How to Quit Drinking
How to Quit Drinking
Alcohol is the Jeckel and Hyde of addiction. People will fight for their right to party. Then later the same person will insist that they never miss an AA meeting after they quit drinking when they realized the devistation that alcohol caused them.
How to quit drinking point#1: remind yourself daily of the destruction alcohol causes.
We all know stories of lives ruined by alcohol and here comes another one. The Oakland Raiders drafted a quarterback with the #1 pick. He was bigger,faster and threw farther than any other quarterback. But he also liked to do him some drinking. He tried to do both well but he couldn’t. Within a few years it was obvious to all Raider fans that this guy had more important priorities than wordwide fame and millions of dollars. That priority was drinking. He did not know how to quit drinking. After a few years the Raiders got rid of him. But even though this is an unhappy story it is nothing like the damage alcohol does to some people.
The British Medical Journal reports that alcohol is associated with 80% of deaths from fire, 65% of serious head injuries, 50% of murders, 40%of road traffic accidents, 30% of fatal accidents, 35% of marital breakdowns, and one in three incidents of child abuse.
Michael Hardiman in his book Overcoming Addiction notes that these statistics help clarify the point that any drug that diminishes control can also unleash many barbaric and destructive elements inherit in a human being. With substantial levels of alcohol the drinker also begins to lose control of himself socially, morally, and physically. He has also lost the ability to judge just how much control he has lost. And he no longer is able to gauge how much total control he has given over to alcohol. He can’t stop”.
But you can learn how to quit drinking. I have a story from personal experience to tell you. I have a brother who loved drinking. He would drink a case of beer every day. If you wanted to party you could go to his house any day of the week. But of course the party came with a price. He racked up a couple of DUI’S and his life was generally tough. One day I got a phone call that he was in the hospital. The doctor said he probably would not make it. I rushed over to the hospital and there he was with blood still oozing and broken bones everywhere. Looking at him was shocking, but the story of how it happened was even more shocking. He had been riding on his motorcycle at 3 in the morning all tanked up. Another tanked up driver pulled his car into the road with no lights on. He hit the truck at Lord only knows what speed. Since they said he dented in the pickup truck three feet I would assume he was flying. And when I say he dented it, I mean He dented it. They found him stuck to the pickup truck. But God must have wanted him alive because he pulled through. It took months of painful therapy for him to walk again but he is back to full strength now. But even after this disaster he did not stop drinking. But within a few years of this accident he decided that drinking was ruining his health, life, relationships and many other things.
It has now been over 15 years since my brother quit drinking. I interviewed my brother about how he quit drinking and got a very interesting story. I first asked him how did you quit drinking? He said “I was delivered by God”. I asked “why do you think God delivered you? What purpose do you think God had for you. He said” I can’t say I have fully found my purpose but I know I have been a better person and a better father since I have quit”. I next asked him “what did you have to change to quit drinking”. Answer “I had to learn that I could do things without drinking”. R I knew that he had done a lot of boating while drinking and he continued to boat after he quit. I asked “Was boating without booze as much fun as boating with it. He said “the freedom that I have without drinking makes life better all around. (HE continued) When you are an addict your addiction is driving you. The fun you are having is from feeding the craving for that alcohol addiction”. But I then pressed him on the issue I said “Lets break this down into 2 time periods, in the first year that you quit drinking. When you were boating did you think it was as much fun sober as it had been when you drank. Answer “I thought it had been more fun while drinking than it was after I quit drinking that first year. 2nd part of the question, I then asked after 3 years of sobriety did you still believe that boating was less fun sober than it was while drinking? He said “at that point for me boating as well as other activities were just as much fun while sober as they had been while drinking alcohol.
There are two interesting themes in this interview. The first is that He still believed that he was missing out on fun when he went boating after he quit drinking alcohol during his first year or two of sobriety. It wasn’t until year three that his thinking cleared up enough to realize that he could have just as much fun sober as he could have when he was drinking.
