Kate (name changed for confidentiality reasons) is a wife and mother of 2 young children. She had come to realise that her intake of alcohol had without noticing somehow gotten to an unacceptable level. Some people have that moment of realisation when they get a warning for being late to work once too many times, or say things they shouldn’t have said at a work party. So what was it for Kate? It was the morning when she woke her children up for school, and they said they saw her “wobbling around like a drunk” the night before. In that instant, that very moment, she knew that she had to finally deal with this problem. She had also found that over the years, due to waking up with ‘the shakes’ some mornings, she was becomingly increasingly anxious when working with clients. There had even been a couple of occasions when she had a full blown panic attack, had to cancel her clients session half way through, and had resorted to taking beta blockers to try and ensure it didn’t happen again.
During her initial consultation, Kate told me how she had stayed away from alcohol entirely for 5 days, and that this was the path she wanted to go down. However when pressed further on the matter, it became very clear that this wasn’t the path she wanted to stay on by any means, but the path she felt she HAD to stay on. She was one of the majority of people we see who say they feel as if they HAVE to stay completely free, and that if they have one drink then they will fall off that imaginary wagon. I made it clear to Kate that I would work with her on one condition, that being she understood that she would be able to have a drink again and to trust her unconscious mind!
Over the course of 2 weeks, we worked together only 3 times, certainly not the 10 sessions that she was quoted by other therapists. After the 3rd session, Kate reported back that she was at her 100% goal! She had went to a dinner party after the first session, and noticed halfway through the meal that she hadn’t even touched her glass of wine, whereas others were finishing their 2nd glass. On occasions her husband had poured the both of them a glass of wine in an evening, and halfway through the drink she noticed that she just didn’t want it anymore, put it down and had a juice drink instead. One Saturday night she was on her 2nd glass of wine and thought to herself “I fancy a drink tonight” and decided she would have a 3rd drink afterwards, however come the end of the night she just didn’t get around to it. The following Sunday morning she ran in the “chariots of fire” charity run after going for a morning row with the rowing club, and realised what she had enjoyed about exercise all those years ago. She had also made the decision to no longer take her beta blockers, as she felt so calm and relaxed every morning that nothing seemed to faze her.
So what does this tell us? Well it tells me that we are the only people who can set a limit for ourselves. If we want to regain our life completely, then we decide what we want to do and how we want to do it, we certainly aren’t dictated to by alcohol, or food, or smoking for that matter. Is there something that you would like to change in your life, or regain control over? If so, why not make that step that Kate took and call us on 01223 720 120, or email us at Cambridge Hypnotherapy now.
Comments