How to change your mindset

Perhaps you are taking an alcohol break for the first time in your life, participating for a second or third time, or are a trained break holder. Whether you have a lot of experience with pausing or not, it requires a switch in mindset from you every time. How do you train your brain so that your alcohol break is a success?

It is difficult to teach yourself to behave differently. But not impossible. Changing your mindset towards alcohol in this case can be done with the help of the tips below. Learn to understand your brain and change your behavior.

be curious

Be open to what an alcohol break might bring you. Sleep better? Wake up feeling refreshed? More energy? Radiating skin? No restlessness in your body? And I'm also curious about the way there. Nothing is for nothing, but it can also be very easy.

Your brain wants to protect you

During your break, your mind will want to warn you: watch out, don't mess it up! Your brain does everything it can to prove it right and protect you from potential pain (the pain of failure). Your brain will talk to you: are you sure this is the right time to take a break? Just when you're so busy at work? Just when your partner/mother/friend needs you so much? Or just now that you are feeling a bit better in your own skin? Be prepared for this kind of 'well-intentioned' advice from your brain. Your brain is trying to help you; it is nothing more than an inherited survival technique. Stick to your plan!

Breathe in and take the plunge

You don't drink for a month? You who can normally look forward to that first cold beer or wine after a hard day's work? Your brain will try to persuade you not to start your new challenge. Everything is fine the way it is, right? Stepping out of your comfort zone is not fun at all. Staying in your comfort zone is nice, that's why it's called comfort zone! And that's where your brain is wrong. The profit you make after not drinking for a month is very large, but your brain doesn't know that yet. So take a deep breath and take the plunge!

Don't judge yourself

Your brain always wants to be right. Can you see that hanging out on the couch is much less fun without a drink? Your brain says things like that to you to make you feel like you've come up with some crazy plan. That is of course nonsense. Change often brings you a lot. In any case, you are an experience richer after implementing a change. Not drinking for a month will get you a lot. Even if you do drink alcohol once in a while. Don't judge yourself and give the change a chance.

Don't hide yourself

Literally and figuratively meant. It's tempting to put on a mask. Maybe people know you as a sociable animal, who is not averse to a drink more or less. It is tempting to let people into that delusion. Not to let anyone know you made a u-turn. And especially not to let them know that you don't feel very comfortable with your drinking at all. But what if you did tell? But what if people actually appreciated you more because you changed your mind? What if it didn't really matter what a handful of others might think about you? That is a liberating feeling. And a change, no matter how big or how small, you can cherish.