Mastering Mood

Getting exercise can significantly boost your mood. In fact, research suggests exercise acts almost like an antidepressant for mild to moderate depression. It has a range of benefits, like increasing endorphins (the feel good chemicals), reducing stress, losing weight and feeling stronger. As you find yourself getting fitter, it can also increase self-confidence. Some people notice that the more exercise they do, the less they feel like drinking. You may want to consider using exercise as a replacement behaviour for drinking (e.g. plan an afternoon run with a work colleague instead of Friday night drinks) – win win! Have a look at the ‘More Movement’ section in the Activity Sheet for more ideas.

Sometimes we can forget about other activities that will help in the long-run with goals to reduce drinking. By improving your mood, you are much more likely to want to achieve your goals. Even if you don’t currently feel like doing anything from the list below, we encourage you to try at least one out, as they can help you shift your mood. You may consider choosing activities to break a negative drinking cycle, or as a distraction technique if you have an urge to drink.

Be mindful of how you are feeling when you choose an activity. If you are feeling overwhelmed, you might like to choose an activity that is soothing or relaxing. If you are feeling down and low energy, you might want to try some activities that are more activating and energising. 

We’ve listed some ‘Pleasurable Activities ideas‘ in our ‘Mastering Mood’ Activity Sheet. Why not give a few a go!

We all have unhelpful thoughts sometimes. Some can be more unhelpful than others as we start believing they are true. Unhelpful thoughts not only impact on how we feel, but can also influence our choices to drink. The first step is to notice the thought…

Common themes that your thoughts might be related to:

1. Catastrophising (Blowing things out of proportion).

Has anyone ever said to you – you’re making mountains out of molehills? You tend to imagine all sorts of worst-case-scenarios or disasters that could happen from a relatively minor negative event.

2. Black and White Thinking (It’s all or nothing)

This is extreme thinking, not considering the ‘shades of grey’ or the in-between possibilities. Either something is perfect or otherwise it’s a failure. Things will either work out or be a complete disaster. You tend to see things, yourself, and other people as being all wrong or right, all good or bad.

3. Personalising (It’s all my fault)

You blame yourself for everything that could or does go wrong, even if you are only partly responsible or not responsible at all. You assume you are entirely responsible for negative things that occur.

4. Jumping to Conclusions (Mind reading, Fortune telling)

You tend to assume something negative when there is no actual evidence to support it. For example, you assume that you know what someone else is thinking or what their intentions are, without having much evidence (e.g. ‘He thinks I’m a loser’). You may think that you can predict what is going to happen in the future – that things will turn out badly (e.g. ‘I won’t get the job’).

5. Filtering (Not looking at the whole picture)

You tend to focus on the negative aspects of your situation, and forget, ignore or dismiss any positive aspects. Its ‘tunnel vision’ – focusing on only one part and not the rest. You pick on a single negative detail and dwell on it.

6. Shoulds and Musts

You put unreasonable demands or pressure on yourself or others. You often use the words ‘I should’ or ‘I must’. You can be quite hard on yourself and may have unrealistic expectations of yourself or others.

You might like to start watching out for these sticky thoughts, and reach out for some additional support with a healthcare professional  if you need to talk anything through.

Emotions are a part of life. We have all had experiences of feeling wonderful and this is great. There are also some emotions that we can get caught up in that aren’t good to be feeling a lot of the time. Taking care of your feelings can make a big difference to how you experience life. When we feel better, we do better. 

Often when we drink we are wanting to escape from a difficult emotion and relax and soothe ourselves in some way. When we decide to move away from alcohol, we are going to need other ways to deal with our feelings.

In our ‘Mastering Moods’ activity sheet, check out the ‘Taking Care of your Emotions’ exercise for some strategies that have been used as alternatives to alcohol when difficult emotions come up.