Anthony Robbins
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Canada
Posts: 28
Anthony Robbins
Hey everyone,
I just wanted to say thanks again, for providing hours of endless support and wisdom throughout these forums. Although I'm a relatively new poster, I have been a reader for quite some time and I have managed to gain a lot of support from your various messages.
I've been struggling to maintain my sobriety, and this past weekend I drank heavily two nights, which leads to the inevitable depression and anxiety. I feel positive today though, and I took my antabuse pill and I feel motivated to finally end this drunken life. I'm 33 years old, and I want to quit before I lose everything, which I surely will if this path of destruction doesn't stop. I'm in no way a pillar of success, in fact quite the opposite - I've been having horrible experiences with alcohol for the past 15 years and I'm at my wits end - I need to stop or my life will become a complete trainwreck.
I don't want to sound like a commercial, but have any of you ever listened to Tony Robbins? I'm sure some of you probably have. I'm currently listening to Personal Power II (audiobook), and in one of his tapes he discusses how you can change your beliefs. I believe this can be used directly to quit drinking.
In no way will I be able to explain it as well as he can, but basically he suggests that all of our actions are a result of 1) avoiding pain and 2) moving towards pleasure (in that order). In one of the exercises, he asks you to write down everything negative about the belief you have to change (amongst others, my main one is my desire to quit drinking, and my belief that drinking is "fun" and "necessary in my life".) It was amazing how long it took me to write down every negative experience I've gone through as a result of my drinking, and I'm sure I didn't even scratch the surface. It's absolutely eye-opening.
Anyway, he goes on to ask you how, if nothing is done, you will be in 5 years. And then again with 10 years, 15 years, and so on, sort of like that Christmas movie with Scrooge or whatever. The important thing is to make an effort when writing, and to be completely honest with yourself. You don't need to let anyone else read (I definitely didn't).
The results for me were mind numbing, so much so that I can't believe I drink. I have to be a complete moron to continue drinking!
The exercise isn't done. He then gets you to write down everything positive you will obtain from quitting your negative behavior/belief - again, in my case, everything positive you will get from quitting drinking. The results are equally amazing. If you honestly devote some time to do this - you will be amazed at the results. I put down the obvious ones - to avoid embarassment, to stop drinking myself into oblivion, to improve my mental state and stop my anxiety/depression attacks, to stop making stupid mistakes and lapses of judgement which happen every time I drink, to stop putting my family and friends through so much bulls**t when I drink, to stop putting alcohol #1 over everything else in my life (because it's all or nothing with me), and so on.. it just keeps adding up.
The bottom line is, I feel so positive about my situation even though I haven't been sober for more than a couple of days. I have quit on two seperate occasions in the past 3 months - for a month at a time - but I have a feeling that this time it will be different. I hope some of you will give this a try. It can't hurt.
Stay sober everybody.
I just wanted to say thanks again, for providing hours of endless support and wisdom throughout these forums. Although I'm a relatively new poster, I have been a reader for quite some time and I have managed to gain a lot of support from your various messages.
I've been struggling to maintain my sobriety, and this past weekend I drank heavily two nights, which leads to the inevitable depression and anxiety. I feel positive today though, and I took my antabuse pill and I feel motivated to finally end this drunken life. I'm 33 years old, and I want to quit before I lose everything, which I surely will if this path of destruction doesn't stop. I'm in no way a pillar of success, in fact quite the opposite - I've been having horrible experiences with alcohol for the past 15 years and I'm at my wits end - I need to stop or my life will become a complete trainwreck.
I don't want to sound like a commercial, but have any of you ever listened to Tony Robbins? I'm sure some of you probably have. I'm currently listening to Personal Power II (audiobook), and in one of his tapes he discusses how you can change your beliefs. I believe this can be used directly to quit drinking.
In no way will I be able to explain it as well as he can, but basically he suggests that all of our actions are a result of 1) avoiding pain and 2) moving towards pleasure (in that order). In one of the exercises, he asks you to write down everything negative about the belief you have to change (amongst others, my main one is my desire to quit drinking, and my belief that drinking is "fun" and "necessary in my life".) It was amazing how long it took me to write down every negative experience I've gone through as a result of my drinking, and I'm sure I didn't even scratch the surface. It's absolutely eye-opening.
Anyway, he goes on to ask you how, if nothing is done, you will be in 5 years. And then again with 10 years, 15 years, and so on, sort of like that Christmas movie with Scrooge or whatever. The important thing is to make an effort when writing, and to be completely honest with yourself. You don't need to let anyone else read (I definitely didn't).
The results for me were mind numbing, so much so that I can't believe I drink. I have to be a complete moron to continue drinking!
The exercise isn't done. He then gets you to write down everything positive you will obtain from quitting your negative behavior/belief - again, in my case, everything positive you will get from quitting drinking. The results are equally amazing. If you honestly devote some time to do this - you will be amazed at the results. I put down the obvious ones - to avoid embarassment, to stop drinking myself into oblivion, to improve my mental state and stop my anxiety/depression attacks, to stop making stupid mistakes and lapses of judgement which happen every time I drink, to stop putting my family and friends through so much bulls**t when I drink, to stop putting alcohol #1 over everything else in my life (because it's all or nothing with me), and so on.. it just keeps adding up.
The bottom line is, I feel so positive about my situation even though I haven't been sober for more than a couple of days. I have quit on two seperate occasions in the past 3 months - for a month at a time - but I have a feeling that this time it will be different. I hope some of you will give this a try. It can't hurt.
Stay sober everybody.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,777
I really enjoy Anthony Robbins. I took a podcast seminar. It was very similar to what you explained. I looked back on that exercise recently, I am no where near all those goals, but If I keep on with my sobriety, I am sure that plenty of them will come to fruition. Good for you for recognizing and being proactive. There does not have to be a major episode to wake a person up. In my case, I needed something major to put me on a different course. Keep on keeping on! We are all here together.
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Upstate New York
Posts: 51,564
Hi DD! I've heard of Tony, but not listened. It sounds like very helpful stuff.
You are gearing up to do this thing - it took me awhile, too. It's scary to let go of what we've always known, but scarier still to continue on that destructive path. You won't be me - in my 50's when I quit - and a huge mess to clean up. You feel positive because in your heart you know you're going to do this. Thanks for sharing those good thoughts.
You are gearing up to do this thing - it took me awhile, too. It's scary to let go of what we've always known, but scarier still to continue on that destructive path. You won't be me - in my 50's when I quit - and a huge mess to clean up. You feel positive because in your heart you know you're going to do this. Thanks for sharing those good thoughts.
Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: The Emerald City
Posts: 434
Thanks for sharing DoubleDragon. It sounds like you're heading down the right path to making your life so much better. I recently went completely sober (63 days) and I'm really seeing wonderful improvements, and I'm so happy about it! The biggest reason was that I wanted to be the best I can be for the second half of my life, and drinking was the biggest obstacle of that. I love Tony Robbins, and you've inspired me to pull out those cd's and do some more listening!
Glad that you found SR and great to hear that the support is helping you! Keep moving forward!
Glad that you found SR and great to hear that the support is helping you! Keep moving forward!
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