Why the opinions of other people kept me stuck
When I stopped drinking over a year ago, I didn’t tell anybody except my husband who also stopped drinking at the same time, and of course I explained to our kids that we were having a break from beer, that’s it, no big deal.
I had no idea at the time where this journey would take me, I thought that it would just be a break to see how things went but as the time passed and I began to feel increasingly better in myself and more proud of my achievements I just had to keep going.
You might wonder why I didn’t say a word to anybody else in the beginning. Was it because I was scared I would fail, was it because I was worried that I couldn’t do it?
No, the reason I kept it all to myself was because I was scared of the reaction of other people. Those four little words, “What will people think?” held me back from being open, sharing my story and asking for help. I also believe that this fear of being judged is also what kept me stuck in an unhappy cycle of drinking for so long. Obviously I hid the extent of my drinking from everybody, I hid the fact that I was worried about it, I hid the fact that I was scared that I couldn’t stop drinking, I hid my fear for my health, my guilt about my kids and my shame. This same fear kept me from being open…
