Ep 54: Breaking the Alcohol Cycle - Habits vs Dependency

Today, we are exploring the intricate world of habits and dependency, particularly related to alcohol consumption. Join your host Anna Donaghey and Christopher Richards, the esteemed founder of Atomic Growth and an expert in psychology and human behaviour. Christopher shares his insightful perspectives on how habits form, the fine line between habits and dependency, and the role of rituals, identity, somatics, and environment in breaking the cycle of alcohol usage.

Christopher illuminates how quickly casual drinking can morph into a more concerning dependency, often driven by our desire for immediate benefits like confidence and relaxation. He emphasises the importance of building positive habits before attempting to cut out alcohol.

Whether you're navigating Dry January or trying to change your relationship with alcohol, tune in for a great conversation about to break habits.

Here are the highlights:

00:00 Introduction

04:08 Automatic habits are unintentional routines, often influenced by social and psychological factors.

07:39 The challenge in addressing alcohol use is its perceived positives.

12:48 Alcohol is used to fill perceived emotional voids.

21:05 Investing in personal growth and well-being yields long-term benefits.

30:31 Choose growth over comfort to impact future generations.

35:47 Consciously rewire identity through rituals (doing), identity (thinking), and somatics (feeling) to improve life and understand drinking impulses.

39:07 Lack of body-mind connection can lead to mindless actions.

47:01 Compulsive behaviors, like drinking, involve avoiding reality by altering brain chemistry.

48:18 Habits begin as intentional but become unconscious with repetition and alignment.

🔗 Get all the free resources from the series at: Toolkit Optin

Anna’s group coaching community ‘Unstuck!’ helps identify your alcohol ‘stories’ and beliefs, breaking the cycle of alcohol and all the shame that goes with it. For more information and to find out how to join, please follow this link: Unstuck! community information

To further explore your relationship with alcohol, check out Anna’s self-guided programme, The Big Drink Rethink Experiment: https://www.thebeliefscoach.com/the-big-drink-rethink-experiment

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About the host Anna:

Anna is a certified Alcohol Mindset Coach, trained by Annie Grace of This Naked Mind. Drawing on her own journey out of alcohol addiction, she now helps others explore and control their drinking. With a career spanning 25 years as a Strategist in the Advertising industry, she combines her own lived experiences, with great insight into what makes us tick and what influences us to behave the way we do.

Connect with Anna:

Website: thebeliefscoach.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annadonaghey

Instagram: instagram.com/bigdrinkrethink

Produced by winteraudio.co.uk

About Christopher Richards:

Christopher Richards is a transformational leadership consultant and the founder of AtomicGrowth. He served for 15 years in the British Army, becoming one of the lead experts in the Criminal Intelligence Bureau, and is an expert in psychology, leadership, and human behaviour. He is a visionary futurist and a keynote speaker on the topics of global innovation and human advancement.

For the last 10 years, he has helped business owners and corporate executives to quickly find and fix the internal barriers to their success, helping them to become even greater leaders for their business, family, and their own daily life. And he achieves this by understanding, identifying, and demystifying the patterns of the mind, behaviour, and identity.

Originally from London and now touring the United States, Christopher works with vision-driven leaders to help them become unstoppable forces for higher good and positive global advancement.

Connect with Christopher:

Website: atomicgrowth.co.uk

Facebook: facebook.com/chris.richards01

Instagram: instagram.com/chris_richards_official/

X: x.com/ChrisRichardsAG/