts and feel wonderful, try cleaning the cabinets, scrubbing the kitchen, dancing around the room, or chasing after your kids.

• Drink some water.

Alternatively, a good non-alcoholic beverage. A yearning frequently results from a true thirst, and whereas in the past we might have satisfied that thirst with a drink or something else, we now need to switch that out for something more hydrating and pleasant.

Some people discover that the ritual of drinking, which can also reduce cravings, is enhanced by adding tonic and lime or fruit juice and soda to a fancy glass. Make it exceptional so that you won’t feel left out. A cup of tea always makes me feel better, but try different things until you find one you enjoy.

• Avoid romanticising that beverage.

You’ll go mad if you keep telling yourself stories about “the good old days” or how “one won’t hurt.” Focus on the reason why you are trying to put some time between yourself and your last drink. If you keep giving in to your cravings, you won’t give yourself a chance to change and learn what it’s like to properly abstain from alcohol. You will experience less desires as you continue to overcome them. If it helps, visualise the movie moving along while keeping your attention on why you are doing this.

If you “only had one,” what would happen? Would there really be just one and what would follow? If you give in now, it is easier to give in again and again, and where will that lead you?

• Meditate

Now, meditation doesn’t always help you actively overcome a craving, but for me, retreating to my bedroom and doing a relaxing, guided meditation has in the past been beneficial. Regular practise of meditation is the key to making it effective for you.

It has been demonstrated that even 10 minutes a day of meditation can help you feel less stressed, calmer, and more focused, as well as change your energy and transport you to a peaceful and upbeat state. Cravings are less likely to emerge if you are feeling peaceful, light, and pleased.

• Write it down

One of the activities in my Ten Steps to Sober Bliss is to grab a journal or notebook and write out your urge and work through it. The workbook contains questions to guide you through this activity, but taking 5 or 10 minutes to get everything out of your thoughts and onto the paper is such a potent cravings suppressant.

• Breathe

When we are nervous or stressed, our breathing becomes quick and shallow, we tens up, turn inward, and listen to what is going on in our heads, which is not a nice place to be when we are craving something.

Simply taking a few slow, deep breaths will help you unwind mentally and physically. Feel the stress leave your body as your shoulders begin to droop. You are less inclined to react and can take deliberate action when you are calm. The first thing I advise my clients to do when a craving hits is take a few long, steady breaths. Once they have calmed down, they can then try one of the other suggestions on this list, but frequently just slowing down and paying attention to their breath is enough to quell the craving on its own.

• Speak with someone

Do it if you need to connect with someone or have a conversation with them occasionally. Reaching out to someone before you start to feel vulnerable to cravings, if you are aware of your triggers, is a terrific method to try and stop them from happening in the first place. Don’t hold your worry or anxiety within if you are going through a difficult moment or if your day isn’t going well. If you do, it will eventually become too much and manifest itself as cravings for alcohol.

A friend can be contacted by phone, SMS, WhatsApp call, or Facebook group post. Request assistance, reassurance, or just a sympathetic ear. Don’t feel alone because there are so many ways to connect with people in today’s world.

• Take care of yourself.

You are probably less prone to suffer alcohol cravings if you take the time and make the effort to properly take care of yourself. We have cravings when we are bored, emotional, exhausted, agitated, or physically hungry or thirsty. Making self-care a priority can help you feel good and well-nourished on an emotional, mental, and physical level, which will help to lessen the likelihood that cravings will appear.

• Cravings won’t last forever!

Even though they may be uncomfortable, cravings only persist for a short while, and if you are aware of them, the reasons they occur, and how they influence you, you may take action right away to get through them. Because you fear that giving up alcohol will make you miserable, you could be terrified or anxious about changing your connection with it. Many people have been known to “suffer and white-knuckle it” through urges. However, there isn’t really a need or justification for such to be the case. They do diminish, becoming simpler, and eventually leave you.

Hopefully, these methods for handling urges to drink can give you some self-control and confidence and ultimately help you in your goal of quitting drinking or cutting back on drinking.

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