The Work-From-Home Pandemic: Drinking
7 Strategies for Limiting Your Drinking at Home
Excessive drinking ticked up by 21 percent during the pandemic, according to a recent U.S. survey. We gave each other a break because we were all just trying to cope. We didn’t think we’d be working from home for so long. Now that it seems remote work may be here to stay (at least for some of us), we may want to reconsider our newfound coping mechanism. Here are a few ways to get your drinking back in check:
Drinking Budget
Reframing can help. Drinking limits feel restrictive. A drinking budget feels proactive. Allow yourself a certain number of alcohol units a week. Everyone’s different, but it shouldn’t be too limiting, at least not at first. It could be a six-pack a week or splitting two bottles a week with you partner. Then, you spend it how you see fit.
If you want to have wine on Tuesday and Wednesday to get you over the hump, great, but then you have to wait until next week, abstaining from alcohol over the weekend. Knowing that, you might be more sparing with your allowance on weekdays. Or if you have a dinner with friends planned on Thursday, you might want to set aside a few units in your budget for that occasion. The system trains you to prioritize.
