From Beer to Balance: How Donna Beat Stress Without Alcohol

Case Study: Donna’s Journey to Breaking her Stress-Induced Beer Habit

Donna had always enjoyed a cold beer, especially when feeling stressed. It became her go-to response in difficult moments.

As she puts it,

“I just know that I have a default to drink a beer when I feel stressed, and I love beer anyway.
I just really like the way it makes me feel.”

Although she didn’t consider her habit extreme, Donna recognised it wasn’t the healthiest way to manage stress. She decided to address this tendency through Head Trash Clearance, hoping to reprogram her instinct to reach for alcohol when stress hit.

The Beer Challenge

Donna’s stress-beer cycle wasn’t just about enjoying the taste; it was deeply tied to her emotional state.

“It’s like my first thought when I’m stressed.
I just want a beer by default.’”

While it seemed harmless on the surface, Donna realised that constantly reaching for beer in tense moments wasn’t serving her well, physically or emotionally. She wanted to shift this automatic response to something more beneficial for her well-being.

What Donna Did

Donna decided to focus her clearance on alcohol as the overarching theme, choosing water as the opposite to help rewire her habits. She explains,

“I picked water because I think I need to hydrate more and just keep my system moving.”

After the initial clearance, Donna recognised her specific preference for beer, so she refined her approach by adding beer into the process. “Beer is my preference out of all alcoholic drinks, so I wanted to make sure I tackled that head-on,” she says.

The Turning Point

Not long after completing her clearance, Donna found herself at her daughter’s horse competition—a high-stress environment where she would usually have reached for a beer. “My daughter had just done her twelve jumps, and she fell on the 12th one,” Donna recalls. “I was so stressed out, and I went back to where I work at the beer stand. A friend said, ‘Why don’t you just have a beer?’ But it totally hadn’t crossed my mind.”

Normally, the urge to grab a beer would have been automatic, but this time, it didn’t even occur to her.

Despite being in an environment where she could easily serve herself a beer, Donna didn’t feel that familiar pull. “I could have had a beer at eleven in the morning if I wanted,” she says, “but I didn’t. That wasn’t my first thought, and I’m so proud of myself for that.”

The Outcome

Donna’s experience at the competition was a breakthrough. She had successfully rerouted her stress-beer reflex and replaced it with a more conscious, healthier response. “I’m just so psyched,” she says.

“That ball-and-chain feeling of needing a beer when I’m stressed is gone.
I don’t feel that automatic pull anymore, and that feels really empowering.”

By breaking the stress-beer cycle, Donna now feels more in control of her choices. She’s able to face stressful situations without relying on alcohol and has developed a healthier way to manage her emotions. “I feel like I’ve rerouted something deep inside me,” she adds. “It’s like a weight lifted.”

Donna’s story is a powerful example of how Head Trash Clearance can transform long-standing habits by shifting the emotional drivers behind them.

Whether it’s alcohol, food, or other comfort mechanisms, the Head Trash method offers a way to make healthier, more mindful choices. For Leah, the process wasn’t just about giving up beer—it was about gaining freedom from an automatic response to stress, leading to a more balanced and empowered way of living.

Do You Want to Ditch Your Drinking Habits?

If you’re ready to break free from similar habits, the Clearance Club provides all the tools you need, including the mantras that make these DRINK related clearances possible.

At just £29/$22 per month, it’s an affordable way to start your own healing journey—and when you think about all the money you’ll save by cutting back on those stress-induced beer runs, it practically pays for itself!

Alexia Leachman
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