Some time ago, we were talking about the risks of consecutive drinking days. Most agreed that doing more than 2 or 3 in a row is simply flirting with the creeps. This I found to be especially true in the practice stage, when we are still fighting the old habit. In a later stage, (maintenance?), you might be able to afford some exceptional periods (e.g. vacations) with some more drinking days - but the Creep will always be smiling around the corner. For those who might be unfamiliar with this term: Creep is a phenomenon of slowly slipping back to our old habits; alcohol is very sneaky - we can be steadily, without even noticing, increasing our drinking over a period of time - sometimes months, or even years - only to become aware of it when we're already back when we were before we started with the changing our habits. 

What we haven't talked a lot about the exact opposite effects of a couple of continuous abs days. What a tool!

We may feel we are not ready to moderate, it's difficult, alcohol is too much on our mind. The click: abs! Abs for a couple of days, a week, do a 30 day challenge. Already a few days will help change the mindset. While doing a successful 30, we don't think about booze too much most of the time. A lot of us are very successful the first few days after the 30 - the effects of absing are there. Some will warn you: be very careful after absing for a longer period - you will need to slowly ease your way into drinking, and still do a *lot* of practice before you get into moderation. They are right. If we get in too many drinks, the effects of absing effects are pretty muchcanceled, and we start feeling more urges again. In order to keep the right mindset, we need to offset this by absing again. 

This is the true moderation, a constant balancing act between abs-driven alcohol-free thinking, and occasional respectful enjoyment of positive effects of the magic potion - always followed by the necessary curing effect of absing to regain the balance and the right mind set. Once the balance is achieved, no big actions are required, but the continuous risk observation and gentle steering in the right direction. This is exactly why moderation is an art!