“I’ve always done it this way. It works for me.”
That’s what I used to say about the wine in the evening.
Just a glass to wind down. A reward for getting through the day.
It made sense for a while.
Then it started to feel off. Not all at once. It was slow. A shift that I couldn’t quite name at the time.
The wine didn’t feel like a treat anymore. It felt like something I had to do to get through the evening. Like part of a script I couldn’t rewrite.
I was still pouring the glass, still going through the motions. But deep down, I knew something had changed. It wasn’t helping in the way it used to.
Maybe you’ve felt that too.
That quiet realisation that it’s not working anymore. That the wine is just part of the routine now. That it’s not relaxing you, not giving you the break you thought it was.
This is the part we don’t often speak about.
When the habit that helped you cope starts to feel like the thing that’s keeping you stuck.
When you realise you’re doing it out of habit, not choice.
When the moment of relief becomes something you dread.
We’re not failing. We’ve just changed. And the behaviour hasn’t caught up.
So here’s the question:
What part is alcohol still playing in your life that doesn’t belong there anymore?
And what would change if you stopped pretending it was helping?