I like the approach of those books where they aren’t advocating for quitting but finding your own path. Congrats Kat! Steeze, that’s a great length of sober time. I never drank all the years I was raising my kids. I needed to be present for them.
I think it depends.
Because Alan Carr's book is very firmly in the "don't drink, it's fucking stupid" camp, and that's the one I responded to the most.
After Annie's book, I wasn't really sure about anything, but a lot of what she said had made me think, so I then went to the source of where she got a lot of her inspiration, which was Alan, and his style resonated with me in my bones. I was like "fuck yeah!" listening along to his book. I actually listened to it a second time right after finishing it.
I think Annie's book is the best starting point though. Her 30 day alcohol experiment is a great process for people to figure out their own relationship with alcohol.
She makes a great point that you really need to have alcohol out of your system for a bit before you are even capable of making decisions about it, and the exercises get your mind into a space where it's comfortable with self reflection and critical thinking.
Her book is best read while still drinking, because it allows you to reflect in real time on what she's presenting about drinking. Her experiment then creates the mental and neurological space to make personalized decisions.
For me, she just wasn't resonant enough, where Alan was, but I think I was ready for Alan's far more prescriptive stance because of her content.
Whether content is helpful for someone really depends on where they are along the continuum of readiness for change.
Books that don't insist on total sobriety will always be better for those who aren't open to total sobriety. Whereas for someone who is, a non firm message might be too wishy washy.
