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Have some kids. It'll be torture when you have a headache and they're up before the sun rises.
Having kids does not solve substance abuse issues, mental health issues, relationship issues or any similar problems. People may believe that having kids will fix whatever problem they're facing, but instead find that it just adds tremendous amounts of stress, burden and additional hardship on them.
My personal favorite is this one: https://athleticbrewing.com/products/downwinder-gose-non-alc...
Occasionally I'll have a drink, but I have higher sensory clarity now from meditating and I typically find it neutral to unpleasant, unless it's just the right situation.
What also helps is taking other lightweight mind altering substances for evenings when I want to have social fun. I recommend going down the research chemical rabbit hole and looking at the dissociatives especially.
At the end of the day though, it took a lot of time and drastic lifestyle shifts over years. For what it's worth, I don't think self discipline is the right approach, for the same reason it's not an effective way to treat any other addiction.
So I think addiction is about meaning. Addiction activities are always meaningful activities. May not be pleasurable activities but always meaningful. To quit a meaningful activity, you need to replace with another meaningful activity. like exercise, help someone, do something good..whatever is meaningful to you.
You may have breaks in your quitting , but that's ok get back to the quitting state as soon as possible.
C = Commit. You make a mental commitment that you want to change something - it really matters. It’s a big deal, worth your effort and, well, commitment. O = Objectify. You notice the inner voice that says, let’s have a drink/donut/videogame etc. And you separate it from the “core you.” It’s just one more voice at the table. R = Respond. Now that you’ve isolated that “addiction voice,” you come up with an answer to it. Oh, we NEVER do midnight snacks! No, we NEVER drink alone. And you use these answers when the “voice” makes itself heard. It’s outvoted. E = Enjoy. Learn to breathe and take in your improved life. Let yourself feel great. This helps the addiction voice dwindle away until it’s inaudible.
Again, your mileage may vary, but especially for people turned off by the cult aspects of some of the other programs, CORE may be worth a try. Best of luck to you.
I'd imagine it's the same as say running every day. I'd you miss a day then well that happens sometimes so just pick yourself up and get going again.
Specific to wanting to not do something, nature abhors a vacuum. Don't just cut the thing out, but find something to replace it with. Like I tend to snack less if I have a giant glass of water ready to hand.
I've found that I enjoy the taste of beer, but I don't enjoy how shitty alcohol makes me feel. NA beer tends to solve that for me. Lots of good options coming out.
* Just the Hazy by Sam Adams is top tier.
* Athletic brewing is solely NA beer - lots of different varieties.
* Heineken 0.0 is great
* O'Douls amber is surprisingly passable as well
I suspect the options will get even better over time. It sounds like Gen Z aren't big drinkers and alcohol companies are responding to that with better NA options.
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Lastly, I've discovered that I have an issue with wheat and/or gluten. Impact varies across beers (based on their mash), but it became really obvious that some beers would make me feel absolutely terrible.
I used this method, along with keeping a log of drinks consumed, to eventually quite drinking over the course of a year. I went from having anywhere from 3-8 drinks a night, every night, to eventually stopping completely. In turn I've been sober 6 years now.
I found keeping the drink log useful both for charting my progress, and also just forcing me to be honest with myself about what I did and did not drink. It's too easy to skew ones memory in favor of having less of a problem if you feel like it.