The DREADED Day 1. As a Grey Area Drinking Coach and Hypnotherapist, when clients first come to me, they have often had a million day 1’s and feel quite desperate and despondent. But I want to change the bad press of the repeated day 1. It really is something to be embraced and used as a tool to progress. If you are stuck on the treadmill of repeated day 1’s, then do not lose hope. It is part of the process. Use each and every day 1 as an opportunity to learn and grow. Changing your relationship with alcohol is rarely a linear process. An observation I see time and time again, is each day 1 can teach us something. Embrace the failed day 1, learn from it, reflect upon it, see what can be changed next time. Do not just sweep the failed attempt under the carpet. You cannot see what needs changing, what worked, what didn’t, under there! Change your mind set, every day 1 takes you nearer to success. Let that sink in. A second observation is drinkers are a determined breed (I speak as an ex-drinker myself!), I see people who have, literally a million day 1’s and keep on going. I mean, come on that in itself deserves a round of applause. If I had to give a piece of advice though, it would be the classic, “Do not keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results “. It is the classic mistake. Failing to reflect upon where things went wrong, what can be done differently next time, what do you need to do differently and how can the outcome be a different one. I see people slogging on, keeping going but getting nowhere. If you are stuck on the treadmill of repeated day 1’s, it is highly likely you need to do something different. Go into each day 1 with excitement and wander. Your life is full of possibilities. I see clients whose lives change for the better ALL the time. The sober life is out there, waiting for you to grab it with both hands and make it your own. You just have to find the right way for you. Jo Tiler is a Mental Health Nurse by background and went on to train as a Hypnotherapist and Coach, specialising in helping Grey Area Drinkers change their relationship with alcohol forever, after successfully changing her own relationship with alcohol.
