How to Finally Quit Drinking This New Year

One of the most common New Year’s resolutions is to kick binge drinking habits and stop drinking altogether. For many people, excessive drinking can lead to alcoholism and a host of other physical and mental health issues.

While drinking too much isn’t something to feel a great deal of shame about, it can certainly be dangerous in a lot of situations. Figures on alcoholism are startling and can be used as a motivator to overcome the ties of over-consumption. The figures speak volumes:

• Almost 18 million Americans abuse alcohol.
• Each year more than 100,000 Americans die of alcohol-related causes.
• Alcohol is a factor in nearly half of all U.S. traffic deaths.
• About 43% of U.S. adults (76 million people) have been exposed to alcoholism in the family.

If alcohol has taken over your life, the result could hinder your safety and the safety of others around you. A year of sobriety could be the best decision you make in 2017.

While many people attempt to quit drinking at the cusp of the new year, most eventually fail. Stopping drinking is one of the most difficult habits to end but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

With a little bit of guidance and some helpful resources tucked away in your back pocket in case the going gets rough, you can quit drinking if the desire is strong enough.

However, this requires intricate planning and an immense amount of accountability for your actions.

Wean Yourself off Gradually

Quitting drinking cold-turkey may not always be the healthiest approach.

Realize that, especially in the case of heavy drinkers, you may experience withdrawal symptoms. These can leave you feeling physically ill and depressed. Plan for this and create a course of action.

An article by Drinkaware points out the array of physical withdrawal symptoms you should be ready to experience:

“Physical alcohol withdrawal symptoms including trembling hands, sweating, headache, nausea, vomiting, palpitations and lack of appetite are less common, but are often a sign that the sufferer was drinking at worrying levels. Severe physical side effects include convulsions, confusion, fever and even hallucinations. If you experience physical withdrawal symptoms of any kind, you should see your doctor as soon as possible.”

It’s also important to how drinking has become a vice. How is it impacting your life? Is overdrinking rooted socially, or does it keep you isolated? Or a combination of the two?

These are all important questions to ask yourself.

Keep a Journal, Record Your Struggles

This may sound like an old school approach, but keeping a journal which houses your thoughts and struggles within quitting drinking can be immensely helpful. You can keep a physical journal or record yourself verbally speaking about these types of testing situations on your smartphone’s voice memo app.

If this doesn’t sound like something you would do, make a list of people you know you can call when the going gets rough. Inform those on the list about your plan and ask them if it’s okay to call them when you are experiencing a low point and wanting to cave in and drink.

Keep that list in a visible place. Place the resource in the back-burner of your mind.

You Can Be Sober And Still Party

Just because you aren’t drinking doesn't mean you have to end social ties and hanging out in environments where your friends drink.

While it may be wise to refrain from parties and bars at the beginning, an ultimate test of will power is putting yourself in situations centered around alcohol. Standing firm to your sobriety resolutions in these contexts can be absolutely empowering.

Just be sure to make your intentions known, this will truly help.

Let your friends and family in on your plan. They will likely be much more supportive than you could imagine. And if they understand your sobriety plan, the odds of them pressuring your to drink are significantly lower.

You can still enjoy going out. You can still go to parties. Do your best to remember the overarching goal and keep your loved ones safe by offering to be the designated driver ahead of time.

Tips For Students Who Want to Stop Drinking

It can be particularly challenging for college students to follow through with a New Year’s resolution that involves giving up drinking.

A great starting point is to communicate with your peers and roommates. They should be caring and supportive and if they aren’t, that can be viewed as a definite red flag. Do you really want to surround yourself with people who don’t care about your plans to better your health and your life?

If you live in student housing, it may be worthwhile to look into on-campus recovery housing. These living situation assist college students through living situations that support sober living and help avoid relapses.

Many universities have these types of living situations, and if your school doesn’t you can always advocate the idea and plant the seed of this idea. Schools care about the health of their students and will in most cases reciprocate these types of ideas.

Counseling and Addiction Treatment

If the road to a sober year proves to be too difficult for you without professional help don’t get discouraged, rather, try to be more proactive.

Don’t feel shame for seeking addiction therapy or counseling if you can’t do this alone. It’s okay to need more help, and counselors thrive in helping create intricate courses of action and methods to aid in sobriety success stories.

There’s also numerous other resources out there to help you.

The NIH Treatment for Alcohol Problems page, Alcohol Rehab Guide Alcoholism Resources, and SAMHSA’s National Helpline are all excellent places to turn if quitting drinking becomes strenuous and you feel a relapse is about to occur.

As someone who’s struggled with alcoholism in the past, I can say through personal experience that you can get through this. It won’t be easy. In fact, it may be one of the hardest things you’ve ever done.

But you can live a totally sober life in 2017 if you really wish to.

Post your thoughts, struggles, success stories, or questions in the comment section below. You may just find an extra dose of inspiration or helpful advice by keeping this conversation going.

After all, you are not alone in the quest for sobriety!