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I’ll Quit Tomorrow: The Heavy Drinker’s Mantra

I said it almost every day when I boozed

Towards the latter part of my drinking career, it was crystal clear to me that the alcohol was doing me far more harm than good.

Consequently, pretty much every day, I would promise myself that I was going to quit or take an extended break from the booze. I will stop soon, I told myself, just not now.

Then I would uncork the first bottle of the evening.

Looking back, it’s obvious that I wasn’t being honest with myself. Promising myself that I would quit tomorrow was just a way of not feeling bad about drinking today.

Rationalizing

If you’ve fallen under alcohol’s spell, there’s virtually no excuse that can’t be used to justify your drinking behavior.

You’re drinking to celebrate, commiserate, or just you’re because you’re bored. You’re drinking because things are particularly tough in your career, romantic relationship, or family life.

Alternatively, you may tell yourself that you deserve some booze as a reward or that your alcohol problems aren’t really so bad.

Maybe your excuse is that you eat well and exercise, and don’t smoke, so that mitigates your alcohol consumption. I would sometimes even run or play tennis so that I didn’t feel bad about drinking afterward.

If Not Now, Then When?

Looking back at my “I’ll quit tomorrow” phase, I can see that the actual dates that I chose for stopping were essentially meaningless. All that mattered was that they were at some point in the future.

Sometimes, I would pick an upcoming event as my target. It might be my birthday, Christmas, or a planned vacation. It was unthinkable that I wouldn’t consume alcohol on those occasions, I told myself, so it made sense to delay going sober until after they occurred.

Other times, I would select a more arbitrary date. It might be the end of a week, month, or year.

It didn’t really matter, because once the time actually rolled around, I’d invent another excuse to carry on drinking. My continual self-delusion was ridiculous in retrospect.

The Impetus to Quit

For many people, something has to change in order for them to go sober. Some drinkers talk of having a “rock bottom” event, they reach a crisis point in their life that forces them to quit the booze and change course.

That never really happened with me. For sure, there were occasions when I got drunker than intended and I regretted it.

In the main, however, my drinking pattern was mundane. My alcohol consumption was self-destructive but I was functional. My life gradually deteriorated but there was no catastrophic implosion.

What eventually caused me to rethink my attitude towards alcohol wasn’t anything dramatic, but rather the build-up of numerous negatives, such as:

• The increasingly negative health effects that alcohol was having on my body. The gastrointestinal problems were perhaps the most acute. The regular bouts of stomach cramps and diarrhea were a constant reminder that the alcohol was destroying me.
• Issues with sleep deprivation. I was waking up in the early hours virtually every night. Even when I slept through, my slumber never felt restful and I would always arise each morning still feeling fatigued.
• My anxiety levels and blood pressure were through the roof, especially during the first half of the day.
• My relationship with alcohol had become obsessive. No social event seemed complete unless I had a glass in my hand. Whenever I wasn’t drinking, I’d be thinking about drinking.
• I saw the detrimental effects of relentless heavy boozing on older friends and relatives and it scared me. I watched on as people had heart attacks, strokes, liver and brain issues.

While it’s good to be positive, fear is also a powerful motivator. I began to imagine what my future would look like if I continued down the same path.

Escaping the Loop

If you’re a problem drinker who keeps repeating the “I’ll quit tomorrow” mantra, then my advice would be for you to:

• Be honest with yourself. Take a long, hard look in the mirror. If you don’t like what you see, face your fears and deal with the negatives of what you’re doing to yourself.
• Educate yourself on the health effects of alcohol, how addiction works, and seek help if necessary.
• Make a quit plan and stick to it. In the short run, yes, it’s uncomfortable, but you’ll emerge a happier and healthier person.
• Embrace an affirming approach to life. Surviving from one day to the next by numbing yourself with alcohol is not a solution to life’s problems. The same goes for someone who regularly turns to the escapism of binge drinking. There’s more to life than booze.