How to Avoid Binge Drinking Situations

If you're an over-the-top swiller of alcoholic drinks, it's time to moderate your behavior. Tired of the expenses, the unwelcome consequences, the hangovers and health effects? Take control to avoid further binging by getting serious about monitoring your alcohol intake and finding steps to decrease the chances of this common impulsive behavior.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Live in a dry state. Okay, so you're not going to move just to help battle binge drinking. Or are you? In any case, it's easier for drinkers when beer and wine are not found in the supermarket aisle or the neighborhood convenience store. Pennsylvania and Utah in particular have specific laws limiting the sale of alcohol to bars and distribution centers, and if you live away from these, it's a lot easier to go cold turkey.
2. Buy small. Make a dedicated alcohol purchase for one night and then lock yourself up at home or at the home of a friend. The trick is to make sure you don't go back out to buy more later.
3. Get a helper/spotter. A helper can counsel you on your behavior, a spotter can count drinks for you to let you know how many you've had. But in the end, it's you who must be responsible for your own behavior.
4. Pour it down the drain. Chronic drinkers have learned this trick: when you know you shouldn't drink any more, use active will power and follow through to simply pour the drinks away, into a sink or bathroom drain. Famous author Stephen King said in his memoir, "On Writing," that he used to do this every night: otherwise, he said, the bottles would call him from his sleep. Pouring alcohol away is another part of restricting your own access, a crucial factor in avoiding binge drinking.
5. Be honest. Communicating with others and with yourself is a strategy for long-term control. Binge drinking is usually wrapped up in lying or deceptive behavior. Others will try to help you if they know the extent of the problem: hiding things from loved ones doesn't help anybody. It just enables continued binging behavior. Getting your drinking out in the open is the first step to needed reforms.