How We Can Have A Healthier Relationship With Alcohol

When you feel you are constantly fighting the battle of parental burnout, you may think nothing of having a drink at the end of the day to unwind. After all, many parents do it. Having a glass of wine at the end of a hard day is a reward that many parents have for themselves, but it's so important to ensure that you have a good relationship with alcohol. So what does it take to ensure that you have a healthy relationship with alcohol?

Keeping Track of How Much You’re Drinking

This is vital, especially when you've got other duties in life to undertake. It's important to find a way to track the drinking that will work for you. Some people make notes of how much they have drunk or some people use an app. The fact is that it may seem like it's pointless to keep track of how much you're drinking but it's so easy to fall into the trap of having “one more,” especially if you've had a long week and you are out with friends. You could very easily find yourself thinking that you can have one and drive home, but you may accidentally go over the limit and end up with a DUI. While there are legal specialists like Sitkoff & Hanrahan, LLP that can help, the fact is you've got to ensure you know how much you are drinking at any one time just in case you go slightly over the limit. You may feel fine in yourself, but the breathalyzer test will say otherwise.

Setting Goals

You may find that one glass at the end of a day is nothing, but the problem is when it becomes a habit. When you have a particularly stressful day with the children or everything has been incredibly busy, you need to think about when these things become a habit that is hard to break. Having a glass of wine every day might not seem like the beginning of addiction, however, if you really want to have a healthy relationship with alcohol, you've got to have specific goals. If you are having a glass every night, you may want to start thinking about having a glass every other night. That means you are at least having 4 glasses, rather than 7.

Accept that You Don’t Need Alcohol

You can still have a good time at parties, weddings, concerts, and BBQs without getting anything alcoholic. In order to have a healthy relationship, you need to first accept that alcohol doesn’t instantly help you have a better time. Instead, it’s just a drink that warps your senses. There are more than enough mocktails out there, and skinny syrups can help make your drinks taste just as good if not better (thanks to no nasty aftertaste that alcohol leaves behind. 

Finding Alternatives 

We need to have that balance. There's nothing wrong with having a drink at the end of the day, but when we start to become reliant on it, thinking it's going to help us unwind, this is when problems begin. Instead, think about the right alternatives for you. This doesn't necessarily mean having to rely on chocolate or candy, but finding a non-alcoholic alternative to your favorite drink could make a big difference. It's also a good idea to think about the triggers that make you want to have a drink. If you are feeling stressed all the time, you might benefit more from learning how to relax first and then ask yourself if you really need to have a drink.

We can all have a healthier relationship with alcohol as a parent, but it's just about making sure that we have some of these components in place.