Hi Brooke! This is my first month in Scholars and I am so excited about all you have to offer. I joined to focus on Stop Over Drinking and have a couple of questions on that. At first when I made an attempt at allowing urges I found that I would end up just giving in to the urge and drinking…..now I am still practicing allowing the urges and am doing better at not having that drink, but I’m not sure if I am resisting the urge a little bit or fully allowing. It does really feel like a toddler having a temper tantrum and a tightness in my body…immediately and very strong, but then it fades away. I tell myself to allow the urge! I don’t like how it feels when it is happening but I do love the end result that I am not drinking so often! Does this sound like I am allowing the urge properly? Is there a way to know that I am no longer using any will power and resisting vs. fully allowing? One more question regarding planning ahead. Is it better to write down the drink plan 24 hours ahead and leave the option open of not drinking in the moment that I have planned ahead for….or should I just commit to my choice once it’s made? For example I am invited to a show tomorrow and I know I will want to have a drink. Perhaps when I get there I will choose to practice allowing my urges instead of having that drink and that on the surface seems like it would be a success however if I end up having that drink that I wrote a drink plan for it would almost seem like cheating because I wasn’t fully committed to the decision I made with my pre-frontal cortex 24 hrs ahead to have that drink. Does this make sense? Thank you Brooke!!!
-Ali