Title - THE ALCOHOL CON: HOW TO OUTSMART IT
Author - Michaela Weaver
Publisher - Parker Press Publishing
Pages - 148
Genre - Self-Help
Blurb -
Is drinking hurting your life? You are not alone!
Millions of strong-minded, capable people find themselves falling victim to the biggest con trick of our time - alcohol!
It lures us with false promises of fun and social acceptability. Instead, we find ourselves caught in a cycle of drinking, hangovers, morning regret, and guilt.
Despite being successful in other areas of life, it seems difficult to change our drinking habits. In the face of alcohol, it’s easy to blame ourselves and believe we cannot exercise self-control.
In this groundbreaking book, The Alcohol Con is exposed and unraveled with insight and humor. Drawing on her own experience and with a background in science and professional coaching, Michaela Weaver paves the way for you to outsmart the alcohol con, break free, and move forward to a bright new sober future.
On the surface,
it’s not very catchy, is it? Writing about alcohol addiction…
How many people
do you know who drinks wine or gin every evening? I’d guess it’s probably quite
a few. And the problem is getting worse.
If we are to
write effectively about the pandemic problem of alcohol addiction, then our
writing needs to be accessible. We’re not talking about the park bench, paper
bag cliché. We’re talking about a problem that affects millions of successful,
capable people.
Maybe it was easier for me because I was once that cyclical drinker. So I quit alcohol, started a business to help others do the same, and wrote, The Alcohol Con - How to outsmart it.
When I decided to stop drinking for a while,
like on a hungover 1st of January, having decided to do a dry month,
I’d start off feeling amazingly positive and determined. All my resolve and
positive vision of self, drinking green tea every evening, was primed and ready
for action. I would spring open the fridge and give the bottle of wine a ‘Ya
boo,’ scoff before putting it firmly in the back of the cupboard, with a ‘See
you in February,’ smile.
I’d go to the pub and loudly order a diet
coke, telling the bartender that I was doing Dry January. I might as well have stood on the bar, grabbed a
microphone, and shouted to the room, ‘Look at me with my diet coke, everyone!
Look at me, controlling alcohol. I’m not drinking Chardonnay or Merlot here
today, my friends, so I DON’T HAVE AN ALCOHOL PROBLEM.’ Thou doth protest too
much.
By around the 20th of January, I was usually bored with Dry January and poured me a large, chilled glass of white wine to celebrate my abstinence. A week later and I had my nose back in the fridge at wine o’clock, waking up on Saturday morning with a remorseful hangover.
For someone who is fundamentally a smart person, none of that made me feel brilliant. The problem drink makes a fool of everyone, even the most successful and well educated of us.
The Alcohol Con (how
to outsmart it) explains the whole package that is wrapped up in the glass
in your hand is the result of a very clever and long drawn out confidence
trick. It’s a confidence trick that draws millions of intelligent, capable
people in, like it, did me.
All con tricks work because the con artist
gains your trust, implicitly. You believe in them, who they say they are, and
the benefits you believe they can bring you.
The psychological brainwashing of addiction happens in the subconscious mind, and this is the part of your mind that says, ‘Oh, go on then,’ when your conscious mind is sitting there with its arms crossed and a large banner with the words, ‘I’m not going to drink today.’ emblazoned in bold lettering. This explains why we feel stupid when we’ve gone to such lengths, just to cave in five minutes later.
If you knew for a fact that you had been a victim of a con trick that had trapped you would you want to get out?
Alcohol is the basis of a confidence trick of
pandemic proportions, with millions of people being caught out
and being caught in the trap. Alcohol is embedded in every crevice of our
society, and for many, it’s a trusted friend. It has won the confidence of people
you know who genuinely believe (as I used to) that it adds value to their
lives and that life without it would be deficient. Alcohol is also the cause
of inordinate suffering and misery for millions of people who find they can’t
live with it and can’t live without it.
Alcohol is the con trick that is fooling the
world. Intelligent, successful, strong-minded people are amongst the most
common group to fall for the con and give their trust to alcohol. It’s only
when you try to get out that the rope tightens, and you realize that you’re
trapped. With minds yo-yoing between wanting a drink and trying to stop having
one, or just having less, most drinkers mistakenly blame themselves for being
weak and unable to control alcohol. People don’t realize that they are victims
of a con.
Unless you’ve read a library of books on
addiction, drugs, and alcohol lately, then there’s a ton of stuff about alcohol
that you are completely unaware of, just like I was. And you’re no doubt a
bright person. And smart. I am too. I’ve got degrees, I’ve written books, run
businesses, and I’ve raised kids, but I was drawn in by the alcohol con, just
like the millions of smart, intelligent, successful people who are still in the
trap.
When people try to get out, the con trick keeps them trapped by adding layer upon layer of false confidences and beliefs. People think they can't live without alcohol, and life would be dull. A few years ago, the very idea of going to a party and not being able to drink would make me feel deprived, even before I got there.
Recently a friend came to stay, and twice
before she arrived, I went to my local shops to get some last-minute supplies.
Both times I had ‘buy wine’ on my mental list because my friend is a drinker.
Both times I completely forgot the wine. I ended up texting my partner to ask
him to pick up some on the way home from work. A few years ago, I would have
gone to the shop to pick up some milk and come through the door with
two bottles of wine and completely forgotten the milk.
I’m now free, and it feels great. On the other
side of the alcohol con is bright blue sunshine, great emotional and physical
health and a vibrant future.
If you’re wondering about taking a break or
breaking free, you need to, first of all, recognize that there is a problem and
want it solved, the rest is unraveling and outsmarting the con.
About the author -
As a TEDx speaker, author, master's qualified coach, science graduate, and professional woman, you would think that with all that, I’d know better than to find myself addicted to alcohol and stuck in a ‘wine o’clock, weekend binge’ drinking cycle.
But I have since learned how and why we become addicted to alcohol and how to change that.
I now help women to learn about alcohol, revolutionize their relationships with alcohol, and skip, run, and jump into a thriving life without alcohol dragging them down.
You’re not weak, incapable, or out of control, but maybe like millions of others, you were lured in and fell for a highly addictive and insidious drug.
As a TEDx speaker, author, master's qualified coach, science graduate, and professional woman, you would think that with all that, I’d know better than to find myself addicted to alcohol and stuck in a ‘wine o’clock, weekend binge’ drinking cycle.
But I have since learned how and why we become addicted to alcohol and how to change that.
I now help women to learn about alcohol, revolutionize their relationships with alcohol, and skip, run, and jump into a thriving life without alcohol dragging them down.
You’re not weak, incapable, or out of control, but maybe like millions of others, you were lured in and fell for a highly addictive and insidious drug.
Website: www.thealcoholcoach.com
Facebook: facebook.com/thealcoholcoach
Website: www.thealcoholcoach.com
Facebook: facebook.com/thealcoholcoach
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