Smart Recovery Cost Benefit of Drinking or Not
 

Not Drinking Benefits
Stop hurting my family
Improve health, hope it is not too late.
Emotional stability
Reduced anxiety (I have felt anxiety reduce before when not drinking)
Self respect and stop hating myself (I am really ashamed and guilty of my behaviour just now)
Lose self pity
Better sleep
Feel happy waking up
Save money
Be more productive in my business

Drinking Benefit
Short term buzz


Challenges
To stop and maintain being stopped
Overcome fear of missing out fun and I am being denied something. I could have fun as kid and never wanted alcohol.

Plan of Action
Spend more time developing my business.
Exercise to improve mood.

Gerard,

This is a great list! It lays out the pros and cons very concisely and you have attainable action steps. Great work!

Great list, only to be accentuated and added to as you stay sober I'm sure.

Nice analysis Gerard52,

After each SMART exercise, I set SMART goals (akin to your plan of action). They are:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relatable
Time-bound.

good for you Gerard, this looks great. the SMART tools have been a great help in my recovery.

there is a somewhat cryptically-named sub-forum for SMART & similar methods in the Secular section if you ever need any help or want to discuss anything:

https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums...overy-methods/

Nice!
Recognize the problem, Reframe the pros and cons, Replace the corrupt thinking and behavior with new healthy empowering behavior.