Over the years I've found I'm an emotional drinker. If I'm tired or having a bad day getting drunk will make my forget about it. If I've had a wonderful day get

Over the years I've found I'm an emotional drinker. If I'm tired or having a bad day getting drunk will make my forget about it. If I've had a wonderful day getting drunk will carry that enthusiasm into the night. I haven't permanently quit but told myself I'd take a year off to see if I could do it, I liked this approach because thinking about _never_ drinking again seemed unachievable. 3 weeks left and no desire to start drinking again. Something that I found really effective was quitting caffeine the same day I stopped drinking. I went from drinking 6+ drinks most nights and 6-7 cups of coffee a day to nothing. First three weeks were terrible, drank 6-8 cups of strong chamomile tea throughout the day to help curb anxiety, kept candy around to deal with the sugar cravings. Throughout the year when I would get a craving to drink I'd have a coffee or energy drink and that usually altered my mood enough to satisfy the craving for a drink. Hard part there is not to allow caffeine to become a daily habit and keep it as a break glass. Around 5-6 months I found there was a big jump in mental clarity, after 10 months I hardly think about drinking. Around the same time I quit I started getting up at 5am instead of 9am, I'm not very productive in the morning, some days I get some exercise or chores in but most days I just sit around on my phone until I start working around 8 or 9(phone addiction is my next vice to work on). This allows me to fall asleep by 10 and prevent the late night boredom which often lead to drinking. Having a fitness goal will help and you'll see how much easier it is to achieve without being hungover most of the week. For social events I show up an hour or two late. By this point people have a few drinks in them and there's less pressure to drink to get conversation going since the work is done for you. Not perfect but it helps.