way to make it through, Lola!!!
Here's another angle to put in your toolkit when this issue strikes again (because it will)....
Playing the tape, focusing on the bad stuff that happens, how you'll feel when you wake up hungover, etc... all that is good, effective reminder material.
However, six months out I have found that what works even more powerfully for me is focusing on the GOOD stuff.
When I see others 'enjoying' alcohol and catch myself thinking "why can't I"? - I like to flip it around "WHY WOULD I???".
I feel GOOD right now! I love the crisp refreshment of a sparkling water. I can laugh and live and love and enjoy my friends and my surroundings and this beautiful day without clouding it by pouring poison into my body. POISON!!! IT IS POISON!!! Why on earth would I do that?
Maybe it looks 'fun' - but do I need poison to have fun? No, I do not.
I am healthy, happy, radiant, alive!!! I am fit. I am focused on nourishing my body - this vessel that houses my soul and affords me the experiences of life. Do I want to put something TOXIC into it and compromise its well being? Am I ready to dull the experience of life??? WHY THE HELL WOULD I DO THAT!?!?!?!
Oh... and I KNOW the misery of that other choice. And WOW!! how much better and more joyous and free this one is!!!
Stuff like this really proves powerful for me. Focusing on all the goodness that this life and my body and my experience provides WITHOUT alcohol helps me realize with clarity how much I really don't need or WANT it.
Can't?
Baloney. I CAN. So CAN you. At any moment, you have the power and the freedom to make the CHOICE to drink. BUT WHY ON EARTH WOULD WE CHOOSE THAT!?!?!?
Well done, here's to many more successes like this one in your road ahead. It gets easier, I promise!