Tips and advice

[justneedadvice3]

I need to stop drinking. I drink when I’m stressed and it makes it worse. Helps me forget at the time but I really zone into what has annoyed me when I drink but it’s the first thing I go to when stressed. Any other mechanisms people use or can advise?

You could make a list of lots of different things to try as an alternative and then work through those to see what works for you

could be things like - have a bath, read a book, go for a walk, do some YouTube exercise, bake, colouring, meditate, yoga, phone a friend - anything - and include things you’ve never tried before

in the moment it will probably be the last thing you want to do - but stick at it and even trying something new will be a distraction from the thing that’s causing you stress. Some things that don’t work you can cross off the list, anything that does - you can try again

over time your brain will create new pathways so that rather than defaulting to having a drink you’ll look to do other things instead - it won’t take long to start to see this take effect