Can you go Sober? Five Tests to Examine if you Need Help with Alcohol

Giving up alcohol is a big step for many adults around the world to give up. It’s such a prominent part of society. We turn to it on a bad day, we celebrate with it on a good one. It’s a big player in socialising, and one in when we’re mourning.

But it’s also something that can be problematic, and often become so without you even realising. Questioning your relationship with alcohol regularly is something that can be hugely beneficial, particularly if you are typically a heavy or frequent drinker.

A good way to question that is to understand whether you can go sober, or to put yourself to the test. But what are the tests you should try?

Go a social occasion without

One of the biggest tests is whether you can avoid booze when others around you are drinking. It’s when temptation is at its highest.

Many people who have gone through alcohol rehabilitation treatment avoid such situations, while others who have been in recovery for a while have the coping mechanisms to get through them unscathed.

If you can’t resist the temptation, then it is probably a good time to reevaluate whether you need help or not with the substance.

Stressed? Choose an alternative

After a hard day at work, it can be the easy option to crack open a bottle of wine to try and escape the day. And while you will get that soothing element, naturally it’s a dangerous game to play.

After a hard day’s work, see if you can find an alternative to the bottle. What we will say here, is don’t just sit through the stress and not replace alcohol, that’s only going to make it a more troubling evening, do seek out something to bust that stress.

Yoga is great for stress, as is meditation. Exercises like running and swimming too. Alternatively, you can look at arts and crafts, or, of course, even talking to friends and family rather than bottling it up or turning to the bottle.

What you will find is that you can beat that stress without alcohol, providing you with a new coping mechanism to use from here on in.

Test yourself over a week, month and beyond

Of course, one of the most common tactics is to test whether you can give up alcohol over a period of time. You may want to do Dry January, or any week or month of the year.

The best thing to do is break it down into bite size chunks. A full month can look daunting for some, so begin with a week. Turn that week into two and so on.

During this period, consider how often you think about alcohol. If it’s a lot, and it’s taking a lot of effort to give it up over that time, it might be that getting help is the best option.

Make a drinking log

Giving up alcohol might not be the answer to you uncovering you’ve a healthy or problematic relationship with alcohol, sometimes it can stare you in the face.

A good way to realise that is by creating an alcohol log. Essentially, you can track how much you drink each day, and your mood or reasoning why you have turned to that.

At the end of a week, look back over your intake and it’ll become quite clear how your relationship with booze is.

Speak to a professional

Finally, the best test for you is to speak to a professional about your relationship. They’ll help you establish your own feelings to alcohol, while also providing you with any information you need to get help.

You can gain valuable insight from this and it can be just what you need to make the best decision for you when it comes to drinking alcohol.