How To Stop Alcohol Cravings in 5 Seconds

When I say I don’t suffer from alcohol cravings, I truly mean it. 

I’ve learned how to stop alcohol cravings in a very fast and simple way. Through practice, introspection, and taking a First Principles approach to stop drinking, I have figured out how to catch alcohol cravings before they go anywhere.

And, throughout this article, I’ll be showing you how to do the exact same thing.

Bear in mind, alcohol cravings weren’t always this way. I used to live my life at the mercy of a craving.

Every time I stopped drinking using willpower, it would always be the cravings that ended up beating me. 

It would always be that little voice inside my head.

“Go on, just have one”…

Or

“You can control it now – go back to moderating.”

And then, before you know it, I’m back at square 1.

If you’re suffering from alcohol cravings, this article is going to shine some light on your situation.

It’s not going to be your typical “just distract yourself” type of advice. That stuff doesn’t work.

Instead, this article will teach you exactly how to deal with an alcohol craving. You’re definitely going to want to read this entire post.

The Typical Alcohol Craving Scenario

Does this scenario sound familiar to you?

You’ve had a heavy night. You drank way more than you intended to that night.

You wake up in the middle of the night, thirsty for water, and feeling half-cut.

Your partner is asleep and doesn’t seem to notice you are awake.

You go to the bathroom, use the toilet, and frantically drink water from the tap.

You look in the mirror with bloodshot eyes, and say to yourself,

“I’ll never do that again”

You really, really mean it. You’re going to commit to a few weeks away from drinking alcohol.

Last night was just way too much.

You go back to sleep and wake up the following morning.

You wake up with a shocking hangover and drag yourself through the day.

And before you know it, it’s dinner time. The hangover has mostly worn off, but you still feel pretty bad.

All of a sudden, those reasons you had for not drinking seem to diminish. 

You’re grouchy, and you end up pouring yourself a drink.

“Just one drink,” you say to yourself.

Before you know it, you are polishing off more than “just one” and the cycle starts again…

If you’ve ever experienced this scenario, I want you to know that you are not alone.

In other areas of your life, you’re smart, driven, and successful…But you just keep scratching your head about why you keep falling for alcohol…

Why do the alcohol cravings keep beating you?

Well, if that sounds like you, I know EXACTLY what it’s like to be in that situation…Because I’ve been there.

And, it can be very difficult to realize that there’s a life outside of this cycle.

In case you didn’t know, I’m Leon, and I help people like you to understand the truth about alcohol – and how to make it enjoyable and effortless to stop.

I battled with alcohol cravings for 10-years. It was cravings that kept me stuck for such a long time.

But, there absolutely is a way out of it.

Let’s begin!

Step 1 – Understand Why You Are Committed To Stopping Drinking

I always say that stopping drinking can’t just be about stopping drinking. You have to have something you’re aiming for. You have to have a “why”.

Whilst having a why doesn’t directly deal with cravings per se, it’s critical on your journey to stopping drinking.

And, it begins by doing some introspection and writing a list of why you want to stop drinking.

The best way to write this list is by splitting it into two sections – pain and pleasure.

Under the “pain” column, write down all the reasons you want to stop drinking alcohol. Make sure this section is about the pain alcohol is causing you.

You could write about the hangovers, the cost, the shame, your kids, your partner, and so on.

Under the “pleasure” column, you can start writing about the life you want to experience when you are sober.

Imagine alcohol was just deleted from the world. Imagine that it was never a thing.

You may wish to write about your health, your family, your friendships, your work, travel, and so on.

Understanding your “why” is a powerful precursor to stopping alcohol cravings.

When you have a “why” and a vision, it can really help motivate you to start looking for solutions to your problem.

Step 2 – Remove The Conditioning

As mentioned, every time I stopped drinking alcohol using willpower, I had to deal with multiple cravings.

It would always start with a small, insignificant thought about alcohol. And then, shortly after, I’d start thinking that I was missing out on drinking it.

Sometimes I’d use willpower and resist drinking. And, other times I’d fail and end up drinking again.

That being said, the main problem with the craving wasn’t the craving itself. It was the belief that alcohol provided genuine pleasure in my life.

It was the belief that I was missing out on something that provided value to me.

I now know this was complete nonsense.

Once I had removed the illusion of alcohol providing value in my life, once I understood it for what it is, the desire to drink it disappeared.

I did this through a mental model called First Principles Thinking, and you can learn more about that by clicking here.

It’s how I managed to make stopping drinking so easy and effortless. And, it’s what all of these people have used as well.

Whilst I had no desire to drink, there were still times where I thought about alcohol. But, I still never crave alcohol.

So, how did I overcome those thoughts – and not allow them to develop into cravings?

Step 3 – Understand That Thinking About Alcohol Is Okay

When you go through the First Principles mental model and you understand the conditioning, you have an epiphany moment. You understand alcohol exactly for what it is.

It’s a bit like the movie The Matrix when Neo takes the Red Pill. You never see the world the same way ever again.

Once you’ve gone through that process, stopping drinking becomes a simple and logical decision.

But, that doesn’t mean you’re going to stop thinking about alcohol. This is guaranteed to happen. 

Most people that stop drinking start to think they’re doing something wrong when they think about alcohol.

But, they needn’t think this way. There’s nothing wrong with thinking about drinking.

Want the honest truth? I still think about alcohol! But, I never, ever crave alcohol. There is a big difference between the two things.

The reason why I don’t crave alcohol is that I can separate a thought from a craving.

I’ve written a more in-depth blog post, talking about how to stop thinking about drinking and you can access it by clicking here.

Step 4 – What To Do With The Thought

So, let’s say you’re a couple of weeks into your journey and you think about drinking an alcoholic beverage.

The first step is not to panic. There’s nothing inherently wrong with thinking about alcohol.

However, at this point, the trick is to realize that you don’t need to act on that thought. You also don’t need to explore it and feel as though you’re missing out on something.

You simply remind yourself that you’re already free.

Every time I think about drinking alcohol, I use it as an opportunity to rejoice. I remind myself about how far I’ve come and I take advantage of the thought.

Most people don’t do this. Most people think about alcohol and think they’re missing out on something.

What do you think is more likely to develop into an alcohol craving? Thinking about drinking and then feeling as though you’re missing out?

Or thinking about drinking and realizing you’re free from the slavery?

The answer is obvious.

When you start to feel deprived, that’s when a craving starts. And the only way to get over the feelings of deprivation is to remove the reasons why you think alcohol provides value in your life.

Once you have done that, you recognize the thought about alcohol as early as possible – before you allow it to develop into a craving.

It’s very, very simple to do this once you’ve gone through a First Principles approach to stopping drinking.

And once you repeatedly do this, you can beat an alcohol craving in about 3 seconds.

You simply bring awareness to the thought and then change your mindset around what’s going on.

You don’t allow yourself to feel like you’re missing out.

It might sound a little bit strange, but it really does work. These 4 steps have worked better than anything else I had tried.

Tl;dr

Beating alcohol cravings in 5 seconds is entirely possible when you take the right approach.

You simply need to understand why you are committed to your journey, remove the conditioning, recognize the thoughts for what they are, and rejoice instead of feeling deprived.

It really is that simple.