Thinking About Drinking: Why the Problem Isn’t Just the Wine.

Most people don’t want to drink as much as they do. But they can’t stop thinking about it — and that’s where the real freedom lies.

You don’t have to be a daily drinker to feel like alcohol is taking up too much space in your life.

In fact, the clients I work with often aren't “alcoholics” in the traditional sense. They’re intelligent, successful, high-functioning women, many in midlife, who quietly feel stuck in a cycle of thinking about drinking.

They wake up with good intentions.
They hold out until late afternoon.
Then it starts:
“Should I?” “Maybe just one.” “I’ve had a long day.”

By 7pm, the cork’s out. Again.

The problem isn’t just the wine.
It’s the mental loop that leads to it, the thinking drinking.

What is "Thinking Drinking"?

It’s the quiet, exhausting chatter that alcohol sets off in your mind.

• Planning when you'll drink

• Promising yourself you won’t

• Negotiating with yourself

• Justifying

• Regretting

• Starting all over again the next morning

It’s not the glass in your hand that’s trapping you.
It’s the headspace it steals.

And unless that loop is broken, even quitting doesn’t feel free.
You’re still thinking about not drinking, and that’s not peace either.

What’s the alternative?

At The Sober Sanctuary, I work one-to-one with adults who want to stop that internal noise.

Some want to cut down.
Some want to stop entirely.
All want to stop being haunted by it.

We work privately, quietly, without shame or labels.
No groups. No preaching. No “one-size-fits-all” formulas.

Just real, tailored support, built around you, not a system.

Final thought

If this resonates, if you're nodding along quietly, you’re not broken.

You're just stuck in a loop that can be untangled.

And you don’t have to do it alone.