Ha! I just saw someone ask about “how easy it was for me” to quit drinking and overeating – and I wanted to clarify that I said “now it is easy”. It wasn’t easy when I started. Not by a long short. But I just took advantage of all of Brooke’s resources. I focused on overdrinking first – and immediately went through Brooke’s “Stop Overdrinking” program under “Assets”. That gave me a good foundation. But EVERY step of the way … I was asking Brooke questions here and I was on every single Overdrinking call asking questions. Every situation I normally drank in… at home, at a restaurant, at a party with friends, on vacation, while dancing… I went in with high hopes… and then fell on my face… and then came in here and got more advice… and tried again. And then soon I went from drinking 100% of the time everywhere… to drinking 50% of the time… to 30%… to 10%… to not drinking at all. It was difficult, frustrating at times when I chose to drink, exciting at times when I chose not to, and very empowering when the urges went away and I was able to be in every situation without drinking. Today… now… it’s easy peasy. No urges, no desire to drink, and I’m around drinkers all the time. It took most of the last 5 months to do it. So it wasn’t easy, but it was definitely worth it.

Then – when overdrinking was conquered, I moved onto overeating – and here’s the funny thing – the experience I had with stopping drinking made it easier for me to stop overeating. I still posted questions for Brooke and was on every overeating call – but the process to create and stay on my protocol was much easier – I think because of what I learned as I stopped drinking.

Anyway, I just wanted to clarify that it was very difficult because of the long-practiced thoughts/beliefs I had around all types of drinking situations – but all I did was go through Brooke’s program, ask questions here, get on the calls, and do the work day-to-day –
even when I stumbled (over and over). And after all of that work, it became easy.

So “easy now”, not “easy then”.

P.S. The other thing I’d add is that I didn’t beat myself up when I chose to drink or eat something that I had previously planned to not eat or drink. I just came here, asked a question, got an answer, and changed my thoughts, feelings, and actions with each new experience. I think being very kind and understanding to myself throughout the process helped quite a bit. And having Brooke and the other great coaches here answering questions without judgment helped, too.