I’ve designated one room in my house to be an Airplane Mode room. Technically it has WiFi but whenever I’m in it I behave as if my phone didn’t have any reception. Believe it or not, actively pretending that your phone has no WiFi works better than just passively putting on airplane mode. I always get a sense of calmness when I enter.
What artificial limits do you impose on yourself that ultimately enrich your life?
No alcohol at home. 4 drinks a day max except once a month. I’m still an alcoholic and I don’t plan to quit drinking, but my therapist and I think I’ve got it under control after 3 years of these rules.
So one AFD a month or one day unlimited?
One unlimited day. I already don’t drink most nights and I rarely ever use the unlimited day.
Setting limits like that is how I finally quit eating Percocet. First only 3 in the morning… At lunch, and again in the evening… Then 2 at lunch… Then 2 at lunch and evening… Then 2 across the board… And so on, until I was only taking 1 a day. Each step down was when I felt like it… Not necessarily on any schedule. Just when I thought I could do it. It wasn’t easy… Mind you. It was just do-able. For the record… This was down from like 3-5 at a time… Whenever I wanted them. I’m a decade sober and haven’t touched an opiate since. It took me a time to feel normal, but the only day that really sucked for a minute was the day I told myself I wasn’t going to take even my 1. Your liver will thank you. You will be proud of your accomplishment. It’s worth it.
I have chosen the easy way and went from too many every day to no alcohol at all. It’s been around a year now and I am going to double that number.
Kudos to you, setting limits feels way harder than getting to zero as, to me, zero means not thinking about it at all.
If you managed to keep those rules for 3 years that’s a good job, it needs a lot of will to not use any downside of life to break the rule.