Hi there this is Craig Beck from stop drinking expert dot com.
Welcome to today's video and the subject of today's video is Should I count the days since I last had a drink.
And the answer is Why would you want to Aidoo this down.
You know give medals out.
You know if you get one month clean a six month clear year clear and all that
stuff you get a different medal to say well than I look I don't recommend it for
this reason only it gives alcohol more significance or gives it more prominence than it actually deserves.
The implication is it's you know you're missing out on something if you're counting
the days children count the days to Christmas down there you know 10 more
sleeps to Christmas because it's a countdown to something big and to count away
from something suggests that you're moving away from something significant something important.
And alcohol isn't important.
You know alcohol is the byproduct of rotting vegetable matter.
That's all.
That's all it is when when fruit goes bad it creates a poison called alcohol.
That's how they make it.
You know at some point in human history some smart alec looked at this looked some rotten fruit.
You know what I'm going to drink.
Why.
I mean it's insane isn't it.
I mean think about it if you if someone said to you I found this tree and the
fruit on it if you eat it it makes you feel violently ill makes you collapse into unconsciousness
and when you wake up in the morning you will feel like someone's being hit with a hammer.
You want to go and get some fruits of it.
You'd say no.
If I would you I mean you would say no that sounds like that tree is poisonous.
So that's all alcohol is it's the byproduct of decaying vegetable matter.
And so counting away from it is crazy really when you think about
it you don't count away from the last time you had a banana.
You don't say it's been you know two weeks inside a banana.
If someone said that you'd think whoa this guy's got a real problem
with bananas when you don't do things like that with things that don't
matter because they just don't you know they don't enter your your saw.
You don't think wow it's been really nine days since I had a banana.
I'm going to ring all my friends and tell them nine days inside a banana.
Nobody get nobody.
Yes.
And he swore there nobody cares because it's not a significant thing.
And you share the same mindset about alcohol.
You know for me there are only three time periods that are significant with alcohol and the first one is 14 days.
By all means get very happy and excited about being 14 days cliff because
that means you're free of the kick the chemical effect of the drug.
You know it's not in your system applying pressure anymore.
You're dealing purely with stuff up here from that point on
you know we're talking Pavlovian conditioning anchors we're talking social conditioning.
Now they're all very powerful motivators and certainly they're going to cause you some
problems and we'll deal with how you manage those in the members area.
But you haven't got the kick the physical kick of the drug anymore.
So 14 days is a very beautiful time period.
The second one for me is one month and only because when you
get one month clear it's starting to feel a bit you know serious.
Now this is this feels like it's settling you know because you can get a couple of weeks clear on willpower alone.
And you've probably done it in the past you've done a couple of weeks.
Big week a month.
Start to get you know part of your life.
Now you're talking.
You know you're in the area of where new habits are created one month and
the third period is one year and only because I don't you know I don't
when you celebrating anniversaries particularly but only because at one Yeah we hit we hit
an obstacle and I don't even mention this in the book alcohol lied to me
because I've only discovered it having dealt with thousands of people who stopped drinking.
It seems to be that after a year people get a little bit cocky.
People get a little bit relaxed about just how much damage this
drug was doing to their lives and their health and their welfare.
And they put the rose tinted glasses on they looked back and they can't remember just how much pain alcohol cost them.
And they also look back and account can't remember how difficult it was to give up this drug with willpower.
You know all those times that they try to create silly rules around their drinking like I won't drink
during the week or during the weekend wandering spirits only drink wine and so on and so on.
You know we've we've all been there and tried to regulate our drinking
before we got to the point where we realize that moderation is hell.
And so when you get to one year you get kind of get a little bit cocky you start thinking it was easy.
You know what was the big fuss about maybe I'm in control there maybe
maybe I can control alcohol and this is a very dangerous thought process.
Because let me tell you you are not in control.
And one glass of alcohol will prove it to you in the most painful way possible.
One glass of alcohol will take you free falling back to the point you were before.
You will not only drink the same amount that you were at your worst point in your life you will drink more.
And then you will try and stop again but you will have lost your faith in the system.
It will become ten times harder the second time around.
It will take between three months and ten months for you to get your act back together again.
All from one drink it's the most dangerous five words any ex drinker can say to themselves.
Just one drink can't hurt because it can.
And it will.
So 14 days one month and one year.
Or my only time periods that I care about.
I can't remember how many days it is since I've had a drink.
I can't remember when it was that I last had a drink and I just can't answer that question because I don't care.
All I care about is right now in this moment I have not had a drink.
And that's the only time period you have to be concerned with right now.
Doesn't matter about yesterday doesn't matter about tomorrow tomorrow hopefully
if we're all still around we'll make the same decision.
You just take it moment by moment.
Every moment is a choice.
Do you drink or do you not drink.
At this moment.
I'm very grateful that I have not drunk alcohol thank you for watching.
If you have any comments please post them below.
If you have any suggestions about what topics you want covered in these videos I am open to suggestions
and if you have any direct questions you can email me via the Web site which is WW.
W does stop drinking expert dot com.
Thank you for watching.
Speechley said.