January often brings a natural pause. Whether you choose a New Year’s Resolution or use the time to reflect on your life in the stillness of January.
For most, after the social build-up of Christmas, the meals, the Christmas party celebrations, the glasses topped up ‘just one more’, they find themselves quietly reflecting. Not necessarily with guilt, but with awareness. How does alcohol fit into my life now? And does it still serve me in the same way it once did? Or the New Year, New Me regime, which by the end of January often fades.
As we move through the years, many notice how our relationship with alcohol often changes. In our younger years, drinking to excess can feel almost like a badge of honour. Big nights out, worse hangovers than the last, stories retold with laughter. It was part of the culture - social, carefree, and expected.
As life moves on, the picture shifts. Careers develop, families grow, responsibilities increase. Socialising continues, barbecues, dinner parties, celebrations and alcohol is still very much present. But somewhere along the way, many people begin to notice something different. The effects linger longer. Sleep is disrupted. Anxiety creeps in. Energy dips. Recovery takes more effort.
For some, the real turning point comes when life reminds us of its fragility. I recently worked with a client who had always described herself as a “party person.” Approaching 60, she was otherwise looking after herself, exercising, eating well, yet alcohol remained the one area that no longer felt aligned. What truly brought this into focus was seeing friends and loved ones become unwell, attending funerals, and witnessing cancer diagnoses within her social circle. It landed heavily. She began asking deeper questions about health, longevity, and how she wanted to live the next chapter of her life.
This wasn’t about quitting completely. It was about changing her relationship with alcohol.
Together, we explored her underlying beliefs, the ones that were created years earlier that said being fun meant drinking more, that slowing down meant missing out, that saying no meant being boring or less worthy. These beliefs had once served a purpose. They no longer did.
Through Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy, we challenged and updated those beliefs. We worked together and created a personalised hypnosis to help reinforce new ways of thinking at a deeper level; allowing herself to enjoy one or two glasses of wine or a cool, glass of beer, to savour them slowly and stop when she felt satisfied. To trust that she was still fun, still sociable, still herself and the reward was waking up the next day clear-headed, energised, and able to continue with the life she now enjoyed.
This is where hypnosis can be especially powerful. When we work together, we don’t focus on rules, restriction, or willpower alone. We explore what alcohol represents for you, identify beliefs that no longer fit who you are today and gently rewire them so change feels natural rather than forced.
What changed most wasn’t just her drinking, it was her mindset. She no longer felt dread, pressure, or fear of missing out. Alcohol stopped being something she had to manage or resist. It simply found a healthier, quieter place in her life.
In her own words, “I have been to the pub with boozy friends - sipped slowly, making 2 drinks last all evening - and realised I had more fun than usual. That was a helpful milestone. I now KNOW this is possible. I am not thinking about the next drink at all, I have beers in the fridge but keep saying, not today!”
If January feels like a moment of reflection for you, not because you’ve “done something wrong,” but because you sense it might be time for something different, know that you’re not alone. Change doesn’t have to be dramatic. Sometimes it’s simply about letting go of patterns that no longer serve the person you are becoming.
And that, in itself, is a powerful step forward.