By Becky McBoom

Congratulations! You’ve made it to the last lesson of the course. Whether you’ve made it the full 30 days without drinking or just cut back on your drinking, you should be proud of yourself. It takes a lot of bravery and dedication to commit to a 30 day course and complete it. Let’s review some of the concepts we’ve discussed.

Remember to listen to your adult brain when it starts to come in conflict with your toddler brain. You’ve trained your brain to desire alcohol, but it is possible to retrain it. Be gentle with yourself while trying to do this; it takes practice. Acknowledge your Inner Negotiator and counter their statements with healthy ones. Find new, fun activities to do with your “let’s go for a drink” friends. Remember that holding boundaries isn’t selfish. Look back on all of the good times that you’ve had involving alcohol, but don’t stare. Teach yourself to reframe off-plan drinking. Don’t beat yourself up, just dust yourself off and pick the reins back up. Find your community, and let them carry some of your weight when things get rough.

Identify your triggers. Determine if they are internal or external and if they are avoidable or unavoidable. If they are unavoidable, decide if it’s best to surf the urge or distract yourself. Keep your tools handy. This can be your distraction basket, a mindfulness exercise, delaying that first drink, doing something nice for someone else, or finding another healthy way to cope with unpleasant emotions. Take a shower, take a nap, create art, do a puzzle, or rearrange a room. Play the movie to the end, and imagine how much better off you will be if you don’t have that drink. By changing your actions now, you can lessen the feelings of regret of the past. You can, in a way, rewrite your emotional history by doing now what you wish you had done in the past. Remember that like Diego and juice time, you don’t have to enjoy working through an urge to drink. You just have to do it. 

Do your best to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Make good use of mediation, incorporate physical movement, and eat some nutritious meals. Discover some new, unique self-care methods. Learn to appreciate the seemingly un-profound moments. Appreciate this beautiful new life you are constructing for yourself. And appreciate the beautiful person you are. 

Most importantly, remember that you are worthy of your own love, compassion, and forgiveness, no matter where your next steps take you. And no matter what those next steps look like, you will always have a home here at MM.