The Cravings Counter game

[brightspice]

A drive for perfection kept me drinking for years. I would try to go from drinking 2-3 glasses of wine most evenings to nothing. Overnight. I tried this many times.

I was sometimes able to go for days without a drink, but the desire for it was always there. Like a murky undercurrent. I would inevitably find myself reaching for wine after a stressful day at work or drinking 3 glasses of wine when I only really wanted one. Most annoying.

I decided to stop counting days and figure out a way to actually not want to drink. Because when you don’t want to do something it’s easy not to. Like it’s easy for me not to eat popcorn because I don’t want it.

I developed a ‘Cravings Counter’ game which I now use 1-1 with people but, with a few tweaks, think it could be run on this thread if there’s interest from anyone to join in?

All you need is pen and paper and the willingness to commit a few minutes each day to doing the work for yourself. I’ll come to the thread each day to answer questions.

This isn’t some quick fix solution that will have you stop overdrinking overnight, and won't be for everyone, but this is absolutely one of the tools that took me from overdrinking to not thinking about white wine at all so wanted to make the offer.

Yes please. How does it work?

Sounds interesting!

I read Alan Carr's The easy way to control Alcohol.

It worked a treat in that it removed that craving to drink anymore, after he brilliantly de-constructed the whole concept of drinking alcohol. Why not give it a go?

OK super. I'll make the tweaks and will be back later tomorrow to kick this off.

Just marking my place

I'll give it a go.

I’m in

@brightspice - cravings are the devil's work so I'm intrigued and willing to join in the fun - count me in!

Interested to learn more :)

Place marking too!

Below you’ll find the promised info about the Cravings Counter Game. I have also created a downloadable document that includes a scoresheet and game instructions, plus brief explanatory video. You can find these on 90dayslater [dot] co [forward slash] game.

GOAL
The goal of the Cravings Counter game is to earn as many points as possible.

HOW TO PLAY

• You earn points by paying attention to the different behaviours in a craving.
• Every craving is an opportunity to score points.
• There are 2 categories of behaviour: Promoters and Saboteurs
• Each Promoter is worth 2 points (if you do the behaviour) or 0 if you don’t.
• Each Saboteur is worth 1 point (if you do the behaviour) or 0 if you don’t.
• Subtract your Saboteur points from your Promoter points to reach your Total Craving points.
• If you earn no Promoter points but have Saboteur points, the total score for that craving will be negative.
• You can earn a max 10 points per craving.
• Be as accurate as you can with the scoring.
• The more cravings you score, the more you will see what’s going on and how this is changing over time.
• Optional but recommended: Jot down notes that describe how the craving feels at the different stages
• Important: NEVER use your points as a way to beat yourself up. If you start scoring fewer points, get curious where this is happening. This is where your work is to be done.

SCORE SHEET
(You can write this out on a sheet of paper for each craving or use my downloadable worksheet)

PROMOTERS
Spot the craving: 2 points
Pause (do nothing): 2 points
Identify the thought: 2 points
Identify the feeling: 2 points
Allow the craving to go: 2 points
Total Promoters: 10 points max

SABOTEURS
Distract yourself: 1 point
Resist the craving: 1 point
Drink: 1 point
Total Saboteurs: 3 points max

Craving Count: Total Promoters MINUS Total Saboteurs = x points

CATEGORY DEFINITIONS
Spot the craving: You notice you want a drink. Score points even if you only notice after you’ve begun to pour a drink.
Pause (do nothing): Literally that: pause a beat. Don’t underestimate the power of this. It slows the drinking pattern.
Identify the thought: What is the thought driving the craving in the moment? It could be something as simple as “I want a drink”
Identify the feeling: How are you feeling? Be scientific. Answers like “terrible” don’t count. Things like “bored”, “anxious” or “scared” do.
Allow the craving to go: Score points for this ONLY if you are calm and relaxed. Imagine a butterfly landing on your hand. It’ll rest for a moment before flying off without waving your hand to make it go. Another example: a toddler is screaming for chocolate but you just calmly wait for the tantrum to end.
Distract yourself: You try to avoid the craving by distracting yourself - like going for a walk, calling a friend, cleaning the kitchen.
Resist the craving: You fight the craving. In the toddler example, resisting would be yelling at the child to be quiet - which will likely only cause the screaming to get worse. You know you’re resisting because your body is likely to feel tense.
Drink: Needs no further explanation....

EXAMPLE FILLED OUT SCORE SHEET

PROMOTERS
Spot the craving: 2
Pause (do nothing): 2
Identify the thought: 2
Identify the feeling: 0
Allow the craving to go: 0
Total Friends: 6 points

SABOTEURS
Distract yourself: 1 point
Resist the craving: 1 point
Drink 0 points
Total Saboteurs: 2 points

Craving Count: Total Supporters - Total Saboteurs = 6 - 2 = 4 points

Repeat this for each craving. The more you do the better you'll get and the more you'll learn.