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Abstract

ti night was responsible for more than a few backslides.When you’re trying to achieve long-lasting sobriety, you need to be mindful of certain activities that may serve as triggers for your alcohol use.These can be as varied as all of our lives are, and you should keep track of them.<h2 id="440e">Write it down</h2>Because I kept a log during the first few weeks of my quitting process, I wrote down how I felt at the time, which helped my mourning process for losing Spaghetti Night 1.0.I knew there were times I’d use spaghetti night as an excuse to start drinking again, so I knew that in order to be successful, spaghetti night would have to go away for a while.Go away long enough for me to realize the health and happiness benefits of not drinking outweighed the short-term numbness to whatever imperfect feelings I was having that day.Eventually, spaghetti came back, but the wine didn’t.Was it easy? No. But it was possible, and I achieved it partly by tracking my behaviour and sticking with my plan.<h2 id="a94d">Suspend or eliminate the triggers</h2>If you’re trying to quit, I think it would be helpful for you to write down some triggers you can think of that have caused you to drink in the past.Is it certain people? Activities? Locations? Tasks?How can you remove those triggers from your life temporarily, or even completely?Can you replace them with something healthier? Can you book some activities to distract you or make you happy? What are your alternatives?You may need to get greedy here, but at the end of the day, you need to make your health a priority for the first time in a long time.Hey, thank you so much for reading this piece all the way to the end! If you enjoyed it, please give it a clap or two (you can give as many as 50!) so others can find it.My most-read stories:<ol><li><a href="https://readmedium.com/the-one-priceless-book-that-kicked-off-my-quit-alcohol-journey-f9c3f2

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Alcohol triggers can come in the strangest forms

I love to make spaghetti. Humbly, my spaghetti sauce is the best in the world.

Not only do I love the meal, I love the process. I’ll put music on while I cut up the veggies and cook the meat and just really relax into the task.

The issue for me was that spaghetti night was also a huge drinking trigger for me.

I’d experiment with putting different red wines in my sauce, and you can probably guess what happened to whatever booze didn’t wind up in the pot.

One for you, four for me!

Not only had I come to associate booze with spaghetti, I associated spaghetti with booze.

So if I’d quit for a week and spaghetti night was coming up, I’d think, “hey, maybe I’ll just have some wine on spaghetti night and that’ll be it. No problem! It’s just a night! Why can’t I do this one thing I enjoy?”

The spaghetti night quicksand

I knew why. You know why. Maybe spaghetti night was on a Thursday. Well, today is Friday, and what’s Friday without a drink or two to decompress from the week?

Well, I would drink on Friday and there’s still a bit left, so why not enjoy my Saturday night too? I’ll get back on track Sunday.

See! I didn’t drink on Sunday.

But it’s Monday and boy today sucked at work, so maybe I’ll swing by the beer store on the way home.

Giving up what used to be my spaghetti night ritual was one of the hardest things I had to do before finally getting to a place where I could stop drinking for months, rather than days or weeks. Spaghetti night was responsible for more than a few backslides.

When you’re trying to achieve long-lasting sobriety, you need to be mindful of certain activities that may serve as triggers for your alcohol use.

These can be as varied as all of our lives are, and you should keep track of them.

Write it down

Because I kept a log during the first few weeks of my quitting process, I wrote down how I felt at the time, which helped my mourning process for losing Spaghetti Night 1.0.

I knew there were times I’d use spaghetti night as an excuse to start drinking again, so I knew that in order to be successful, spaghetti night would have to go away for a while.

Go away long enough for me to realize the health and happiness benefits of not drinking outweighed the short-term numbness to whatever imperfect feelings I was having that day.

Eventually, spaghetti came back, but the wine didn’t.

Was it easy? No. But it was possible, and I achieved it partly by tracking my behaviour and sticking with my plan.

Suspend or eliminate the triggers

If you’re trying to quit, I think it would be helpful for you to write down some triggers you can think of that have caused you to drink in the past.

Is it certain people? Activities? Locations? Tasks?

How can you remove those triggers from your life temporarily, or even completely?

Can you replace them with something healthier? Can you book some activities to distract you or make you happy? What are your alternatives?

You may need to get greedy here, but at the end of the day, you need to make your health a priority for the first time in a long time.

Hey, thank you so much for reading this piece all the way to the end! If you enjoyed it, please give it a clap or two (you can give as many as 50!) so others can find it.

My most-read stories:

The latest from me:

Have you found Medium via this story but aren’t yet a member? Did you know membership starts at just $5 a month (and you can cancel any time)? There’s no risk and you get access to all Medium has to offer. To continue reading stories like this and give me a ‘lil kickback, please consider supporting this publication directly by using my link to sign up! You can also leave a tip using the button below if you enjoyed this article!