Hidden Mechanisms - Part 3 of 5
Part 1: Mild Withdrawals: Why They Mislead Us
Part 2: The Mental Shortcut: Why We Avoid Internal Conflict
Part 3: Overloaded Thinking ← you’re here
Part 4: Dopamine Spikes: Why a Memory Can Trigger a Craving
Part 5: The Social Scam: How We Were Conditioned to Drink
Recap: Hidden Mechanisms That Keep Us Drinking (Recap)
Some Cravings Don’t Feel Like Cravings
Some cravings don’t arrive with a strong pull. They sneak in as thoughts.
You’re not reaching for a drink. You’re just imagining something simple, like going to an event or catching up with friends.
And then, without warning, your mind fast-forwards.
You picture the drinks.
The setting.
The way you’ve shown up in that environment before, with a glass in hand.
Suddenly, you’re not just planning the event. You’re rehearsing a version of yourself that drinks.
You haven’t touched anything, but the drinking has already begun in your mind.
This is what happens when our headspace gets hijacked by drinking thoughts.
And if we don’t know how to interrupt the loop, we get swept along.
The Mental Space Alcohol Fills
Our conscious mind can only hold so many thoughts at once. Some say around seven.
That’s not a lot of space.
So if four or five of those slots get filled with alcohol-related images, memories, and associations, there isn’t much room left for:
- Logic
- Intention
- Goals
- Clarity
It’s not that we’re giving up.
It’s that we’re mentally flooded.
And once a thought loop has momentum, it feels less like a decision and more like a plan already in motion.
What Overload Looks Like
Picture this. You get invited to a gathering this weekend.
Here’s what might happen without you even realizing it:
- You imagine the venue.
- You see people holding drinks.
- You recall past times when you drank and felt relaxed or confident.
- You hear the thought: “One wouldn’t be a big deal.”
Now, your entire mental reel is primed for alcohol.
To say no in that moment? You’d need to counter every one of those images with something stronger. Something that reinforces who you are becoming.
That takes energy. And if you’re tired, stressed, or even slightly off-balance, it’s easier to go along with the script already running in your mind.
Why This Keeps Us Stuck
Your brain is efficient. It loves patterns. It wants to finish what it starts.
So if you’ve spent years linking certain settings, like parties, dinners, or Friday evenings, with drinking, those pathways get fast-tracked.
You don’t have to invite the thoughts in. They show up automatically.
Sometimes they’re triggered by:
- A smell
- A time of day
- A name or face
Because they arrive without warning, they feel natural. Familiar. Expected.
And the brain interprets that momentum as reality. As if the plan is already set.
Once the story starts playing, stopping it doesn’t just feel hard. It feels like interruption. Like resistance. Like work.
The Illusion of Inevitability
Here’s the trap.
When drinking thoughts take over, they create the illusion of inevitability.
You might still have your sober intentions. You might still remember your reasons.
But your emotional energy tilts toward the version of you drinking.
It’s not weakness. It’s not lack of control.
It’s unchallenged mental rehearsal.
And the more vivid those rehearsals become, the more real they feel.
How to Interrupt the Loop
You don’t need to fight every drinking thought. You just need to weaken them before they take hold.
Here’s how:
- Pre-frame Common Triggers
If you know certain settings activate drinking thoughts, don’t wait. Rehearse them on your own terms. Ask:- “What do I want this experience to feel like without alcohol?”
- “How do I want to show up?”
- “What do I need to support myself there?”
Then create a vivid mental script that’s sober, grounded, and positive.
- Visualize Without Alcohol
It’s not enough to say, “I won’t drink.”
You need to picture what you’ll do instead. Imagine:- Laughing, relaxed, with sparkling water in hand
- Waking up clear-headed the next morning, proud
- Connecting deeply, fully present
Your brain needs new material. Otherwise, it replays the old story.
- Update Emotional Associations
Start questioning whether alcohol really improved those past moments. Ask:- “Did alcohol really help me connect, or did it just numb my anxiety?”
- “Was it actually fun, or was I checked out?”
- “Did I feel free, or was I just escaping?”
Challenge the nostalgia. Replace it with clarity.
The more often you do this, the weaker the old associations become.
Rewriting Mental Momentum
Drinking momentum isn’t fate. It’s a pattern.
And patterns can be interrupted.
Here’s the truth:
Your brain is always rehearsing something.
If you don’t direct the rehearsal, it defaults to what’s familiar, whether it serves you or not.
But when you become intentional about how you think, when you pre-frame experiences instead of reacting to them, when you fill your mental space with sober imagery instead of rules, the narrative shifts.
It’s not always the cravings that trip us up.
It’s the thoughts we don’t recognize as cravings.
The mental rehearsals. The subtle flashbacks. The quiet expectations.
If we let them run unchecked, they turn into momentum. And once momentum builds, stopping feels like swimming against a current.
But if we prepare, if we actively choose what fills our mental space, we make it harder for alcohol to sneak in.
We don’t have to fight every thought.
We just have to start choosing better ones.
That’s how momentum shifts.
That’s how freedom builds.
— Brent
Next up: Dopamine Spikes: Why a Memory Can Trigger a Craving