- Concerned that you have a problem with alcohol consumption (highlighted perhaps over the holiday season)?
- Have high blood pressure and need to significantly reduce your alcohol consumption?
- Perhaps you have a New Years resolution to reduce or quit alcohol?
- Not fond of the idea of the group approach or religious aspect of Alcoholics Anonymous?
How to Quit Drinking Without AA by Jerry Dorsman will provide you with an abundant set of tools with which you can help achieve those goals, reduce or quit your drinking and feel much healthier and better about yourself.
I did some research into the Alcoholics Anonymous program and read that program’s “Big Book”. Myself being an atheist, I found the religious aspect fundamental to that program was incongruent with my belief system. Further complicating the matter was that I am a person that is relatively shy and uncomfortable about being in face to face groups of people talking about personal topics (or even non-personal topics).
How to Quit Drinking Without AA certainly doesn’t discount Alcoholics Anonymous at all. Indeed it recommends that you give it a try and see how it works for you. Mr Dorsman even suggests that if the first group that you visit doesn’t work well for you, that you try visiting a different group… as dynamics vary from group to group.
Instead of an outright dismissal of the Alcoholics Anonymous system, he balances some of the positives with the negatives and recommends that you experiment and test the waters for yourself.
Should you choose not to proceed without Alcoholics Anonymous, How to Quit Drinking Without AA will provide you with a large chest of tools to help you identify whether you have a problem. It gives you insight into the nature of alcoholism on a biological and mental level, and offers many ideas about planning and carrying out your process of quitting.
The most endearing thing about How to Quit Drinking Without AA is its holistic approach to this issue of alcoholism and the process of quitting. This book doesn’t simply just say “Pick a date. Reduce your consumption up until that date. Tell friends so you are committed. Get rid of all your alcohol”.
Instead it takes an in-depth look into the problem and invites you to explore the many issues that go along with the addiction (such a sugar addiction), as you read. It prompts you to explore the reasons that you drink (and later suggests alternatives to drinking when those reasons arise). It asks you to consider the health issues that you may be experiencing and then gently guides you to question whether they are in a way related to your habit. It shows you the importance of your diet and physical exercise, as well as re-exploring your life and activities now that you will have more free time and energy.
How to Quit Drinking Without AA is a complete self-contained guide to becoming sober and remaining that way. However, How to Quit Drinking doesn’t just stop there; it empowers you with tools that will ensure that you remain sober, improve the quality of your life, and move beyond your addiction.
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If you even suspect that you may have an alcohol problem, or know somebody that does, and don’t feel comfortable with Alcoholics Anonymous, then I wholeheartedly recommend picking up a copy of How To Quit Drinking Without AA for an effective step by step guide to get healthy and regaining control of your life.More information about Jerry Dorsman and How to Quit Drinking Without AA can be found at his website: www.self-renewal.com. |
| Note: This review is unsolicited. I was in no way compensated for its publication. I did receive a review copy of How to Quit Drinking Without AA from Jerry Dorsman, at my request, for the purposes of research for this review. |
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I am not pleased with this drawing for its visual aesthetics: I’d be hard pressed arguing that it had any. My interest in this piece is the unique way that it was born, and the interesting effect that was born from it (for me).
To understand how this particular drawing originated, you’ll have to imagine me sitting on the can. Well, you don’t have to, and in fact I wouldn’t recommend it, so lets just say that I was sitting around idly in my bathroom one day looking around for something of interest to pass the time. The soap dispenser, toilet roll, toothbrushes … all minor distractions - nothing to hold my attention for a while like a good book (which I was lacking at the time).
That’s when my gaze fell on the abstract design of the shower curtain that we had at the time, and within it I could see a face, and then another and another. That in itself was amusing, but I noticed also that if I tilted my perception while I was looking at one face, I would find another one hidden within it.
So with paper and pen, I started drawing the faces that I saw, and how they interlocked with each other. Some were drawn from that shower curtain, some were birthed as originals specifically for the drawing - at least some of those should be obvious to even the casual viewer. There are many many different entities hidden within the woodwork of this picture - some strange head tilting may be required to greet them all.
I liked this concept of entities within entities in my drawings and this was the first time that I consciously explored down that path. I was excited by the possibility and found myself rushing forward on and on, both capturing and releasing, hiding and revealing, my little inked folk with a sense of excitement that left careful consideration for visual appeal behind with the child-like giggle of a kid exploring an interesting attic littered with toys.
Copyright Scott English, 2007.
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I’m no longer surprised by the weather in Dallas, Texas. Initially, upon arrival to this state it was nothing but sweltering heat, for a couple of years. I could deal with that. Melbourne, Victoria was a close approximation, from my homeland. Except that in Melbourne you could count on the crunch of ice under your feet in winter. That didn’t seem to happen, in Dallas, except for a couple of days at the peak of winter.
This year has a weird air about it and seems to be acting appropriately so - it snows one day, then is god gorgeously beautiful a couple of days later, only to about face and chill you to the bone the next.
Above is a picture of the chillier side of the equation.
It’s like a student ill prepared for an exam, and not knowing what it’s doing, picks a random answer for each successive multiple choice question. Which certainly makes it interesting when I wake up each day and peer outside the window to see what’s going on, though I’d prefer a nice breezy summer’s warmth over a random interesting day given the option. Nice hammock weather, mmm, yes please.
Weather aside I am far from happy with the results of the picture above. I think it fails pretty aptly at capturing the strange nature of experiencing snow in the middle of this randomly oscillating Dallas, Texas winter.
Ah well, perhaps next time.
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