HAVE A BOOZE CRAVING? PLAY THE TAPE FORWARD.

Play the tape forward. 

(Well I guess we don’t really use tapes anymore do we, but if you were born in the 80’s like me you’ll get the idea.)

Playing the tape forward is an awesome tactic that I learned in early sobriety when I got a craving to drink. It was all about visualising what the succeeding hours, night and next morning would look like if I chose to drink.

It would go a little something like this. 

Promise myself I would only have one glass of wine. 

End up drinking more than I wanted to. 

Stay up later then I should. 

Pass out. 

Wake up at 3AM feeling awful, wishing I could have kept that promise to myself just to have the one glass. 

Finally fall back asleep when the alarm would go off to get the kids up for school. 

Having a raging headache, snap at children, grumpy with the whole family. 

Miss paid-for, scheduled, work out session. 

Do my best to get through the day, counting down the hours until bed time. 

Start making the wine promises again….. 

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. 

I’m not proud to admit that is what my tape looked like. But I am so glad I was able to stop, get curious about my routine, and figured out how to get off the hamster wheel. 

What happens when you drink? 

What does it look like for you? 

Are you stuck on a loop you want to break free from? 

I get it, I was there stuck on that same loop too. 

For some people playing the tape forward is a tactic that scares them because they realise if they drink their actions can get dangerous, they drive drunk or forget how they get home. But your tape doesn’t have to be that bad to have a good hard look at it. It doesn’t have to look like mine. Your tape could just show you the reason why you’re really tired. 

The next time you get a craving to drink. Play the tape forward. 

Love, Christy xx