Key point #1. Your addiction is driving you and it will tell you that you can’t have fun unless you are partying. For most people this is just not true. Here is some advice, tell yourself consistently that you can have fun without the party. If you think this is good advice, write yourself a note until you form a habit. R
The second interesting theme of this interview is that he said that he was delivered from drinking by God. When He said this quite frankly I didn’t believe him. But then I remembered what I had said in an earlier video. I advised praying and asking God to help you quit drinking. Then I commented on whether God would answer your prayer and deliver you. I said “He will help the 1 out of a thousand of us who will not look back at our addiction and for those people God will help them have an instant recovery”. I am now convinced that my brother was one of the rare people who truly did not choose to look back at his addiction. For those of us who want to look back, prayer will help a little bit, but if we are fighting God by looking back it will not be an instant cure.
I will talk more about Spiritual solutions later but one other topic I want to cover is;
How much of your routine do you have to change to learn how to quit drinking? For some people the answer is they had to change some things. For them just starting to go to AA, memorizing Key anti-addiction points and stopping their bar hopping routine is enough. But for some people the answer is they had to change everything to learn how to quit drinking. Spiritualriver.com website comments on how this change occurs. Quote
“It happens through daily action. So for example, if you normally go to work each day, leave work and go to a bar, then come home and continue drinking, then go to bed….then obviously there is a lot of stuff there that has to change. Not only would the bar routine have to change, but the drinking at home routine would have to change. So literally, every waking hour of your day might be completely different after you are in early recovery. Different people, and maybe going to therapy or a meeting after work instead of to the bar. You get the idea. Everything is different. Early recovery has to have lots of action occur in a big way. Every day, positive action. Consistently over time. This is the only way to establish a foundation of sobriety in early recovery”. Unquote
Key point#2 Write down the positive actions you will take over the next 2 days. If you like this idea develop a habit of doing this every day.
Key point#2 Write down the positive actions you will take over the next 2 days. If you like this idea develop a habit of doing this every day.
The rest of this video will contain advice that is Spiritual in nature only. One important method to use to help you stop drinking is to know what the Bible says about the subject.
Proverbs 20:1
Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
Luke 21:34“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap.
Ephesians 5:18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit
Ephesians 5:18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit
1 Peter 4:3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men[a] 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Yes God is harsh with drunkards. But if you give 100% in your effort to quit drinking (and never look back) He will help you. If you just can’t do it on your own, find a Pastor or Church worker who will help you. If you attend a church that acts like you are OK with God while being a drunkard you have to find a new church. Yes God loves you, but He knows that alcohol indulgence will destroy you and that is why the Bible says what it says about drunkards. Yes He will forgive you for everything you have done in the past, but you have to learn how to quit drinking.For more information on becoming a Christian and growing as a Christian please see video #2.
I will end this video by talking about people who can’t enjoy life unless they party. If this is you then your only hope is Ephesians 5:18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. You need to stop drinking and replace drinking with being filled with the Holy Spirit. There are thousands of articles on the internet on how to be filled. The bottom line is you need to replace the party with Jesus Christ who brings fullness of Joy and purpose. It is hard to learn how to quit drinking but you can do it.
How to Quit Drinking
Alcohol is the Jeckel and Hyde of addiction. People will fight for their right to party. Then later the same person will insist that they never miss an AA meeting after they quit drinking when they realized the devistation that alcohol caused them.
How to quit drinking point#1: remind yourself daily of the destruction alcohol causes.
We all know stories of lives ruined by alcohol and here comes another one. The Oakland Raiders drafted a quarterback with the #1 pick. He was bigger,faster and threw farther than any other quarterback. But he also liked to do him some drinking. He tried to do both well but he couldn’t. Within a few years it was obvious to all Raider fans that this guy had more important priorities than wordwide fame and millions of dollars. That priority was drinking. He did not know how to quit drinking. After a few years the Raiders got rid of him. But even though this is an unhappy story it is nothing like the damage alcohol does to some people.
The British Medical Journal reports that alcohol is associated with 80% of deaths from fire, 65% of serious head injuries, 50% of murders, 40%of road traffic accidents, 30% of fatal accidents, 35% of marital breakdowns, and one in three incidents of child abuse.
Michael Hardiman in his book Overcoming Addiction notes that these statistics help clarify the point that any drug that diminishes control can also unleash many barbaric and destructive elements inherit in a human being. With substantial levels of alcohol the drinker also begins to lose control of himself socially, morally, and physically. He has also lost the ability to judge just how much control he has lost. And he no longer is able to gauge how much total control he has given over to alcohol. He can’t stop”.
