I haven’t had any alcohol for nearly 4 months. Throughout this time - over 100 days - I have been learning a lot about myself, my habits, and the triggers that make me drink. Considering I was not a heavy drinker, why does it feel such a big deal to stop drinking? Why have I been focusing so much on the absence of alcohol? How is alcohol such a big part of my life?
Health issues can cause a lot of suffering, both physical and emotional. In some cases, patients move from doctor to doctor, different medicine modalities and other alternative resources, without much improvement in their symptoms. This might end up in a long journey of search, hope and disappointments.
Family Constellations work can help us to start open new perspectives on the roots of the issues. It’s a therapeutic way of looking at the deeper causes of illnesses and possible ways of healing. In order to do this, the symptoms are seen as an ‘entry gate’ for the exploration - a starting place for what is really going on with that person - and not the enemy that we need to get rid of.
At the end of January, I noticed I was feeling very worried and anxious. The world has been a strange and unsettling place in the last year. Yes, I do have a very heavy job and it can get personally draining at times.
As I preach to my clients, self-care is crucial in life and I apply that to myself everyday. However, I realised the excess of information and the general collective anxiety was taking its toll on me.
So I decided to delete all my social media apps from my phone. It was meant to be just for that weekend. But I felt such a positive difference, that I decided to continue my ‘experiment’. Six weeks later, I’m still off the apps and I’m truly loving it.
Most people are finding difficult to switch off from work and separate their personal and professional lives. On one hand we are saving time from commuting, moving around between meetings and travelling. On the other hand, that time seems to be transferred and fully dedicated to work duties, without much change or respite.
Suddenly, life is becoming an endless list of obligations and demands, without the release that comes from social activities and other distractions, from meeting different people and being in different environments.
How is all this affecting our mental health and our emotions? How can I then separate my personal and professional life? How can I switch off from work?
Are people constantly disappointing you and letting you down? Do you feel you don’t matter to them, or they don’t get you, or they simply don’t care?
What about we start moving the focus away from the others and turn it towards ourselves?
What about starting questioning: Why am I feeling so disappointed right now? What did I want from this person? What is my part in all this?
I haven’t had any alcohol for nearly 4 months. Throughout this time - over 100 days - I have been learning a lot about myself, my habits, and the triggers that make me drink. Considering I was not a heavy drinker, why does it feel such a big deal to stop drinking? Why have I been focusing so much on the absence of alcohol? How is alcohol such a big part of my life?
