Hunger and Thirst and Wanting Alcohol- I think I get these confused. Not intentionally, of course.
When I was having wine every evening, I'd arrive home after work, feeling desperate for that first glass of wine. I was always a bit hungry on arriving home, but after a glass or two of wine, the hunger dissipated. I should have been hungry, since I usually don't take time for lunch at work, but I often ended up eating no dinner at all, or sometimes (if one of the kids had brought it into the house) a high carb snack of the kind I usually shun.
And I almost never drank water. After starting this challenge, I began paying more attention to drinking water, especially toward the end of my work day, and found that this seemed to calm my desire for alcohol in the evenings.
So now I am making a project for myself: When an Alcohol thought comes along, I ask myself: Am I thirsty? Am I hungry? And if I am, the pull of alcohol became much weaker when I was full of good food and reasonably hydrated.
It's almost as though my body/mind didn't differentiate among these hungers, and I am having to relearn which is which.
When I was having wine every evening, I'd arrive home after work, feeling desperate for that first glass of wine. I was always a bit hungry on arriving home, but after a glass or two of wine, the hunger dissipated. I should have been hungry, since I usually don't take time for lunch at work, but I often ended up eating no dinner at all, or sometimes (if one of the kids had brought it into the house) a high carb snack of the kind I usually shun.
And I almost never drank water. After starting this challenge, I began paying more attention to drinking water, especially toward the end of my work day, and found that this seemed to calm my desire for alcohol in the evenings.
So now I am making a project for myself: When an Alcohol thought comes along, I ask myself: Am I thirsty? Am I hungry? And if I am, the pull of alcohol became much weaker when I was full of good food and reasonably hydrated.
It's almost as though my body/mind didn't differentiate among these hungers, and I am having to relearn which is which.
That's IT! Another example of how changing our minds, and our habits, is so possible... and how drinking alcohol all the time disrupts the body's messaging system so we can't hear (or won't listen to) what it's telling us it wants. It didn't matter what the body told us it wanted or needed, we just applied wine! Now though, my body gets all sorts of great things instead -- good food, sleep, water, yoga. It's much happier.
ReplyDeleteYou nailed it, Sue! Old Mantra: Feel emotion, apply wine. Feel bodily sensation, apply wine.
ReplyDeleteNew approach: What emotion am I feeling? Why? What sensation am I feeling? How shall I satisfy this need?
It's not as simple as 'apply wine' as a universal answer, but it is proving a lot more satisfying and nurturing!