Day 1: The Four Big List — Your Love List

Let’s be real, we drink alcohol because we like it. For this first day, let’s create your Love List: 

• What do you enjoy about drinking? 
• What do you like about it? 
• What benefits does it seem to bring you? 

Be sure to list out every single thing you love about drinking. 

Day 2: The Four Big List — Your Fear List

Most of us feel conflicted about the idea of cutting down on drinking, because we're afraid of what we're going to miss out on. Today, let’s make your Fear List: 

• What worries or fears come up when you think about not drinking?
• What are you afraid of missing out on if you can’t drink the same way you do today? 
• What would you miss the most about alcohol?

Let yourself write freely; no one has to see this list besides you, and nothing is off-limits. 

Day 3: The Four Big List — Your Pain List

You want to drink less for a reason — what is that reason? Now that we have covered your love and fear, it’s time to move to your Pain List: 

• What are the downsides of drinking? 
• How has alcohol negatively impacted your life?
• What pain makes you want to cut down on drinking? 

Day 4: The Four Big List — Your Desire List

Whenever we are on the verge of outgrowing something, it’s easy to focus on the loss.  But the real goal of going Empowred AF is never about missing out; it’s creating a life where alcohol takes up less space, so that you experience more joy, freedom, and fulfilment. 

In your Desire list, you’re going to write about the desires and possibilities that excite you in a life where alcohol becomes small and irrelevant:

• What positive changes could come from a life where alcohol takes up less space? 
• How would you feel going through the day when you are not thinking about alcohol? 
• What excites you about having more time, money, and energy when alcohol is no longer dragging you down? 

DAY 5: Create Change #1— Emotional-Based Goal 

Too often, we set behavioral goals (moderation, abstinence, no more than 2 drinks a day) when it comes to drinking, but the truth is, emotion, not behavior, is what compels us forward. 

Today, instead of writing about what you should or should not do, let’s write about what you want or do not want to feel. 

Imagine a life where alcohol becomes small and irrelevant. How would you like to feel? 

• How would you like to feel as you wake up in the morning, go through the day, and wrap you at night? 
• How would you like to feel physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually? 
• How would you like to feel in your relationships, at work, and in your free time? 

Day 6: Create Change #2 — Understand Your Drinking Loop 

Oftentimes, we were told that changing our relationship with alcohol is simply about “drinking less.” But the truth is, drinking is only one part of the equation, and four hidden forces fuel our drinking cycles. 

• Universal Needs: Most often, we drink because alcohol serves a purpose in our lives—whether it’s to relax, to connect, or to have a good time.
• Social Conditioning: We’re taught to see alcohol as a solution to discomfort through ads, media, and social norms. Whether it’s “liquid courage,” a social lubricant, or an answer to boredom, alcohol is often framed as a harmless quick fix.
• Habit Loops: Each time alcohol “works,” our brain learns to reach for it again next time in similar situations, reinforcing the loop.
• Limiting Beliefs: Without realizing it, we develop stories like “I need alcohol to have a good time,” or “I can’t relax without a glass of wine”. These limiting beliefs keep the cycle alive.

Let’s take a look at your relationship with alcohol. Can you think of an example of how this loop plays out? 

Day 7: Create Change #3— Unlock a Better Method 

If the drinking cycle is fueled by more than drinking alone, then to break it, we need to focus on more than just “stop drinking.” In the Empowered AF 4-Pillar System, we help you break the old drinking pattern and create a joyful, alcohol-free life by working through 4 pillars: 

Pillar 1 — Value Alignment: Discover and realign with what truly brings satisfaction and fulfillment.

Pillar 2 — Belief Reconstruction: Rewrite the stories you’ve been told about alcohol—and about yourself.

Pillar 3 — Skill Expansion: Replace alcohol with empowering tools so you can finally let go of the bottle as a crutch.

Pillar 4 — Mindset Upgrading: Build the mindset that allows you to turn setbacks into stepping stones.

Reflect on your past efforts in cutting down on alcohol, which pillar have you focused on, and which pillars have you missed?