But you can learn how to quit drinking. I have a story from personal experience to tell you. I have a brother who loved drinking. He would drink a case of beer every day. If you wanted to party you could go to his house any day of the week. But of course the party came with a price. He racked up a couple of DUI’S and his life was generally tough. One day I got a phone call that he was in the hospital. The doctor said he probably would not make it. I rushed over to the hospital and there he was with blood still oozing and broken bones everywhere. Looking at him was shocking, but the story of how it happened was even more shocking. He had been riding on his motorcycle at 3 in the morning all tanked up. Another tanked up driver pulled his car into the road with no lights on. He hit the truck at Lord only knows what speed. Since they said he dented in the pickup truck three feet I would assume he was flying. And when I say he dented it, I mean He dented it. They found him stuck to the pickup truck. But God must have wanted him alive because he pulled through. It took months of painful therapy for him to walk again but he is back to full strength now. But even after this disaster he did not stop drinking. But within a few years of this accident he decided that drinking was ruining his health, life, relationships and many other things.
It has now been over 15 years since my brother quit drinking. I interviewed my brother about how he quit drinking and got a very interesting story. I first asked him how did you quit drinking? He said “I was delivered by God”. I asked “why do you think God delivered you? What purpose do you think God had for you. He said” I can’t say I have fully found my purpose but I know I have been a better person and a better father since I have quit”. I next asked him “what did you have to change to quit drinking”. Answer “I had to learn that I could do things without drinking”. R I knew that he had done a lot of boating while drinking and he continued to boat after he quit. I asked “Was boating without booze as much fun as boating with it. He said “the freedom that I have without drinking makes life better all around. (HE continued) When you are an addict your addiction is driving you. The fun you are having is from feeding the craving for that alcohol addiction”. But I then pressed him on the issue I said “Lets break this down into 2 time periods, in the first year that you quit drinking. When you were boating did you think it was as much fun sober as it had been when you drank. Answer “I thought it had been more fun while drinking than it was after I quit drinking that first year. 2nd part of the question, I then asked after 3 years of sobriety did you still believe that boating was less fun sober than it was while drinking? He said “at that point for me boating as well as other activities were just as much fun while sober as they had been while drinking alcohol.
There are two interesting themes in this interview. The first is that He still believed that he was missing out on fun when he went boating after he quit drinking alcohol during his first year or two of sobriety. It wasn’t until year three that his thinking cleared up enough to realize that he could have just as much fun sober as he could have when he was drinking.
Key point #1. Your addiction is driving you and it will tell you that you can’t have fun unless you are partying. For most people this is just not true. Here is some advice, tell yourself consistently that you can have fun without the party. If you think this is good advice, write yourself a note until you form a habit. R
The second interesting theme of this interview is that he said that he was delivered from drinking by God. When He said this quite frankly I didn’t believe him. But then I remembered what I had said in an earlier video. I advised praying and asking God to help you quit drinking. Then I commented on whether God would answer your prayer and deliver you. I said “He will help the 1 out of a thousand of us who will not look back at our addiction and for those people God will help them have an instant recovery”. I am now convinced that my brother was one of the rare people who truly did not choose to look back at his addiction. For those of us who want to look back, prayer will help a little bit, but if we are fighting God by looking back it will not be an instant cure.
I will talk more about Spiritual solutions later but one other topic I want to cover is;
How much of your routine do you have to change to learn how to quit drinking? For some people the answer is they had to change some things. For them just starting to go to AA, memorizing Key anti-addiction points and stopping their bar hopping routine is enough. But for some people the answer is they had to change everything to learn how to quit drinking. Spiritualriver.com website comments on how this change occurs. Quote
“It happens through daily action. So for example, if you normally go to work each day, leave work and go to a bar, then come home and continue drinking, then go to bed….then obviously there is a lot of stuff there that has to change. Not only would the bar routine have to change, but the drinking at home routine would have to change. So literally, every waking hour of your day might be completely different after you are in early recovery. Different people, and maybe going to therapy or a meeting after work instead of to the bar. You get the idea. Everything is different. Early recovery has to have lots of action occur in a big way. Every day, positive action. Consistently over time. This is the only way to establish a foundation of sobriety in early recovery”. Unquote
Key point#2 Write down the positive actions you will take over the next 2 days. If you like this idea develop a habit of doing this every day.
