Dillon Reed (@dillonreedofficial)

What happens when you quit drinking alcohol as a New Year’s resolution?

WARNING: if you’re doing this it’s time to change how you drink alcohol

I don’t know how many times I said I was going to quit drinking alcohol

Making myself feel bad about drinking alcohol has only ever led to an increased consumption.

Be kind to yourself if you’re quitting drinking alcohol.

If you’re not really into it, you’re not into it.

Mistakes will be made. We must learn from them.

How did I know I was becoming an alcoholic? You might think that setting up rules to keep you from drinking too much means you’re in control but I have found that setting rules meant I wasn’t in control. I learned that people who don’t have a drinking problem don’t spend any time making rules or…

Less is more.

How do we prepare for social situations after we quit drinking alcohol? Practice, practice, practice. You might be worried about what to say if someone offers you a drink and I have found that what I needed to do was train myself to say no. I was worried about what people would think of me if I…

Are you buying more alcohol? We were taught that drinking a lot of alcohol made us men but all that did was help us race toward becoming an alcohol. You might feel like it’s all your fault but I’ve realized that some of it was the way we we raised.

Our story can help others.

When it comes to alcohol, tolerance can really creep up on you.

Sometimes researching how to quit drinking alcohol is the thing that keeps us from getting sober.

“BuT ReAl ALcOhOliCS DoN’T CaRe!”

Are we being accountable?

Any excuse worked.

This was the hardest lesson I ever learned. I did not like the idea that I was immature. I was so sure of myself when I was a drunk. Getting sober felt like getting knocked down a peg or two. They were right though. I really did need to do some more growing up after I got sober.

Have you found yourself hiding alcohol?

I had a lot of people I drank alcohol with. But I didn’t have a lot of friends. I just didn’t know that until I quit drinking alcohol.

I told myself that alcohol let me be more authentic. That I was the real me when I was drunk. That I was funnier. Cooler. Bolder. Braver. But I wasn’t. I was everything about me that I didn’t like and drinking was what I did to cope. So it should be no surprise that I looked at people who were…

How did I quit drinking alcohol? How did I go from drinking every night to running marathons? How did I go from slowly eroding nearly every relationship I had to building fulfilling relationships with the people I love? It wasn’t some grand romanticized gesture that changed it all. It wasn’t…

Why was I worried about this? I can remember a time when my brother was at my house. I didn’t usually pour myself drinks. I was just buying a bottle of whisky and drinking straight from it. But it felt weird when my brother was there. I know he wasn’t going to say anything to me about it. He…

It is our own choices that forge our future.

I really didn’t like going to the same liquor store all the time.

Get good at the fundamentals

How did you control how much alcohol you drank

I used to be so afraid to take this position. I used to think that I had to tolerate having people close to me who still drank. I used to feel like I was obligated to let people have access to me. But I don’t. I don’t owe anyone my time. I don’t owe anyone access. If I don’t want to let someone…

Purchasing as a means to restrict was a sign I was becoming an alcoholic.

Being a functional alcoholic is actually dysfunctional.