This is Annie Grace and you're listening to this naked mind podcast where without judgment,

pain or rules, we explore the role of alcohol in our lives and culture.

Hi friends, it's Annie Grace and I am answering questions from readers. I am the author of this naked mind.

And today's question is from Charlotte. She says, Hi Annie, I'm really enjoying your answer sessions.

I have another question. How to ride out urges and cravings to drink when you don't want to drink,

but you're really just doing so because you've done it for so long and you're really afraid that you

won't be able to cope without it. Rationally, I know that drinking young mucos of me pain and makes my life unbearable,

but I have rheumatoid arthritis and I live in chronic pain and I know that the alcohol makes it

worse causing inflammation, but I get to that point every evening where I have to decide whether I can

cope without alcohol before the shop shuts at 10 p.m. I feel panicky and very unsettled during this time.

The dissonance is very high. Sorry, this is scrambled, but I love some advice on how to stick to your

guns when cravings, urges or the fear of coping with being alcohol-free for the evening strike.

Many thanks, love Charlotte. So this is a really good question and it's so important and this video

might be a little bit longer because I did a big, huge deep dive into the number one thing that I think

is most important for overcoming craving and I'll have some other tips too, but where we're going

to start today is we're going to start with what is a craving and we're going to look at it both

neurologically and emotionally and emotionally obviously a craving is an unconscious or conscious

belief that alcohol is doing something for you that it's going to provide some relief or pleasure

or pain and emotionally my best advice on how to overcome those unconscious beliefs because

you're unconscious and your subconscious mind actually dictate what you desire, what you want

is through liminal thinking and liminal thinking is just becoming aware of why you believe what you

believe and then comparing that against reality and in my book it's made up of nine different

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