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.

I'm answering Readers' questions. Today I have a question from Angela. Angela says,

when you quit drinking, did you have it in your head that you were quitting

forever or did you give yourself a goal or something of like one year? What do

you think about having a goal? Thanks for everything. So, me there actually. So when

I quit drinking, I had done all the work that I outlined in my book this Naked Mind to

really re-condition my mind, all of it, my conscious mind, unconscious mind, my

internal desires around alcohol to the point where when I quit drinking, I walked

out of my office after like a year-long research and I told my husband I said,

if you want to get drunk with me tonight's the last night because I'm not

getting drunk after this and it was just like I don't want to do it. Like I

didn't put a forever tag on it because I didn't and I know that's probably not

popular like maybe I should be like, yes forever it's forever but it really in

the moment it was like I don't ever want to do that. Like I didn't I didn't have

the desire to drink so it wasn't as if I was trying to it when I say okay I've

quit something forever. I'm never ever gonna do that again that feels like

something that I'm doing out of kind of obligation or because I've made a

commitment or because there's some sort of desire to do it. You know like I

will never gonna eat ants like my brother randomly used to eat ants when he

was little and that's something I will never do you know but I'm never gonna

say like I'm never I've made this big commitment to never eat ants again so

...