Play the tape
Member
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: East Coast USA
Posts: 120,850
Hi, Zombie.
It means that if you are thinking about drinking, play the tape forward to what would likely happen if you did. The messes, the embarrassment, the self-loathing, the awful hangover, etc.
What's going on?
It means that if you are thinking about drinking, play the tape forward to what would likely happen if you did. The messes, the embarrassment, the self-loathing, the awful hangover, etc.
What's going on?
Member
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: UK
Posts: 6,902
Yes. Our AV is pretty good at giving us a very one sided rationale of why it would be a good idea to drink. Think is its faulty thinking and we need to learn to think it right through, past imagining that first drink, and the ones that would happen after it. .. and remind ourselves of why we decided to quit in the first place.
BB
BB
Better when never is never
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Wisconsin near Twin Cities
Posts: 1,745
Decisions to drink are usually made with immediate gratification in mind and no thought of consequences. "Play the tape through to the end" means to take a pause and think about how events usually play out. There may be some short term enjoyment, but then comes the drunken messes, the hangovers and pain, missed work, broken relationships, lost jobs, poor health, etc. By the time we start hearing "play the tape", we've usually gathered enough experience to know that drinking never ends well for us.
Mini Novel Post Writer
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Maine
Posts: 3,649
Zombie, I hope you're ok. Playing the tape helps us be realistic about where drinking leads us. So, sit and think it through. Start with that first drink and then let your mind roll through the tape like it's a movie. Where does it end? What is the outcome of your drinking? It can be helpful to reel yourself in when you're forgetting why you decided to quit.
I also found something else very helpful. Go back and read your first post. We usually write that post when we've had it. When we swear off alcohol. Then, as those feelings begin to dissipate our minds to go, well, where you are right now.
You came here, that's a really good sign. You want this you just need some support. Drinking never makes anything better. You might think you get a slight reprieve from the current madness but not really because who knows what you'll face this time.
Thinking of you and hoping you chose not to drink.
I also found something else very helpful. Go back and read your first post. We usually write that post when we've had it. When we swear off alcohol. Then, as those feelings begin to dissipate our minds to go, well, where you are right now.
You came here, that's a really good sign. You want this you just need some support. Drinking never makes anything better. You might think you get a slight reprieve from the current madness but not really because who knows what you'll face this time.
Thinking of you and hoping you chose not to drink.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 403
I always begin at the end--in other words, as soon as I want a drink (and, no, I never want just one, I want to get drunk), I think about what happened at the end, which for me, was really dramatic and almost resulted in my death.
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