In sobriety, our brains are still stuck in survival mode.

We zoom in on small problems, assume they're huge, and feel overwhelmed by everyday stressors.

Minor stressors make our lives grind to a halt.

But with time, our thinking shifts and we learn the skills that we need to zoom out. In this episode, I'll explain where

this tunnel vision comes from, what it looks like while you're working on this, and how things

evolve over time as we stay sober and do the work. And before we dig in, I'd like to take a moment

to thank my sponsors who made this episode possible.

I spend a lot of time thinking about the difference between people who successfully stay sober and those who do not.

One major difference that I've observed is that people who do not stay sober or those who flip-flop back and forth, they rely on willpower or tips and strategies that are just disguised willpower. And people who stay sober long-term, they do life

differently. Powering through is not a long-term strategy. It's not that I have more discipline or self-control

than you. It's that I don't rely on discipline or self-control for the most part to stay sober.

And it's not easy to know the difference between when you're using willpower and white neckling

versus when you have an actual appropriate strategy.

And that's why I created, don't try hard or try different. It's a course about how to take

willpower and turn it into strategies that work. The course is only $29, and if you want to grab it,

please visit soberpowered.com slash willpower. That's soberpowered.com slash willpower

because willpower is not a long-term strategy.

When we're drinking, it's not just our behavior that changes, our thinking literally contracts. There's a concept called alcohol myopia, and it explains a lot about why even small problems

can feel like emergencies while we're drinking. Alcohol myopia means that alcohol

limits our mental bandwidth. It narrows our focus to the most immediate, emotionally charged

thing in front of us, even if that's just a mild inconvenience. But in that moment, we can't zoom out.

We can't access perspective. The brain is locked into that moment, we can't zoom out. We can't access perspective.

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