When you are so used to drinking after hours it can be hard getting into the workflow after vacation without booze. Let me explain.

Daniel Schreiber, a German journalist and author, wrote that we pursue rather a “work – and – drinking” – balance instead of a “work – life” – balance. I don’t think that this needs a lot of explanation, ’cause many of the people I know tend to use alcohol as a means to wind down after work.

It worked the same for me. I loved it to have a beer after hours, and it wouldn’t of course end with one beer. Especially when I began secret drinking, this became a serious issue. Since I didn’t drink on weekends anymore, because this was to stressful in terms of hiding drinking, I only drank under the week.

Why do I come to this store right now and not earlier on?

Well, I just realized after my holiday vacation over the year’s break that something was different from vacation I had before: The expectation of after work booze has vanished and my brain and the bad advisor (cf. post from a few weeks ago with the same name) now suggested to me, that working would be stressful and I would never make it through sobriety without quitting quitting. I think one reason is also that tonight would be band rehearsal I used to wind down extra-extra hard (ie drinking more than on usual nights) and I had a lot of time to reflect in the days between New Year and Christmas.

Now, what can I do. Start drinking again? Certainly not. I will have to practice more urge surfing and deconstructing the feelings underlying the pressure from the bad advisor and start on my coping mechanisms. Today I had a long Nordic Walk in the woods and I wound down without booze and I had very good insights in terms of getting rid of triggers and cravings by getting back into my routines I had built shortly after my last day of drinking (which, funnily, was in my LAST vacation). The deconstructing and reflecting and visualizing the pressure I felt today helped me to get to the insight, that I don’t need to listen to the bad advisor. I only need to stick to my routines of reframed habits around addiction. That does the trick.

Until next time: Keep up the faith in yourself and take one step at a time.