Key point#2 Write down the positive actions you will take over the next 2 days. If you like this idea develop a habit of doing this every day.
The rest of this video will contain advice that is Spiritual in nature only. One important method to use to help you stop drinking is to know what the Bible says about the subject.
Proverbs 20:1
Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
Luke 21:34“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap.
Ephesians 5:18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit
Ephesians 5:18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit
1 Peter 4:3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men[a] 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Yes God is harsh with drunkards. But if you give 100% in your effort to quit drinking (and never look back) He will help you. If you just can’t do it on your own, find a Pastor or Church worker who will help you. If you attend a church that acts like you are OK with God while being a drunkard you have to find a new church. Yes God loves you, but He knows that alcohol indulgence will destroy you and that is why the Bible says what it says about drunkards. Yes He will forgive you for everything you have done in the past, but you have to learn how to quit drinking.For more information on becoming a Christian and growing as a Christian please see video #2.
I will end this video by talking about people who can’t enjoy life unless they party. If this is you then your only hope is Ephesians 5:18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. You need to stop drinking and replace drinking with being filled with the Holy Spirit. There are thousands of articles on the internet on how to be filled. The bottom line is you need to replace the party with Jesus Christ who brings fullness of Joy and purpose. It is hard to learn how to quit drinking but you can do it.
How to Quit Drinking
Alcohol is the Jeckel and Hyde of addiction. People will fight for their right to party. Then later the same person will insist that they never miss an AA meeting after they quit drinking when they realized the devistation that alcohol caused them.
How to quit drinking point#1: remind yourself daily of the destruction alcohol causes.
We all know stories of lives ruined by alcohol and here comes another one. The Oakland Raiders drafted a quarterback with the #1 pick. He was bigger,faster and threw farther than any other quarterback. But he also liked to do him some drinking. He tried to do both well but he couldn’t. Within a few years it was obvious to all Raider fans that this guy had more important priorities than wordwide fame and millions of dollars. That priority was drinking. He did not know how to quit drinking. After a few years the Raiders got rid of him. But even though this is an unhappy story it is nothing like the damage alcohol does to some people.
The British Medical Journal reports that alcohol is associated with 80% of deaths from fire, 65% of serious head injuries, 50% of murders, 40%of road traffic accidents, 30% of fatal accidents, 35% of marital breakdowns, and one in three incidents of child abuse.
Michael Hardiman in his book Overcoming Addiction notes that these statistics help clarify the point that any drug that diminishes control can also unleash many barbaric and destructive elements inherit in a human being. With substantial levels of alcohol the drinker also begins to lose control of himself socially, morally, and physically. He has also lost the ability to judge just how much control he has lost. And he no longer is able to gauge how much total control he has given over to alcohol. He can’t stop”.
But you can learn how to quit drinking. I have a story from personal experience to tell you. I have a brother who loved drinking. He would drink a case of beer every day. If you wanted to party you could go to his house any day of the week. But of course the party came with a price. He racked up a couple of DUI’S and his life was generally tough. One day I got a phone call that he was in the hospital. The doctor said he probably would not make it. I rushed over to the hospital and there he was with blood still oozing and broken bones everywhere. Looking at him was shocking, but the story of how it happened was even more shocking. He had been riding on his motorcycle at 3 in the morning all tanked up. Another tanked up driver pulled his car into the road with no lights on. He hit the truck at Lord only knows what speed. Since they said he dented in the pickup truck three feet I would assume he was flying. And when I say he dented it, I mean He dented it. They found him stuck to the pickup truck. But God must have wanted him alive because he pulled through. It took months of painful therapy for him to walk again but he is back to full strength now. But even after this disaster he did not stop drinking. But within a few years of this accident he decided that drinking was ruining his health, life, relationships and many other things.
