Happy Hour Fine, What about morning after?

"C’mon you're just a social drinker,” friends scream when I tell them I am planning to give up alcohol. Oh yes, I'm social all right. Cordial, more flirtatious, after the first few glasses. But then it tips. I blurt out dangerous home truths (secrets I've kept for years). I bump into furniture. I sometimes don’t remember what time I got home. The next day, in my moment of clarity, I awake, with full of self-dislike. Is it worth?

The trouble is I do like drinking. I don’t drink at all on weekdays and rarely drink at home but when I go out with friends on weekends, I binge-drink. I'm having such a good time; I don't want the evening to stop. The bell doesn't ring.

The bad news is that the occasional binge-drinking, does more harm to the liver than the steady habitual drinking (because the liver goes into shock). I am not saying I will start drinking daily. There is a way to deal with this situation. More over, I have only one wife and only one liver; certainly don’t want to lose either of the two.

Often we find ourselves drinking when we don't really want to. Our subconscious mind can trigger the desire without us being aware of it.

The way to deal with emotional over-drinking is to take a look at how we handle our lives. Very often we reach for a drink because we are battling what is known as “inner demons” — the prattle of negative thoughts.

Our “inner demons” knows everything about us from our secrets to our dreams. Mine spends all day saying bossily: “You're hopeless. You could be better.” The irony is our inner demons were created originally to help us protect ourselves, to ward off anything bad or painful — and yet it can seem as if it has turned us against us.

So the next time you go drinking, follow these steps as it may come handy.

• Setting yourself up to not drink for a week may cause more anxiety and a binge. Instead, plan a few alcohol-free days when you are not going out.

• Avoid friends who like a drinking partner for a few weeks. People who encourage heavy drinking will want you to drink with them to avoid dealing with their own issues. You don't have to say YES when you want to say NO.

• Put down your glass between sips. This will train you to drink more slowly.

• A lot of people drink alcohol when they are actually thirsty. Before you start drinking, have one big glass of water to quench your thirst and keep a glass of water with your alcohol.

• Alcohol has a high sugar intake, so when you cut back you may feel the need for sugar. Try to get that sugar other ways and not from alcohol.

• Write down the emotions that are driving you to feel the need to have a drink. Is it stress, anger, office politics, boredom, loneliness? All these are valid but drinking will only suppress them until the morning.

Then you will wake with a sense of low self-worth because you are not dealing with the feelings. Is it really worth it?