Joined in 2023 
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Have fun, loosen up, relieve stress, be more socially acceptable, advance your career- she looks at all these myths of the benefits of drinking and disassembles them. Do you find yourself reaching for that glass of wine or bottle of beer whenever stress creeps into your life? Without sounding too extreme, this book has significantly—and I think permanently—changed me and my attitude toward drinking. I didn’t yet understand the brainscience, the role of the unconscious mind or the cycle of addiction but I knew I was not willing to continueallowing this substance so much power in my life. They appeal to your need for freedom by saying drinking will make you unique, brave, bold, or courageous.
The author details her own negative experiences with alcohol which fueled her desire to give it up, relates facts about the damage it does to the body and brain, and argues that the way we consume alcohol doesn’t make sense when compared with the way we consume any other food or drink. After another drunken Saturday night that left me passed out in the City, I decided I needed help but didn’t fancy any big commitment like joining AA.I am so glad I read this book, its not an amazing read (8/10), but it is one of the most important books I've read. Now, I have drunk some alcohol since reading this book, but I can count the number of times I’ve done so on one hand, and each time I’ve consciously thought about the decision to drink. Because I came to the book as someone who drinks a bit too much but not way too much, hoping it might help reduce my intake from around 25 units a week to 14, I found this irksome. I feel like this can be a good resource for people struggling with alcohol, but am concerned about her sweeping statements and declarations. Don't get me wrong, I had never felt the NEED to quit, but I always sensed that alcohol played a negative part in my life but I tuned it out and went on with the party.
My autoimmune disease was getting worse, my energy was nonexistent and the pounds just kept piling on. My main issue lies with the fact that this book appears to be on exploring alcohol and its effects with an open mind and then coming to your own conclusions about it, but instead is nearly 300 pages of the author's personal views with the word "we" thrown in as though she speaks for everyone.She spent an entire chapter bashing AA/group sobriety, rehab type setups in favor of just quitting cold turkey because that's what worked for her father, but then runs a site for a community 30 day sobriety challenge. Don’t believe the hype: alcohol will not make you pretty, handsome, young, happy, successful, fulfilled, or popular. Still, in part thanks to this book, I’ve decided to give alcohol a rest for a month, so on the other hand maybe I would recommend it.
Her theory is that our conscious (surface level) attention may know these facts but it is our subconscious mind that makes the decisions. The book was well written and provided many sources to the studies in which she draws her statements from. Throughout the book she refers to This Naked Mind as though it were a third object or protocol, without ever really defining it. I’ve added self help books aplenty this year, and although I’ve felt a little awkward admitting to reading them, I always added the damn book.She is enjoying exploring everything sober life has to offer and is looking forward to sharing her experience along the way.
She dispels the cultural myth that alcohol is a vital part of life and demonstrates how regaining control over alcohol is not only essential to personal happiness and fulfillment but also to ending the heartache experienced by millions as a result of secondhand drinking.
Just like smoking and cancer, the health problems are way down the road, so we tell ourselves future "me" will worry about it. What is alcohol really giving you in your life besides ranging hangovers, feeling like shit in the morning and not having any energy to work out? As an overachiever, she realized this was negatively impacting her life on many levels, and she set out to find out what was involved in quitting. However for many individuals the relationship with alcohol (as with other drugs) is very complex; it’s frequently used to numb anxiety, depression, grief and so on, and giving up may leave us very exposed other fronts. Annie uses clear logic, credible science, and the voice of experience to compel the reader to let go of societal conditioning and face the fact that alcohol causes more problems than it fixes.
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