3 Things I Regret on My Sinclair Method Journey

Even though I have made many mistakes in the past...I'm usually not someone who likes to "regret" things because there's always something to learn, and because re-hashing the "coulda, woulda, shouldas" can just bring on an unnecessary bout of depression and angst.

However, today I did want to share some of the regrets I have from my personal Sinclair Method journey...with hopes that you won't have the same regrets, too.

So, let's get started.

Regret #1: I regret not keeping a better drink log. 📉

Honestly, I hated logging my drinks on TSM. I didn't do it for the first month or so (despite Claudia Christian telling me to) because I didn't want to face the number of drinks I was actually consuming in any given day or week.

I became more open to logging my drinks as my drinking started to decrease, but even then I was inconsistent with it, and would just try to estimate the best I could (rather than log in real-time).

Why do I regret this?

I regret it because I would *love* to be able to look back on those logs now to see the 1,000 foot view of my TSM journey.

I know it wasn't perfect. I know there were peaks and valleys...but instead of facing them – I wanted to bury my face in the sand and ignore them.

Trust me, if you're struggling to log your drinks, please learn from me and DO IT! Your future self will thank you.

Regret #2: I regret not journaling at all, nor keeping a private video or audio diary of my journey. 📝

I did not start journaling regularly until about a year ago. I really didn't like it, nor did I see the point of it.

Now that journaling is a part of my near daily life (some days I write a couple sentences, other days a couple pages), I see how valuable it is for processing thoughts, gaining insights and looking back to see where I was at previously.

Why do I regret this?

I so WISH that I would have journaled, or had been better at documenting my TSM journey. I would have loved to read that now to see what changes I was experiencing, what my aspirations were and what my challenges were.

I can recall these things from memory, but it's vague, and gets even more vague as time goes on.

I do have *one* video journal I made for myself (nothing I ever put on my YouTube) and I cherish it. It was one I made in the very beginning of my TSM journey – it's only a couple of minutes. I so WISH I would have made more.

I hope this encourages you to document your journey – whether through journals, blogs, video or audio diaries...something else your future self will thank you for!

Regret #3: I regret not speaking up more about my challenges and failures. 😬

Many of you know that I documented much of my Sinclair Method journey on YouTube. I never meant to do that, it's just that my first video turned into another and another...and I realized I loved making these videos!

However, if you look back on older videos, you will see that some months are missing and there is no vlog update.

The main reason for this is because those were the times I was generally going through some of the challenges that often come with this journey – the journey of changing my relationship with alcohol.

Whether it was regressing in progress, drinking through naltrexone, learning to feel emotions again or finding new coping tools.

Why do I regret this?

As you can imagine, I usually wouldn't feel like sharing much during those times as it was a deeply personal journey. However, now I do regret not having put those videos out there – because now I know countless others can relate to what I was going through.

It often reminds me of what I see other people on TSM do – even people in our program where we have the privilege of seeing people go through TSM from start to finish. They go through a hard time and stop communicating and go into isolation...however, that might be the time they needed the support the most. 

(Side note, have you ever seen that famous TedTalk, "Everything You Know About Addiction is Wrong" with Johann Hari? He talks about that, definitely recommend).

I can honestly say I never realized how difficult – and how transformative – the process of drinking less through TSM was going to be. 

It was like when I was younger and would decide to jump off the high-dive into the pool. I would climb up the ladder – confident I could jump off. "It's not that high," I would think to myself...only to get up there and realize how high it actually was. Then I would become terrified and start second-guessing my decision.

TSM was kind of like that, lol.

I hope that you receive this as an invitation to "speak up" when you're going through hard times. This is one of the many reason for why we created The Alcohol Freedom Program. It's a place for zero judgment, but unlimited support and guidance.

I am wishing you the best on this journey!

Katie