Quitting Drinking Is Uncomfortable
It's very uncomfortable. It can be downright painful. If it were easy, everyone would do it. Growth happens in showing up for, and moving through, the uncomfortable. Here are my thoughts on being uncomfortable and growth ⬇️
CBS news, cold plunges + starting over
CBS news 🎥
I was lucky enough to be interviewed by CBS Evening News last week on a story they're doing on Gray Area Drinking. They contacted my mentor, Jolene Park, the expert on GAD, and she gave them my name as a local, tri-state resource. The thought of telling my “drinking story” on the news made me EXTREMELY UNCOMFORTABLE. So much so that I wasn't sure I could do it and asked for a day to think about it. During that day I made a pro/con list, spoke about it with people I trusted, and got very quiet to listen to my instincts. My decision to do the interview was based on the conclusion that growth happens in uncomfortable moments. Each time I step out of my comfort zone I'm rewarded with the knowledge that I'm stronger than I thought. If you don't get uncomfortable on your journey to quit drinking, how will you feel the rewards?
Cold plunges 🥶
There's a local group of women in my area that meet at the beach 2x a week and take a dip in the Long Island Sound - all year long, in ALL weather. Since finding them on IG I've been obsessed. It took me 2 weeks to build up the courage and, this past Friday, I joined them! Air temp was 41° and water was 47°. It was raining, the wind was blowing and there were actual waves 🌊in the Sound. How did I do it? I made my body do each thing. Contacted them and told them I was going ✅ Packed supplies the night before ✅ Showed up ✅ Followed them into the water ✅. I tried not to think beyond each step. Taking it one small step at a time and not thinking too far ahead made getting into the water the easy party (kind of😉). The whole experience was AMAZING. Highly recommend. What does this have to do with not drinking? Don't think too far ahead. Just make your body do the next right thing.
Starting over ❤️
Sometimes, despite our best efforts, when we set out to do something that ventures into the uncomfortable, we fail. And that's ok! It's all part of the process. When this happens the best thing to do is give yourself compassion. Say a few nice words to yourself! Then start over. Start over as many times as you need to. I don't know anyone who woke up one day, decided they'd like to stop drinking, and then stopped for good. It's a process and one that requires a ton of self-compassion 💖.
Get uncomfortable
The key to the whole scary, messy, uncomfortable process of giving up alcohol is finding comfort in the uncomfortable. When you can do that, you can do ANYTHING.