It has now been over 15 years since my brother quit drinking. I interviewed my brother about how he quit drinking and got a very interesting story. I first asked him how did you quit drinking? He said “I was delivered by God”. I asked “why do you think God delivered you? What purpose do you think God had for you. He said” I can’t say I have fully found my purpose but I know I have been a better person and a better father since I have quit”. I next asked him “what did you have to change to quit drinking”. Answer “I had to learn that I could do things without drinking”. R I knew that he had done a lot of boating while drinking and he continued to boat after he quit. I asked “Was boating without booze as much fun as boating with it. He said “the freedom that I have without drinking makes life better all around. (HE continued) When you are an addict your addiction is driving you. The fun you are having is from feeding the craving for that alcohol addiction”. But I then pressed him on the issue I said “Lets break this down into 2 time periods, in the first year that you quit drinking. When you were boating did you think it was as much fun sober as it had been when you drank. Answer “I thought it had been more fun while drinking than it was after I quit drinking that first year. 2nd part of the question, I then asked after 3 years of sobriety did you still believe that boating was less fun sober than it was while drinking? He said “at that point for me boating as well as other activities were just as much fun while sober as they had been while drinking alcohol.
There are two interesting themes in this interview. The first is that He still believed that he was missing out on fun when he went boating after he quit drinking alcohol during his first year or two of sobriety. It wasn’t until year three that his thinking cleared up enough to realize that he could have just as much fun sober as he could have when he was drinking.
Key point #1. Your addiction is driving you and it will tell you that you can’t have fun unless you are partying. For most people this is just not true. Here is some advice, tell yourself consistently that you can have fun without the party. If you think this is good advice, write yourself a note until you form a habit. R
The second interesting theme of this interview is that he said that he was delivered from drinking by God. When He said this quite frankly I didn’t believe him. But then I remembered what I had said in an earlier video. I advised praying and asking God to help you quit drinking. Then I commented on whether God would answer your prayer and deliver you. I said “He will help the 1 out of a thousand of us who will not look back at our addiction and for those people God will help them have an instant recovery”. I am now convinced that my brother was one of the rare people who truly did not choose to look back at his addiction. For those of us who want to look back, prayer will help a little bit, but if we are fighting God by looking back it will not be an instant cure.
I will talk more about Spiritual solutions later but one other topic I want to cover is;
How much of your routine do you have to change to learn how to quit drinking? For some people the answer is they had to change some things. For them just starting to go to AA, memorizing Key anti-addiction points and stopping their bar hopping routine is enough. But for some people the answer is they had to change everything to learn how to quit drinking. Spiritualriver.com website comments on how this change occurs. Quote
“It happens through daily action. So for example, if you normally go to work each day, leave work and go to a bar, then come home and continue drinking, then go to bed….then obviously there is a lot of stuff there that has to change. Not only would the bar routine have to change, but the drinking at home routine would have to change. So literally, every waking hour of your day might be completely different after you are in early recovery. Different people, and maybe going to therapy or a meeting after work instead of to the bar. You get the idea. Everything is different. Early recovery has to have lots of action occur in a big way. Every day, positive action. Consistently over time. This is the only way to establish a foundation of sobriety in early recovery”. Unquote
Key point#2 Write down the positive actions you will take over the next 2 days. If you like this idea develop a habit of doing this every day.
Key point#2 Write down the positive actions you will take over the next 2 days. If you like this idea develop a habit of doing this every day.
The rest of this video will contain advice that is Spiritual in nature only. One important method to use to help you stop drinking is to know what the Bible says about the subject.
Proverbs 20:1
Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
Luke 21:34“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap.
Ephesians 5:18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit
Ephesians 5:18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit
1 Peter 4:3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men[a] 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Yes God is harsh with drunkards. But if you give 100% in your effort to quit drinking (and never look back) He will help you. If you just can’t do it on your own, find a Pastor or Church worker who will help you. If you attend a church that acts like you are OK with God while being a drunkard you have to find a new church. Yes God loves you, but He knows that alcohol indulgence will destroy you and that is why the Bible says what it says about drunkards. Yes He will forgive you for everything you have done in the past, but you have to learn how to quit drinking.For more information on becoming a Christian and growing as a Christian please see video #2.
I will end this video by talking about people who can’t enjoy life unless they party. If this is you then your only hope is Ephesians 5:18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. You need to stop drinking and replace drinking with being filled with the Holy Spirit. There are thousands of articles on the internet on how to be filled. The bottom line is you need to replace the party with Jesus Christ who brings fullness of Joy and purpose. It is hard to learn how to quit drinking but you can do it.