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There are two ways to try to change your drinking. I know this because I tried both. The first is behaviour based. You decide to stop, you white knuckle your way through it, and you use willpower to hold the line every time the urge surfaces. I did this for nearly nine years. Then I caved and drank again. The second is different. You stop trying to stop. You dig into understanding what alcohol actually does, how it works, why it has the hold it does. You change the way you fe

The Moderation Cycle, what is that? Well, the Moderation Cycle is closely related to the four stroke Otto Cycle. The Otto cycle describes the internal combustion engine processes of induction, compression, ignition, and exhaust. Otherwise known as suck, squeeze, bang, blow. (Yes its a little bit tongue in cheek but there is a message here) Like the Otto Cycle, the Moderation Cycle too, has four stages: It Sucks - Feeling or knowing your current drinking is a problem It Squeez

The never ending Alcohol Moderation Cycle! It starts with an awareness, an awareness that something about your drinking is not quite right, somehow not serving you and you feel its beginning to impact on your life. You start to question what you are doing, are you drinking too much, are you harming yourself or others? Everyone has hangovers but you seem to have them more than you ever did. Comments from family and friends start to add to your feelings of not liking where you

I get it. You just want to drink normally. Have a couple, enjoy yourself, and leave it at that. But somewhere along the way that stopped working. Alcohol seems to take more than it gives now. It gets away from you at times. There's a pull to keep going once you start that wasn't always there. You stare at your third or fourth drink and ask yourself why. Why can't I just have one or two like everyone else seems to. In the back of your mind there's a nagging worry that somethin