20. Are you making this more complicated than it needs to be?

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Hello, darling heart, and welcome to the drink less, live better podcast. This is the podcast that helps you to see that drinking

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less doesn't need to to be stressful, lonely, or boring. I'm your host, Sarah Williamson, and I decided to have a year alcohol

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free as a little life experiment and haven't looked back. With my experience in training, I now help other women with their

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alcohol free or drink less adventures. I'm here to tell you that you can be truly joyful without alcohol in your life. Join

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me here each week to find out how. Today I'd like to tell you a story about how I find myself making my life more complicated

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than it needs to be. I used to love a to do list. I had no structured way of keeping all my tasks in one place, but I tried

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to keep on top of where the heck I was with frantic list writing, keeping, doing, and ticking. A couple of years ago, I was

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working multiple part time jobs. One job took up the majority of my time, and I also had a small part time contract and 4

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freelance jobs. Why? Well, people kept asking me and I didn't like saying no. It served its purpose at the time. I liked the

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money and I liked being busy. Oh, the joy of being busy, I thought. I wore it like a badge of honour, as many people do. That

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old saying, if if you want something doing, ask a busy person, I used to think that was funny. Not anymore. I realized I was

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using busy as a way of keeping myself distracted, a way of not addressing the bits of my life that needed some time and attention

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spent on them. If I was busy crossing stuff off my list then I couldn't possibly have the time or headspace to do anything

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else. Besides, if I had written address Friday night collapsing on the sofa with a glass of 3 of wine on my list, that couldn't

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have been very neatly ticked off. It was a bit messy, It needed headspace. It needed thinking about. It needed discussing

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with people who might try and reassure me I didn't have a drinking problem. Or did I? Perhaps I was avoiding the issue and

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I needed to put a plan in place and just do it. I now know for sure that if I'm questioning, do I have a problem here? Then

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I almost certainly do, and that's all I need to know to get on and to make a change. Of course, it could be about pretty much

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anything. Exercise, making the time to relax, eating well, for example. I was making everything a little bit complicated,

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and I was cluttering my mind. I don't like physical clutter around me, and I don't like mental clutter either. Perhaps that

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was why I had to be a list keeper so that the detail was out of my head and on paper. While I'm talking about pieces of paper,

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a quick mention. Have you heard of Eisenhower's matrix? I recommend you look it up. I was introduced to this productivity

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tool, and it really helped me to prioritize the tasks that were important and urgent, and also to see that some tasks could

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be delegated or even eliminated. I do still suffer from allowing myself to get over busy from time to time, and the state

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of my desk is a really good indicator of my inner feelings. Once I've got my desk straight and prioritized my top three tasks

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for the day, I can move on much more easily. I was always guilty of thinking I could fit much more into my day than I realistically

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could, and it often left me feeling unaccomplished at the end of the working day, another reason why I used to have a glass

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of wine. That feeling of overwhelm was real, and it needed taking down a peg or 2 at the end of the day. Anyway, making chisel

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complicated. Here is what I didn't need to have when I decided to try my alcohol free experiment. Number 1, permission from

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anyone else. Number 2, additional items on my mental to do list, I e, I will also cut out sugar. Number 3, a set of commitments

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to other people I didn't want to fulfil. And here is what I did need. Belief in myself, one goal, and a diary with things

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in it that felt good and not at all overwhelming. In summary, don't make your mission to try an alcohol free life experiment

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complicated. Keep it simple. Ask for help and support where you need it. Once I had my alcohol free life experiment safely

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underway, I took the opportunity to begin to address other areas in my life that felt overwhelming, and I was able to streamline

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my headspace too. What a joy. I'm a work in progress like everyone else, but I now really do feel like I'm a human being and

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else, but I now really do feel like I'm a human being and not a human doing. Thank you for listening to this episode. Please

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listen in again next time. You can sign up to my 5 day drink less experiment and find out about working with me one to 1 at

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drink less, live better.com. I'd love it if you could 5 star rate and review this podcast. It'd be good karma. You know? Thank

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you. And, PS, I believe in you.