Cutting Back on Drinking
For the weeks you want to drink less without making it a whole identity. It gets the real number written down, names the nights that stay dry, puts a sentence in your pocket for the offer, and treats a slip as information.
Drinking · Habits · Self-Compassion · 9 items · once a week
The checklist
- Write down what you actually drank this week — the real number is usually a surprise.
- Pick the nights that stay dry, by name — Tuesday and Thursday beats “fewer nights”.
- Decide the number before you go out — in the moment is the worst time to choose it.
- Have the first one later than usual — the clock moves the total more than willpower does.
- Keep something you like that is not alcohol — a glass in your hand answers most of the questions.
- Have one sentence ready for the offer — “not tonight, thanks” needs nothing added after it.
- Notice which situation does most of it — a person, a time of day, a feeling you are leaving.
- Count a slip as data, not a verdict — the week is not spoiled and you are not back at zero.
- Tell your doctor if you drink every day — stopping suddenly is not always safe to do alone.
Use this checklist Free account: tick items off and keep each day's record.
How to use it
Run through it once a week, honestly and without scoring yourself. A checklist is a way of noticing, not a test: an item you cannot tick is information about the day, not a verdict on you. Over a few weeks the pattern of what gets ticked and what does not says more than any single pass.
With a free Theraglee account the checklist remembers each pass, so you can look back. Without one, you can still read it here and keep your own copy.