My biggest takeaway was that I’m now very conscious of drinking alcohol: avoiding it mostly and feeling great about it, but when I do drink, enjoying the hell out of it! Did your drinking ramp up during the pandemic? Don’t worry, you’re not alone if it did. Alcohol consumption increased more during the COVID-19 [...]

If you drink to relieve stress, you are curing the symptoms, not the stress itself. Things go to worse when you add alcohol dependence to the mix The author hasn't re-invented the wheel, what she has done is write a great book that presents plenty of information on how our brains are wired into believing alcohol is, and should, play a part in our life. And this is where the "wow" moment for me was. Alcohol is difficult. We don't question that drugs like meth or heroin are bad for us, we'd never have anyone do a line of coke in front of our children for example. Alcohol on the other hand is, as Annie Grace states early on, the only drug you have to justify not taking.

The book is clearly targeted at people who reached that point of realizing that they lost control, that they drink too much and find themselves unable to stop. She differentiates between the conscious and the unconscious mind, the first of which has these rational thoughts, the latter however being the one that keeps falling for it. Her book tries to break down the role of alcohol in society, in our lives, part by part changing your perception of the liquid. Millions of people worry that drinking is affecting their health, yet are unwilling to seek change because of the misery and stigma associated with alcoholism and recovery. They fear drinking less will be boring, difficult and involve deprivation, and significant lifestyle changes.

One thing the author said that I’ve never heard before is that everyone has the potential to become an addict, not just people with a particular temperament or gene. Alcohol is a drug, and addiction comes with frequency of use. Everyone who drinks travels a path that leads to addiction. Not everyone travels at the same pace or reaches the end before they die, so some never reach the end point of addiction, but it’s still the same path. This actually makes a lot of sense to me. These marketers know that the most effective sale is an emotional sale, one that plays on your deepest fears, your ultimate concerns. Alcohol advertisements sell an end to loneliness, claiming that drinking provides friendship and romance. They appeal to your need for freedom by saying drinking will make you unique, brave, bold, or courageous. They promise fulfillment, satisfaction, and happiness. All these messages speak to your conscious and unconscious minds." I recently listened to the audiobook on Annie Grace’s ‘This Naked Mind: Control Alcohol: find freedom, discover happiness and change your life.’ For reasons I almost don’t need to explain, on starting the book I did not add it to my currently reading list on Goodreads. This is despite the fact that I ALWAYS add whatever book I’m reading to Goodreads, even if it’s embarrassing. I’ve added self help books aplenty this year, and although I’ve felt a little awkward admitting to reading them, I always added the damn book. Because ultimately I’m not ashamed to be striving for personal growth, even if it means adding books on depression and anxiety. (That adding books on anxiety to my reading list causes me anxiety is an irony that is not lost on me.) But this was different. In adding this book, I was admitting that I didn’t have full control over my relationship with alcohol, and that’s something massive, or that’s what society has always told me anyway. Alcohol dependency has such a stigma attached to it that we don’t want to let on even to ourselves that we think we might have a problem in controlling it. If I publicly admitted to reading this book, then it felt like I was publicly admitting to having a problem. Understand your true reasons for drinking - you'll be surprised as they are far less conscious than you might thinkThis is emotionally manipulative drivel from a marketing executive peddling some truths couched in a whole bunch of lies. She is not a recovery expert, a neuroscientist or a psychotherapist and she manipulates data to get her point across. There are 10 times more mentions in popular media about the benefits of alcohol (as it makes a good reading) than the risks, even though there are many more risks If your goal is permanent sobriety (which, seriously, awesome and good for you!) there are some decent points here and there and her overall attitude towards drinking might work for you. Casey struggled with his drinking for years. He rode the moderation rollercoaster a few times and finally decided the time had come for [...] Anyway....holy moley!! My mind was blown!! 🤯😍 It was a really good book and I am amazed at the facts and science behind alcohol and it’s effect on the human body.