The Sinclair Method (TSM): My Drinking Graph

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Quick notes about The Sinclair Method (TSM): Drinking Graph

  • This is not a detailed drink log as I never tracked individual units or drinks. This graph was made after reaching extinction in order to look back and see exactly how my finances were impacted. The results were so visually telling that I wanted to share with everyone.
  • It was created by exporting all my bank statements, line-by-line, analyzing purchases at bars and liquor stores that I frequented, and charting them out in Microsoft Excel.
  • Each red bar (y-axis) represents the percentage of my total food and entertainment budget spent on alcohol.
  • Extinction has a different definition for everyone. To me, it was when the internal voice in my head stopped telling me that I needed to drink. It was when I started forgetting alcohol even existed on a daily or weekly basis. I consider it around spring 2016.
  • I was a very hard liquor drinker (vodka-only; up to one liter per day) and my journey to say I reached full extinction took about 18 months (Spring 2015 to Fall 2016), which is almost twice as long as many others.
  • I always remained compliant, 100% of the time. I always carried Naltrexone with me everywhere, always took it one hour before drinking. No exceptions. That is the key to reaching extinction.
  • As of the date this was last updated, April 2018, I consume once or twice a month in social situations, always taking 50mg Naltrexone one hour prior as TSM mandates for the rest of our lives. My current intake is so low it wasn’t really worth updating the graph after the late-2016 because it would mostly be white space with a small red bar here and there.
  • Please visit the C Three Foundation (www.cthreefoundation.org) for more information. You may also contact me at mike.scanlan@cthreefoundation.org if you have any questions or want to discuss this further. I’ll do my best to answer everyone individually.