15 Signs you need to Take a Break from Alcohol with Lori Massicot

My guest this week is Sobriety Coach Lori Massicot.

Lori was on the podcast back in 2021 and that episode was one of our most popular ones with more than 2,000 downloads. 

We were talking about why women should quit drinking in mid-life – that seemed to strike a chord with many of our listeners -

Here is a link to that podcast 

I invited Lori back so that we could highlight the signs…

The signs that we are drinking too much..

 Signs that most of us ignore for as long as we can!

1. Trying (and failing) to moderate has to be a big one… a moderate drinker is someone who might have a glass of champagne at a wedding or a glass of wine with a special meal… alcohol isn’t even on their radar! Once we’ve crossed a line with our drinking there is no moderating, no going back – just going forward and creating an alcohol free life that we love.
2. Creating Rules around our drinking is another classic sign – it’s a sign that we know its getting out of control and that we need to rein it in… to avoid having to give it up altogether which is the ultimate nightmare for most drinkers!
3. Having no “off” switch – however good our intentions are once we’ve had that first glass of wine all the bets are off – as the saying goes “one is too many and a thousand isn’t enough”
4. We drink for the buzz – personally I wasn’t bothered if I was drinking a fine wine or a bottle of plonk – for me it was all about the buzz – I used to drink for the way it made me feel rather than the taste.
5. Waking up at 3am wracked with anxiety – of course that’s when the alcohol is leaving our system so if we’ve been numbing out to avoid thinking about a problem it will reappear with a vengeance at 3am. Drinking alcohol is like pouring gasoline on our anxiety!
6. The shift from drinking to socialise to drinking to self medicate. The normal timeframe is about 20 years… so many woman drink to socialise in their 30’s and 30’s but then as the demands of juggling a career and childcare pile up they rely on it to cope with their stress.
7. If you worry about the prospect of having to quit drinking one day – if that’s your worst nightmare – if you can’t even imagine what your life would be like without alcohol then that’s a sure sign you need to take a break
8. Along with self medicating with alcohol comes the habit of drinking alone – a sure sign that it’s moved away from the fun place to the place of numbing out the strains of the day.
9. You heard Lori saying that she had hangovers that lasted 2 or 3 days – as we get older our bodies struggle to cope with excessive drinking. We have less water in our bodies and become more susceptible to the dangers such as breast cancer.
10. Finding yourself in the Groundhog Day routine of daily drinking is another sign – waking up feeling under par and vowing not to drink that evening. By 5pm you’re feeling quite perky and well up for a glass of wine!  If we drink every evening we spend our days in withdrawal from alcohol – that’s why that first glass of wine tastes so good!
11. Increasing level of tolerance is another warning sign.  When I started drinking I could get a nice buzz going with a couple of glasses of wine but towards the end of my drinking career I could drink two bottles of wine and not feel a thing!
12. Being very health conscious – doing the yoga, eating organic yet working your way through a bottle of wine in the evening. It’s as if the alcohol is the last piece of the puzzle - although we know if our hearts it’s not good for us we just can’t let it go..
13. Taking a strategic approach to your drinking is a bit of a give away – I would plan my week on a Monday morning and make sure that I hadn’t scheduled anything too taxing for the morning after a night out!
14. You worry about your drinking!  If it’s on your mind then take action – don’t torment yourself any longer – go to tribesober.com and hit join our tribe.  You don’t even need to quit drinking straight away – just listen and learn and get inspired by people who’ve done it.
15. Finally if you’re listening to this podcast and still drinking that’s a bit of a sign that you’re sober curious… so well done if that’s you - carry on listening and learning!

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