You’ve weighed the pros and cons of changing the way alcohol shows up in your life, you’ve taken a peek at the brain science behind alcohol use, and you’ve crafted your “why”... now you’re probably wondering how.

The answer you might not want to hear: changing your long term drinking habits is a complex process that requires you to fully understand why alcohol is impacting you the way it is, to gain skills and tools to navigate drinking in a way that aligns with your values, and to work through all of the things that might be causing you to numb out in the first place.

But because we know you need tools right now, here’s an answer that will give you a crash course in drinking less right away:

Track your drinking

This may sound simple, but it is very illuminating when we begin to actually track how much we’re drinking. (And accurately measure those drinks, by the way.) According to the National Institute on Health (NIH), a “standard” drink in the US is:

• 12 ounces of regular beer, which is usually about 5% alcohol

• 5 ounces of wine, which is typically about 12% alcohol

• 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits, which is about 40% alcohol

The CDC notes that “heavy drinking” is 15+ drinks per week for men, 8+ drinks per week for women. We share these figures to give you benchmarks, not to shame you—it’s often quite eye opening when we drill into the numbers.

Use your Reframe app to track your drinking and observe trends over time. When we have a clear picture of where we are right now, that helps build the determination we need to make lasting change.

Identify triggers

We use the term “triggers” here to describe anything that sends a signal to our brain to consume alcohol, so don’t be put off if it feels like a bit of an intense word. We can be triggered to use alcohol by all sorts of things; stress, certain places, a time of day, and so on. When thinking about your triggers, start with:

• People, places, and things

• Sensory experiences like sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell

• Emotions like stress, sadness, happiness, anger

• Time of day, day of the week, special days